Wc 2007 Analysis

World Championship 2007 Mexico

The World Championship 2007 will take place from September 12 to 30 in the Sheraton Centro Histórico Hotel in Mexico City. Eight players are qualified – the tournament will be a double round robin. The prize fund is US $1.3 million.

First stop: El hemiciclo de Juarez – the monument to Benito Juárez, hero of the country

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Commentary by GM Mihail Marin The following express commentary was provided by Romanian Mihail Marin, who is the author of a number of very popular ChessBase training CDs and articles for ChessBase Magazine. GM Marin will study the games of the World Championship tournament in much greater detail and provide the full results of his analysis in the next issue of ChessBase Magazine

GM Mihail Marin in his analysis kitchen at home in Romaina Round one commentary by GM Mihail Marin A slightly dissapointing start of the World Championship. True, in all the games the position after the opening promissed a sharp and spectacular fight, but after the 20th move the players' fighting mood suddenly dropped down and all the games ended peacefully before the 30th move was reached. In one case, one of the player would have been entitled to play on at least for a while; in another game the position was simply too complicated to be adjucated as "drawn". Let us hope that it was all about fatigue after the long trip and problems of aclimatization and that we shall see longer games in the next rounds! Morozevich (2758) - Aronian (2750) World Championship Mexico (1), 13.09.2007 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3. The so-called Petrosian (or Petrosian-Kasparov) Variation, played for the first time in the game Sultan Khan-Capablanca. The mysterious Indian player won in great style, but we cannot know whether he was aware of the subtle character of his invention, since he used to play a3 or ...a6 in the opening quite frequently. (This was how the so called Chebanenko Slav was born, too). 4...Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 Morozevich is known as one of the most creative and original players of the moment. Some 10 years ago, he used to deviate from the approved paths as soon as possible (for instance, on the second move; just think of the almost forgotten Chigorin Defence and Albin Countergambit). Lately, he has changed his attitude a bit, by producing stunning novelties in well-established openings. Let us see what he has in mind for today. 7...g6 This move, transposing to some sort of Gruenfeld, came into the limelight after Korchnoi used it to defeat a young player named Kasparov in the first game of their Candidates' match in 1983. 8.h4 So, this was his idea. However, this slightly extravagant move is not really new. Among others, it has been tried by Polugajevsky against Korchnoi. 8...Bg7 9.h5 Nd7 10.Bd3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 e5

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A counter-action in the centre is the best answer to an attack on the wing. However, White's centre is solid enough yet. 12.Qc2 Qe7 13.Be4 Bxe4 14.Qxe4 0-0 15.hxg6 hxg6. Aronian correctly evaluates that White cannot create dangerous threats along the h-file. Capturing with the other pawn would have meant a significant structural concession. 16.a4 c5 17.Ba3 Rfe8

In one of the two Gruenfelds Aronian lost with White against Svidler, the structure was almost identical. Now, he shows that he learned something from the unpleasant experience. White cannot maintain his stability in the centre for too long. 18.Rc1 exd4 19.Qxe7 Rxe7 20.cxd4 Re4 21.Kf1 cxd4 22.exd4 Nf8 23.g3 Rd8 24.Rc7. A curious situation. White is not fully developed yet, but the hyper-activity of some of his pieces allows him maintain the balance even. 24...Ree8 25.Rxa7 Ra8 After exchanges on a8 anf f8, followed by Kg2 and Rb1, the game will transpose to a dead drawn rook + 2 pawns vs rook + 2 pawns ending. For once in this round, the draw agreement looks entirely well timed. 1/2-1/2.

Kramnik (2769) - Svidler (2735) World Championship Mexico (1), 13.09.2007 1.Nf3. This is precisely the starting move that led Kramnik to the highest peaks of his carrier. He abandoned it for the slightly more aggressive 1.d4 only with the occasion of his match against Kasparov. Later, he experimented with 1.e4, without too much success. Now, the cycle seems to start again. 1...d5. Svidler occasionally employed this move as an emergency exit after losing three games with the Gruenfeld in Morelia/Linares 2006. His overall result in t e closed openings was not really satisfactory either, but we can assume that for the World Championship he is better prepared. 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3

No big surprises from White's part yet. This position made part of Kramnik's repertoire in his chess youth. Although in more recent years he has flirted with the ultra-sharp 6.Bh3, too. 8...g6. Of course. A Gruenfeld specialist would take the first opportunity to develop his king's bishop in fianchetto. 9.e4 dxc4 10.e5 Qe7 11.Bxc4 Bg7 12.0-0 0-0. The structure vaguely resembles a Gruenfeld, indeed. We just have to remove the b2- and c6-pawns. However, the presence of these pawns gives the game a rather closed character, without the possibility of active piece play as in Svidler's favorite weapon. On the other hand, White cannot crush his opponent by advancing his central pawns , which is a permanent danger for Black in the Gruenfeld. 13.Re1 Rd8 14.Qe2 b6 15.Rad1

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White is the first to have completed his development, but the relatively closed character of the centre prevents him to take immediate advantage of this circumstance. 15...a5 16.Bd3 Bb7 17.Be4 b5 18.h4. Since there is not much to do in the centre, White starts a typical operation on the kingside, aiming to weaken the light squares from the neighborhood of the enemy king. 18...Nb6 19.Bb1. Clearing the e4square for the knight (in view of ...b4), but releasing the pressure along the e4-a8 diagonal. 19...c5 20.Nxb5 Ba6 21.h5 g5 22.Nh2 Rxd4 23.Rxd4

It looks as if Black has adequate counterplay in the centre, but the position is anything but drawish. On the other hand, travelling from Europe to Mexico must have been quite tireing and the opponents know eachother so well since childhood, so that the abrupt end is not completely illogical. 1/2-1/2.

Grischuk (2726) - Leko (2751) World Championship Mexico (1), 13.09.2007 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Rfe8

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12.a4. If the game was played during the precomputer era, I would have thought that there must be a misprint in the newspaper. White had just played 10.a3 and now advances the pawn again. However, since the game is transmitted live, I suppose there is no mistake at all. I will have to understand the subtleties behind this apparent loss of time before writing my "final" notes for CBM 120. 12...b4 13.Ne2 d5. Strategically, this is a double-edged decision. Black wins space in the centre, but leaves the c4square chronically weak. 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Ng3 Bf8. Black has regrouped just in time to defend his central pawn without the necessity of weakening his kingside with ...f6. 16.a5. An important decision. White did not want to live with the permanent threat of ...Na5 (and if Ba2, then ...b3!?). On the other hand, the a5-pawn is cut off his brothers and could become weak in certain cases, but this also applies to the black a6-pawn. 16...Nd4 17.Nxd4 exd4

Suddenly, it appears that Black is better developed. White's defensive resources rely on his solid position and his stability on light squares. 18.Bd2 Nf6 19.Rxe8 Rxe8 20.Bg5 Qc6 21.Qf1 Qd6. The point behind this apparent loss of time (less difficult to understand than a3-a4) is to prevent the enemy queen from developing naturally to d2. 22.Re1. However, the tempo offered to White proves useful. He can simplify the position further, neutralizing Black's advance in development. 22...Re5 23.Rxe5 Qxe5 24.Bxf6 Qxf6 25.Qe2 g6 26.Qg4 Bd6 27.Ne4

The position has changed to White's favour. All his pieces are more active than their rivals. 27...Qf4 28.Qxf4 At first glance, White's decision to offer a draw looks premature. Grischuk (2726)-Leko (2751)/Mexico 2007 [After 28.Qxf4 Bxf4 29.Nc5 Bc8 30.Bc4 Black loses a pawn. However, after 30...Bd6 31.Bxa6 (31.Nxa6 offers Black a choice between 31...Bxa6 32.Bxa6 b3 33.cxb3 Bb4 with a dead draw and 31...c5, trying to trap the knight.) 31...Bxa6 (Black can obtain an opposite coloured bishops ending with 31...Bxc5 32.Bxc8 , but the structure is complex and the a-pawn rather advanced. It is not easy to be 100% sure this is a draw.) 32.Nxa6 c5 the knight is trapped.] 1/2-1/2.

Anand (2792) - Gelfand (2733) World Championship Mexico (1), 13.09.2007

Kasimdzhanov with the Petroff Defence in the third and last game of their play-off in Elista, but it should be said the result of the opening was anything but encouraging for Black. 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 Gelfand is a renowned Najdorf specialist. However, for sich important events he seems to prefer more solid openings. He defeated

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Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nd7 8.Qd2 Ne5 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.h4

White starts advancing his kingside pawns, openly declaring his intentions to mate the enemy king. His own king is out of any immediate danger. 10...Re8 11.h5 Bf6 12.Nh2 h6 13.Be2 Be6 14.f4. However, this might be a bit exaggerated. Black did not do anything wrong yet (he just developed in natural way) to deserve such a treatment. White weakens his central squares, while his centralisation is far from optimal. Just look at his knight. 14...Nc4 15.Bxc4 Bxc4 After the elimination of White's light-squared bishop, Black can regroup easier. 16.b3 16...Bb5. This is the kind of move one plays without too much thinking. However, Black had here the stunning 16...c5!! (suggested by Frederic Friedel on Playchess during the live broadcast) at his disposal. The idea is simple: to clear the queen's way to a5 and deprive the white bishop's access to d4. With his knight on h2 and his bishop relatively inactive and slightly hanging, White would have faced serious problems of coordination. He could get out of trouble with 17.Ng4 Be6 18.Nxf6+ (unfortunately, forced) 18...Qxf6 but this would leave his light squares desperately weak. 17.Rhg1 Re4. Yummy! What a square... 18.Ng4 Qe7 19.Rde1 Re8 20.Bf2 Qd8. Just in time. To be compared with the way Grischuk exchanged rooks, keeping his kingside defended at the same time. 21.Rxe4 Rxe4 22.Re1 Rxe1+

Personally, I would prefer Black's position. The light squared bishop looks sooo powerful! He could retreat with his bishop to f8 and then make some progress in the centre. But it is around 2 a.m. in Romania and my judgment might be wrong, so I must give credit to the players. If they agreed to a draw, it must be a forced draw, or something alike. 1/2-1/2.

All results of the round

Round 1: Thursday, Sept. 13th 2007, 14:00h Vladimir Kramnik

½-½ Peter Svidler

Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Levon Aronian Viswanathan Anand

½-½ Boris Gelfand 6

Alexander Grischuk

½-½ Peter Leko

Round two commentary by GM Mihail Marin A very exciting round, with sharp battles and two decisive games. Grischuk employed a relatively rare opening plan with Black against Gelfand, who found nothing better than carrying out a tactical operation resulting in simplifications and a peaceful result. Svidler delivered a surprisingly early novelty against Leko's Marshall Attack, but later failed to take advantage of what seemed to be a favourable situation. Anand also opened a new theory file against Aronian, by exploiting in creative way the dark side of a well approved white plan. The Armenian star tried to solve his problems by tactical means, but Anand's accurate reaction left him in a joyless position. Aronian resigned after the first time control. The star game of the evening was Kramnik-Morozevich. The World Champion gradually tempted his opponent to grab material at the cost of neglecting his development. Morozevich abstained himself on the first occasion, but then kindly obliged and the position became highly irrational. Kramnik emerged out of the complications with a clear advantage, but immediately after that offered to his opponent a chance to come back into the game. Morozevich missed his chance and went down quickly.

Svidler,P (2735) - Leko,P (2751) [C89] WCh Mexico City MEX (2), 14.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

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. A principial duel between two Marshall specialists is always interesting to watch. 8...d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3. 15.Qe2!? Astonishingly, this seems to be a new move. In the main line, White hurries to place his bishop on the exposed e3-square. With his last move, Svidler expresses his belief that the higher priority is to expel the enemy queen from its threatening position. 15...Bg4 16.Qf1 Qh5 17.Nd2 Rae8 18.Rxe8 Rxe8 19.f3 Bf5 20.Ne4. In some other lines, White gladly places a rook on this square, offering an exchange sacrifice which Black accepts only rarely. Installing a knight here is a great achievement for White. 20...Bc7. A fine tactical point is that Black cannot win the pawn back with 20...Bxe4? 21.fxe4 Rxe4 because after 22.Bd1 Qg6 (forced) 23.Bc2 he loses an exchange. An impressive demonstration of the force of two bishops. 21.Bd2 Qg6

22.Re1. White hurries to complete his development. Actually, it is not entirely clear whether the modestly looking 22.Bc2 , consolidating the knight, was entirely wrong. 22...Bxe4 23.Rxe4. White had several tempting continuations at his disposal and Svidler's choice might not be the best. For the author of the express report is not much easier to decide which is the best way to maintain a stable advantage and he kindly passes the responsibility of digging in for the truth to the Chessbase Magazine 120 commentator. 23...Rxe4 24.Bc2 f5 25.fxe4 fxe4 26.Qg2 Nf6 27.Qh3 Ng4 28.Bb3+ Kf8 29.Bd1 e3 30.Bc1 h5 31.Bxg4 hxg4 32.Qf1+ Ke8 33.Bxe3 Kd7 34.Qe2 Qf5 35.b3 g6

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White has won a pawn, but Black's centralized army as well as the firm control on light squares offers him good saving chances. Besided, the white king is passive and slightly exposed. 36.Bf2 Bd6 37.c4 bxc4 38.bxc4 Bc7 39.d5 cxd5 40.cxd5 Bd6 41.a4 Qb1+ 42.Kg2 Qf5 43.Kg1 1/2-1/2.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Grischuk,A (2726) [E15] WCh Mexico City MEX (2), 14.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb7. From the spectator's point of view, a refreshing deviation from the ultra-fashionable 5...Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7. 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 c5. The other possible attempt to take advantage of the slight weakness induced by the move b3 is 7...a5. 8.Bxb4 cxb4

The only difference if compared to a popular Bogo Indian tabyia consists of White's extra-move b3. This apparently insignificant detail not only leaves the c3square weak, but also deprives the white queen from the important b3-square. An old game between two historical rivals, Karpov - Kortschnoj, Amsterdam 1987, where a genuine Bogo Indian was played, continued 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qb3 a5 10.a3 Na6 11.Nbd2 and Black could not activate his a6-knight under favourable circumstances. 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qd3 Be4 11.Qe3 Nc6 12.Nbd2 d5

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A very interesting position, played on several occasions by Romanischin (with black). White has a pawn majority in the centre, but the weakness of the c3-square offers Black unexpected ideas for counterplay. 13.Rfc1 Rc8 14.cxd5 Bxd5 15.Qd3 Bxf3 16.Nxf3 Nd5 17.Rc4. Aiming to keep the rook alive before the knight jumps to c3. 17...Nc3 18.a3

18...b5!? Grischuk refrains from the standard way of ensuring stability to his knight, 18...a5 , because this would have allowed White to activate the other rook as well. Instead, the tactical operation initiated with his last move will lead to mass simplifications and a comfortable position for Black. 19.Rxc6. Forced. The generally desirable 19.Rc5? , installing the rook on an apparently comfortable square, would lose material to 19...Nxd4! attacking not only the rook, but also the queen (in view of the threat Ndxe2+). 19...Rxc6 20.Ng5 Qxg5 21.Bxc6 Rc8 22.Bb7 Rc7 23.axb4. After 23...Nxe2+ 24.Qxe2 Rxb7 25.Qe4, White's piece activity compensates for his slightly worse pawn structure. 1/2-1/2.

Aronian,L (2750) - Anand,V (2792) [D43] WCh Mexico City MEX (2), 14.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5. An excellent way to play for a win with Black, although it should be said that White's cooperation is needed, too. In case of 6.Bxf6 (as played just one day earlier by Kramnik against Svidler), play takes a positional course. However, Aronian is not the kind of player to refrain from a sharp battle, especially when he has the white pieces. 9.Ne5 h5 10.h4 g4

Black is a pawn up, but White has a strong centre and better prospects of transferring his king to a safe location. In the next phase of the game, both players have to permanently take into account the standard pawn moves (White's) d5 or f3 and (Black's) ...b4 or ...c5. For a while, however, play continues with natural developing moves. 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Rad1 0-0 16.Bg3 Nd7

17.f3. This move is almost unanimously played here. White finally establishes a centre of pawn tension and aims to open the f-file for his king's rook. The only (but significant) drawback of this move is that it weakens the king's

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residence. 17...c5!? An interesting novelty. Previously, 17...Qb6 was considered best. Anand decides that the best way of taking advantage of the vulnerability of the enemy king is to keep the queen on her initial square. 18.dxc5. The generally desirable 18.d5 can be strongly met by 18...Be5! when White is in some sort of trouble: 19.Bxe5?! (After 19.f4 Bd4+ the black dark-squared bishop is much more active than his direct rival.) 19...Nxe5 20.f4? Qxh4! with decisive attack. 18...Qe7 19.Kh1 a6 20.a4 Bc6. Black has stabilized the position and threatens to win the c5pawn with ...Nxc5. Since 21.Rd6 can be strongly met by 21...Be5!, White is forced to resort to radical measures.

1.Nd5!? exd5 22.exd5. Normally, this kind of operation would yield White an advantage... 22...Be5! ... but only with a safer king's position! With this already familiar to us move, Anand forces his opponent to release the kingside tension and consolidates his advantage. 23.f4 Bg7 24.dxc6 Nxc5 Both White's bishops are very passive. The c6-pawn in conjunction with certain rook activity along the d-file will prove insufficient to level the balance. 25.Rd5 Ne4 26.Be1 Qe6 27.Rxh5 f5

White has temporarily won a pawn, but his rook is miserably placed. Anand went on winning convincingly. 28.Kh2 Rac8 29.Bb4 Rfe8 30.axb5 axb5 31.Re1 Qf7 32.Rg5 Nxg5 33.fxg5 Rxc6 34.Bf1 Rxe1 35.Bxe1 Re6 36.Bc3 Qc7+ 37.g3 Re3 38.Qg2 Bxc3 39.bxc3 f4 40.Qa8+ Kg7 41.Qa6 fxg3+ 0-1. Anand: "The game revolved around this move 17...c5. It's a very interesting idea. We found it just here – Nielsen suggested it about three days ago. Sometimes if you can surprise your opponent it is worth almost as much as making a lot of good moves, because he has to deal with a lot of problems over the board. He played 21.Nd5 fairly quickly, and I think he missed this plan of 22...Be5 and 23...Bg7, or he underestimated it, I don't know which. As you can see, in the whole game I am playing against this bishop on e2 – my pawns on h5 and g4, and b5 and c4 control this bishop. This turned out to be the deciding factor in the game."

