World Chess Championship Tournament 2007. Mexico City - Round 7 by Mark Crowther

The World Chess Championship Tournament takes place in Mexico City 13th-30th September 2007.

Official site: http://www.chessmexico.com

Round 7 (September 20, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Grischuk, Alexander    1-0   50  C88  Ruy Lopez Closed
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Gelfand, Boris         1/2   40  D43  Anti-Meran Gambit
Svidler, Peter         -  Aronian, Levon         1/2   20  C69  Ruy Lopez Exchange
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter            1/2   60  C45  Scotch Game

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. =.  5.0  2904
2 Gelfand, Boris         g ISR 2733 =. ** =. =. =. 1. =. 1.  4.5  2856
3 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2769 =. =. ** =. =. =. =. 1.  4.0  2799
4 Grischuk, Alexander    g RUS 2726 0. =. =. ** =. =. =. 1.  3.5  2755
5 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2751 =. =. =. =. ** 0. =. =.  3.0  2701
6 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2750 0. 0. =. =. 1. ** =. =.  3.0  2702
7 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2735 0. =. =. =. =. =. ** 0.  2.5  2652
8 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2758 =. 0. 0. 0. =. =. 1. **  2.5  2648
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Mark Crowther on Round 7

The tournament reached its half way stage on Thursday 20th September 2007. Already I think its clear that the titlle battle is between the leader Viswanathan Anand, second placed Boris Gelfand and third placed Vladimir Kramnik. The form of the other players simply doesn't suggest they can catch Anand who I expect to score at least 3/7 in the second half and probably more like 4 or 4.5. Anand like Kramnik will have 4 blacks and 3 whites in the second half but so far he has seemed untroubled with black. Boris Gelfand has arrived both in good form and as expected, extremely well prepared. I always thought he was the player most adversely affected by the change from Candidates Matches. Although the oldest in the field he doesn't seem very far away from his best chess. Probably he won't take the title but if he scores another 4.5/9 he might not be that far away and he does have four whites in the second half.

There were a nice set of interviews on the http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=1242 site and no doubt http://www.europe-echecs.com and http://www.chessclub.com/chessfm/ will have good stuff by the time you read this.

Anand - Grischuk Round 7. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Viswanathan Anand probably couldn't have been more pleased to play against a closed Ruy Lopez and he played a very nice controlled positional game neatly sidestepping the most dangerous tactical ideas of his opponent. Grischuk was most unhappy with his play afterwards and perhaps most interesting was the disagreement about whether taking the bishop and queen off (23...Bg5 and 26.Qd2) improved white or black's position. Anand felt it took the pressure off him and he certainly seemed to take the point very easily. Grischuk has gradually revealed a very, very dry sense of humour "You can call this position either risky or hopeless." was a nice one as was the comment at the end of the interview with Macauley Peterson about time trouble: http://webcast.chessclub.com/Mexico07/Macauley/day7/day7.html. All entertaining stuff.

Anand,V (2792) - Grischuk,A (2726) [C88]
WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 [8.h3 1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A (2726)-Leko,P (2751)/Mexico City MEX 2007 (28); 8.c3 1/2-1/2 Svidler,P (2735)-Leko,P (2751)/Mexico City MEX 2007 (43)] 8...b4 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.c3 Nc6N [12...Rb8 13.Nf1 Qc7 14.Ng3 h6 15.h3 b3 16.Bb1 Re8 17.d4 c4 18.Nf5 Bf8 19.g4 Nh7 20.Kh1 Bd7 21.d5 f6 22.h4 Bc8 23.Rg1 Qf7 24.Ne3 Bd7 25.Nd2 Rec8 26.Qe2 Qe8 27.Ndxc4 Nxc4 28.Nxc4 Bxa4 29.Ne3 Ra8 30.Bd3 Bb5 31.c4 Bd7 32.Bd2 Be7 33.Ra3 Rcb8 34.Rga1 Bc8 35.Nf5 Nf8 36.c5 dxc5 37.Bxa6 Bxf5 38.gxf5 c4 39.Ra4 Bc5 40.Bb5 Rxa4 41.Bxa4 Qf7 42.Qxc4 Qh5 43.Qxc5 Qxh4+ 44.Kg1 Qg4+ 45.Kf1 Qxe4 46.Be1 Qd3+ 47.Kg1 Qxf5 48.Qc3 Ng6 49.Bd2 Nh4 50.Kf1 Qe4 51.Ra3 Nf3 52.Rxb3 Rxb3 53.Bxb3 Nd4 54.d6+ Kh7 55.Bc2 Nxc2 56.f3 Qf5 57.d7 Nd4 58.d8Q Qh3+ 0-1 Saveljev,V (2333)-Shomoev,A (2479)/Krasnoyarsk RUS 2003/The Week in Chess 462] 13.d4 bxc3 14.bxc3 exd4 15.cxd4 Nb4 "I think the knight hasn't moved after Nb4 so It turned out to be not a very good decision." 16.Bb1 Bg4!? Anand wasn't sure about this but felt he should be better but the "tactics are quite annoying". Grischuk "I think I played the opening terribly." and already didn't like his position when he played this. "You can call this position either risky or hopeless." [16...cxd4 Grischuk didn't like this move.] 17.h3 Bh5 18.g4 Bg6 White has to play this way according to Anand. 19.d5 Nd7 20.Nc4 Rb8 21.Bf4 Nb6 22.Nxb6 Rxb6 23.Nd2

