Round 10 of September 24th 2007 by IM Malcolm Pein

Kramnik - Anand was drawn in round 10. This was probably the final key game for Anand, he now is overwhelming favourite to take the title. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Round 10 (September 24, 2007)

Gelfand, Boris         -  Leko, Peter            1/2   24  E06  Catalan
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   41  D43  Anti-Meran Gambit
Aronian, Levon         -  Grischuk, Alexander    1-0   42  D30  Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Svidler, Peter         -  Morozevich, Alexander  1/2   44  B17  Caro Kann

WCh Mexico City MEX (MEX), 13-29 ix 2007               cat. XXI (2752)
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                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
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1 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2792 ** == == =. 1= 1. =. 1.  6.5  2857
2 Gelfand, Boris         g ISR 2733 == ** =. == 1. =0 1. =.  5.5  2791
3 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2769 == =. ** =. =. =. 10 ==  5.0  2753
4 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2751 =. == =. ** 0. =1 =. ==  5.0  2745
5 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2750 0= 0. =. 1. ** =1 == =.  5.0  2754
6 Grischuk, Alexander    g RUS 2726 0. =1 =. =0 =0 ** 1. =.  4.5  2716
7 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2758 =. 0. 01 =. == 0. ** 1=  4.5  2715
8 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2735 0. =. == == =. =. 0= **  4.0  2683
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Press conferences: http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=1248

Malcolm Pein Notes Rounds 4-10 in PGN

The world number one Vishy Anand can scent victory after defying the efforts of Vladimir Kramnik in what must surely have been a must-win game for the world champion in the tenth round of the Fide World Championship tournament at Mexico City. The Indian leads Boris Gelfand by a full point and Kramnik is a further half point adrift with only four games to play.

Playing with the advantage of the white pieces Kramnik entered the Anti-Moscow variation, one of the sharpest lines of opening theory. Anand successfully defused a novelty from Kramnik as the players bashed out their moves at speed. By the time Kramnik and Anand had passed move 30, Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk were still trying to figure out their ninth moves.

Both players were in the realms of computer-assisted opening preparation at least until move 25. Anand did not start thinking for any length of time until move 27. The position was sharp and unbalanced and the black king looked vulnerable but with defending pieces and pawns in close attendance it survived. At the end a winning attempt would involve a king march commencing 41…Kb4 and with a world title at stake and his lead assured Anand took the draw.

Kramnik,V (2769) - Anand,V (2792) [D43]
WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 [White has better development and Black weaknesses as compensation for the pawn 11...h5 was played by Gelfand against Kramnik in round 7] 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 to stop castling 13...a6 14.Bh5 Bf8 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.e5 To play Ne4-d6 16...Qb6 17.b3 Opening the queenside where the Black king is headed [17.Ne4 0-0-0 18.Nd6+ Kb8 19.b3 (19.Nxf7 Rxf7 20.Bxf7 Nxe5 0-1 Radjabov,T (2728)-Anand,V (2779)/Mainz 2006/CBM 114 (36) and Black won Radjabov - Anand Mainz 2007) 19...f6 1/2-1/2 Ernst,S (2504)-Van Wely,L (2675)/Netherlands NED 2006/The Week in Chess 628 (51) was investigated by Kramnik's second Loek van Wely last year] 17...0-0-0 18.bxc4 Nxe5 19.c5 Qa5 20.Ne4 Qb4 21.Nd6+ Rxd6 This exchange sacrifice was prepared in advance by Anand. 22.cxd6 Nd7 23.a4 Qxd6 24.Bf3 Nb6 25.axb5 Perhaps he rushed with axb5 - Anand. 25...cxb5 26.Bxb7+ Kxb7 27.Qh5 Nd5 28.Qxh6 Nf4!

29.Kh1! [29.Qxg5 Kramnik said that he forgot he couldn't take this pawn. 29...Ne2+ 30.Kh1 Qxh2+ 31.Kxh2 Rh8+ 32.Qh4 Rxh4#] 29...Qd5 30.f3 Rd8 31.Qg7 Rd7 White cannot hold d4 and although Black's king appears weak his passed pawns are potentially dangerous in the endgame 32.Qf8 [32.Rfd1 Ne2] 32...Ne2 33.Rfe1 [33.Qa3 Rd6] 33...Nxd4 34.Red1 e5 35.Rac1 [35.Qh6 Qe6 36.Qxg5 f6 37.Qe3] 35...Qd6 36.Qg8 f6 37.Rc8 a5! cooly played 38.h3 a4 39.Qe8 Kb6 40.Rb8+ Ka5 41.Ra8+ 1/2-1/2

Peter Svidler’s poor form persists, he missed a win against Alexander Morozevich while Alexander Grischuk again fell into terrible time trouble. Grischuk's position was already difficult at move thirty when he had only about 2 minutes for the next ten moves. Aronian constructed a pretty mate.