Kramnik,V (2769) - Morozevich,A (2758) [E04] WCh Mexico City MEX (2), 14.09.2007 [Marin,Mihail]

1.Nf3. When Kramnik played this move in the previous round, I thought he might have just wanted to avoid Svidler's Grünfeld. Now, it seems that he really switched back to the favourite weapon of his youth. 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4. However, the Catalan is a relatively recent "discovery" of Kramnik and his results with it have been excellent. Apparently, the subtle combination of tactical and strategic motifs suits his talent quite well. This game is an excellent illustration. 4...dxc4 5.Bg2 a6 6.Ne5. The more ambitious continuation is supposed to be 6.0-0 . The text move is considered to offer Black an equal game after 6...c5, but both Morozevich and Kramnik seem to have a different opinion... 6...Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nd5

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Morozevich aims to put his mighty opponent under direct pressure from an early stage of the game. This policy will soon turn against himself as a boomerang. 8.0-0!? A novelty. White simply ignores Black's apparently strong threat and continues his development. The move is simple and logical, but its consequences are not easy to evaluate. This often happens in the sharp lines of the Catalan: you know exactly what you have to do, but cannot always trust your judgement, because of the irrational character of the position. 8...0-0. This looks like some sort of concession, after which Black's ambitious play in the previous phase of the game loses part of its meaning. Morozevich might have feared Kramnik's famously deep home preparation, but I must say that at first sight it is not easy to see the danger for Black after 8...Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bxc3 . Obviously, he is strongly underdeveloped, but for the time being he is two pawns up. Proving White's compensation is beyond the scope of the express report, but I shall do my best to make some adequate suggestions in CBM 120. 9.Qc2 b5 10.Nxd5 exd5

The first optical sensation is that a massive migration of Black's pieces from the kingside to the opposite wing has taken place. Paradoxically, White will not try to attack the slightly vulnerable king's position, but will hit precisely on the side where Black has such an apparently strong group of forces. This is enabled by the fact that all the queenside pieces are undeveloped yet, while the b4-bishop is vulnerable. 11.b3 c6 12.e4. Three of Black's pawns are under serious pressure now. Morozevich puts more wood into the fire with 12...f6 13.exd5!! Further analysis might prove that the objective merits of this move are debatable, although I very much doubt it. (Refer to the final part of the comment after 8.0-0). However, for the time being, I will limit myself to saying that the enthusiastic evaluation refers to White's courage, in the best spirit of the good old romantic times. From practical point of view, Black's position is very difficult to play. 13...fxe5 14.bxc4. It is not easy to understand what happens on board after these three consecutive pawn captures. Black has won a piece for a pawn, but is strongly underdeveloped and has to avoid dxe5 somehow. 14...exd4. Four. 15.dxc6. Five. 15...Be6. Morozevich finally starts developing his queenside. Books recommend to develop knights and only then bishops, but how to accomplish that in this position? 16.cxb5! Kramnik is not interested in winning the undeveloped a8-rook. He just carries out his "plan". The immediate threat is c7; in the meanwhile, White has created two connected pawns. 16...d3 17.c7 Qd4 18.Qa4 Nd7 19.Be3 Qd6 20.Bxa8 Rxa8

White has retrieved his material investment with some interest and preserves his passed pawns. Still, the position remains complicated and certain accuracy is still required. 21.Bf4? Kramnik cold have crowned his logical play by just completing the

mobilisation of his forces with 21.Rac1! which "incidentally" threatens to promote the pawn. After 21...Rc8 22.Rc6 followed by Rxe6, White obtains a decisive material advantage. 21...Qf8? Kindly returning the favour. Black misses his chance to

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change the course of the game with 21...Qd5!! , when 22.Qxb4? is impossible because of 22...Qf3-+ , with the decisive threats ..Bd5 or ...Bh3. 22.b6!

Now it's all over. These pawns cannot be stopped. 22...Nxb6 drops a piece to 23.Qc6, while Morozevich' desperate (but delayed!) counterplay cannot change anything. 22...Ne5 23.Bxe5 Qf3 24.Qd1 Qe4 25.b7 Rf8 26.c8Q Bd5 27.f3 1-0.

All results of the round

Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

½-½ Peter Leko

Boris Gelfand

½-½ Alexander Grischuk

Levon Aronian

0-1

Viswanathan Anand

Vladimir Kramnik

1-0

Alexander Morozevich

Round three commentary by GM Mihail Marin This was a day with several curious moments. Playing with White against Svidler, Morozevich quickly fell behind in development and his position looked highly suspicious. Svidler might have been surprized by the ease with which he had obtained an advantage or just confused by the wide choice of tempting continuations; in any case, he first allowed to his opponent to equalize and then take over the initiative. Shortly before the time control, he resigned. Anand's opening experiment against Kramnik did not yield him anything concrete. His attempt to maintain the initiative led to a rook endgame with a pawn down, which, however, he defended quite confidently. The game ended in a... stalemate! In Grischuk-Aronian it was not entirely clear who tricked whom in the opening. Aronian intended to sacrifice a pawn, but eventually found himself with a pawn up and... defending. After 27 moves Grischuk had obtained a decisive attack, which he converted into an immediate draw by repetition.

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In the longest game of the evening, Gelfand struggled for a long while with Black against Leko. The situation changed abruptly when the Hungarian GM retreated with his queen on the back rank shortly before the 40th move. Play simplified to a queen ending with winning chances for Black, but Leko defended well and squeezed a draw on the 100th move. P.S. My special thanks to Knut Johnsen, who highlighted a mistake in my comments to Svidler-Leko, from the previous round: "The move 15.Qe2 is not new! I have five games with this variation in my database: Apicella-Boudre 0-1, 1987; Schrlank-Perlega 1/2-1/2, 1998; Rousar-Smutny 1/2-1/2, 2001; Nolan-Watson 0-1, 2002; and NemkovaBobras 1-0 from 2007. After move 16...Qh5 we have reached the same position as in the game Kapengut-Malaniuk from 1985, but this game was on move 16 instead of 17!"

Morozevich,A (2758) - Svidler,P (2735) [C45] WCh Mexico City MEX (3), 15.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.0-0 Ne5

9.Bb3!? Morozevich remains faithful to his style. Instead of the approved 9.Be2, he plays a move that has been only rarely seen in games between strong players. 9...d6 10.f3. But this is "almost" a novelty. In most of the games, White preferred to develop his queen's knight, ignoring the threat ...Ng4. 10...Be6 11.Kh1 Bc4 12.Rf2 d5

White's opening experiment seems to have ended into a complete fiasco. He is behind in development and his advantage of space is just about to vanish. 13.Bc2 dxe4. Black had a wide choice of tempting moves. The most logical seems to be 13...Rad8 , but then White could consider playing f4, immediately or after driving the bishop away with b3.; Maybe 13...Qh4 is best, preventing f4 in view of ...Ng4 and planning to place his rooks on the open files. It would not have been easy for White to complete his development. 14.Nd2! White hurries to bring his pieces into play. The point behind his last move is that 14...exf3? loses a piece to 15.Nxc4 Nxc4 16.Qd3, atacking c4 and h7. 14...Bd3?! After this move White is back in the game. Once he cleared the d5-square with his previous move, Black should have used it with 14...Nd5 for instance 15.Nxe4 Qb6 and White is still under pressure. 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.fxe4 Qg6 17.Rf4

White has a normal position now; chances are about equal. Svidler must have ben still under the impression of his missed advantage, because in the next phase of the game he effectuates a series of pseudo-active moves, completely losing coordination. 17...Nc4 18.Bg1 Qh6 19.Rf3 Qd2 20.Qb1 Bb6 21.Bb3!

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Suddenly, Black is in trouble. If the knight moves, Be3 wins the queen. 21...Bxd4 22.cxd4. But now, White's pair of bishops and his mobile centre offers him a huge advantage. 22...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.

Anand,V (2792) - Kramnik,V (2769) [C42] WCh Mexico City MEX (3), 15.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 0-0 10.Nc3 Bf5 11.a3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.Re1 Re8 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.Qa4. A rare continuation, aiming to take Kramnik "out of book". 16...Bd7 17.Qc2. This seems to be a new move. 17.Rab1 was played a couple fo times. 17...Qf5 18.Qxf5 Bxf5 19.Bb5 Bd7 20.d5 Ne5 21.Bxd7 Nxd7

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Anand's experiment did not work out too well. Kramnik played relatively quickly and obtained an entirely satisfactory position. White's centre could become more of a weakness if Black is allowed to install his minor pieces on c5 and d6. 22.Bxc7!? White tries to maintain his initiative, but further simplifications will turn the position slightly dangerous for him. 22...Rxc7 23.d6 Rxc3 24.dxe7 f6

With queens on board, the e7-pawn would most probably ensure White's win, but in the endgame it is more of a source of worries. 25.Rad1 Rc7 26.Nd4 Ne5 27.f4 Nc6 28.Nxc6 bxc6 29.Rd6 c5 30.Ree6 c4 31.Rc6 Rexe7 32.Rxc4 Rxc4 33.Rxe7 Ra4 34.Rb7 White will lose a pawn, but the drawish tendency of this type of ending is well-known. In the "theoretical" position, White's f-pawn stands on its initial square. The way it is, it could easily become a weakness, but also ensure White a stable advantage of space on the kingside. 34...h6. 34...h5!? looks more active. 35.f5 Rxa3 36.Kf2 h5 37.g3 a5. 37...h4!? would have offered more chances to keep White under pressure, by keeping the king's access to the f5-pawn open. 38.Ra7 a4 39.h4!

White is out of any danger now. The kingside is practically frozen and the huge advantage of space prevents the standard plan: push the pawn to a3, in order to leave the a2-square available for the transfer of His Majesty. If Black tries to do so, he would lose the g7-pawn, after which White's counterplay (for instance g4) is much more dangerous than in the standard position (pawns on f2, g3, h4 and symmetrical for Black). 39...Ra2+ 40.Kf3 a3 41.Ke3 Ra1 42.Kf2 Kf8 43.Kg2 a2. This move somewhat restricts the activity of White's pieces (Kf2? loses to ...Rh1 and things like that), but there is no place to hide for the black king either. 44.Kh2 Ke8 45.Kg2 Kd8 46.Kh2 Kc8 47.Kg2 Kb8 48.Ra3 Kb7 49.Ra4 Kb6 50.Ra8 Kc5 51.Ra7 Kd5 52.Ra4 Ke5 53.Ra5+ Ke4 54.Kh2. Actually, this move is not forced. decades ago, Kholmov has proven that even without the f5-pawn White can hold a draw. The only winning chance for Black is to create a passed pawn on the f-file, but this is impossible in case of accurate defence from White. 54...Kf3 55.Ra3+ Kf2 56.Ra4 Kf1

57.Kh1. But this is an important move. In case of a neutral move such as 57.Ra5? , Black can simplify to a won pawn ending with 57...Re1 58.Rxa2 Re2+ 59.Rxe2 Kxe2 , for instance 60.Kg2 Ke3 61.g4 Kf4! 62.gxh5 Kg4 and it is all over. 57...Ke1 58.Kg2. But now, there was no need to get back on the second rank. 58...Kd1 [58...Rd1 is very much the same as in the game. 59.Ra7 Rc1 60.Rxa2 Rc2+ 61.Rxc2 Kxc2 62.Kf3. This is the difference. The white king is active enough now. Curiously, he will have to use this acitivity for getting... stalemated!! 62...Kd3 63.g4 hxg4+ 64.Kxg4 Ke4

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Did Anand miscalculate anything? 65.Kh5! Not really! 65...Kxf5 and, entirely in accordance with the Sofia rule, players had to split the point. 1/2-1/2.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Aronian,L (2750) [C88] WCh Mexico City MEX (3), 15.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 Nothing really new or thrilling so far... 9...d5!? But this looks quite unexpected! Aronian wants to play in the spirit of the Marshall Attack irrespective of White's cautious opening choice. At this level, the move has never been played before. 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.c3!? Grischuk played this move after a long thought. He probably did not feel ready to check Aronian's analysis. The whole variation had been successfully employed with Black earlier this year by Ivan Sokolov and Peter Heine Nielsen. The main point is that after 11.Nxe5 Black does not capture on e5 (as he does in the genuine Marshall Attack), but takes advantage of the fact that the d4-square is not under white control with 11...Nd4! The idea is not new in fact, previously it was seen in an under 16 girl competition (1996)... After the text move, it was Aronian's turn to sink into deep thought. It appears that play has just transposed to a different variation, where the moves c3 and d3 are effectuated in reversed order... 11...Bf6. In the most recent example at high level wher this position occured (with reversed move order, though), Black prefered 11...Qd6 12.Nbd2 Rad8 13.Ne4 Qd7 , with an acceptable position for Black, although he later went down abruptly, Kamsky-Bacrot, Elista (m) 2007. 12.Nbd2 Nf4. 12...g6 is more cautious. 13.Ne4 Nxd3 14.Nxf6+ gxf6 15.Re4 Nxc1 16.Rg4+ Kh8 17.Qxc1 White's compensation for the sacrificed pawn is beyond any doubt. The chronic weakness of the enemy kingside offers him excellent atacking chances. Imagine Black's frustration: he intended to sacrifice a pawn himself, in order to take over the initiative and all he got is the opposite situation! 17...Ne7 18.Bc2 The start of a massive migration of White's pieces towards the enemy kingside. 18...Rg8 [Avoiding the trap 18...Bxf3?? 19.Qh6 Ng6 20.Rh4!! with mate to follow.] 19.Qh6 Ng6 20.Nh4 Qf8 21.Qh5 Qe8 22.Re1 Rd8 23.Bf5 Bc8 24.Bxc8 Rxc8 25.Nf5 Qd7 26.Ree4 Rcd8 27.Kh2 Qd1

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White has completed his regroupment, but, unexpectedely, Grischuk decides to force a draw. 28.Nh6?! Instead, he could have obtained an overwhelming advantage with 28.Qh6! , threatening Rh4, and if ...Nxh4, then Qxf6+ followed by mate on g7. 28...Qd2 The only try. 29.f4! Rd6 (Defending f6. If 29...exf4 30.Rh4 , Black is forced to sacrifice the queen with 30...Qxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Nxh4+ 32.Kf2 Nxf5 , but after 33.Qxf6+ Ng7 34.Rd4 he is too passive to count on saving the game.) 30.fxe5 Qxh6 (30...fxe5?! shortens Black's suffering because of 31.Rg5! , with the terrible threat Qxh7+ followed by Rh5+ and mate on h6.) 31.Nxh6 Rb6 32.exf6!? The most ambitious continuation, although the g8-rook was not poisoned either. 32...Rf8 33.Ref4! White calmly defends his important f6-pawn and Black is helpless in view of the threat h4-h5. The point is that 33...Nxf4 allows mate in 2 with 34.Rg8+! Rxg8 35.Nxf7#. 28...Rg7 29.Nf5 Rgg8 30.Nh6?? Rg7 31.Nf5 1/2-1/2

Leko,P (2751) - Gelfand,B (2733) [C42] WCh Mexico City MEX (3), 15.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nd7 8.Qd2 Ne5 9.0-0-0 0-0

10.h3. A very rare move. We are familiar with 10.h4 from the game Anand-Gelfand, played just two days earlier. 10...Nxf3 11.gxf3 Bf5 12.h4 Re8 13.h5 Bf6

Optically speaking, White's position does not look too appealing. He has several structural deffects, while Black has a normal development. However, one of the first (if not the very first) criteria of evaluating a position is the situation of the kings. White's pressure along the g-file could become unpleasant for the black king, meaning that Black has to overcome certain difficulties before entering a long-dreamed better ending. 14.Rg1 Qe7 15.Kb1 d5 16.Bd3 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Rad8 18.Rg4 Kh8 19.a3 b6 20.Rdg1 h6 21.Qd2 Kh7 22.Bd4 Rg8 23.Re1 Qd6

24.Bxf6 gxf6. Forced, because 24...Qxf6 loses the f7-pawn to 25.Rf4 , for instance 25...Qg5 26.Qd3+

Kh8 27.Rf5 Qh4 28.Rxf7 with advantage to White. . After the text move, we can conclude that White has

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converted hislong-term pressure into something of more stable nature, by chronically weakening Black's kingside. Besides, the pressure persists. 25.Qd3+ Kh8 26.Qa6 Rxg4 27.fxg4. Ironically, it is White who has the better structure on the kingside now. However, the black king starts feeling slightly more secure. 27...Qc6 28.Re7 Qd6 29.Re3 Qc6 30.Qd3 Kg7 31.Re7 Kf8 32.Re1 Kg7 33.f4 Qd6 34.Qf3 c5 Facing the permanent threat of g5, Black decides to react in the centre. 35.Qf2 d4 36.Rd1 Qe6 37.Re1 Qd5 38.Rd1 Qe6 39.Qg1

From here, the queen sustains the planned break g5 and keeps the d4-pawn under pressure. However, placing such an important piece far from the centre hardly offers chances for an advantage. 39...Qe4. Gelfand's major pieces are familiar with this square from his game against Anand. I assume that this time he would not refrain from grabbing the f4-pawn, if only given a chance. 40.g5 fxg5 41.fxg5 d3 42.cxd3 Rxd3 43.Rxd3 Qxd3+ 44.Ka1 Qf5

Suddenly, the situation has changed very much to Black's favour. Both his remaining pieces (yes, the king IS a piece in the endgame) are more active than White's. Soon, Black will get a dangerous kingside passed pawn. 45.g6 fxg6 46.hxg6 h5 47.Qg3 Qf1+ 48.Ka2 Qc4+ 49.Ka1 Qf1+ 50.Ka2 Qc4+ 51.Ka1 Qg4 52.Qc7+ Kxg6 53.Qxa7 Qd1+ 54.Ka2 Qd5+ 55.Ka1 Qd1+ 56.Ka2 Qd6 57.Qa8 Qe6+ 58.Ka1 Qe1+ 59.Ka2 Qe6+ 60.Ka1 h4 61.Qg2+ Kh5 62.Qf3+ Kg5 63.Qg2+ Kh5 64.Qf3+ Kg5 65.Qg2+ Qg4 66.Qd2+ Kf5 67.Qd5+ Kf4 68.Qd6+ Kf3 69.Qf6+ Kg2 70.Qc6+ Qf3 71.Qg6+ Kf1 72.Qxb6

In queen endings, the number of pawns is less relevant than the degree of danger they are posing. Obviously, the h3-pawn is a very serious candidate to promotion, but the part played by White's queenside pawns should not be underestimated. Without them, Black would probably find a form to parry the checks with a counter-check, or by pining the enemy queen. 72...h3 73.Qd6 Qf2 74.Qd3+ Kg2 75.Qd5+ Kg1 76.Ka2 Qf4 77.Qxc5+

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For instance, in the absence of the b2-pawn, ...Qf2+ would win now. 77...Kf1 78.Qb5+ Ke1 79.Qd5 h2 80.c4 Qh4 81.Qe5+ Kd1 82.Qd5+ Ke2 83.Qe5+ Kd1 84.Qd5+ Kc1 85.Qh1+ Kd2 86.Qd5+ Ke3 87.Qe5+ Kf3 88.Qf5+ Qf4 89.Qd3+ Kf2 90.Qd5 Kg1 91.Qg8+ Kf2 92.Qd5 Qf3 93.Qd2+ Kg1 94.Qg5+ Kf1 95.Qc1+ Kf2 96.Qd2+ Kg3 97.Qg5+ Kh3 98.Qh6+ Kg3 99.Qg5+ Qg4 100.Qd5 Qf3 and, having reached the 100th move, Gelfand decided to call it a day. 1/2-1/2.

