Round one photo impressions
By Frederic Friedel
We start our pictorial report with an apology and an excuse. We have brought
you relatively few pictures in the past couple of day simply because we have
been burdened, here in Morelia, with a very dicey Internet connection. Not that
it did not work outright – it simply blocked FTP access to a secure server.
Which is what we need to have if we are going to upload pictures and reports
to our chess newspage.
Jorge Saggiante installing a wireless card on my notebook computer
The solution to our most acute problems came from the organiser of the next
world championship, which will take place in Mexico city this September. Jorge
Saggiante came into my room, yanked a PCMCIA card from his computer and installed
it on my notebook. This give me mobile access, from anywhere, to the Internet,
including any FTP connections my heart may desire.
Jorge has promised any players who needs one of these devices
will get one during the world championship in September
Let us return to the event that is taking place in Morelia. Our first
round report contained results and analysis of the games by GM Mihail Marin.
But no pictures. Using the wireless card we now bring you extensive photographic
impressions of the chess that is taking place in this beautiful Mexican city.
Please note that there are two videos by my colleague Nadja Woisin at the end
of this report.
Chess poster all over the city center
The Theatro Ocampo where the games are held
In the lobby young chess fans trying to decide who their favourite is
Vassily Ivanchuk preparing himself mentally for game one. We remind you
that he had travelled to Morelia to give a simul and attend some innocuous meetings
with chess fans, but joined the Super GM tournament at short notice when Teimour
Radjabov pulled out.
Peter Svidler, grandmaster from St. Petersburg
Peter Leko, Hungary's top GM and world championship challenger
Vishy Anand, the world's number two player, hails from India
Alexander Morozevich, an imaginative, dynamic player
Vassily Ivanchuk waits for the gong to go off to start the round
Peter Svidler, facing Armenian GM Levon Aronian, does the same
The games can start: Veselin Topalov makes his first move against Vishy
Anand
The game of the day: 16-year-old underdog Magnus Carlson plays his first
moves
In the end this would be the only decided game of the day – won by
young Magnus
Topalov vs Anand, with Alexander Morozevich on the board behind the two
Here Peter Svidler is visible between the top seeds
Ivanchuk vs Leko started innocently but changed into a volatile and dramatic
encounter
A moment of relaxed contemplation before the storm for Vassily Ivanchuk
Magnus Carlsen working on his first-round victory against Alex Morozevich
The audience in the packed Theatro Ocampo
The stage with the eight players on four tables
A view from the balcony with the games in full swing
Topalov vs Anand as seen from the higher rows
The final seconds of the dramatic Ivanchuk vs Leko game
... and minutes later trying to figure out what had gone wrong and what right
Discussing the game with members of the press – incidentally en español!
Anand chatting with chess fans after the game has ended
Peter Svidler and Levon Aronian analyse their game in the press center
Aronian struggling to follow what Svidler is trying to say
Afterwards Peter visits Kathy and Ian Rogers to – yes, check out the
cricket scores
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