23...Bg5 "I was happy when the bishops came off" - Anand. Grischuk thought this move should be good enough for a draw. He was happy to take the game into an ending with the Bishop and Queen off. 24.Bxg5 Qxg5 25.Nc4 Rbb8 26.Qd2! Anand liked this move. He didn't know if it was possible to win the game if Black waits passively which of course is quite unpleasant. 26...Qxd2 27.Nxd2 f6 28.Nc4 Rfd8 29.f4 Bf7 30.Ra3

30...g5 "I suspect in the end its a bit of a mistake" Anand. "Another terrible move." Grischuk. He didn't see any chances for him after this point. 31.h4 gxf4 32.Rf3 Be8 33.Rxf4 Kg7 34.h5 Bxa4 35.h6+ Kxh6 36.Rxf6+ Kg7 37.g5? "I suspect in the end this might be a mistake." - Anand. 37...Rf8 38.Rxd6 "Once I take his d6 pawn I think I'm pressing heavily". - Anand. 38...Bc2 39.Ne5 Rf4 40.Rf6 Rh4 41.d6 Bxb1 42.Rxb1 Rxe4 43.Rf7+ Kg8 44.Re7 Rd8 45.Rd1 c4 46.d7 Rf4 47.Rf1 Rff8 48.Rxf8+ Kxf8 49.Rxh7 c3 50.Ng6+ 1-0

Kramnik - Gelfand Round 7. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Gelfand - "I thinks its an extremely exciting game". "For a long time I didn't have such an interesting game." "I'm very glad I took part". Kramnik "I agree the game was quite interesting. I had the feeling maybe I was better." Kramnik - Gelfand was probably the most complicated game of the day, I'm certainly not capable of doing justice to this extremely sharp and difficult game. Interesting was Kramnik's observation that he forgot that black could castle on move 33!

Kramnik,V (2769) - Gelfand,B (2733) [D43]
WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 [6.Bxf6 1/2-1/2 Kramnik,V (2769)-Svidler,P (2735)/Mexico City MEX 2007 (23)] 6...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 [9.Ne5 0-1 Aronian,L (2750)-Anand,V (2792)/Mexico City MEX 2007 (41)] 9...Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 h5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Qc1N [13.Be5 Rh6 1/2-1/2 Korobov,A (2530)-Zubov,A (2552)/Odessa UKR 2007/The Week in Chess 670 (49)] 13...Rg8 14.Rd1 Bb4 15.Qe3 Qe7 16.h3 h4 17.Bh2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 g4 19.Kh1 Kramnik spent a long time on this move as he had to calculate a lot of variations as this is quite commital. Taking on g4 was probably OK for white but not more. 19...c5 20.hxg4 cxd4 21.Rxd4 [21.Qxd4 Nxe4 22.Bf3 Ng3+ complicated but I think I am holding.] 21...e5 22.Rdd1 Nxg4 23.Bxg4 Rxg4 24.f3 Rg6 25.a4 a5 26.axb5 a4 27.Qe2 Qc5 28.Rab1 Rd6 29.Rxd6 Qxd6 30.Qxc4 a3 31.Ra1 h3 32.Qe2 hxg2+ 33.Qxg2

33...0-0-0 Kramnik completely forgot about the possibility of castling. He thought he had an attack but once this came in he decided it was time to head for a draw. In fact Kramnik thought Gelfand might have been more ambitious but noted his lack of time. 34.Qa2 f5 35.Qxa3 fxe4 36.Qxd6 Rxd6 37.fxe4 Bxe4+ 38.Kg1 Bd3 39.Bxe5 Rg6+ 40.Kf2 Bxb5 1/2-1/2