All results of the round

Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Morozevich

1-0

Peter Svidler

Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Levon Aronian Peter Leko

½-½ Boris Gelfand

Round four commentary by GM Mihail Marin There have been many missed opportunities in this World Championship so far and this round is no exception. Playing with white against Grischuk, Kramnik once again proved his excellent home preparation in an almost nonexistent variation. Later, he converted his slight advantage into a decisive one, but during his opponent's time

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trouble transposed to an endgame which offered him only slim chances for success. Grischuk defended accurately and obtained a draw. Anand won a pawn with Black relatively quickly in his game against Morozevich. His position remained more or less winning for a long time, but he missed several favourable possibilities. Even in the moment when he forced a draw by repetition, White was still far from equality... Svidler-Gelfand was a relatively uneventful game which ended with a draw. The Israeli GM seems to be quite confident in the Petroff defence... Aronian-Leko developed as a slow manoeuvring game, typical for the Hedgehog structure. At some point Leko seems to have lost patience and sacrificed a piece without obtaining real compensation. Aronian won without any difficulties.

Kramnik,V (2769) - Grischuk,A (2726) [E06] WCh Mexico City MEX (4), 16.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5. Frankly speaking, it seems to me that entering the Catalan paths against Kramnik nowadays is a bit like playing with fire. This subtle opening seems to suit the World Champion's present personality and style perfectly. In this game, he will once again prove his deep opening preparation and only a time trouble miracle will save Grischuk. 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Ra7 11.a3!? A very rare move. White usually develops his king's rook to c1 or d1, waiting for Black to develop his knight, in order to play Ba5. Kramnik seems to believe that the modest advance of the a-pawn, keeping the enemy pawns under control, is a more useful waiting move. 11...Nbd7 12.Ba5 Qa8!? Grischuk aims for rapid activation of his pieces, probably with the secret hope to surprize his well prepared opponent. If the latter is true, a bitter disappointment awaited him... A more common continuation would have been 12...Be4 13.Qc1 Qb8 14.Nbd2 Ba8 15.b4 White has stabilized the queenside and could think about gradual central expansion. 13.Qxc7. Played without too much thinking. 13...Rc8 14.Qf4 Rc2 15.Nbd2 Rxb2 16.Rfc1 Nd5 17.Qe4 Up to this moment, Kramnik had spent less than a quarter of an hour. Quite suggestive for the degree of successfulness of Grischuk's surprize... 17...b4 18.Qd3 bxa3 19.Nc4 Bc6 20.Nxa3 Bb5 21.Nc4 Bb4 22.Qd1 Bxc4 23.Rxc4 Bxa5 24.Rxa5

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White has the more compact pawn structure and a very strong light-squared bishop. However, this position might have caused Kramnik contradictory feelings. To a certain extent, the position is similar to the first game of his match against Topalov. On that occasion, he had to defend for a long time on the edge of the precipice, but eventually won. 24...Qb8 25.Nd2 N5b6 26.Rc1 g6 27.Ne4 Rb5 28.Ra2 a5 29.Nc5 Qd6 30.Nb7 Qb8 31.Qd3 Rh5 32.Nc5 Nd5 33.Qc4 N5b6 34.Qc3 Nd5 35.Qa1 Nxc5 36.Rxc5

The pawn cannot be saved anymore. 36...Nb4 37.Raxa5 Nc2 38.Rxa7? This spectacular move lets the advantage slip away. 38.Qa2! would have won the pawn and, most probably, the game. 38...Nxa1 39.Ra8 Qxa8 40.Bxa8 Rxc5 41.dxc5 Kf8 42.c6 Ke7 43.c7 Kd7 44.Bc6+ Kxc7 45.Ba4

White still has some winning chances. The knight is isolated in the corner, while the black pawns are vulnerable. A new miracle is needed... 45...Kb6 46.Kg2 Kc5 47.Kf3 Kb4 48.Be8 f6 49.Bf7 Nb3. Indirectly defending the pawn and winning an essential tempo. 50.e3 Nc5 51.h4 Kc3 52.Bg8 h6 53.Bf7 g5 54.Kg4 Ne4 55.hxg5 hxg5 56.Bxe6 Nxf2+ 57.Kf5 Kd3 The incredible has just happened. Black's pieces came back into play just in time. 58.Kxf6 Ne4+ 59.Kg6 Nxg3 60.Kxg5 Kxe3 1/2-1/2.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Anand,V (2792) [D47] WCh Mexico City MEX (4), 16.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 a6 10.e4 c5 11.d5 There was a time when one could play the Reynolds Attack just by inspiration. Now, (almost) everything is deeply analyzed... 11...c4 12.Bc2 Qc7 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.Nd4 Nc5 15.Be3 e5 16.Nf5 g6 17.Nh6 Bg7

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Strategically, Black is more than okay. He has a mobile queenside majority and the d4-square at his disposal for the knights. Besides, all his pieces are actively placed; with one exception, the king: His Majesty cannot be transferred to the kingside, while the long castle supposes certain dangers. 18.Qf3 Ne6 19.Qh3 Bc8 20.Qh4 Qe7 21.Rfe1

21...Nd5! The culmination of Black's defensive plan. After the exchange of queens, the king will feel much safer and Black would maintain the favourable aspects of his position. 22.Qxe7+ Nxe7 23.Nd5. Since the remote times when I played 1.e4, I remember that it is always useful to play 23.a4 before jumping with the knight to d5. However, there is a small tactical detail here: after 23...Nf4 the h6-knight feels uncomfortable. 23...Bb7 24.Ng4. Hoping to get some counterplay against the e5-pawn in case of the immediate double capture on d5. 24...Nd4 25.Bd1 Nxd5 26.exd5 0-0-0 27.Bg5 Rxd5

White has lost an important pawn without any compensation. However, Black's kingside structure is far from optimal, which offers White chances to stay alive for a while. 28.b3 c3 29.Ne3 Rc5 30.Rc1 Rc7 31.b4 Kb8 32.h3 h6 33.Bh4 Nf5 34.Nxf5 gxf5 35.Bc2 Rc4 36.Be7 e4 37.Bb3 Rd4 38.Bc5 Rd3 39.Be6 Bc8 40.Bb3 Re8 41.Bf7 Re5 42.Be3 Re7 43.Bg6 Be6 44.h4 Bxa2 45.Bxf5 Bd5 46.Bc5 Re8 47.f3 Kb7 48.fxe4 Bc6

White has managed to win his pawn back, but his king is very exposed. 49.Kf2 Rd2+ 50.Ke3 Be5. Not the only good move. Black could have created a second passed pawn with 50...a5!? since 51.bxa5? is impossible because of 51...Rd5! winning one of the bishops. 51.Kf3 Red8 52.Re3 Rg8 53.g4 Rh2 54.h5 Rd8 55.g5 Rxh5 56.Be7

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56...Re8?! Slowing down the rhythm. Black would have obtained a practically decisive attack with 56...Rd2 for instance 57.Rcxc3 Rhh2 Threatening mate in two and practically forcing the next move. 58.gxh6 Be8! when the king cannot survive the combined attack of all Black's pieces. Anand's failure to win this game might have been caused by the fact that he expected to achieve his goal by purely technical means, not by a sharp attack. If this is true, Morozevich' merit consists of having faced his mighty opponent with such a difficult psychological task. 57.Kg4 Rh2 58.Bf6

58...Rg2+. Anand's decision to force a draw looks premature. he could have maintained his advantage with 58...Rg8 59.Kf3 (After 59.Bxe5 Rxg5+ Black would win the f5-bishop because of the pin of the central pawn.) 59...Rxg5! 60.Bxg5 hxg5 with total domination. 59.Kh3 Rh2+ 60.Kg4 Rg2+ 61.Kh3 1/2-1/2.

Svidler,P (2735) - Gelfand,B (2733) [C42] WCh Mexico City MEX (4), 16.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Bf4

Gelfand proved already his ability of defending the positions where Black is allowed to install his knight on e5. For a change, Svidler takes this square under serious observation. 7...0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Nc5 10.Be3 Re8 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.h4 Qd7 14.Qd5 Qc6 15.Qf5 Nf8 16.h5 Qd7 17.Qd5 Qe6 18.c4 Qxd5 19.cxd5 Nd7

White retains an advantage of space, but this element loses part of its relevance because of the previous simplifications. 20.Nd4 Nf6 21.Nf5 Bf8 22.Bd4 Nxd5 23.Bxg7 Ne7 24.Nxe7+ Rxe7 1/2-1/2.

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Aronian,L (2750) - Leko,P (2751) [A33] WCh Mexico City MEX (4), 16.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Nc6

6.a3!? This move was popularized by the eternally young Viktor Korchnoi. White aims to obtain a Hedgehog structure. The move a3 could prove a loss of time at a later stage, but the c6-knight is also far from optimally placed for the aforementioned structure. 6...Be7 7.e4 0-0 8.Nf3 d6 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Bf4 Ne5 12.Nd2 Ng6 13.Bg3 Rc8 14.Re1 a6 15.Rc1 Qc7 16.b4

Both sides have carried out their plans in consequent way. Black's queen's knight occupies a "typical" square for this kind of positions, while the a3-pawn proves useful by sustaining his colleague from b4 for the eventuality of a central break (...d5). We shall now see a long phase of slow maneuvering. 16...Qb8 17.Bf1 Rfd8 18.Qe2 Nd7 19.Qe3 h6 20.Nf3 Ba8 21.Red1 Nde5 22.Nd2 Ng4 23.Qe2 N4e5 24.f4 Nd7 25.Nf3 Bf6 26.Qe3. White's queen has been constantly avoiding the opposition with the enemy rooks and the brutal attacks of the minor pieces. This did not cause any concession from White's part, but also prevented him from making significant progress. 26...Re8

27.Be1 [For the moment, 27.e5 was not possible yet because of 27...dxe5! 28.Rxd7 exf4 winning back the piece] 27...Bd8? [Playing with fire. 27...Rcd8 would have maintained the previous stage of the issue.] 28.e5! dxe5 29.Rxd7 exf4 30.Qe2 e5 31.Ne4 Be7 32.c5 bxc5 33.bxc5 Bc6 34.Rdd1 Black has no adequate compensation for the sacrificed piece. 34...Bb5 35.Qb2 Qa7 36.Bxb5 axb5 37.Bf2 Qa8 38.Nd6 e4 39.Nxe8 Rxe8 40.Nd4 Bf6 41.c6 e3 42.Be1 f3 43.gxf3 Nf4 44.Bg3 Ne6 45.Qb4 1-0. All results of the round

Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

½-½ Boris Gelfand

Levon Aronian

1-0

Vladimir Kramnik

½-½ Alexander Grischuk

Peter Leko

Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Viswanathan Anand 24

Round five commentary by GM Mihail Marin The free day seems to have had a refreshing effect over the players. For the first time from the start of the tournament, three of the games were decided! Anand managed to neutralize Svidler's initiative with an ease rarely seen nowadays in the Marshall Attack. Later, he initiated a queenside diversion, which was eventually crowned by a simple attack on the opposite wing. Svidler resigned after losing two more pawns from his king's guard. Grischuk found an elegant way to refute Morozevich' strategically over-ambitious opening plan. When the complications were over, White was an exchange up, with just vague chances for Black to mud the waters. Leko did not take too much risks with white against Kramnik and a draw was agreed after mass exchanges in an almost symmetrical position. Playing with white against Aronian, Gelfand came up with a new plan that yielded him a favourable (for white) version of the Benoni. However, he delayed his castle unnecessarily and Aronian came back into the game. Premature activity in a complicated position left Black without compensation for the sacrificed material and Gelfand emerged as winner.

Anand,V (2792) - Svidler,P (2735) [C89] WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 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 Earlier in this tournament, Svidler managed to put the Marshall Attack under strong pressure in his game against Leko. Now, he finds himself on the other side. 12.Re1 Bd6 13.g3!? This was one of Fischer's favourite move order. White prevents the standard move ...Qh4. 13...Bf5. This move has been played before, but it remains an open question what could have prepared Anand against 13...Qd7 followed by ...Qh3, with probable transposition to the main lines. 14.d4 Qd7 15.Be3 Rae8 16.Nd2 Bg4 17.Qc2 Bf5 18.Qc1

18...Re7. Svidler deviates from 18...h5 , which had been played by Anand himself! In Leko - Anand, Cap d'Agde 2003 Black won, but this was just a rapid game and Anand might have drawn his own conclusions despite the favourable result.] 19.Nf3 [The first new move of the game. Previously, 19.Nf1 was played (Almasi-Gyimesi, Kazincbarcika (Hungary) 2005). Rather than placing it passively on the back rank, Anand uses his knight for putting the enemy kingside under some pressure, which will eventually cause some weaknesses in Black's camp. 19...Bg4 20.Nh4 Rfe8 21.Qd2 h6 22.Qd3

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Black exerts his usual pressure against the e3bishop, but White is fully developed and retains his extra-pawn. Anand's opening experiment has been crowned by sucess. 22...g6 23.Bd1 Bh3 24.Bf3 g5. If not followed by a concrete attacking action, this move will just leave the kingside desperately weak. 25.Ng2 Bf5 26.Qd1 Nf6 27.a4 Since the e-file is under severe Black control, Anand creates a queenside diversion. It is interesting that this will be just a prelude to a... kingside attack, one of Mikhail Tal's favourite methods. 27...Ne4 28.axb5 axb5 29.Ra6 Qb7 30.Qa1 Bc8 31.Ra8 Bb8 32.Bc1 Nf6 33.Rxe7 Rxe7 34.Qa3 Rd7 35.Ra5 Ba7

Black has managed to hold his own on the queenside, but his coordination is rather poor. 36.Ne3! Black has no adequate way to parry the simple threat Nf5. 36...Qc7. 36...Re7 37.Bxc6; or 36...Rc7 37.Qd6 are equally hopeless. 37.Nf5 c5 38.Nxh6+ Kh7 39.Bxg5 1-0.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Morozevich,A (2758) [D38] WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4. Although 1.e4 is Grischuk's main weapon with white, he has successfully experimented with the queen's pawn during the last years. It is hard to believe that he had prepared anything concrete for this game, given the unpredictable character of Morozevich' opening choice. It is more likely that he simply intended to avoid his opponent's specific preparation. 1...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 10.Bf5 0-0 11.0-0 Re8 12.Nd2 g6 13.Bh3 One of the main tabyias of the Westphalia variation of the Ragozin System. White has a better development and a generally promissing plan of opening play in the centre with e4. However, Black's advantage of space and piece pressure on the queenside offers him good chances for counterplay. The final evaluation of the positoon depends to a great extent on White's ability to find a useful job for his slightly awkwardly placed h3-bishop. 13...Kg7 14.Rae1. Planning f3 and e4. Optically, White's piece regroupment looks impressive, but the structural modifications induced by Black's next move are far from one-sided. 14...Ne4 15.Ndxe4 dxe4

Black has cleared the d5-square and if he will manage to transfer here his knight (or, eventually, the light-squared bishop), he would obtain wonderful play. However, his delay in development makes it relatively difficult to stabilize the position. White's main threat is f3, when his kingside positional attack would take alarming proportions. 16.Bf4 f5. This ambitious move was not played before. Morozevich is famous for preparing at home interesting novelties in

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well-known positions, but in this case he seems to have worked it out over-the-board, judging from the time he took before moving. Or maybe he just wanted to remember and check his analysis?! Black's intention is to cage the h3bishop. If crowned by success, such a plan would offer him an advantage, but if it fails for some tactical reasons, the chronic weakening of the dark squares would leave Black in trouble. 17.f3 Nf6 18.a3 Bxc3 19.bxc3 h5. Consequent, but very risky. Black weakens his king's poition even more, delaying his quenside development at the same time. Morozevich might have feared that in case of 19...Bd7 , White would open the position with g4, either here or after the intremediate capture on e4.

20.Qf2!! Simple and very strong. White abandons his queenside pawns to the mercy of fate, in oder to concentrate his forces against the poorly defended black kingside. 20...Bd7 21.Qg3 Qxc3 22.Be5 Qxa3 23.fxe4 Rxe5

It might seem that Black's risky strategy has been crowned by success. After 24. Qxe5 Re8 followed by either ...Nxe4 or ...Rxe4, he would stabilize the position, retaining excellent compensation for the exchange. 24.exf5! Shattering all Black's ilusions. The weakness of the g6-square prevents Black from maintaining his temporary material advantage. 24...Rxf5 25.Bxf5 Bxf5 26.Rxf5 White is close to winning. Black's pawns are not dangerous yet, while the king has not reached absolute safety yet. 26...Re8 27.Re5 Qd6 28.Rxe8. Possibly not best. By symplifying the position, White reduces his attacking chances. 28.Rb5 cae into consideration, when 28...Qxg3? loses an important pawn to the intermediate 29.Rxb7+!+-. 28...Nxe8 29.Qf3 b5 30.Qb7+ Nc7 31.Qxa7 b4

The position has become optically unclear, but it is hard to say whether Black has real saving chances. In the game, he failed to prove that. 32.e4 c3 33.e5 Qe7 34.Qb7 Kh6 35.Rf1 c2 36.Rc1 Qg5 37.Rxc2 Qe3+ 38.Rf2 Ne6 39.Qxb4 Qc1+ 40.Rf1 Qe3+ 41.Kh1 1-0.

