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The World Championship 2007 will take place from September 12 to 30 in the Sheraton Centro Histórico Hotel in Mexico City. Eight players are qualified – the tournament will be a double round robin. The prize fund is US $1.3 million.
Leko-Svidler featured a relatively short but intense fight, which led to an approximately equal ending and a draw agreement. Playing with white, Grischuk obtained a minimal but persistent advantage against Gelfand. Just when he was close to a draw, Gelfand's nerves cracked under the pressure and Grischuk took the whole point without any difficulties. Anand employed another rare line against Aronian's Marshall Attack, but the experiment did not work too well this time and a draw was agreed rather soon.
The most remarkable game of the evening was Morozevich-Kramnik. After an opening that is supposed to offer Black an easy life, play transposed to a curious version of the Benoni. Morozevich adjusted his plan to the specific characteristics of the position perfectly, while the World Champion offered a surprisingly feeble resistence. Mass simplifications only increased White's advantage and Morozevich won convincingly.
Leko,P (2751) - Svidler,P (2735) [B90]
WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]
1.e4 c5. Fashion is cruel. Just a few years ago, about half of the games played at high level started with these moves. In Mexico, the first Sicilian was played in the second half of the tournament... 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f3 Be7 10.g4 0-0 11.0-0-0 b5
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19.Bh3. White completes his development and attacks two enemy pieces at the same time. The immediate 19.Qxd5? was impossible because of 19...Rd8. 19...Be6!? An interesting decision. After 19...Rd8 20.Qf2 , the pressure of White's bishop would have been irritating. 20.Bxe6 fxe6. Black's structure does not look too impressive now, but the open f-file as well as the absence of a blocking knight on e4 make the situation unclear. 21.Qd7!? A courageous move, which, after Black's cautious answer, will only lead to simplifications. 21...Qxd7. Svidler was probably afraid that after 21...Qxc2+ 22.Ka2 his pieces would lose coordination. Indeed, after 22...Rc3 Black can parry the threat ...Rxa3+ followed by mate with 23.Qxe7 ,when Black's attacking prospects remain debatable, mainly because of his passive knight. 22.Rxd7 Rc7 23.Rxe7 Rxe7 24.Bc5 Ref7 25.Bxf8 Kxf8 26.Nc6 Rxf3 27.Nxe5 Rf5 28.Nd3 a5 29.h4 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]
Peter Svidler and Peter Leko in the post-game press conference
You really think so? You really believe that?
Peter's wife and moral support: Sofi Leko
Grischuk,A (2726) - Gelfand,B (2733) [E21]
WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]
1.d4. Earlier in this tournament, Gelfand has successfully defended Black's point of view in the Petroff three times already. Grischuk wisely decided to change the background. 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0-0 7.Bg2 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qb3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Ba6 14.Rfd1 Qc5 15.e4 Bc4 16.Qa4 Nb6 17.Qb4 Qh5 18.Bf4
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53...h3? 53...Kg5 54.Rg7+ Kh6 55.a7 Ra6 56.Rb7 Kg5. 54.Kg4 Rd3 55.Ra8 Kg7 56.Kf5 Rd6 57.Ra7+ Kh6 58.Rf7 Offering a simplification to a won pawn ending. 58...Rd2 59.a7 Rf2+ 60.Ke6 Ra2 61.Kxf6. Black is paralyzed and will lose most of his pawns. 1-0. [Click to replay]
The players in the press conference after their game
Devastated: Boris Gelfand after his first loss, in round nine
Anand,V (2792) - Aronian,L (2750) [C89]
WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6
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13.Re2. We can notice that for each game Anand prepares a different variation against the Marshall. This might look like a speculative attitude, but maybe there is no other way to counter such a well-analyzed opening. 13...Bg4 14.f3 Bf5 15.g3. Earlier, White played 15.Bxd5 mainly. The idea behind Anand's novelty remains unclear, especially that the game will end soon. 15...Qc7 16.Kf2 Qd7 17.Bxd5 cxd5 18.Nd2 Bd3 19.Re3 Bg6 20.Nf1 a5 21.a3. Black has the usual compensation, based on his pair of bishops and more active position. 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]
Vishy Anand in the press conference
Lev Aronian being interviewed by Russian TV and radio journalist Elmira Mirzoeva
Friendly support: Aronian's girlfriend Arianne Caoili and second Gabriel Sargissian
Morozevich,A (2758) - Kramnik,V (2769) [A34]
WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6
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As an experienced Benoni player, I have problems finding a proper name to this almost non-existent variation; "the e3-Benoni" sounds almost comical! However, White's setup is not without venom. By refraining from exposing his e-pawn to early attacks (...Re8), White intends to obtain more freedom of action for his minor pieces. His king's knight could go to c2 (via e1) in order to counter a later ...b5 with b4, or to the more usual c4-square, without having to care about defending the e4-pawn from d2. We shall see further differences as the game advances. One possible drawback of this system is that the c1-bishop will remain passive for a long time. From psychologic point of view, Morozevich choice is simply brilliant. Kramnik does not play this opening regularly (although he employed it in the penultimate game of his match against Leko, when he desperately needed to win) and, almost surely, never studied the e3-system! There are not many recent cases when the World Champion was taken "out of book" at such an early stage, with the position remaining cmplex at the same time.
9.0-0 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nbd7 12.a4 a6 13.g4!? This original attempt to win space will be fully crowned by success. 13...c4?! This is a typical move in the Benoni, but maybe the prophylactic 13...h6!? should have been preferred here. 14.Be2! Rc8 With the pawn on e4, Black could answer 14...Nc5 15.f3 Rc8. 15.g5 Ne8 16.f4. Now, the c1-bishop proves useful by safely defending the backward pawn. 16...Qe7 17.Ra3 Rc5. Kramnik's play in this phase of the game is not too logical. He starts queenside operations with his knight and king's rook passive on the other wing. Personally, I would first think of eliminating the g5-pawn with 17...h6 18.h4 f6 when 19.Bg4 , threatening to invade the e6-square, can be answered with 19...Nc7. 18.Bf3 Ra5 19.Bd2 Nc5 20.Qe2 Nb3
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21.Ne4. We can see that White makes use of the e4-square to activate his knight. Now, ...f6 is out of question already, because of gxf6 followed by Ng5-e6. 21...Nxd2 22.Qxd2. After the exchange of his queen's bishop, White has solved all his problems with the development. Black's control on dark squares is less relevant than in a normal Benoni, because the d4-square has not been weakened with e4 yet. White has a clear and stable advantage. 22...Qd8 23.Qb4 b5 24.axb5 Rxb5 25.Qxc4 Qb6 26.Qc6 Bxb2 27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.Ra2 Bg7 29.Rc1 h6 30.h4 hxg5 31.hxg5 f6 32.Rc6 Rxc6 33.dxc6 fxg5 34.Nxg5 Nc7
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Despite simplifications, Black has a difficult position. White has an enormous advantage of space and his c6-pawn is very dangerous. 35.Rd2 Rd8 36.Bg4 Bc3 37.Rd3 Ba5 38.Kg2 d5 39.e4. It was worth waiting with this move for so long. The advance of the e-pawn will increase White's advantage. 39...d4 40.e5 Bb6 41.Rb3 Rb8 42.Rh3 Ba5 43.Rh6 Rb2+ 44.Kg3 Be1+ 45.Kf3 d3 46.Rxg6+ Kf8 47.Rd6 d2 48.Ke4 1-0. [Click to replay]
Vladimir Kramnik, contemplating his first defeat in this event
Alexander Morozevich, who avenged his first-half loss to Kramnik
Photos by Frederic Friedel in Mexico City
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