Kramnik's scoresheet in Round 7. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Morozevich - Leko Round 7. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Morozevich and Leko had a very complex struggle in the Scotch where both players got into time trouble twice, running up to move 40 and up to move 60. Peter Leko seemed to have the better of it but he never came really close to landing the killer blow.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Leko,P (2751) [C45]
WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 Ne5 [7...0-0 8.0-0 Ne5 9.Bb3 d6 10.f3 Be6 11.Kh1 Bc4 12.Rf2 d5 13.Bc2 dxe4 14.Nd2 Bd3 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.fxe4 Qg6 17.Rf4 Nc4 18.Bg1 Qh6 19.Rf3 Qd2 20.Qb1 Bb6 21.Bb3 Bxd4 22.cxd4 Na5 23.Bc2 Rad8 24.Rc3 Nac6 25.d5 Nb4 26.Bb3 Na6 27.Be3 Qe2 28.Bc4 Qg4 29.h3 Qh4 30.Bxa6 bxa6 31.Rxc7 f5 32.Bc5 Rfe8 33.d6 Ng6 34.exf5 Nf4 35.Qc2 Re2 36.Qb3+ Kh8 37.Rg1 1-0 Morozevich,A (2758)-Svidler,P (2735)/Mexico City MEX 2007] 8.Bb3 Qg6 9.0-0 d5 [9...Qxe4 10.Re1 (10.Nd2 Qg4 11.Nb5 Bxe3 12.fxe3 Qxd1 13.Raxd1 Kd8 14.Bxf7 d6 15.h3 Nf5 16.e4 Ne3 17.Bb3 a6 18.Nd4 Nxd1 19.Rxd1 Ke7 20.N2f3 Nxf3+ 21.Nxf3 Be6 22.e5 dxe5 23.Nxe5 Bxb3 24.axb3 Rhd8 25.Re1 Kf8 26.Re2 Rd1+ 27.Kh2 Re8 28.Rf2+ Kg8 29.Nf3 h6 30.b4 Rd3 31.Kg1 Rd1+ 32.Kh2 Re7 33.Rc2 Kh7 34.Kg3 b6 35.Nd4 Rd7 36.Nb3 R1d5 37.Re2 c5 38.bxc5 bxc5 39.Kf2 Kg8 40.Ke1 Kf7 41.Kf2 Re7 42.Rc2 Rf5+ 43.Kg1 Rfe5 44.Rd2 Re2 45.Rxe2 Rxe2 46.Nxc5 Rxb2 47.Nxa6 Rc2 48.Nc5 Rxc3 49.Ne4 Re3 50.Nd2 Kf6 51.Kf2 Ra3 52.Nf3 Kf5 53.Nd4+ Ke4 54.Ne6 g5 55.Ng7 Ke5 56.Nh5 Ke6 57.g3 Ke5 58.Kg2 Ke4 59.g4 Ke3 60.Ng7 Ra7 61.Nh5 Rf7 62.Kg3 Ke2 63.Kg2 Rf2+ 64.Kg3 Kf1 65.Ng7 Kg1 66.Nf5 Ra2 67.Kf3 Ra3+ 68.Ke4 Rxh3 69.Nxh6 Rxh6 70.Kf5 Kg2 71.Kxg5 Ra6 72.Kh5 Kg3 0-1 Meitner,P-Rosenthal,S/Vienna 1873) 10...Qh4 11.Nf3 Nxf3+ 12.Qxf3 Bd6 13.Qxf7+ Kd8 14.g3 Qg4 15.f3 Qf5 16.Qxg7 Be5 17.Qg5 Bf6 18.Qxf5 Nxf5 19.Bf4 d6 20.Nd2 h6 21.Ne4 Bg7 22.Rad1 Bd7 23.Kf2 Rf8 24.Nc5 dxc5 25.Be6 Nd4 26.Bxd7 Kxd7 27.cxd4 cxd4 28.Be3 Rae8 29.Bxd4 Rxe1 30.Kxe1 Bxd4 31.Rxd4+ Ke6 32.Ke2 c5 33.Re4+ Kd6 34.f4 b5 35.Re5 Rf6 36.b3 Kc6 37.Kd3 a5 38.Ke4 Rd6 39.f5 Rd2 40.Re6+ Kd7 41.Rxh6 Rxa2 42.Rb6 b4 43.Kd5 Rb2 44.Kxc5 Rxb3 45.g4 Rh3 46.Ra6 Rxh2 47.Rxa5 b3 48.Kd5 b2 49.Rb5 Rg2 50.Ke5 Kc6 51.Rb8 Rc2 52.Kf6 Kc7 53.Rb3 Rc6+ 1/2-1/2 Mamantov,M-Srumin,G (2125)/Tel Aviv ISR 1999] 10.Bf4 Bg4N 11.Qc2 f6 12.Ba4+ Very precise and very strong move. 12...c6 13.Nd2 0-0 14.f3 Bd7 15.Kh1 Bb6 16.Rae1 Rae8 17.Re2 Kh8 18.Bg3 Qh5 19.Qd1 Bc7 20.Rfe1 Bb8 21.exd5 Nxd5 22.Nf1 Nb6 23.Bc2 c5 Morozevich felt that Leko had equalised by this point and that over the next few moves Leko then proceeded to outplay him. 24.Re4 Qf7 25.Nb3 Bf5 26.R4e2 Rd8 27.Rd2 Bxc2 28.Qxc2 Rxd2 29.Nfxd2 c4 30.Nd4 Nbd7 31.Re2 a6 32.Ne4 b5 33.b4 Qd5 34.Nf2 Nb6 35.Re4 Qd7 36.Bxe5 Bxe5 37.Ng4 Bb8 38.Ne3