Leko,P (2751) - Kramnik,V (2769) [C24] WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

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1.e4 e5 2.Bc4!? Anything is preferable to a Petroff. 2...Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Nf3 d6 5.c3 Nc6 From the Bishop's Opening, play has transposed to the Italian game, the Giuoco Pianisimo variation. Although there are more subtleties here than the quiet character of the position might suggest, I have the feeling that it better suits Kramnik's style than Leko's, which makes me doubt whether the opening choice was really inspired. Or maybe Leko just wanted to takesome sort of additional day-off after his defeat from the previous round?! 6.Bb3 a6 7.0-0 Ba7 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nf1 Be6 12.N3h2 Bxb3 13.axb3 Qd7 14.Qf3 Qe6 15.Ng3 Ne7 16.b4 c6 17.Ng4

White builds up his typical kingside attack, but Black is slightly better developed and has the possibility of racting in the centre. 17...Nxg4. This is probably better than 17...Nh7 , as played in Leko-Anand, Sarajevo 1999. White maintained some pressure for a while, but later he lost a pawn and had to fight for a draw. 18.hxg4 d5 19.Nf5 Rad8 Black has completed the mobilisation of his forces and has at least equal chances. 20.g3 f6 21.Kg2 dxe4 22.dxe4 Nxf5 23.gxf5 Qc4 24.Be3 White decides to complete his development, practically giving up any hope of a sacrificial attack based on Bxh6 and tacitly offering a draw. 24...Bxe3. Black controls the only open file, but White has no weaknesses and his king has a safer residence. Therefore, the draw agreement is entirely justified. 1/2-1/2.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Aronian,L (2750) [E00] WCh Mexico City MEX (5), 18.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 Aronian had some previous experience with this slightly exotical continuation, in the spyrit of the Blumenfeld Gambit. In their rapid chess match earlier this year, Kramnik played the unexpected 6.Nd2 and eventually emerged with a clear advantage after a complicated sequence of moves. Generally, many players who do not play the Benoni against iother move orders prefer 5...d6 followed by ...g6 here, because the fianchetto system is supposed to put Black under less pressure than others. However, Aronian seems to be of a different opinion. In his semi-final Candidates' match against Carlsen, he obtained one of his victories with White precisely in the fianchetto Benoni... 6.Nf3!? White almost authomatically develops his bishop with 6.Bg2 , but Gelfand believes that the bishop can be useful on the f1-a6 diagonal still. 6...d6. This natural move is a novelty. In the few previous games where White played 6.Nf3, Black reacted with 6...Bb7. 7.e4!? a6. In case of the exchange of pawns, White would develop very quickly, which would suit Gelfand's entreprising style quite well. 8.a4 b4 9.Bd3. Now that the c4-square has been weakened, the bishop belongs on this diagonal. The relative weakness induced by the move g3 does not put White in danger, but could restrict his active possibilities at a later stage. 9...g6 10.Nbd2 Bg7 11.Nc4 0-0 12.Bf4 Ne8 13.a5 The further course of the game suggests that this

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generally desirable move should have been delayed until after castling. 13...Bh3 14.Ng5 The only way to get castled, but the knight is awkwardly placed here. 14...Bd7 15.0-0 Bb5 16.Qd2 h6 17.Nf3 g5 18.Be3 At the cost of weakening his kingside, Black has managed to eliminate the annoying pressure against the d6-pawn. 18...Bxc4 19.Bxc4 Qf6 20.Qd1 Nd7. Aiming to complete his development. 20...Qxb2 would be risky because of 21.e5 , when chaos would be reigning in Black's army. 21.Rb1 Qe7 22.Nd2 Nef6 23.Re1 Rfe8 24.f3

White has managed to maintain his blockade on light squares, but his pawn centre is not easy to advance. In the meanwhile, Black has completed his development and could think about ways to take advantage of the slight weakness of White's kingside. 24...Qd8 25.Ra1 g4!? Aronian hurries to give further meaning to the previous advance of his g-pawn, but, with hindsight, his last move might be premature. He could also have strengthened his position with 25...Ne5 26.Be2 Qc8 followed by ...Ra7-e7, keeping the threat ...g4 in reserve. 6.fxg4 Ne5 27.Be2 Qd7 28.g5 Nfg4 29.Bf4 hxg5 30.Bxg5 f5 31.Rf1 Rf8 32.exf5 Rxf5 33.Bf4

White has the pair of bishops, a safe position of his king and an extra-pawn. The relatively exposed b2-pawn and Black's queenside majority cause the position to be not entirely clear yet, but Aronian will fail to obtain adequate counterplay. 33...Nf6 34.g4 Rxf4 35.Rxf4 Nf7 36.Nc4 Re8 37.Qd3 Qe7 38.Bf3 Ne5 39.Nxe5 Qxe5 40.Rf5 Qxb2 41.Rf1 b3 42.Kh1 Nd7 43.Bd1 c4 44.Qxc4 Nc5 45.Qf4 Ne4 46.Rf7 Bf6 47.Rb7 Qd2 48.Qxd2 1-0.

All results of the round

Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h Viswanathan Anand

1-0

Peter Svidler

Alexander Grischuk

1-0

Alexander Morozevich

Peter Leko

½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

Boris Gelfand

1-0

Levon Aronian

Round six commentary by GM Mihail Marin

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Leko-Anand and Aronian-Kramnik ended in draws relatively quickly. It looked like the players had done most of their work at home. Gelfand-Morozevich featured an interesting confrontation of different styles. White's advantage of space and initiative prevailed over Black's stability on dark squares, but only after a significant inaccuracy from Morozevich' part. Playing with white, Grischuk sacrificed two pawns against Svidler and obtained a dangerous attacking position. He increased his material investment by sacrificing a bishop, but quickly retrieved the material by winning the queen. He retained excellent attacking chances in mutual time trouble and, after a far from obvious mistake from Svidler, he could have won with a simple manoeuvre. Instead, he sacrificed a knight and only obtained a draw by perpetual.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Svidler,P (2735) [D43] WCh Mexico City MEX (6), 19.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 h5 12.00 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.Bg3!? Anand's novelty from his game against Aronian, where 15.Rad1 was played, looks convincing enough, making Grischuk's desire to deviate earlier quite understandable. 15...Qxd4 16.Rfd1 Qc5 17.Bd6 Qb6 18.a4 a6 19.e5 Nd7

White's compensation for the sacrificed pawns is obvious. Black's king cannot find a safe residence easily, while his pieces are more passive than White's. 20.a5!? Releasing the queenside tension might look like a concession, but Grischuk intended to drive the enemy queen onto a more passive square before initiating the following tactical operation. 20...Qa7 21.Ne4 c5 22.Ng5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Bxe5

24.Bxc4! bxc4 25.Qa4+ Kf8 26.Rd7 Bd5 27.Rd1 Bd4 28.Rxa7 Rxa7 29.b3 Kg7. 29...cxb3? would lose material to 30.Rxd4. 30.bxc4 Ba8. Optically, Black has more than sufficient compensation for the queen. His bishops look quite impressive, while his structure is very compact. However, his pieces are not entirely coordinated yet, which is the type of situations when the queen can be very dangerous. By this moment, both players were approaching sever time trouble. 31.Qc2 g3 32.Rxd4! Black's entire stability was based on this bishop. 32...cxd4 33.Qe2 gxf2+ 34.Qxf2?! Slightly lowering the rhytm of attack. 34.Kxf2! looks more logical for two different reasons. The king approaches the enemy passed pawn in order to block it, while the queen remains close to the e5-square. 34...Rd8? Black needs at least wto tempi in order to reach optimal coordination and it is not easy to find the correct move

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order in time trouble. 34...Rd7 35.Qg3 Kf8; or 34...e5 35.Qg3 Kf6 would have been better tries, when it seems that White has nothing better than force a draw by perpetual. 35.Qg3 Kf8 36.Qe5 Ke8 37.Nxe6? There is a strange coincidence regarding the way Grischuk missed a win in the present game and in the second round against Aronian. By making a knight move he forces a draw, when a natural queen move would have won: 37.Qh8+! After 37...Ke7 38.Qg7 Rf8 White has 39.Nxe6! 37...fxe6 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Qg7+ Ke8. White cannot win because after capturing the a7-rook he would miss a tempo to block the d-pawn witht he king. 40.Qh8+ Ke7 41.Qg7+ 1/2-1/2.

Leko,P (2751) - Anand,V (2792) [C78] WCh Mexico City MEX (6), 19.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 It is refreshing to remember that in the Ruy Lopez there are other playable lines than the Marshall Attack. 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Rb8 9.d4 Bb6 10.Na3 0-0 11.axb5 axb5 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Be3 [Previously, Leko had tried 13.Bc2 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nh5 15.Kh1 , but against Anand he might have considered that the weakening of the kingside was not really recomendable.] 13...exd4 14.cxd4 Nxe4 15.Qc2 Qe8 Miraculously, Black managed to defend his pieces. White retains some initiative, but Black's better structure allows him count with equality. 16.Ba4 Bd7 17.Rfe1 Nb4 18.Qc4 Ba5 19.Nc3 Bxa4 20.Rxa4 d5 21.Qf1 Nc6 1/2-1/2.

Aronian,L (2750) - Kramnik,V (2769) [E06] WCh Mexico City MEX (6), 19.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Qc8 If asked which line he consideres t be the safest against the Catalan, Kramnik would probably refuse to answer. The best method to find out hisopinion is to play this opening against him and here is what he decided to answer today. 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Nbd2 Bb7 14.Nb3 a5 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nc5 Bd5 White is not sufficiently well developed to maintain the blockade on c5. After a short phase of simplifications, the game will end in a draw, hopefully just in time to allow Kramnik watch his favourite match from the Champion's League. 17.e4 Bc4 18.Nxd7 Qxd7 19.Re1 Bxd4 20.Rd1 c5 21.Qc2 e5 22.Nxe5 1/2-1/2.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Morozevich,A (2758) [E17] WCh Mexico City MEX (6), 19.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 The development of this knight before castling has for the first time been submitted to thorough investigation at high level during the final Candidates' match between Karpov and Kortschnoj, back in 1974. Playing with white, Kortschnoj managed to unearth several interesting ideas, but suceeded in winning a game with this line only towards the end of the match. Sadly for him, this did not change the course of history and Karpov won the match with a minimal difference and was soon to be proclaimed World Champion after Fischer's refusal to defend his title. 6...Ne4 7.Bd2 f5 8.d5 Bf6 9.Qc2 We can see here a first difference induced by this move order. In the position with the castles inserted, Black could win a pawn with ...Bxc3 followed by ...exd5, but here this is impossible because the g7-pawn would be hanging. 9...Qe7 10.Nxe4 fxe4 11.Qxe4 Bxb2 12.Rd1 Bf6 We have reached a strategically unbalanced position, which seems to suit both players' style. Gelfand has obtained considerable advantage of space and some initiative, while the b7-bishop is quite passive. Morozevich relies on the fact that after the elimination of the b2-pawn, the c5-square has become an excellent outpost for his knight. If in the long run his stability on dark squares will allow him extinguish the first wave of white initiative, he might obtan a pleasant endgame. As for the b7-bishop, it can always come back into play via a6 or (after a preliminary ...d6) via c8-d7. 13.0-0 Na6 14.Nd4 Nc5 15.Qe3 exd5 16.cxd5 Qxe3 17.Bxe3 0-0-0 18.Rb1 Rhe8 Both sides have completed their development and time has come for direct contacts. 19.Nb5 Threatening Bxc5, when Black would be deprived of one of his main trumps.

19...Rxe3!? An exchange sacrifice in the style of Petrosian and Anderson. Its main idea is to preserve the stability on dark squares. 20.fxe3 a6 21.Nd4 Re8 22.Nf5 d6 23.Rb4. With his disrupted structure, White can hardly think about a favourable pawn break. Therefore, his only constructive plan is to activate his pieces. The main threat is Rg4. 23...h5?! We can suppose that Morozevich was optimistic around this moment. If this is true, he must have forgotten that he did not fulfill all his programmed tasks yet. He still needs to activate his light-squared bishop. From this point of view, more consequent would have been 23...Kb8 preparing ...Bc8 and offering some indirect defence to his kingside at the same time. 24.Rg4 Bc8 25.Nxg7!? The only way to maintain the initiative. In other cases, Black would exchange on f5, obtaining a reliable fortress on dark squares. Later, he could consider advancing his queenside pawns gradually, which could cause White certain problems. 25...Rg8 26.Ne6 Rxg4 In this moment we understand why the king could not go to d8 instead of b8. 27.Rxf6 Ra4 28.Rf8 Threatening Nxc5 followed by Bh3. 28...Nd7 29.Rh8 Rxa2 White's position remains more active, but the aand b-pawns will start running soon. The position remains difficult to assess. 24.g4! a5 25.Rbf4 White's kingside initiative has become very dangerous now. 25...Rh8 26.gxh5 Rxh5 27.Rg4 Rh7 28.Nxg7! An elegant tactical blow, crowning White's previous play and taking advantage of the fact that the b7bishop is a mere spectator yet. 28...Rxg7. Or 28...Bxg7 29.Rf7. 29.Bh3! Rxg4+ 30.Bxg4+ Kd8 31.Rxf6 Bxd5 32.a3. Both players were familiar with this scenario freom their yesterday's games. Black is an exchange down and searches for some desperate counterplay based on the advance of his queenside pawns. 32...b5 33.h4 b4 34.axb4

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axb4 35.Rf4 b3 36.Bf5 Bf7 37.Kf2 Ke7 38.Ke1 Kf6 39.Bd3+ Kg7 40.Kd2 Be6 41.Kc3 Bf7 42.Bc4 Bxc4 43.Rxc4 Kg6 44.e4 Ne6 45.Kxb3 Kh5 46.e5 d5 47.Rb4 Kg6 48.Rb8 Nd4+ 49.Kb2 Nf5 50.Rf8 1-0.

All results of the round

Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Peter Svidler Peter Leko

½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Boris Gelfand

1-0

Levon Aronian

½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

Alexander Morozevich

Round seven commentary by GM Mihail Marin Morozevich-Leko ended in a draw after a long but relatively uneventful struggle. Leko missed his chance to complicate the fight by accepting the opponent's piece sacrifice and contented himself with a rather symbolic advantage in a symmetrical position. Anand won a fine positional game against Grischuk. Black tried to solve his problems of coordination by mass simplifications, but White's attack proved strong enough even after that. In Svidler-Aronian White could not question the reputation of the Exchange Ruy Lopez as a peaceful variation. However, the draw agreement came precisely in the moment when the position became interesting. KramnikGelfand was a complicated game, typical for the Anti-Moscow variation of the Semi-Slav. It is hard to evaluate which of the players was better, but the final part saw Gelfand fighting for a draw, which he achieved.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Leko,P (2751) [C45] WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 Ne5. Two rounds earlier, facing the same variation against the same opponent, Svidler jumped with his knight only after castling. 8.Bb3 Despite the unsatisfactory result of the aforementioned game, Morozevich sticks to this unusual bishop retreat. 8...Qg6 9.0-0 d5. An accelerated form of central counterplay. The tactical justification consists of the fact that the capture on d5 would lose material to ...Bh3. 10.Bf4 Bg4 11.Qc2 f6 12.Ba4+ c6 13.Nd2 0-0 14.f3 Bd7 15.Kh1 Bb6 16.Rae1 Rae8

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We have reached a curious position. The pawn structure is perfectly symmetrical if we take the centre of the board as a reference point. Both sides' development is just normal, which makes the chances about equal. In the next phase of the game, both players will manoeuvre in their own territory, hoping to convince the opponent to release the tension in the centre and this way get some microinitiative. 17.Re2 Kh8 18.Bg3 Qh5 19.Qd1 Bc7 20.Rfe1 Bb8 21.exd5. Finally! 21...Nxd5 22.Nf1 Nb6 23.Bc2 c5 24.Re4!? Rudolf Spielmann would call this a passive sacrifice, because Black is not forced to accept it.

24...Qf7. But maybe in this case he should accept it! After 24...cxd4!? 25.Rh4 Qf7 26.Bxh7 g5 27.Bg6+ gxh4 28.Bxf7 Rxf7 Black would get more than sufficient material compensation for the sacrificed queen, while the weakness of his king is not easy to take advantage of. 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 Re8 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 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.

Anand,V (2792) - Grischuk,A (2726) [C88] WCh Mexico City MEX (7), 20.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 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. Two rounds earlier, Anand broke Svidler's defence in the Marshall... Attack by seemingly simple means. Now, he wisely avoids his opponent's specific preparation, at the same time proving that there is some life left in the Anti Marshall systems, too. 8...b4 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.c3 Nc6 13.d4 bxc3 14.bxc3 exd4 15.cxd4 Nb4

Black made certain concessions in the centre, obtaining the b4-square for his queen's knight in exchange. 16.Bb1 Bg4. Chess history is full of examples where the Spanish pair of bishops delivered decisive blows against Black's kingside. Therefore, Grischuk decides to transfer his own bishop to g6, anticipating an eventual attack. 17.h3 Bh5 18.g4 Bg6. Black only needs to advance his d-pawn in order to establish a harmonious cooperation between all his pieces. 19.d5! After this well-timed move, Black's bishop will remain out of play for a long time. Considering also the immobility of the otherwise beautifully placed b4-knight and White's advantage of space we can evaluate the position as favourable for White. 19...Nd7 20.Nc4 Rb8 21.Bf4 Nb6 22.Nxb6 Rxb6 23.Nd2 Bg5 24.Bxg5 Qxg5 25.Nc4 Rbb8 26.Qd2 Qxd2 27.Nxd2 f6 28.Nc4.

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After the simplifications, Black finally managed to make a diagonal available for his bishop. However, this is not enough yet to question the stability of White's c4-knight. The bishop needs to be transferred to the remote a6-square... 28...Rfd8 29.f4 Bf7 30.Ra3. White's advantage is obvious, but it is not easy to make further progress. Black's strong pressure against the d5-pawn makes the thematic central break e5 difficult to carry out, but a slower plan based on Rg3, h4, g5 would be unpleasant for Black. 30...g5. Grischuk aims to obtain a blockade on dark squares, but seriously weakens his king's position. The main defect of his plan is that the knight will not be able to take advantage of the e5-square. 31.h4 gxf4 32.Rf3 Be8 33.Rxf4 Kg7

Black only needs two tempi (...Bxa4-b5) in order to obtain a playable position... 34.h5!! [A fantastic move. All White's pieces (with the exception of the e1-rook) were placed on optimal squares already, but the attack did not seem strong enough yet. For instance, after the immediate 34.Ref1 Bxa4 35.Rxf6 Bb5 the situation is not entirely clear. The intervention of the modest h-pawn radically inclines the balance to White's favour.] 34...Bxa4 [If Black blocks the h-pawn with 34...h6 , the weakness of the g6-square would make itself felt after 35.Ref1 Bxa4 36.Rxf6 Bb5 37.Rg6+ with decisive attack.] 35.h6+ Kxh6 36.Rxf6+ Kg7 37.g5 The d6-pawn will perish soon and with it any hope of saving the game. 37...Rf8 38.Rxd6 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

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

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 An early deviation from the Marshall Attack. 4...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 Nh6 17.Kf2

Both sides have developed in harmonious way. White's advantage is more of optical nature. His domination along the d-file is rather sterile, while the kingside majority is not easy to promote, being submitted to strong pressure by the enemy bishop. On the other wing, Black's structure is rock solid and provides him with outposts for his pieces (c6, d4). 17...f5 18.exf5 Nxf5 19.Re1 Rxe1 20.Kxe1 g5. The position can be evaluated as roughtly equal, but remains quite interesting. From the spectator's point of view, the abrupt end is slightly frustrating. 1/2-1/2.