Svidler,P (2735) - Morozevich,A (2758) [B17]
WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.0-0 b6 12.Qg4 Kf8 13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Rd8 15.Rad1 c5 16.dxc5 bxc5 [16...Nxc5 17.Bc3 forces a serious weakening 17...f6 18.Bc4+/-; 16...Nxc5 17.Bc3 f5 18.Qh5 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 20.Kh1 Bd6 21.Bc4 Qe7 22.Bxe6+/-] 17.h4 [17.Bc3 Nf6 18.Bxf6 (18.Qh3!? Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 20.Kh1 Bf4~~) 18...gxf6 19.Qh4 Bxf3 20.gxf3=] 17...Nf6 18.Qh3 c4 19.Bf1 Bd5 [19...Kg8 20.Be3 g5!?] 20.h5 now Black has to work harder to free the rook 20...Kg8 21.Be3 Kh7 22.Bd4 Rhe8 but now he is OK 23.b3 cxb3 24.axb3 Ne4 25.Bb5 [25.Bd3 f5] 25...Re7 26.Qg4 f5 27.Qg6+ Kg8 28.c4 Ba8 29.Be3 Rf8 Threatening to trap the queen after Rf6 30.Bd4

30...a6 [30...e5 would have created interesting complications 31.c5 Bxc5 32.Bxe5 Rxe5 33.Rd7 Qxd7 34.Bxd7 Rf6 35.Nxe5 Rxg6 36.Nxg6 Bxf2+ 37.Kf1 Bxe1 38.Be6+ Kh7 39.Nf8+=] 31.c5 Bxc5 32.Bc4 Qb6? 33.Bxc5 [33.Bxe6+! Qxe6 34.Bxc5 Nxc5 35.Rxe6 Rxe6 36.Qg3+-; 33.Bxe6+ Rxe6 34.Qxg7#; 33.Bxe6+ Qxe6 34.Bxc5 Qxg6 35.hxg6 Nxc5 36.Rxe7] 33...Qxc5 34.Bxe6+ Kh8 35.Rd4 Bc6 [35...Nxf2!? 36.Re5! Qc1+ 37.Kxf2 Bxf3 38.Bxf5 Qb2+ 39.Kxf3 Qc3+ 40.Ke4 Qc2+ 41.Kf3 Qc3+=] 36.Bxf5 Nf6 37.Rc4 Rxe1+ 38.Nxe1 Qe7 39.Nd3 Be8 40.Qg3 Nxh5 41.Qg4 Bf7 42.Rc5 Qd6 43.Qb4 Bg8 44.Ra5 Qxb4 1/2-1/2

In round ten Alexander Grischuk again fell into terrible time trouble and by move thirty when he had only about 2 minutes for ten moves. Aronian constructed a pretty mate.

Aronian,L (2750) - Grischuk,A (2726) [D30]
WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 h6 Its unusual to play this so early. 4...c6 5.Nc3 h6 has been played several times at Mexico City already 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nbd2 [6.Nc3 Bb4 is a solid line of the Ragozin] 6...Nd7 7.g3 Quite original play from Aronian we are soon in uncharted territory. As Black's general idea is dxc4 and e6-e5 or c7-c5 it makes some sense to put the bishop ong2 7...g5!?

Grischuk declares White's play to be too slow.This threatens g4 and Qxd4 exploiting the absence of the queen from the defence of the d pawn [7...dxc4 8.Nxc4 Bb4+=; 7...dxc4 8.Bg2 e5!?] 8.h3 Bg7 9.Rc1! c5! [9...c6 10.Bg2 0-0 11.0-0+/=] 10.e3 0-0 11.Bg2 b6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.0-0 Bb7 14.Re1 Rfd8 15.g4 Intending Nf1-g3-f5 15...h5 16.gxh5 Qh6 17.Nh2 Rac8 18.Ndf1 f5 19.Ng3 Qe6 20.Nf3 Qf6 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.b4 f4 23.exf4 gxf4 24.Nf1 c4 25.N1h2 Qf5 26.Nd4 Qd3 27.Ne6 Qxd1 28.Rexd1 Ne5 29.Nxd8 Rxd8 30.Ng4 Nd3 31.Rxd3 cxd3 32.Rd1 Bc8 33.Rxd3 d4 34.Be4 Ba6 35.Ra3 Be2 36.h6 Bh8 37.Rxa7 d3 38.h7+ Kf8 39.Bg6 d2 40.Rf7+ Ke8 41.Nf6+ Bxf6 42.Rg7+ 1-0

Round ten: Kramnik draw Anand, Slav Defence Moscow Gambit,; Aronian 1-0 Grischuk, Slav Defence Moscow Variation; Svidler draw Morozevich, Caro Kann; Gelfand draw Leko, Catalan;

Scores 1 Anand 6.5/10; 2 Gelfand 5.5 3-5 Kramnik, Leko, Aronian 5; 6-7 Grischuk, Morozevich 4.5; 8 Svidler 4;