38...Re8?! [38...g6 followed by f5 was probably better, at least according to Morozevich. But Leko was in time trouble and happy to reduce some perceived attacking chances.] 39.g3 g6 40.Kg2 f5 41.Rxe8+ Qxe8 42.Qd2 Be5 43.Ne2 Kg7 44.Kf2 Qe7 45.f4 Bf6 46.g4 fxg4 47.Nxg4 Qd8 48.Qe3 Nd5 49.Qa7+ Qe7 50.Qxa6 Qd7 51.Nxf6 Nxf6 With reduced material Morozevich felt he was over the worst and that Leko didn't perhaps make the best of his chances. 52.Qa8 Qh3 53.Ke1 Qd3 54.Qa7+ Kh6 55.Qd4 Qb1+ 56.Kf2 Ng4+ 57.Kg3 Qxa2 58.h3 Qxe2 59.hxg4 Qe1+ 60.Kf3 Qh1+ 1/2-1/2

Svidler - Aronian Round 7. Photo © Gerard Demuydt http://www.europe-echecs.com who have videos, photos and analysis each day.

Svidler. "This is my first exchange Spanish" - "Its considered to be more harmless than it actually is." Peter Svidler decided to catch Levon Aronian out with an Exchange Ruy Lopez but once he blundered and allowed equalisation his enthusiasm for the position didn't last very long. Aronian thought he was solid throughout, we didn't find out the truth of the matter today.

Svidler,P (2735) - Aronian,L (2750) [C69]
WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Ne2 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bd7 10.Nbc3 0-0-0 11.Be3 Re8 12.Rd2 Bc6 13.Rad1 b6 14.f3 Bd6 15.Bf4 Bxf4 16.Nxf4 Svidler felt that after the exchange of these bishops white should get a lot. 16...Nh6

Svidler felt that this position should be "better forever" for white. 17.Kf2? [17.Nh5 Followed by g4. 17...Re7 18.Nd5 Rf7 19.g4 g6 20.Nhf4 Re8 21.Kg2 Ng8 22.h4 Ne7 23.Kg3 Kb7 24.Nxe7 Rfxe7 25.Rd8 c4 26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Nd5 Rd8 28.Ne3 Rxd1 29.Nxd1 g5 30.Ne3 b5 31.Nf5 c3 32.bxc3 Be8 33.Nh6 Bd7 34.hxg5 fxg5 35.Nf7 Kb6 36.Nxg5 h6 37.Nf7 Be6 38.Nxh6 Bxa2 39.Kf2 a5 40.Ke3 a4 41.Kd2 a3 42.Nf5 c5 43.Ne3 b4 44.c4 1-0 Rause,O (2565)-Cutillas Ripoll,P (2465)/ICCF corr 1994; or 17.g4 Controlling f5.] 17...f5= [17...Nf7 18.Ncd5 followed by Ne3 was the position Svidler envisioned.] 18.exf5 [18.Nfd5 fxe4 19.Nxe4 Ng4+ white doesn't have equality anymore.] 18...Nxf5 19.Re1 Rxe1 20.Kxe1 g5 A slight inaccuracy according to Svidler but he was so disgusted with his play he decided to "call it quits for the day." Aronian thought that he could achieve anything more than a draw. Nd3 or Nfd5 are the possibilities. 1/2-1/2