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

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 No Catalan for Kramnik today! 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5. Earlier this year, against the same opponent, Kramnik preferred 5.e3 . Remarkably enoguh, play transposed to a Catalan type of position anyway after rather unusual play: 5...Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.e4 Nxe4 8.Nxe4 dxe4 9.Qxe4 c5 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxe7 Qa5+ 12.Ke2 Kxe7 13.g3 (Better later than never! The bishop finally emerges on the long diagonal!) 13...cxd4 14.Bg2 Nf6 15.Qxd4 Rd8 16.Qf4 Bd7 17.Ne5 and White managed to convert his minimal advantage into a victory in KramnikGelfand, Dortmund 2007. 5...h6 6.Bh4 More ambitious than the capture on f6, as played by Kramnik in the first round. 6...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 h5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Qc1 In the previous games from this World Championhsip where this variation was played, White preferred to block the kingside with h4. It seems that Kramnik has his own views about it... 13...Rg8 14.Rd1 Bb4 15.Qe3 Qe7 16.h3 h4 17.Bh2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 g4. The logical reaction to White's kingside policy. Black threatens to take over the initiative. The immediate threat is gxh3, when the e4-pawn would be hanging. 19.Kh1. The decision to place the king on a square situated on the same diagonal with the enemy bishop looks at least risky. Safer would have been 19.hxg4 Nxg4 20.Bxg4 Rxg4 21.f3 , when the better structure, the more active bishop and the safer king's position would offer White excellent compensation for the pawn. 19...c5 20.hxg4 20...cxd4 Black decides to play for equality. More ambitious would have been 20...Nxe4!? removing an important pawn and open the diagonal towards the enemy king. For instance: 21.Bf3 (21.dxc5?! would justify Black's main idea after 21...h3!) 21...Nf6 22.Bxb7 Qxb7 23.f3 Nd5 24.Qe4 0-0-0 The position remains very sharp. Black has an extra-pawn and a wonderful knight on d5, ensuring him stability on light squares. However, the enemy bishop is quite strong, too, making the enemy king's life difficult. 21.Rxd4 e5 22.Rdd1 Nxg4 23.Bxg4 Rxg4 24.f3 Rg6 25.a4

Now, the position corresponds to the same evaluation as at the end of the line starting with 19.hxg4 (from the comment to 19.Kh1). In mutual time trouble Black will eventually manage to simplify to a drawn ending. 25...a5 26.axb5 a4 27.Qe2 Qc5 28.Rab1 Rd6 29.Rxd6 Qxd6 30.Qxc4 a3 31.Ra1 h3 32.Qe2 hxg2+ 33.Qxg2 0-0-0 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.]

All results of the round

Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

½-½ Levon Aronian

Vladimir Kramnik

½-½ Boris Gelfand

Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Peter Leko Viswanathan Anand

1-0

Alexander Grischuk

Round eight commentary by GM Mihail Marin

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Despite the relatively early draw, Svidler-Kramnik featured rich strategic content. Black countered White's attempts to attack on the kingside with active central play. The final repetition of moves was quite logical from this point of view. Playing with Black, Morozevich tried to remount the variation that led him to defeat against Gelfand. He failed to do that, but saved half a point, helped by Aronian's imprecise play during the transition to the ending. Curiously, the final phase featured a theoretical ending that I had mentioned in my notes to a previous round. Gelfand-Anand ended in a draw without too much fight. Anand employed a rare plan and obtained adequate play, but the final position was far from dead drawn yet. Leko's win with White against Grischuk was a rather one-sided affair. Grischuk missed some possibilities of an early counterplay and was gradually squeezed. After two losses in a row, he must feel how true it is that missed wins (against Aronian and Svidler) tend to turn back as boomerangs.

Svidler,P (2735) - Kramnik,V (2769) [C42] WCh Mexico City MEX (8), 21.09.2007 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Bf4 0-0 8.Qd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Nc5 10.Be3 Re8 11.Bc4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Nxe6 13.h4 Qd7 14.Qd5 Qc6 15.Qf5 15...Qc4. A novelty over 15...Nf8 as played in the fourth round game Svidler-Gelfand. The knight retreat looks like a solid option and eventually led to a quick draw, but has the drawback that it leaves White free hands for developing his initiative. If Svidler was ready to repeat the variation, he obviously had prepared some improvement. The idea behind Kramnik's move is to question the enemy queen's domination over the right wing as soon as possible. This will be the main theme of the next phase of the game. 16.Kb1 g6 17.Qh3 h5 18.Nd2 Qe2 19.Rde1 Qg4 20.Qh2 d5 21.f3 Qa4 22.g4

Finally, White has managed to start a kingside attack which bears some similarity with the sharp lines of the Sicilian Dragon. It should be noticed that his own king finds himself in absolute safety, because of the absence of open files on the queenside. 22...Bd6 23.Qf2 Ng7

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We can also notice some differences if compared to the Dragon, which favour Black. We have here an open file, which can always be used by the defending side for transposing to an ending by exchanging all rooks. This could happen if White tries to undermine Black's kingside fortress with Bd4, threatening Bxg7 and gxh5. Another aspect is Black's advantage of space in the centre (something unthinkable in the Dragon). Concretely, the presence of the d5-pawn restricts the activity of the white knight. 24.c4!? dxc4 25.Bd4. Svidler has cleared the e4-square for his knight, which can make a lot of difference after the aforementioned solution 25...Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 Re8 because of 27.Ne4! However, the structural modifications in the centre have also opened the dfile and the h1-a8 diagonal, which will offer Black additional possibilities for Defence and counterattack.

25...Qc6! Indirectly defending the f6-square. 26.Bc3. Threatening Qd4. 26.Ne4 was not dangerous because of 26...Be5 revealing the idea behind Black's previous move. There was no time for slow increase of the pressure with 27.Re2 because of 27...Rad8 the d-file serves Black quite well for starting his counterplay. 26...Bc5 27.Qg3 Bd6 28.Qf2. The only reasonable way to avoid an immediate draw was 28.Qg2 , but after the opening of the long diagonal the white queen would feel dominated by her rival. Just think about Leko's uninspired queen retreats in his game against Gelfand! 28...Bc5 29.Qg3 Bd6 1/2-1/2.

Aronian,L (2750) - Morozevich,A (2758) [E17] WCh Mexico City MEX (8), 21.09.2007 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 f5 8.d5 Bf6 Despite his defeat in the game against Gelfand, Morozevich seems to maintain his faith in this variation. 9.Qc2

9...Na6. Deviating from 9...Qe7 , as he played in the aforementioned game. 10.Nxe4 fxe4 11.Qxe4 Nc5 12.Qe3 0-0!?

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Instead of retrieving the sacrificed pawn, Morozevich opts for rapid development. Optically speaking, his compensation looks obvious, but the absence of significant weaknesses in White's position will allow him neutralize Black's initiative in the next phase of the game. 13.dxe6 Re8 14.Qa3 Qe7 15.Be3 Qxe6 16.Rc1 Ne4 17.0-0 Nd6 18.Bd4 Be7 19.c5 Ne4 20.Nd2 Nxd2 21.Bxb7 Rab8 22.Rfd1 Rxb7 23.Rxd2 Reb8 24.Qe3 bxc5 25.Qxe6+ dxe6

26.Bxc5 (?!) It is hard to refrain from "winning" the pawn again, of course, but the drawish tendency of rook endings is well known. One important alternative was 26.Bc3 , maintaining White's advantage intact, because of his better structure, more active bishop and the control over the only open file. 26...Bxc5 27.Rxc5 Rxb2 28.Rd7. Threatening to invade the seventh rank. 28...Rc8 29.a4?! The ending resulting after this move offers White no winning chances at all. A slightly more promissing ending could have been obtained with 29.Re5 Rb6 30.Rg5! Forcing Black to weaken his seventh rank. 30...g6 31.Rc5 Rb2 32.e3 Rxa2 33.Rdxc7 Rxc7 34.Rxc7 Despite material equality, Black's position is not easy to defend, because of his numerous weaknesses. In his days, Akiba Rubinstein was a great expert in this kind of positons. A more recent example where this structure arised is Karpov - Hort, Waddinxveen 1979, in which White won. 29...Rxe2 30.Rcxc7 Rxc7 31.Rxc7 a6 32.Ra7 Ra2 33.Rxa6 e5 34.a5 e4 35.Ra7 h5 36.h4

The importance of the lack of flexibility induced by this move will become obvious at a later stage. 36...Kh7 37.a6 Ra1+ 38.Kg2 Ra2 39.Kf1 Kg6 40.Ra8 Kh7 41.a7 g6 42.Ke1 Kg7 43.Kd1 Ra1+ 44.Kc2 Ra2+ 45.Kb3 Ra1 46.Kc4 Ra2 47.Kd4 Ra1! An important moment. Maintaining the central pawn defended with 47...Ra4+ 48.Kd5 Kh7? would lose after 49.Kc6! (Threatening Kb6) 49...Ra1 50.Rd8 Rxa7 51.Rd7+ Rxd7 52.Kxd7 with an easily won pawn ending. 48.Kxe4

As I have mentioned in my comments to the earlier game Anand-Kramnik, this ending is drawn. Time has come to explain my comment on White's 36.h4. With the pawn on h3 or h2, White could have created a passed pawn on the f-file, which would ensure an easy win. However, Black could have prevented this undesirable outcome by advancing his g-pawn to g4, immediately after White's 41.a7. 48...Ra4+ 49.Kf3 Ra3+ 50.Kg2 Ra2 51.Kh3 Ra3 52.f3 Kh7 53.Kg2 Ra2+ 54.Kf1 Ra1+ 55.Ke2 Ra2+ 56.Kd3 Kg7 57.Kc4 Ra1 58.Kc5 Rc1+ 59.Kd6 Rd1+ 60.Ke5 Ra1 61.Kf4 Ra4+ 62.Ke5 Ra1 63.f4 Ra2 64.f5 gxf5 65.Kf4 Ra5 66.Re8 Rxa7 67.Kxf5 Rf7+ 68.Ke4 Rf1 69.Re5 Kg6 1/2-1/2.

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Gelfand,B (2733) - Anand,V (2792) [E06] WCh Mexico City MEX (8), 21.09.2007 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Bd6!?

This move was played only once before. Since for the time being both sides are playing a watch and wait game, Black prepares in advance the thematic central break ...e5. 11.Rd1. White will fail to prove an advantage with this neutral move. We can only try to guess which was Anand's novelty over the game Speelman-Browne, Wijk aan Zee 1983, where White obtained the better chances with 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Rd1. 11...Nbd7 12.Ba5 Qb8 13.b4 e5 14.Nbd2 exd4 15.Nxd4 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 c5 17.bxc5 Bxc5 18.N2b3 Ba3 19.e4 Ne5 20.Nf5 1/2-1/2.

Leko,P (2751) - Grischuk,A (2726) [C88] WCh Mexico City MEX (8), 21.09.2007 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 b4 9.d3 d6 10.Nbd2

10...Be6. Grischuk refrains from 10...Na5 , which had led him to defeat in the previous round. Maybe it would have been wiser to pick up a completely different opening, in order to avoid specific preparation and the negative influence of... bad memories. 11.Bxe6 Curiously, in most of the previous games White refrained from this exchange. Curiosamente, en mayoría de las partidas anteriores las blancas evitaron este cambío. 11...fxe6 12.Nf1 Qd7 13.Ng3

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13...Na5. With this move, Grischk probably wanted to anticipate the opening of the b-file after c3. However, the control over the centre is weakened now. 13...Rab8 would have been a worthy alternative, inviting White to declare his intentions. For instance, 14.c3 bxc3 15.bxc3 Na5!? 14.d4. The logical reaction. 14...exd4 15.Qxd4 c5 16.Qd3 Nc6 17.c3 bxc3 18.bxc3 18...Kh8. Starting with this moment, Grischuk effectuates a series of moves without a clear plan. Here, he could have activaed his play with 18...Ng4 , aiming to install a knight on e5 in order to control the relatively weak light squares from the centre. The only way to cross this plan would be 19.e5!? but, among other reasonable possibilities, Black could have answered with 19...d5!? 20.h3 Nxf2! 21.Kxf2 Bh4 , leaving White under an unpleasant double pin. The slow (but not really easy to parry) threat is ...Rf5 followed by the transfer of the queen to g6, in order to win the g3-knight. 19.h3 Qc7. 19...d5 looks more active. 20.Ng5 Ne5 21.Qe2 Qc8 22.f4 Nf7 23.Nf3 Rb8 24.c4

White's progress over the past few moves is obvious. 24...Qb7 25.Bd2 Qb2 26.Qd3 Qb7 27.Bc3 Qc6 28.a5 Kg8 29.Rad1 Rbd8 White has regrouped in optimal way and is ready for concrete action. 30.f5 e5

Strategically, White's position is close to winning. In the manoeuvring phase that follows, Leko will combine the threats of a direct mate attack with the pressure along the d-file. 31.Nf1 Rb8 32.g4 h6 33.N1d2 Qc7 34.Kh1 Qd8 35.Rg1 Nh7 36.Nf1 Bg5 37.Ne3 Bxe3 38.Qxe3 Rb3 39.Rd3 Nhg5 40.Nd2 Ra3 41.h4 Nh7 42.Nf3 Nf6 43.g5 hxg5 44.hxg5 Nh5 45.Bd2 Ra4 46.Qe2 Ra2 47.Qe1 Nf4 48.Bxf4 exf4 49.Qh4 Qe8 50.g6 Nh6 51.Qxf4 Re2 52.Ng5 Qa4 53.Qxd6 Qxc4 54.Qd5+ Qxd5 55.Rxd5

•

Nowadays, it is not so easy to mate the opponent in the middlegame, especially at this level. However, the resulting ending is almost as good. 55...c4 56.Rd7 c3 57.Ne6 Rc8 58.Rgd1 Rd2 59.R1xd2 cxd2 60.Rxd2 1-0.

All results of the round

Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

Levon Aronian

½-½ Alexander Morozevich

Boris Gelfand

½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Peter Leko

1-0

Alexander Grischuk

41

Round nine commentary by GM Mihail Marin Leko-Svidler featured a relatively short but intense fight, which led to an approximately equal ending and a draw agreement. Playing with white, Grischuk obtained a minimal but persistent advantage against Gelfand. Just when he was close to a draw, Gelfand's nerves cracked under the pressure and Grischuk took the whole point without any difficulties. Anand employed another rare line against Aronian's Marshall Attack, but the experiment did not work too well this time and a draw was agreed rather soon. The most remarkable game of the evening was Morozevich-Kramnik. After an opening that is supposed to offer Black an easy life, play transposed to a curious version of the Benoni. Morozevich adjusted his plan to the specific characteristics of the position perfectly, while the World Champion offered a surprisingly feeble resistence. Mass simplifications only increased White's advantage and Morozevich won convincingly.

Leko,P (2751) - Svidler,P (2735) [B90] WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 c5. Fashion is cruel. Just a few years ago, about half of the games played at high level started with these moves. In Mexico, the first Sicilian was played in the second half of the tournament... 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f3 Be7 10.g4 0-0 11.0-0-0 b5

12.Rg1!? This ultra-refined move was first played by Anand against Morozevich, in Monaco 2006. Morozevich won the game with Black, but was apparently impressed by the idea and employed it himself in the same tournament, and... lost, too! White is not in a hurry to advance his g-pawn, because after 12.g5 b4! 13.Nd5 Black can preserve his light-squared bishop with 13...Nxd5 14.exd5 Bf5 . At the same time, the presence of the rook on the g-file is generally useful. 12...Nb6. Now, after 12...b4 13.Nd5 Black would have to give up his bishop, when a further g5 will open the important h3-c8 diagonal for the white king's bishop. 13.Na5 Rc8 14.g5 Ne8 15.a3 Qc7 16.Kb1 d5! 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bh3. White completes his development and attacks two enemy pieces at the same time. The immediate 19.Qxd5? was impossible because of 19...Rd8. 19...Be6!? An interesting decision. After 19...Rd8 20.Qf2 , the pressure of White's bishop would have been irritating. 20.Bxe6 fxe6. Black's structure does not look too impressive now, but the open f-file as well as the absence of a blocking knight on e4 make the situation unclear. 21.Qd7!? A courageous move, which, after Black's cautious answer, will only lead to simplifications. 21...Qxd7. Svidler was probably afraid that after 21...Qxc2+ 22.Ka2 his pieces would lose coordination. Indeed, after 22...Rc3 Black can parry the threat ...Rxa3+ followed by mate with 23.Qxe7 ,when Black's attacking prospects remain debatable, mainly because of his passive knight.

22.Rxd7 Rc7 23.Rxe7 Rxe7 24.Bc5 Ref7 25.Bxf8 Kxf8 26.Nc6 Rxf3 27.Nxe5 Rf5 28.Nd3 a5 29.h4 1/2-1/2.

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Grischuk,A (2726) - Gelfand,B (2733) [E21] WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4. Earlier in this tournament, Gelfand has successfully defended Black's point of view in the Petroff three times already. Grischuk wisely decided to change the background. 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0-0 7.Bg2 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qb3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Ba6 14.Rfd1 Qc5 15.e4 Bc4 16.Qa4 Nb6 17.Qb4 Qh5 18.Bf4 The position is very slightly more pleasant for White, but most of the games in which this variation was played ended in draws. Black has a normal development, but experiences some micro-problems. Now, he needs to establish some communication between his queen and the rest of the pieces. 18...Be2 19.Re1 c5 20.Qb3 e5 21.Bc1 Rac8 22.a4 Bc4 23.Qb2 Qg6 24.a5 Nd7 25.Rd1 Qc6 The queen is back in the game, but in the meanwhile the knight has occupied an unfavourable square. We can state that Black's micro-problems persist. 26.Bh3 Be6 27.Bxe6 Qxe6 28.Be3 Rc7 29.Qa2 Qxa2 30.Rxa2 Nf6 31.f3 Rfc8. 31...Rb8 would not have prevented 32.Rb2! anyway. 32.Rb2

The knight has reached a stable square, but White maintains the better prospects because of his control over both open files. By contrast,Black's rooks are doubled behind the own c-pawn. 32...Kf8 33.Kf2 Ke7 34.Bg5 h6 35.Bxf6+ Kxf6 36.Rd6+ Ke7 37.Rd5 f6 38.Ke3 g5 39.c4 Rc6 40.Rb5 Ke6 41.f4. In order to increase his advantage, White needs to open a new front of action. 41...R6c7 42.Kf3 h5. Preventing the king's infiltration to h5, but weakening his own kingside structure. 43.Ke3 gxf4+. At first sight, this looks like a premature release of the tension, but Gelfand probably hoped for some kingside counterplay at some moment. 44.gxf4 h4 45.f5+ Kf7 46.Kf3 Kg7 47.Rb1 Kh6 48.Rd6 Rc6 49.Re6 [49.Rd2!?] 49...Rxe6 50.fxe6 Re8 51.Rb7 Rxe6 52.Rxa7 Rd6 53.a6

53...h3? 53...Kg5 54.Rg7+ Kh6 55.a7 Ra6 56.Rb7 Kg5. 54.Kg4 Rd3 55.Ra8 Kg7 56.Kf5 Rd6 57.Ra7+ Kh6 58.Rf7 Offering a simplification to a won pawn ending. 58...Rd2 59.a7 Rf2+ 60.Ke6 Ra2 61.Kxf6. Black is paralyzed and will lose most of his pawns. 10.

