Round 5 September 18th 2007

Round 5 (September 18, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Svidler, Peter         1-0   39  C89  Ruy Lopez Marshall
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   41  D38  QGD Ragozin
Gelfand, Boris         -  Aronian, Levon         1-0   48  E00  Catalan
Leko, Peter            -  Kramnik, Vladimir      1/2   24  C24  Bishop's Opening

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.  3.5  2898
2 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2769 =. ** =. .. =. .. 1. =.  3.0  2824
3 Grischuk, Alexander    g RUS 2726 .. =. ** =. =. =. 1. ..  3.0  2824
4 Gelfand, Boris         g ISR 2733 =. .. =. ** =. 1. .. =.  3.0  2822
5 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2751 .. =. =. =. ** 0. .. =.  2.0  2670
6 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2750 0. .. =. 0. 1. ** =. ..  2.0  2680
7 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2758 =. 0. 0. .. .. =. ** 1.  2.0  2682
8 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2735 0. =. .. =. =. .. 0. **  1.5  2611
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Malcolm Pein Notes Rounds 4-10 in PGN

Vishy Anand took the lead of the 1.3 million dollar Fide World Championship tournament at Mexico City with victory over Peter Svidler in a fifth round that saw three decisive games. Anand has 3.5/5, half a point ahead. The eight players are now divided into two groups; those on positive scores and those below 50%.

Some of Svidler’s previous reverses have been attributed to his passion for watching too many England cricket matches during tournaments but this defeat was down to some superior opening preparation from Anand and I doubt that even Svidler would have been watching the defeat to New Zealand in the 20-20 World Cup as it started well after bedtime in Mexico.

At the very top level much of the battle is about proving an advantage in the opening. Thus far the symmetrical Petroff Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has proved too tough to beat, a reality that was best illustrated by Peter Leko’s choice of 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 against Vladimir Kramnik which got him absolutely nowhere.

Boris Gelfand is playing a fine tournament and after three solid draws with black he defeated Levon Aronian in his second game with white to move to 3/5. Aronian chose a sharp line of the Benoni and Gelfand secured a pleasant edge after which he just played quietly and exploited some unsound sacrifices.

Round five of 14. Grischuk 1-0 Morozevich, Queen’s Gambit Ragozin, ; Leko Kramnik; Anand Svidler Gelfand - Aronian;

Scores 1 Anand 3.5/5 2-4 Kramnik, Gelfand & Grischuk 3; 5-7 Aronian, Morozevich, Leko 2; 7-8 Svidler 1.5;

Anand’s success was in securing a tangible advantage against the Marshall Attack, a pawn sacrifice which Garry Kasparov never took on and preferred to avoid. With white Svidler was unable to defeat Peter Leko’s Marshall in round three despite emerging with a clear extra pawn but playing black against Anand he failed to create the necessary counterplay and the world number one expertly exploited the weaknesses in his position see below.

Anand,V (2792) - Svidler,P (2735) [C89]
WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

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.Re1 Bd6 13.g3 Bf5 [13...Qd7 14.d4 Qh3 15.Qe2!? Svidler - Leko] 14.d4 Qd7 15.Be3 Rae8 16.Nd2 Bg4 17.Qc2 Bf5 When I was a kid we played h5 immediately 18.Qc1 Re7 [18...h5 19.Nf3 Bg4 20.Nh4 Re6 Leko-Anand 2003 was playable for Black] 19.Nf3 Bg4 20.Nh4 Rfe8 21.Qd2 h6 22.Qd3 Black's position looks nice but he lacks an active plan 22...g6 23.Bd1 Bh3 24.Bf3 g5 [24...Nxe3 25.Rxe3 Rxe3 26.fxe3 c5 27.Ng2] 25.Ng2 Bf5 26.Qd1 Nf6 27.a4 Ne4 28.axb5 axb5 29.Ra6 Qb7 30.Qa1 Bc8 31.Ra8 Bb8 32.Bc1! preparing an exchange of rooks 32...Nf6 33.Rxe7 Rxe7 34.Qa3 Rd7 35.Ra5 Ba7 [35...Bd6 36.Qa1 Re7 37.Ne3] 36.Ne3 Qc7 37.Nf5 c5 [37...Kh7 38.Qf8] 38.Nxh6+ Kh7 39.Bxg5

1-0

Grischuk,A (2726) - Morozevich,A (2758) [D38]
WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.e3 c5 8.Bd3 Qa5 9.Qc2 c4 Unbalancing the game. White will now try and advance in the centre while Black has the edge on the queenside 10.Bf5 0-0 11.0-0 Re8 12.Nd2 g6 13.Bh3 Kg7 14.Rae1 Ne4 [14...b5 15.f3!] 15.Ndxe4 dxe4 16.Bf4 f5 17.f3 Nf6 18.a3 Bxc3 19.bxc3 h5? Black's ambition is to keep the bishop on h3 out of play but this is too optimistic [19...Nd5 20.Be5+ Rxe5 21.dxe5 Qxc3 22.Qf2 would be a better version of the game but still better for White; 19...Bd7 20.Be5 Bc6 21.g4!? Rxe5 22.dxe5 Qxe5 23.f4 Qe6 24.gxf5 gxf5 Was a more solid choice] 20.Qf2!!

have the queenside ! 20...Bd7 21.Qg3 Qxc3 22.Be5 Qxa3 23.fxe4 Rxe5 Black had pinned his hopes on this move but there is a refutation 24.exf5! Rxf5 25.Bxf5 Bxf5 26.Rxf5 Re8 27.Re5 Qd6 28.Rxe8 Nxe8 29.Qf3 [29.Qxd6 Nxd6 30.e4 b5 is not so easy for White as the Black pawns are far away from the white king] 29...b5 30.Qb7+ Nc7 31.Qxa7 b4 32.e4 c3 33.e5 Qe7 34.Qb7! Kh6 [34...c2 35.Rc1] 35.Rf1 c2 36.Rc1 Qg5 37.Rxc2 Qe3+ 38.Rf2 Ne6 [38...Qxd4 39.Qxc7] 39.Qxb4 Qc1+ 40.Rf1 Qe3+ 41.Kh1 1-0