Round 6 September 19th 2007

Gelfand beat Morozevich in Round 6 to join Anand in the lead. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Round 6 (September 19, 2007)

Gelfand, Boris         -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   50  E17  Queens Indian
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   41  D43  Anti-Meran Gambit
Leko, Peter            -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   21  C78  Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Aronian, Levon         -  Kramnik, Vladimir      1/2   22  E06  Catalan

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. =.  4.0  2874
2 Gelfand, Boris         g ISR 2733 =. ** .. =. =. 1. =. 1.  4.0  2877
3 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2769 =. .. ** =. =. =. =. 1.  3.5  2809
4 Grischuk, Alexander    g RUS 2726 .. =. =. ** =. =. =. 1.  3.5  2806
5 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2751 =. =. =. =. ** 0. =. ..  2.5  2693
6 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2750 0. 0. =. =. 1. ** .. =.  2.5  2697
7 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2735 0. =. =. =. =. .. ** 0.  2.0  2629
8 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2758 =. 0. 0. 0. .. =. 1. **  2.0  2625
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Malcolm Pein Notes Rounds 4-10 in PGN

The Israeli number one Boris Gelfand has played superbly at the 1.3 million dollar Fide World Championship tournament at Mexico City and he joined world number one Vishy Anand in the lead with a sixth round victory over Alexander Morozevich. Gelfand has been extremely solid with black, scoring three draws with the Petroff Defence and has taken his chances with white when they arose after his opponents sacrificed material.

The world champion Vladimir Kramnik continues to be bogged down with draws and is half a point off the pace but declared him self unworried at the post-match press conference following a lifeless game with Levon Aronian. Kramnik could hardly be blamed as he was playing black and Aronian chose to use Kramnik’s favourite weapon, the Catalan, against him.

Round six of 14. Aronian draw Kramnik, Catalan, ; Gelfand 1-0 Morozevich, Queen’s Indian, ; Grischuk draw Svidler ; Leko draw Anand;

Scores 1-2 Anand, Gelfand 4/6 2-4 Kramnik & Grischuk 3.5; 5-6 Aronian, Leko 2.5; 7-8 Morozevich,Svidler 2;

The game of the round was a wild Moscow Gambit in which Alexander Grischuk sacrificed three pawns and a piece and looked like he was going to obliterate Peter Svidler. Svidler was obliged to give up his queen to save his king but the rest of his army came to the rescue.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Svidler,P (2735) [D43]
WCh Mexico City MEX (6), 19.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 [6.Bxf6 The Moscow Variation secured Kramnik a slight edge against Svidler in round one. Offering the c pawn leads to much sharper play] 6...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 h5 12.0-0 White has better development for the pawn and has created weaknesses in the black position. The black king has nowhere to hide 12...Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Bg3 [15.Rad1 0-0 16.Bg3 Nd7 17.f3 c5! and Black won in Aronian-Anand round 2] 15...Qxd4 16.Rfd1 Qc5 17.Bd6 Qb6 18.a4 A second pawn has been sacrificed to prevent castling and the position is very murky 18...a6 19.e5 Nd7 20.a5 Qa7 21.Ne4 Ne4-g5 and takes on e6 or Bc7 and Nd6+ come into view 21...c5 22.Ng5!! Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Bxe5 24.Bxc4! bxc4 25.Qa4+ Kf8 26.Rd7 Threatening 27.Rxf7+ Kg8 28.Qd7 with the idea of Rg7+ Bxg7 Qf7 mate or just a slow build up Black's major pieces are out of play 26...Bd5! The only way to stop Rxf7+ Black's queen is worth less than the rook on d7 27.Rd1! Bd4 Threat g3 28.Rxa7 [28.b3 Qb8 29.Rxf7+ Kg8 30.bxc4 was possibly even stronger] 28...Rxa7 29.b3 Kg7 [29...g3 30.Rxd4 cxd4 31.bxc4] 30.bxc4 Ba8 Black has rook, bishop and pawn for queen but his king is permanently unsafe 31.Qc2 g3 32.Rxd4! cxd4 33.Qe2 gxf2+ 34.Qxf2 Rd8 35.Qg3 Kf8 36.Qe5

36...Ke8 Queen and knight are a fearsome attacking force [winning attempts would be unwise 36...d3 37.Nh7+ Ke8 38.Nf6+ Ke7 39.Qc5+ Kxf6 40.Qg5#; 36...Rad7! keeping everything together would hold 37.Qh8+ Ke7 38.Qg7 d3!! 39.c5 Re8 40.Qxf7+ Kd8 41.Nxe6+ Rxe6 42.Qxe6 d2=] 37.Nxe6 [wrong way round 37.Qh8+ Ke7 38.Qg7 d3 39.Qxf7+ Kd6 40.Qxa7 d2 41.Nf7+ Kc6 42.Qb6+ Kd7 43.Qxd8+ Kc6 44.Qc8#; 37.Qh8+ Ke7 38.Qg7 Rf8 39.Nxe6 Kxe6 40.Qxf8 Rd7 41.Qxa8 d3 42.Qe4+ both win] 37...fxe6 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Qg7+ Ke8 40.Qh8+ Ke7 41.Qg7+ 1/2-1/2