Anand,V (2792) - Aronian,L (2750) [C89] WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

43

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.d4 Bd6

13.Re2. We can notice that for each game Anand prepares a different variation against the Marshall. This might look like a speculative attitude, but maybe there is no other way to counter such a well-analyzed opening. 13...Bg4 14.f3 Bf5 15.g3. Earlier, White played 15.Bxd5 mainly. The idea behind Anand's novelty remains unclear, especially that the game will end soon. 15...Qc7 16.Kf2 Qd7 17.Bxd5 cxd5 18.Nd2 Bd3 19.Re3 Bg6 20.Nf1 a5 21.a3. Black has the usual compensation, based on his pair of bishops and more active position. 1/2-1/2.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Kramnik,V (2769) [A34] WCh Mexico City MEX (9), 23.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6

Apparently, White has played the opening without any ambition. 5.d5!? But this move causes an opposite impression. 5...0-0 6.Nf3 e6 7.Be2 exd5 8.cxd5 d6 As an experienced Benoni player, I have problems finding a proper name to this almost non-existent variation; "the e3-Benoni" sounds almost comical! However, White's setup is not without venom. By refraining from exposing his e-pawn to early attacks (...Re8), White intends to obtain more freedom of action for his minor pieces. His king's knight could go to c2 (via e1) in order to counter a later ...b5 with b4, or to the more usual c4-square, without having to care about defending the e4-pawn from d2. We shall see further differences as the game advances. One possible drawback of this system is that the c1-bishop will remain passive for a long time. From psychologic point of view, Morozevich choice is simply brilliant. Kramnik does not play this opening regularly (although he employed it in the penultimate game of his match against Leko, when he desperately needed to win) and, almost surely, never studied the e3system! There are not many recent cases when the World Champion was taken "out of book" at such an early stage, with the position remaining cmplex at the same time.

9.0-0 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nbd7 12.a4 a6 13.g4!? This original attempt to win space will be fully crowned by success. 13...c4?! This is a typical move

in the Benoni, but maybe the prophylactic 13...h6!? should have been preferred here. 14.Be2! Rc8 With the pawn on e4, Black could answer 14...Nc5 15.f3

44

Rc8. 15.g5 Ne8 16.f4. Now, the c1-bishop proves useful by safely defending the backward pawn. 16...Qe7 17.Ra3 Rc5. Kramnik's play in this phase of the game is not too logical. He starts queenside operations with his knight and king's rook passive on the other wing. Personally, I would first think of eliminating the g5-pawn with 17...h6 18.h4 f6 when 19.Bg4 , threatening to invade the e6-square, can be answered with 19...Nc7. 18.Bf3 Ra5 19.Bd2 Nc5 20.Qe2 Nb3

21.Ne4. We can see that White makes use of the e4-square to activate his knight. Now, ...f6 is out of question already, because of gxf6 followed by Ng5-e6. 21...Nxd2 22.Qxd2. After the exchange of his queen's bishop, White has solved all his problems with the development. Black's control on dark squares is less relevant than in a normal Benoni, because the d4-square has not been weakened with e4 yet. White has a clear and stable advantage. 22...Qd8 23.Qb4 b5 24.axb5 Rxb5 25.Qxc4 Qb6 26.Qc6 Bxb2 27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.Ra2 Bg7 29.Rc1 h6 30.h4 hxg5 31.hxg5 f6 32.Rc6 Rxc6 33.dxc6 fxg5 34.Nxg5 Nc7

Despite simplifications, Black has a difficult position. White has an enormous advantage of space and his c6-pawn is very dangerous. 35.Rd2 Rd8 36.Bg4 Bc3 37.Rd3 Ba5 38.Kg2 d5 39.e4. It was worth waiting with this move for so long. The advance of the epawn will increase White's advantage. 39...d4 40.e5 Bb6 41.Rb3 Rb8 42.Rh3 Ba5 43.Rh6 Rb2+ 44.Kg3 Be1+ 45.Kf3 d3 46.Rxg6+ Kf8 47.Rd6 d2 48.Ke4 1-0.

All results of the round

Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h Peter Leko

½-½ Peter Svidler

Alexander Grischuk

1-0 Boris Gelfand

Viswanathan Anand

½-½ Levon Aronian

Alexander Morozevich

1-0 Vladimir Kramnik

Round ten commentary by GM Mihail Marin

45

A fighting round, featuring several sacrifices (one piece, three exchanges and numerous pawns were offered to Caissa's altar), missed opportunities, but only... one decisive game. Morozevich equalized comfortably with black in a controversial variation of the Caro Kann. Searching for attacking possibilities, Svidler made a serious mistake and his position immediately became suspicious. This was only the start of a series of innacurate or just bad moves, which makes the final draw a logical and deserved result. Anand-Kramnik was an enormously complicated game. After the first wave of tactical blows (which, apparently, had been analzyed at home by both players), Anand was left with two (at times just one) pawns for the exchange. After the first time control he had a choice between exposing his king to perpetual check or sending it forward, into active mission. He picked up the third possibility, by... accepting Kramnik's draw offer. In Aronian-Grischuk, play took an original course from a very early stage. The position became strategically unbalanced and the opponents alternatively sacrificed small amounts of material in order to carry out their plans. Grischuk made just one significant mistake, by exchanging queens instead of one pair of rooks, but this was sufficient to determine the final outcome of the game. Playing with White, Gelfand could not achieve anything against Leko's excellent preparation and soon sacrificed a bishop to force a draw by perpetual.

Svidler,P (2735) - Morozevich,A (2758) [B17] WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

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 A fashionable variation, which among others, was twice played by Bareev in his unfortunate final Candidates' match against Leko. Black has been deprived of the right to castle, but White had to pay a relatively high price in order to achieve that: his queen has been developed prematurely and faces problems finding a safe square. We can state that one member of each Royal family has temporarily sacrificed his (her) peacefull life. 13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Rd8 15.Rad1 c5 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.h4 Nf6 18.Qh3 c4 19.Bf1 Bd5 20.h5 Kg8 21.Be3 Kh7 22.Bd4 Rhe8. Black has managed to "castle artificially", maintaining a strong centralized position. White's achievements are more modest; his queen did not improve her situation too much. 23.b3. Questioning Black's stability in the centre. 23...cxb3. Morozevich makes a structural concession for the sake of activating his pieces even more. 24.axb3 Ne4 25.Bb5 Re7 26.Qg4 f5 27.Qg6+ Kg8 28.c4 Ba8

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29.Be3? A serious mistake in a complicated position. 29...Rf8! Parrying Bxh6 and threatening to trap the queen. 30.Bd4. White admits his mistake, but in chess this is not always enough for being forgiven. 30...a6?! This move seems to be a consequence of some miscalculation. Morozevich probably considered it useful to drive the bishop away from b5 before trying to trap the queen. Black would have disposed over two relatively simple ways of developing his initiative. 30...Bc5 would overload the enemy bishop, which cannot defend the f2- and f6squares properly.; The brutal 30...e5 is also possible, forcing White to sacrifice a pawn with 31.c5 in order to save his queen. 31.c5!? Bxc5 32.Bc4

32...Qb6? Another tactical oversight, which could have had fatal consequences. 32...Bd5 was the best way to defend e6. After 33.Bxd5 exd5 34.Qxa6 White wins the pawn back, with a balanced position.] 33.Bxc5? [Kindly returning the favour. 33.Bxe6+! Qxe6 (Forced. Otherwise Black would get mated.) 34.Bxc5! would have won material. Black's relatively best solution would be 34...Nxc5 35.Rxe6 Rxe6 with highly questionable compensation. 33...Qxc5 34.Bxe6+ Kh8. Now, White stands only slightly better, because of his better structure. 35.Rd4 Bc6 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.

Kramnik,V (2769) - Anand,V (2792) [D43] WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4. Rather predictable. After losing in such a variation as "the e3Benoni", one is inclined to play aggressive lines. 6...dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 a6 14.Bh5 Bf8 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.e5 Qb6

All these moves were played quite fast. In fact, the whole line had been seen in a rapid game Radjabov Anand, 2006. 17.b3. The aforementioned game went 17.Ne4 . The text move is a novelty, but, Anand continued to play fast, leaving little doubt about the fact that he had analyzed it, too. 17...0-0-0 18.bxc4 Nxe5 19.c5 Qa5 20.Ne4 Qb4 21.Nd6+ Rxd6 22.cxd6 Nd7 23.a4 Qxd6

Black has obtained two pawns for the sacrificed exchange and will enjoy excellent stability on light squares after the transfer of the knight to d5. Protected by the pawns, the black king feels much safer than it might seem at first sight. In his youth, Kasparov was provided with a painful lesson about this type of positions by the great master of defence, Tigran Petrosian (Tilburg 1981). White has to play actively in order to avoid a simply worse position. 24.Bf3 Nb6 25.axb5 cxb5 26.Bxb7+ Kxb7 27.Qh5. Not being fully coordinated yet, Black cannot defend all his

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kingside pawns. 27...Nd5 28.Qxh6 Nf4! A constructive move, which also contains a small trap. 29.Kh1. A great player can sometimes overlook a simple mate in one, if he is absorbed by abstract planning; we saw such a case in Kramnik's match against the computer. However, it is not to be expected that he would fall for simple tactics such as 29.Qxg5?? Ne2+ 30.Kh1 Qxh2+! followed by mate. Unlike the "casual mate" to which Kramnik fell victim, this is a variation that makes part from the "humanly" logical universe of thinking. 29...Qd5 30.f3 Rd8 31.Qg7 Rd7 32.Qf8. Black's pieces dominate in the centre. White will try to find a clue to the enemy king's fortress. 32...Ne2. Possibly, not the best regroupment. 32...Qxd4 followed by ...Nd5 was an important alternative. 33.Rfe1 Nxd4 34.Red1 e5 35.Rac1. Sometimes, queen retreats such as 35.Qh6 , attacking a6 and g5, are not easy to spot in the heat of the fight. 35...Qd6 36.Qg8 f6 37.Rc8 a5 38.h3 a4 39.Qe8 Kb6 40.Rb8+ Ka5 41.Ra8+. The position remains very interesting, but both players were probably tired after the previous intense fight. After 41.Ra8+ , Black could return to b6, when White can force a perpetual already, or play 41...Kb4 with a double edged position. We can see an interesting symbiosis: the pawns would protect the king and the king sustains the advance of the pawns. I would again quote a game played by the 9th World Champion (Fischer - Petrosian, second round of the 1959 Candidates' Tournament) in which Black successfully carried out a similar plano. 1/2-1/2.

Aronian,L (2750) - Grischuk,A (2726) [D30] WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nbd2!? A rare move, avoiding the topical Moscow variation, which would arise by transposition after 6.Nc3 c6 . After the game move, play will take a very original course. 6...Nd7 7.g3 g5 8.h3 Bg7 9.Rc1 c5 10.e3 0-0 11.Bg2 b6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.0-0 Bb7 14.Re1 Rfd8 Black has achieved an active version of the hanging pawns, but the evaluation of such positions is far from one-sided. White's structure is flexible and solid, which entitles him to hope for a favourable course of the game in the long run. Besides, Black's kingside contains chronic weaknesses on light squares. White's main concern for the time being should be the activation of his queen's knight, which does not put any kind of pressure on Black's position and stands in the way of his own pieces at the same time. 15.g4!? A creative solution to the aforementioned task. Aronian intends to transfer his knight to f5 or, eventually, h5. The standard manoeuvre would be 15.Nb1 followed by Nc3, increasing the pressure against the d5-pawn. 15...h5!? Ambitious and... risky.

Black intends to deny the knight's access to g3 with ...h4. After the more restrained 15...Qe6 16.Nf1 f5 White would consolidate his g4-pawn with 17.N3h2 , followed by Ng3-f5 anyway. However, the final evaluation of the resulting position would be uncertain, because the other knight would remain passive for a while. 16.gxh5! The only way to question the viability of Black's plan. This self-disruption of the structure might look as a strategic concession, but Aronian correctly anticipated that his knights will get additional possibilities on the kingside. Besides, the apparently

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doomed h-pawn could play an important part in certain cases. 16...Qh6 17.Nh2 Rac8 18.Ndf1 f5 19.Ng3 Qe6 20.Nf3 Qf6 Black has managed to stabilize the kingside position, but White will open a new front on the opposite wing. 21.dxc5 bxc5 22.b4!? Fighting for the d4-square. 22...f4!? As you can see, none of the players is concerned about the material balance. Pawns are sacrificed nonchalantly for the sake of achieving certain strategic advantages. 23.exf4 gxf4 24.Nf1 c4 25.N1h2

Black's achievements in the centre are impressive, but the white knights exert iritating pressure on the kingside. One important element is the h5-pawn, which deprives the queen of the g6-square and is ready to advance to h6 at the most appropriate moment. 25...Qf5? Black gives up the control of the d4-square too easily. In order to release White's pressure over the central pawns, he should have aimed to exchange rooks, for which 25...Re8 strongly comes into consideration. 26.Nd4 Qd3 27.Ne6 Qxd1 28.Rexd1 Ne5!? Interesting, but not enough. 29.Nxd8 Rxd8 30.Ng4 Nd3

31.Rxd3! Simplest. By returning the exchange, Aronian calms down the position, depriving Black of his main trump: the two connected passed pawns. Although there remain certain technical difficulties, White will convert his advantage quite confidently. 31...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.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Leko,P (2751) [E06] WCh Mexico City MEX (10), 24.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Qc8

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Quite logical. Once Kramnik has shown the best way to meet the Catalan, a new trend of fashion has been opened. Until Kramnik will have this position with White, of course. 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Nbd2 Bb7 14.Nb3. Deviating from the slightly premature 14.Bxf6 , as played in Aronian - Kramnik, few days earlier. 14...a5 15.Rd1 Bd5 16.Ne5 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 a4 18.Nc5 Bxc5 19.Bxf6 Bb6 20.Bg5. Against the seemingly lethal 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 21.Qg5 , Black can defend with 21...Qd5+ 22.Qxd5 exd5 , when the relative weakness of the c7-pawn is compensated by the fact that White's bishop cannot find an active diagonal easily.; 20.Bxg7 would lead to a draw by perpetual slightly sooner than in the game. 20...Nxe5 21.dxe5 h6 22.Bxh6 gxh6 23.Qxh6 Rd8 24.Qg5+ 1/2-1/2.

All results of the round

Round 10: Monday, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Morozevich

Peter Svidler

½-½

Vladimir Kramnik

½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

1-0

Boris Gelfand

½-½ Peter Leko

Alexander Grischuk

Round eleven commentary by GM Mihail Marin Grischuk-Kramnik ended in a draw very quickly. Gelfand-Svidler lasted longer and featured an interesting opening fight, but the draw agreement came in a moment when there was a lot of play left still. Playing with white against Aronian, Leko managed to obtain an advantage with energetic opening play, but later hesitated for just one move, allowing the position to become more or less equal. This evaluation did not change until the final draw agreement.

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Anand obtained nice domination on light squares, but Morozevich' kingside counterplay seemed to keep the balance even. Soon, the radical activation of Anand's knight turned things to his favour. At some point, Anand could have repeated moves, which would have suited his favourable tournament position. He bravely decided to play on, although the position remained irrational. Caissa smiles on the courageous, and Anand managed to increase his advance over Gelfand by another half point.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Kramnik,V (2769) [C43] WCh Mexico City MEX (11), 25.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nc3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Nxe5 8.dxe5 Be7 9.Qh5 Be6 10.Rb1 Qd7 11.Bg5 c6 12.0-0 Bxg5 13.Qxg5 Nothing really breathtaking, with the exception of the speed with which all these moves were played. 1/2-1/2.

Anand,V (2792) - Morozevich,A (2758) [B90] WCh Mexico City MEX (11), 25.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 c5. For some reasons, Morozevich refrains from his trademark French Defence again. 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7. Sicilians with opposite castling do not necessarily feature sharp attacks, where everything is decided by the speed of action. In the Najdorf systems where Black plays ...e5, the relative weakness of the d5-square becomes one of the main themes. Play can take a strategic course and the kings' position may become a auxiliary factor, determining players to adjust their plans in accordance to small tactical details. 9.g4 Nb6 10.g5 Nh5

After the early advance of White's g-pawn, White has increased his control over the d5-square, but Black has got his share, too: the f4-square. 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Rg1 0-0 14.Kb1 Qc7 15.Qf2. White forces one more defender of the d5-square to abandon his position. 15...Nc4 16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.Rxd5. White has fulfilled the first part of his plan. The d5-square is all his, and his bishop is more active than Black's. However, in order to achieve full strategic success, he needs to transfer the knight to d5 and this is by no means easy. Moreover, his kingside weaknesses offer Black excellent targets for counterplay. 18...f5 19.gxf6 Rxf6. One of those small tactical nuances I was speaking about prevents Black from winning a pawn with 19...Nxf6 20.Rd3 Nxe4? because of 21.Qg2! 20.Qe2 Nf4 21.Bxf4 Rxf4. We can see that, for practical reasons, the black bishop cannot be considered "bad". We are far from the endgame still and the presence on board of all major pieces requires concrete evaluation. The bishop is very useful in the middlegame because it neutralizes White's pressure along the d-file, while the similar weakness of the f3-pawn is more difficult to defend. 22.Rd3 Qd7 23.Nc1 Rcf8

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29.Rb3 b5. We can notice here the meaning of White's advantage of space. Black's pieces do not have easy access from one wing to another. Therefore, such a simple attacking move like Rb3 will cause the chronic weakness of the queenside. The alternate way of defending the pawn would be 29...Rb8 but after 30.Nb4 there is no way to defend the rook in order to parry the threats Nxa6 and Nc6.

24.a3! This is not just a prophylactic move, ensuring White against back rank problems. The main strategic purpose is to clear the a2-square in view of the knight's transfer tod5. 24...Kh8. But this might be just a loss of time. 25.Na2 Qh3 26.Rg3 Qh5 27.Qg2 Rh4 28.h3. White has managed to neutralize Black's kingisde pressure in satisfactory way. Soon, the knight will become one of the main actors. 28...Qh6

The rook would have to move again, but after, say, 30...Re8 31.Nd5 b5 White has achieved his aim with considerable gain of time. 30.Nb4 Rh5 31.Qf1 Rh4. Threatening ...Rxe4. 32.Qg2 Rh5

An important moment in modern chess history. Anand's most dangerous trailers, Kramnik and Gelfand, had finished their games hours earlier and a draw would have maintained his comfortable lead in the tournament. The ambitious decision to play on will lead to a slightly irrational position, without any safety net for White. Therefore, Anand deserves the highest praise for the way he chose to climb up to the highest peak of the chess pyramide. This is the kind of World Champion the public needs. 33.Nxa6 Bh4 34.Rg4 Bf6 35.Qe2 Rxh3 36.Rxb5 Bd8 37.Rb8 Qf6 38.Nb4 Rxf3 39.Nd5 Qf7 40.Qa6. Each side has created two connected passed pawns. The fact that they will have to be advanced makes the situation very sharp, because the kings will remain vulnerable. On general ground, White should be better, because of is dominating knight, but concretely the position remains unclear. 40...h5 41.Rg2

41...h4? The speed is an important factor in this kind of situations, but two central pawns are too high a price to pay for just one tempo. 41...Qe6 was necessary. 42.Qxd6 Be7 43.Qxe5. The essential thing now is that White has a central passed pawn as well, meaning that he does not need to weaken his king's position yet! The game is practically decided. 43...Rxb8 44.Qxb8+ Kh7 45.Qc7 Bf8 46.Qxf7 Rxf7 47.Rg4 Rf1+ 48.Ka2 Rh1 49.e5 49...Bc5?! Just losing time. 49...h3 would have been more stubborn. WHite would win the bishop by advancing his e-pawn, but Black's passed pawns would have maintained some incertitude still. 50.e6 Kh6 51.Rc4! The start of a well calculated variation. It appears that the bishop has no stability at all. 51...h3. After 51...Bf8 52.Rc8 Rf1 53.e7 Bxe7 54.Rh8+ Kg5 55.Nxe7 White's pieces keep the enemy pawns undr control, while the formidable queenside group of pawns is ready to advance. 52.Rxc5 h2 53.Ne3 Ra1+. A last try. After 53...Rg1 54.e7 h1Q 55.e8Q White has a decisive material advantage and the safer positionof the king. 54.Kxa1 h1Q+ 55.Ka2 Qe4 56.Re5! A last trick, ensuring the promotion of the e-pawn. 1-0.

Gelfand,B (2733) - Svidler,P (2735) [A15] WCh Mexico City MEX (11), 25.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5. I had started becoming afraid that Svidler will not play the Grünfeld at all in Mexico. Especially that there was nothing to complain about his results in the Slav. 4.cxd5. For decades, Gelfand has been one of the greates (if not just the greatest) specialists of the Rb1 system. However, in Dortmund 2006 Svidler employed a quiet positional line against him and achieved an excellent position. In Moscow 2006, Gelfand managed to defeat Svidler with this Anti-Grünfeld move order, only that he delivered the check one move earlier with 4.Qa4+. 4...Nxd5 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qb3 Nb6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Bf4 Be6 9.Qa3 0-0 10.e4 c6

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Actually, this looks very much like a genuine Grünfeld position. White has built up a formidable centre, but is slightly underdeveloped and his queen is far from optimally placed. 11.Rd1 Nc4 12.Bxc4 Bxc4. From strategic point of view, this exchange should favour White, because Black will not have sufficient forces to sustain the thematic breaks ...c5 or ...e5. However, the fact that the king cannot castle easily maintains the balance even. 13.Ne5 Ba6 14.Be3 Qd6 15.f4 Qxa3 16.bxa3 f6 17.Nf3 Nd7 18.d5 Nb6 19.dxc6 bxc6 20.Nd4 Rfc8 21.Ne6 Bh6 22.Kf2 Black has a comfortable position. His structure is better, while the e6-knight is not too stable. 1/2-1/2.

Leko,P (2751) - Aronian,L (2750) [E15] WCh Mexico City MEX (11), 25.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Rd1. The 4.Qa4 variation tends to lead to Hedgehog type of positions. However, Leko has his own views and prefers starting concrete play from an early stage of the game, giving the position a Catalan character. 10...d6 11.Bf4 a6 12.Qb4 Nc6 13.Qa3 d5 14.Qa4 Qc8 15.cxd5 b5 16.Qc2 Nb4 17.Qd2 Nbxd5 18.Nxd5 Nxd5 19.Rac1 Qe8 20.Nd4

All these moves had been played in one of the games of Leko'smatch against Kramnik. 20...Rc8. Kramnik placed his queen's rook on d8. 21.Bxd5!? The position is almost symmetrical and White has to play actively if he wants to convert his slight advance in development into something more concrete. 21...Bxd5 22.Nf5 Rd8 23.Bc7 Rd7 24.e4 exf5 25.exd5 Bd6 26.Re1 Qa8 27.Ba5. White can be happy with the outcome of the opening. He has a strong passed pawn in the centre, while the a5bishop restricts Black's activity, in the same way as in certain Catalan lines. 27...Rb8 28.a3?! But this overcautious move is hard to understand. Why not 28.Rc6 , continuing to activate his pieces? 28...b4! A

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good counterattacking move. Since Bxb4 would lead to the loss of the d5-pawn, White has to cut his bishop off the rest of the board. Besides, the b5-

square will become available for Black's king's rook, making the central pawn feel insecure. 29.axb4 Bf8 30.Re5 g6 31.Rc7 Rbd8 32.Rxd7 Rxd7

White will soon lose the d5-pawn and with it, any hope for a concrete advantage. 33.Qe1 Rxd5 34.Re8 Qc6 35.b5 Qd7 36.Kg2 Rxb5 37.Bc3 Qd6 38.Qe3 Rb7 39.Qd4 Qxd4 40.Bxd4 f6 41.Ra8 Kf7 42.Rxa6 Be7 43.Kf3 Rd7 44.Bc3 Bd6 45.Ke2 Be5 46.f4 Bxc3 47.bxc3 g5 48.Ra4 Rb7 49.Rd4 Ke6 50.Rd2 Rb1 51.Ke3 Rc1 52.Kd4 Rf1 53.Re2+ Kd6 54.Ke3 Rc1 55.Kd2 Rf1 56.Ke3 Rc1 1/2-1/2.

Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h Boris Gelfand

½-½ Peter Svidler

Peter Leko

½-½ Levon Aronian

Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik Viswanathan Anand

1-0

Alexander Morozevich

Round twelve commentary by GM Mihail Marin A spectacular round, with big fights and three decisive games. The previous round's hero, Anand, was the co-author of the only draw. Playing with black against Svidler, he annihilated White's initiative with relative ease and retained a slightly more pleasant position. Morozevich was once again successfull with an original opening experiment, but only after Grischuk lost his thread before the first time control. Kramnik produced another impressive Catalan performance, but it seems that Leko missed his chance for equality when he decided to stick to his material advantage. Aronian employed a very original, but also risky plan with white. At some moment, he pushed his g-pawn just too far and Gelfand found effective ways to take advantage of White's kingside weaknesses.

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Svidler,P (2735) - Anand,V (2792) [C88] WCh Mexico City MEX (12), 27.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0. Given the tournament situation, Anand chooses the safe (nowadays) Marshall Attack. A couple of decades ago, this comment would have been pure nonsense. 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 Re8 10.a4 h6

11.axb5. In Wijk aan Zee earlier this year, the game between the same players, but with reversed colours, continued with 11.c3. 11...axb5 12.Rxa8 Bxa8 13.c3 Bf8 14.d4 d6. The position is typical for the Zaitsev system. 15.d5 Na5 16.Ba2 c6 17.Na3

Black has the more flexible structure, but White intends to play b4, forcing ...Nb7, when the knight would remain passive for a long time. 17...Qc7! Solving the problems of coordination by simple tactical means. 18.Qe2. 18.b4 would be answered by 18...Nc4 , for instance 19.Nxc4 bxc4 20.Bxc4 cxd5 21.Bxd5 Nxd5 22.exd5 Qc4 retrieving the pawn with excellent play. 18...cxd5 19.Nxb5 Qd7 20.exd5 Bxd5 21.Bxd5 Nxd5 22.Rd1 Nf6. In the long run, Black's centre should offer him the better chances, but a draw brings Anand a step closer to his goal. 1/2-1/2.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Grischuk,A (2726) [A28] WCh Mexico City MEX (12), 27.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d3!? Of course. Morozevich is not interested in long theoretcial disputes after the ever fashionable 4.g3. 4...d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nf6

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The position is typical for the Boleslavsky Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3), but with reversed colours. The system is considered to offer Black excellent chances in the Sicilian, and the extra tempo should make the position suitable for ambitious play with White in the English Opening. It should be sayed, however, that Black could eventually get his tempo back by playing

the active ...Bc5 in just one move (which explains why Grischuk played ...Nf6 instead of ...Nb6, leaving the b6-square available for the bishop). 7.Be2 Bg4 8.0-0 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Nd4 10.g3 Bc5 11.Bg2 0-0. Maybe it would have been worth to spend a tempo on 11...a6!? , maintaining the stability of the bishop along the important g1-a7 diagonal. 12.Na4 Bb6 13.Be3 Qd6 14.f4 Nd7 15.Kh1 Rad8 16.Rc1

A very complex position has arisen. At first sight, it might look that Black has a stable domination on dark squares. However, White exerts strong pressure against the critical d4- and e5- squares and can incresae it with such moves as Bh3 and Qh5. 16...Nc6?! This voluntary retreat, carried out with the obvious aim of "winning" the d3-pawn, is in fact a concession, allowing White to activate his play. More consistent would have been 16...c6 , for instance 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Qh5 f6 19.Bh3 Nc5 with a stable position for Black, despite White's two bishops. True, if White feels uncomfortable, he can force a draw already with 20.Bxd4 Qxd4 21.Bf5 g6 22.Bxg6. 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Rc3 Nc5 19.a3 Nxd3 20.Qc2 Nc5 Practically forced, because of the threat Rd1. 21.Bxc5 bxc5 22.Rxc5

This is probably the position both players have been aiming for. Again, a superficial look would suggest that Black is doing very fine, because his knight would be so much stronger than the bishop, if just installed on d4. However, after the unnecessary retreat on the 16th move, it is not so easy to jump back to the centre, because of White's increased pressure ove rht ec7- and e5-squares. 22...Rfe8?! Grischuk wants to carry out his plan in pure form, but he will not be in time for it. He should probably have played 22...Nd4 anyway, for instance 23.fxe5 Qb6 24.Qc3 c6 and White's extra-pawn might be of little relevance, while Black's regroupment looks acceptable. 23.Rd5 Qe7 24.Qb3 Suddenly, White has strong pressure now. Even the apparently passive bishop is very useful, by indirectly sustaining the d5-rook. 24...exf4 The complicatons initiated by this move will prove favourable for White. 25.Qxb7 Rxd5 26.exd5 Nd4 27.Rxf4 Qc5 28.Rf1 g6 29.Qa6 Re2 30.d6 cxd6 31.b4 Qc2 32.Qxd6 Nf5 33.Qd8+ Kg7 34.Qd5. Black's activity is not too threatening. Besides, his own king is vulnerable, too. Grischuk went down quickly during the remaining moves until the time control. 34...Qb2?! 35.g4! Rd2 36.Qf3 Nd6 37.h3 f5?! 38.Qg3 Qc2? 39.gxf5 Nxf5 40.Rxf5! Rxg2. Grischuk might have relied on this intermediate move, failing to notice that he will fall under decisive attack. Anyway, 40...Qxf5 would drop the rook to 41.Qc3+. 41.Qe5+ Kh6 42.Qe3+ 1-0.

Kramnik,V (2769) - Leko,P (2751) [E06] WCh Mexico City MEX (12), 27.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 Qc8 12.Bg5 Nbd7

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After a long thought, Leko refrains from 13...c5 , which seems to be a critical continuation. 14.Rc1. There is something remarkable about White's last moves. I can't help thinking compairing them with certain patterns of play in chess problems (mates in 3 or 4, helpmates). White's pieces tend to make full use of the space left available by their colleagues. 12.Bg5 has made available a whole new diagonal for the queen and she uses it immediately, making the longest possible move. This has cleared the c1square and the king's rook hurries too ccupy it. I would also notice that the queen and the bishop concentrate their pressure on the f6-square, while the queen and the rook attack the c7-square. To my understanding, this is pure harmony, but let us return to the more concrete world of practical chess. 14...Bd6 15.Qh4 h6 16.Bxf6 Nxf6 17.Nbd2

The moment of truth has come. Leko fights agains Kramnik with his own weapons. Quite risky policy, I must say. 13.Qf4!? Here comes the novelty, sidestepping most of the theoretical knowledge that has been accumulated in recent years. 13...Bb7.

White has a slight advance in development and has managed to prevent the freeing move ...c5. However, he has to find a way to coordinate his queen with the other pieces, in order not to lose... harmony. 17...Re8 18.e4 Nd7 19.Nb3 a5. Up to this moment,Kramnik had spent around a quarter of an hour, but now he sank into deep thinking. 20.Nc5. The thematic 20.a4 fails to offer an advantage after 20...bxa4 21.Rxa4 Bb4 . There are too many pieces along the fourth rank, preventing the coordination between the a4rook and the queen.; My first thought was that the knight jump to c5 should have been prepared with 20.Rc2 a4 21.Nc5 , but maybe Leko's last move was more of a defence against the threat Na5 than a preliminary step for the further advance of the pawn.; After 20.Rc2 , Kramnik might have disliked 20...e5. 20...Be7. The capture on c5 would have made the b7-bishop feel uncomfortable. Leko decides to solve his problems by... winning material. 21.Qf4 e5 22.Nxe5 Nxe5 23.dxe5 Bg5 24.Qf3 Bxc1 25.Rxc1 Rxe5 26.Qc3 found it easy to consolidate his advantage of space, because there is too little material left on board and his position contains some weaknesses, too. 27.Qb3+ Kh8?! Another uninspired decision. As will be revealed soon, h7 was a safer square for His Majesty. 28.Qf7! Black is in big trouble. The immediate threats are Nxb7 or Nd3 followed by Rxc7. 28...Bc6 29.Nd3 Re6. With the king on h7, Black could have resisted with 29...Be8, when 30.Qf8 would have been without check. 30.Nf4. Continuing the attack rather than pinning the rook with the trivial 30.Bh3. 30...Rd6 31.Ng6+ Kh7 32.e5!

White's compensation for the sacrificed exchange consists of his much more active placement of pieces. The b7-bishop and the a8-rook cannot be brought into play too easily. Continuing the discussion about harmony, White's position looks opticaly perfect from this point of view. 26...f6?! It is hard to say whether Leko underestimated White's compensation, or, on the contrary, feared that after 26...Re7 27.Nxb7 Qxb7 28.e5 Qa7 29.Bxa8 Qxa8 his position would remain difficult. I believe that White would have not

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White wins material now. 32...fxe5 33.Bxc6 Rf6 34.Qd5 Qf5 35.Bxa8 Qxf2+ 36.Kh1 Qxb2 37.Qc5 Kxg6 38.Be4+ Kh5 39.Rb1 1-0.

Aronian,L (2750) - Gelfand,B (2733) [D43] WCh Mexico City MEX (12), 27.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. By choosing a Slav move order, Gelfand avoids Aronian's unusual setup from his earlier game against Grischuk. 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4. A curious moment. This early release of the tension in the centre is only apparently a concession. In the first round game Kramnik-Svidler, Black played 8...g6 , which offered White the additional possibility of winning space in the centre with 9.e4 dxc4 10.e5! Qe7 11.Bxc4. 9.Bxc4 g6 10.0-0 [Now, 10.e4 can always be met by 10...e5! 10...Bg7 11.Rc1 0-0

12.Ne4 Qe7 13.Bb3 Rd8 14.Qc2. Aronian has chosen a rarely seen setup, with his knight in front of the e-pawn, which deprives him of the possibility of winning space in the centre. White's phylosophy in the current position is to prevent Black from completing his development or freeing his position with the thematic ...c5 or ...e5, rather than start active operations himself. 14...e5. Black usually shies away from this move, preferring to jump with his knight to f6 or b6. 15.Rfe1. A subtle move. White discourages the exchange on d4, which would leave the black queen vulnerable after exd4. 15...Kh8. Less subtle, but very strong. Black threatens with the brutal ...f5.

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16.g4!? It is hard to give a final evaluation of this exotic move, since it almost surely made part of Aronian's preparation. It also bears strong similarity with the advance of the g-pawn from his aforementioned game against Grischuk. I get the feeling that, having been deprived of the possibility of playing Nbd2!? in the opening, Aronian "transposed" to the familiar territory with his last move. Anyway, White's main idea is the same: to ensure some stability to the knights. However, there is a significant difference compared to the previous game: Black's kingside structure is more flexible because the g-pawn is on g6 instead of g5. This is clearly to Black's favour, since White's kingside position remains shaky. 16...Rf8! After the radical weakening of White's kingside, the rook changes plans. From f8, it defends the f7-pawn, enabling ...Nb6, which attacks the g4-pawn, while also sustaining an eventual advance of the f-pawn to f5. 17.g5?! This new advance of the g-pawn will fail to stabilize the position. Maybe it was time to think about safety with 17.Ng3. 17...f5 18.gxf6 Bxf6 19.Kg2 Bg7

20.h4?! Strategically correct, but, with queens on board, very risky. 20...Nb6 21.dxe5? It seems that after this move White's game cannot be saved anymore. 21.Nxe5 would have been a lesser evil. 21...Bg4. Not a bad move, but 21...Rxf3! seems to have been decisive, too: 22.Kxf3 Bf5 23.Kg2 The only way to get out of the nasty pin. 23...Qxh4 24.f4 and now, Black has 24...Nd7 , when White's poor coordination prevents him from parrying such a simple threat as ...Nxe5, when Black's attack will take decisive proportions. 22.Ned2 Nd7 23.e6. This makes it easier for Black, who can win with normal moves. 23.Qxg6 would have been more demanding. White threatens Bc2, but Black is the first to deliver decisive blows: 23...Nxe5 24.Nxe5

Analysis diagram 24...Rxf2+! 25.Kxf2 Qxh4+ 26.Kg1 Bxe5 27.Nf1 Rf8 Threatening ...Qf2+ or ...Rxf1+, followed by mate. 28.Rc2 Bf3 29.Rg2 Apparently, White has defended, but the next move shatters the illusion. 29...Be4! White has no adequate way to maintain the rook defended. For instance, 30.Qg4 loses the queen to 30...Bh2+! 31.Kh1 (31.Nxh2 leads to mate after 31...Qxe1+ 32.Nf1 Rxf1+ 33.Kh2 Rh1#) 31...Qxg4! 23...Ne5 24.Nh2 Qxh4

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Around this moment, Gelfand must have felt like in the good old days, when the King's Indian was his main weapon against 1.d4. 25.f4 Bf5 26.Ne4 Qh3+ 27.Kg1 Nf3+ 28.Nxf3 Qxf3 29.Ng5 hxg5 30.Qh2+ Qh5 31.Qxh5+ gxh5 32.e7 Rfe8 33.Rc5 Bg4 34.Rxg5 Rxe7 35.Kg2 Bf6 36.Rg6 Rf8 37.e4 Bf5 38.Rh6+ Kg7 39.Rxh5 Bxe4+ 40.Kh2 Bd5 0-1.

All results of the round

Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Alexander Morozevich 1-0

Alexander Grischuk

Vladimir Kramnik

1-0

Peter Leko

Levon Aronian

0-1

Boris Gelfand

Round thirteen commentary by GM Mihail Marin The tension did not seem to diminish as we approached the finish. The only relatively short game was GelfandKramnik, but the draw was agreed in a position where there was practically nothing left to play for. Playing with black again, Anand carried out a risky opening experiment against Grischuk and had to suffer in a rook ending before reaching a draw. In Aronian-Svidler, White chose a less common variation, leading to a tense positional fight with about equal chances. After a short tactical phase, the game transposed to a drawn queen ending. In the only decisive game of the evening, Leko employed a new idea right after the opening. Black was probably OK, but Morozevich did not react in the best way and went down rather quickly.

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Gelfand,Boris - Kramnik,Vladimir [D47] Wch Mexico (13), 28.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.a3 b4 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 bxa3 12.0-0 12...Nf6. A new move in Kramnik's games. Against Topalov in Elista, he played 12...Bd6 and only after 13.b3 he attacked the enemy bishop with 13...Nf6 . Topalov came up with the novelty 14.Nd2!? highlighting the drawbacks of the bishop's early development to d6. 13.Bd3 axb2. Gelfand had some experience against 13...Be7. 14.Bxb2 14...a5. A new idea in this position. Kramnik delays the development of the f8-bishop, preparing the advanced b4-square for it. 14...Be7 would transpose to an older game by Kramnik, against Ivanchuk at New York 1994. 15.Qa4 Bb4 16.Ba3 Nd5 17.e4 Nb6 18.Qb3 Qe7 19.Rab1 Bxa3 20.Qxb6 Bb4 21.Ne1 0-0 22.Nc2 Rfd8 23.Nxb4 axb4 24.Qxb4 Qxb4 25.Rxb4 Ba6 26.Bxa6

White's advantage is purely symbolic. 1/2-1/2.

Grischuk,Alexander - Anand,V [D43] Wch Mexico (13), 28.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5. One of the fashionable lines in Mexico. 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4. Kramnik prefers to refrain from this move. In Mexico, 10.0-0 was played in the games Kramnik-Gelfand and Kramnik-Anand. 10...g4 11.Ne5

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12.Nxg4 Nxg4. Optically, this exchange looks a bit premature, because it allows White activate his bishop. However, the move had been played before and we should give Anand credit for using it. The main alternative is 12...Nbd7 A few years ago, Grischuk played like this himself, eventually choosing a similar plan as Anand in the present game: 13.Nxf6+ Nxf6 14.Bf3 b4 15.Ne2 c5 16.d5 with advantage for White, although Black eventually won in Potkin-Grischuk, Krasnoyarsk 2003. 13.Bxg4 b4. A rare continuation. Advancing pawns with the queenside undeveloped yet looks a bit like playing with fire. The main line goes 13...Nd7. 14.Na4 c5

11...Rg8. Against Aronian, Anand defended his pawn with 11...h5 in a similar situation. With his last move, Black hopes to get some play along the g-file.

15.d5!? This ambitious move has only been played once before, in a game where the difference of level between opponents was quite big. Normally, White captures on c5, but this does not seem to offer an advantage. The tempting sacrifice 15.Bxe6!? fxe6 16.Qh5+ Ke7 17.Nxc5 can be met adequately with 17...Rxg3! 18.fxg3 Qxd4 , when White's king would feel insecure, too. When advancing the d-pawn, Grischuk must have remembered the problems he had in a similar situation with Black, in his game against Potkin. 15...exd5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Qxd5 Bxd5 18.0-0-0 Rxg4 19.Rxd5 Nd7 20.Re1+ Kd8 21.Red1 Rd4 22.R1xd4 cxd4 23.Rxd4 Rc8 24.Bd6

Despite mass simplifications, White's position remains slightly more pleasant, because of his more compact structure and the vulnerability of Black's queenside pawns. 24...Ke8?! With hindsight, this move looks inaccurate, because it allows White drive the black knight on an unfavourable position. Quite possibly, a better way to maintain the tension would have been. 24...Be7 25.Kc2 Rc6 when after 26.Bxe7+ Kxe7 , Black's rook is ready to start a counterattack against White's kingside. Ironically, the g-file had been opened for the other rook initially, but this does not make the remaining rook less suitable for this kind of job at all. 25.Re4+ Kd8 26.Bxf8 Nxf8 27.a3 bxa3 28.bxa3 Rc6 29.Nb2 Rf6 30.Re2 c3 31.Nd1 Ra6 32.Ra2 Ng6 33.g3 Rc6 34.Kc2 Ne7

Apparently, Black is just in time to defend his far advanced pawn. 35.Nxc3!! Spectacular and... entirely possible at the same time. White gets a very promissing ending now. 35...Nd5 36.Kd3 Rxc3+. Or 36...Nxc3 37.Rc2 , pinning the knight. 37.Kd4 a5 38.Kxd5 a4 39.Kd4 Rb3 40.Kc4 Kc8. Black misses just one tempo to get an easily drawn position. It woule be essentila to prevent the activation of the enemy rook. If 40...Ke8 , hoping for ...Kf8 next, White is in time to improve the position of the rook with

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41.Re2+ Kf8 42.Re3 . With his text move, Anand "hides" the king behind his rival, but this will not work. 41.Rc2! Kd7. It appears that the king is expsoed on c8, too. 41...Rxa3? drops the rook to the double attack 42.Kb4+!] 42.Rc3 Rb2 43.Rf3 Ke6 44.g4 Ke7 45.Kd5 Rb3 46.Ke4 Rb2 47.Kf5 Rb5+ 48.Kf4 Kf6 49.Rd3 Rb2 50.f3 Ra2 51.Ke4 Rh2 52.Rd4. It is not easy to give a definitive verdict without a deeper analysis, but I believe that this exchange of pawns reduces White's winning chances. I would prefer

52.h5 followed by the king's transfer to the queenside, when Black's kingside counterplay is not that easy to carry out. In many cases, ...Kg5 followed by ...f5 can be answered by a rook lift to the 5th rank, pinning the f-pawn. 52...Rxh4 53.Rxa4 Rh1 54.Rb4 Ra1 55.a4 Kg6 56.Kd5 Ra3 57.Kc6 Rxf3 58.a5 f5 59.a6 Ra3 60.gxf5+ Kxf5 61.Kb6 h5 62.Rb5+ Kg4 63.Ra5 Rf3 64.a7 Rf8 65.a8Q Rxa8 66.Rxa8

White has won the enemy rook, but will miss just one tempo to win. 66...h4 67.Kc5 h3 68.Kd4 h2 69.Rh8 Kg3 70.Ke3 Kg2 71.Rg8+ Kf1 72.Rh8 Kg1 73.Rxh2 Kxh2 1/2-1/2.

Aronian,Levon - Svidler,Peter [A29] Wch Mexico (13), 28.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bc5

5.Nxe5!? This move made part of Botvinnik's repertoire. The normal continuation is 5.Bg2. 5...Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe5 7.e4 c5 8.h3 0-0 9.d3 a6 10.Bg2 b5 11.Rf1 d6 12.Kg1 h6 13.b3 Be6 14.Be3 Rb8 15.Ne2 Re8 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.Rc2

White has the pair of bishops and some advantage of space in the centre. However, Black's stability on dark squares ensures him a normal game. 17...bxc4 18.dxc4 Bc6 19.Nc3 Rb7 20.Rcf2 Nh7 21.h4. I am not sure whether preventing the knight jump to g5 is worth weakening the g4-square. 21...Rbe7 22.Rd2 Qa5 23.Qc2. But now, the g4-square is left entirely to Black's mercy, allowing him toobtain good counterplay. 23.Nd5 would have maintained some pressure. 23...Ng4 24.Bf4 Nhf6 25.Re1 25...d5! 26.e5 Nxe5 27.Rde2 d4 28.Bxe5 Bxg2 29.Bxf6 Rxe2 30.Rxe2 Rxe2 31.Qxe2 gxf6

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35.Qb7+ Kd8 36.Qd5+ Kc8 37.Qc6+ Kb8 38.Qe8+ Kb7 39.Qe4+ Kc8 40.Qc6+ Kb8 41.Qe8+ Kb7 42.Qe4+ Kc8 43.Qc2 Qa3 44.Qxc3 Qxa2+ 45.Kf3 Qb1 46.Qe3 It will be Black now who will start checking. 1/2-1/2.

The position looks spectacular, but it will all end with perpetual. 32.Qg4+ Kf8 33.Qc8+ Ke7 34.Kxg2 dxc3 Leko,Peter - Morozevich,Alexander [B80] Wch Mexico (13), 28.09.2007 [Mihail Marin] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f3!? The main continuation in this old, but not at all out of fashion variation is 9.f4 b5 10.Bxf6 gxf6 . With his move, Leko aims to transpose to positions that are chracteristic for the Scheweningen English Attack, a system he masters quite well. 9...Be7 10.Be3. After this bishop retreat, it might look as if White has just lost a tempo compared to the English Attack. However, it is not entirely clear whether the presence of the bishop on d7 is favourable for Black. In certain cases, it would just deprive the king's knight from its most natural retreat square. 10...h5!? This radical way of preventing g4 has been played also in the Najdorf and Scheweningen 6.Be3 systems. 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.Nxc6!? A new move. 12...bxc6. Morozevich consolidates his centre, but 12...Bxc6 would have been a simple way to justify the bishop's presence to d7. 13.Bf4 e5 14.Bg5 Be6 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.f4

16...a5?! I believe that Morozevich' reluctance to release the tension in the centre is the main cause for his future problems. 16...exf4!? would have ensured the light-squared bishop's stability on e6 and an excellent outpost on e5 for any of the major pieces (preferably the queen). Black would have retained chances for a queenside attack. Las negras hubieran mantenido posibilidades de ataque en el flanco de dama. 17.f5! Bd7 18.a4 Rb8 19.Bc4! This move highlights the main drawback of Black's 16th move. After the bishop's transfer to b3, Black's attack will be completely extinguished. 19...Rb4 20.Bb3 Qb6 21.Rhe1 Rd4 22.Qe2 Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 Qc5 Black has good control on dark squares, but both his bishops are passive and the h5-pawn is weak. This latter aspect will prove of decisive importance. 24.Rd3! h4 25.Rh3 Bd8 26.Ka2 Kf8 27.Qe1 Be8 28.Rxh4 Rxh4 29.Qxh4 Qg1 30.Qh8+ Ke7 31.h4 d5 32.exd5 Qxg2 33.h5

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1-0

All results of the round

Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h Levon Aronian

½-½ Peter Svidler

Boris Gelfand

½-½ Vladimir Kramnik

Peter Leko

1-0

Alexander Morozevich

Alexander Grischuk ½-½ Viswanathan Anand

Round fourteen commentary by GM Mihail Marin In a sharp line of the Najdorf, Svidler improved upon his play against Topalov in San Luis 2005. Grischuk was just one move too slow in building his counterplay and found nothing better than simplify to a hopeless ending. Anand chose a safe plan against Leko's Marshall Attack and had little trouble to reach the draw that ensured him the supreme title. Morozevich-Gelfand was an interesting hard-fought game. After missing a far from obvious possiblity to get an advantage, Morozevich was left with just compensation for the sacrificed exchange, eventually leading to a draw. Aronian reacted badly against Kramnik's novelty in a modern line of the Queen's Indian and went down without too much fight.

Svidler,P (2735) - Grischuk,A (2726) [B90] WCh Mexico City MEX (14), 29.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.h3 Ne5 11.Nf5 Bxf5 12.exf5 Nbc6 13.Nd5 e6 14.fxe6 fxe6 15.Ne3

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15...Qa5+ 16.c3 Nf3+. In San Luis, Topalov managed to surprize and defeat Svidler with this slightly exotic variation. Grischuk's decision to repeat the experiment looks a bit risky, because Svidler had obviously analyzed the position himself, disposing over the invaluable advantage of having faced the variation in a practical game. 17.Qxf3 Bxc3+ 18.Kd1 Qa4+ 19.Nc2 Bxb2

20.Rc1!? Here comes the novelty! The aforementioned game went 20.Qb3 Qxb3 21.axb3 Bxa1 22.Nxa1 Ke7 and White's pieces were more passive than in the present game. 20...Bxc1 21.Qf6 Kd7. Another possibility would be 21...Bb2 22.Qxb2 e5 , but after 23.Bd3 White's position looks preferable anyway. 22.Kxc1 Qxa2. I suppose that this move was not so much dictated by grediness as by the concern about the e6-square. However, the developing move 22...Rac8 might have offered better chances for counterplay. 23.Bd3 Rac8 24.Rd1

White has completed his development (true, not in a very ortodox way) and is the first to create strong threats against the enemy king. 24...d5. For instance, the tempting 24...Nb4? , threatening mate in two, loses to 25.Bb5+! followed by Rxd6+. 25.Bf5 Rhe8 26.Qf7+ Kd8. It might seem that Black has defended and can think about finally launching his counterplay against the c2-knight. 27.Re1!! A very strong move, increasing the pressure against the e6-pawn. 27...Qa3+ The simplifications initiated by this move will not bring Black any relief, but it is hard to suggest an improvement. The key point is that Black is still slow with his counterplay. For instance, 27...Nd4? loses the knight to 28.Qf6+; while 27...Nb4 allows an attack with checks: 28.Qf6+ Re7 29.Qf8+ Kd7 30.Bxe6+ Rxe6 31.Qf7+ Kd8 32.Qg8+! 28.Nxa3 Ne5+ 29.Kd2 Nxf7 30.Bxe6 Rc6 31.Bxf7 Rxe1 32.Kxe1 b5 33.Kd2

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White has a decisive material advantage, maintaining an acceptable coordination. The rest is easy. 33...b4 34.Nc2 b3 35.Nd4 Rb6 36.Kc1 a5 37.Bxd5 a4 38.Be5 b2+ 39.Kb1 a3 40.Ba2 Rb7 41.Bd6 Rd7 42.Nb5 1-0.

Anand,V (2792) - Leko,P (2751) [C89] WCh Mexico City MEX (14), 29.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

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. Nowdays, the Marshall Attack can hardly be considered an aggressive weapon. White can make a draw almost by force, if he really wants to. 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.d3 Bf5 14.Nd2 Instead of sticking to his small material advantage, White hurries to complete his development and... win the World title. 14...Nf4 15.Ne4 Nxd3 16.Bg5 Qd7 17.Nxd6 Qxd6 18.Bc2 Qg6 19.Bxd3 Bxd3 20.Be3. Opposite coloured bishops, symmetrical position, no significant weaklnesses for any side... Yes a draw is the most liley result. Long live the new Champ! 1/2-1/2.

Morozevich,A (2758) - Gelfand,B (2733) [C42] WCh Mexico City MEX (14), 29.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 This Gelfand's fourth game with the Petroff in this tournament, but the first time when he faces the classical main line. His opponents from the previous games played 5.Nc3. 5...d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1

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8...Bg4. Nowadays, 8...Bf5 is almost universally played and White usually gets big headaches trying to break Black's fortress. We cannot know whether Gelfand had prepared the slightly more active bishop for the whole tournament or just specially for this game. 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.Bf5

13...d4!? Almost never played before. The main continuation is 13...dxc4. 14.Ne2 d3 15.Nf4 Nd4 16.Bxd3. As expected, White has won the courageous pawn, but his pieces have been distracted from the control of the d4-square, allowing Black to install his knight there. 16...0-0 17.Be3 Bc5. A new move. In the only game where 13...d4 was played, Black prefered 17...Bb4 , Polgar-Shirov 1999. We can note Gelfand's different treatment of his bishops. His queen's bishop made a longer move than in the main stream of theory, while his colleague stopped just one square earlier than in the previous game. 18.Qb1!? The start of a far from natural regroupment. 18...Qd6 19.Rd1 Qe5 20.Bxh7+!? Nxh7 21.Nd3 Qf5 22.Nxc5 Nc2 23.b4

A curious position. White has won a pawn and keeps the enemy knight pinned. However, his queenside pieces are temporarily stuck. For instance, the queen cannot move because of ...Nxa1. 23...Qg6?! This careless move, dictated by the understandable desire to unpin the knight as soon as possible, will remain unpunished. Only further analysis will prove which would have been the bets way to maintain the tension. 24.a4. Missing the spectacular 24.Ne6! The knight's incursion with gain of time is unpleasant enough (it could soon reach such a central square as d5), but the point is that after 24...fxe6 the queen remains undefended, allowing 25.Rd2 with a sound extra-pawn for White. 24...Nxa1 25.Qxg6 fxg6 26.Rxa1 Nf6 27.h3 Rfe8 28.a5

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White has sufficient compensation for the exchange, because of his active minor pieces and advantage of space on the queenside. 28...b6 29.Nb3 Ne4 30.c5 bxc5 31.Nxc5 Nc3 32.Na6 Nd5 33.Rc1 Nxe3 34.fxe3 Rxe3 35.Rxc7 Re2 36.Kh2 Rf8 37.Rxa7

Rff2 38.Kg3 Rxg2+ 39.Kf3 Rgf2+ 40.Kg3 Rg2+ 41.Kf3 Rgf2+ 42.Kg3 g5 43.b5 Rf4 44.b6 Re3+ 45.Kg2 Re2+ 1/2-1/2.

Kramnik,V (2769) - Aronian,L (2750) [E15] WCh Mexico City MEX (14), 29.09.2007 [Mihail Marin]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3. For the first time in this tournament, Kramnik refrains from the Catalan. Aronian usually answers 3.g3 with 3...c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 b5 and in fact lost his last two games (against Kramnik himself, in their rapid match earlier this year and against Gelfand, here in Mexico.) 3...b6 4.g3. Still, the bishop goes to g2, which seems to suit Kramnik's taste these days. 4...Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3. This was the last chance to transpose to a genuine Catalan with 8.0-0 d5 9.Qc2 , although some might call it a Bogo Indian. 8...d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 b5 15.Re1 bxc4

There have been some discussion in this line lately, but theory is far from being settled yet. 16.Bf1. The main alternative is 16.Qe2. 16...Nb6. Aronian had had this position before, but with the white pieces. However, this previous experience hardly was useful to him for this game because in Aronian-Nakamura, Armenia 2005, a draw was agreed right here. 17.Rb1!? It is curious that this natural developing move, bringing the last piece into play (true in a not entirely "normal" position) is a novelty. Earlier, White mainly tried 17.Nc5. 17...Nd5 18.Ba1 Bb4. These last attacking moves win an exchange almost by force, but leave Black poorly coordinated. Maybe he should look for a way to answer 17.Rb1 with just another developing move, but which? The only possibility that comes up to mind is 17...Re8, but it is not easy to spot in which way this move could be useful. Maybe by avoiding the fork on d7 in case of the generally desirable ...Qb6!? 19.Nc5! Bxe1 20.Qxe1 cxb3. This move is hard to understand. Black will simply lose material, without getting any compensation for it. True, after 20...Nc7 21.bxc4 , Black's minor pieces are miserably placed, but then the criticism should be focused on the 17th and, possibly, 18th moves only. 21.Nxa6 bxa2 22.Rb2

The rest is a matter of technique. 22...Nc7 23.Rxa2 Nxa6 24.Rxa6 Qd7 25.Qc3 f6 26.Qc5 Rf7 27.Bc3 Qb7 28.Qc4 Qd7 29.Bg2 Kh8 30.Bxc6 Qb7 31.Kg2 h6 32.d5 Qb8 33.dxe6 Re7 34.Bb4 Rec7 35.e7

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1-0.

All results of the round

Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler

1-0

Alexander Grischuk

Viswanathan Anand

½-½ Peter Leko

Alexander Morozevich ½-½ Boris Gelfand Vladimir Kramnik

1-0

Levon Aronian

Final standings

by Ergun 01.10.2007

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