Mig 
Greengard's ChessNinja.com

Mexico WCh 2007 R2

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Not much to say about round one, but that won't stop me from saying it. Four short draws started things off. Grischuk-Leko was the marathon of the bunch, clocking in at 28 moves. GM Marin has some analysis up at ChessBase, along with photos and video clips. As GMs inevitably are, he is understanding about the short draws: "If they agreed to a draw, it must be a forced draw," "the opponents know each other so well since childhood, so that the abrupt end is not completely illogical." To be fair, Marin does sound mildly disapproving at times, saying one final position is not 100% sure to be a draw and that the end of Kramnik-Svidler was "anything but drawish," which is something of an understatement.

Morozevich-Aronian was an interesting game that ended justly after accurate play. Christiansen was surprised by Morozevich's Qc2-Be4 plan instead of the natural e4. Gelfand played some very good defense against Anand's pawn-rush plan against the Petroff. In fact, Fritz was calling for a big advantage for Black after the remarkable move 16..c5!! The bishop on c4 is immune and Black has the initiative. Instead of the final move 22..Rxe1+, Gelfand could have grabbed a pawn with 22..Rxf4. It's opposite-colored bishops, but it looks significantly better for Black. There's a reason we don't often hear "killer instinct" and "Boris Gelfand" in the same sentence.

Grischuk-Leko followed Karjakin-Onischuk from a few months ago at Foros for 21 moves. Grischuk thought for a while about the consequent 17.Nxe5, but in the end avoided it just as Karjakin had. Leko's accurate 22..Re5 lift held the line. In the final position the black a-pawn can't be saved, but if White takes it his knight gets trapped. Marin wonders if White should have played on in the oppo-bishop ending after 28..Bxf4 29.Nc5 Bc8 30.Bc4 Bd6 31.Bxa6 Bxc5 32.Bxc8. But Black doesn't have to go into this and instead gets the better of things by trapping the knight again with 31..Bxa6. Svidler went for queenside pawn pushing against Kramnik's Semi-Slav and it paid off. Kramnik played the odd 22.Nh2 instead of the 22.Bd3 everyone was expecting. Just when things were getting interesting they agreed to a draw on move 22. Kasparov called their final position "probably the most interesting position of the entire day."

The official site is still a content-free zone, although their live game broadcast went smoothly yesterday by all reports, and congrats to them on that. They do finally have a results and pairings page up, copy-pasted from the ChessBase site. The ICC page is beefing up their content and has a daily free "game of the day" video, the first by Larry Christiansen. There is also a cool video montage by Macauley Peterson of the first day in Mexico. I did a rambling podcast wrap-up of the first day's action for them but I don't think they've put it anywhere. Probably just good taste on their part, but if you've got 30 minutes to kill and aren't put off by the shrill beginning (I calm down), you can download it here. For future rounds they will only be 10 minutes or so and will stick closer to the games and player comments.

The players are giving little press conferences after the rounds, which is great. But where are they? Is no one running them in full in text, audio, or video? Silly in this day and age. There are snippets in the Mexican press, at least. Mostly from La Jornada and EFE: Anand: "It was a good fight for the first day of action." "I made a mistake somewhere." Gelfand [joking]: "It could have been worse for both!" Kramnik: "Peter surprised me with a very good move." (Not specified of course; I assume 19..c5.) "I didn't start strong, but I tried to get into the game because things got complicated. A draw is fine because it's just the first of 14 rounds." Svidler was happy to have tripped up Kramnik and reach a good position, but couldn't maintain any advantage and agreed to a draw despite being in front of "an interesting board." Both Kramnik and Svidler said several aspects of the tournament could be improved. (I've heard at least two Russian reports from on-site that had bad things to say about the playing conditions. Not sure if that's what they were referring to though.) Grischuk: "A boring game. Leko defended well and I couldn't get the advantage I was looking for." Aronian: "We weren't looking to draw, but there weren't many options. It was a fighting game."

Today's second round: Aronian-Anand, Kramnik-Morozevich, Svidler-Leko, Gelfand-Grischuk. Kramnik and Moro have played some great battles in the past. And I hope Kramnik decides that skating through two whites to start the event would be a shame. Aronian would make a statement by getting some pressure on Anand.

Keep the coverage and analysis links coming. I don't have time to read even a fraction of them these days. GM Susan Polgar is live-blogging a few games. GM Ian Rogers is there on the scene and doing reports for Chess Life Online. Yay.

50 Comments

It will be a fun round and we will have many sites commenting again. As usual we have http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.com and http://www.chesdom.com . In Chessdom they guessed the openings in the games yesterday. Today they try again, I think they will not get them today, Aronian has much imagination.
About yesterday besides the Chessbase analysis we can find http://crestbook.com/

http://www.chessok.com has also one game today commented.

I agree with both you and Marin, Mig. Interesting games and (most of them) ended too early. It's understandable: in the opening round with nobody having a notable advantage out of the opening, do you really want to press for the win against the players this caliber? The guys are tired from long flights and drastic change in time--both Grischuk and Svidler have mentioned this. For a World Cup, teams arrive early to acclimate, but I don't know that chess players have the finances to do something like that--is FIDE paying for accomodations? If so, I am sure they only cover the duration of the tournament and a few days before/after.

Daily prediction: Kramnik and Gelfand take the lead.

Regarding Christiansen's remark: it wouldn't be Morozevich if he didn't play something that surprised.

I was thoroughly dissappointed with the ending of Kramnik-Svidler. I think Kramnik, if he loses the tournament by 1/2 pt will regret not pushing for more from that game.

In the post-game interview, Anand said that b3 was a mistake and that he was lucky that Gelfand didn't take f4. He didn't seem to be too perturbed though (but then he rarely is).

Everybody seems to be ignoring Leko and i think he is one of the people that can grab the WC. Even Susan ignores him... kinda strange. Peruovic is doing live commentary of Leko at http://www.chessdom.com/wcc-mexico-chess-2007/live/svidler-leko , let's see if he catches up with the speed.
http://www.crestbook.com are oing Kramnik Moro
The fun starts :)

Wow, two hanging knights on d5 and e5, Aronian's and Kramnik's. Looks like fighting spirit, at least to a patzer like me.

Looks like Aronian and Anand are going to duke it out.

Kramnik Morozevich game incredible!!!!! Live at http://www.crestbook.com , if not I cannot understand it.

Aronian's knight sac seemed dubious. To a wood pusher like myself, Kramnik's knight sac seemed less dubious.

Moro has only 4'25" left after his first 19 plies.

Kramnik has a passed Pc7, Moro a passed pd3. Great game!

I wish this ChessMexico live viewer used long notation.

and the first winner is: ANAND VISHWANATAN, congratulations!

Aronian-Anand 0-1. Moro about to go under vs Kramnik.

The problem with Drawnik is that he's such a boring player. I really wish he'd liven it up a little sometimes. The sponsors are paying him good money. Sheesh.

Moro resigns with just a few seconds on his clock for 13 moves.

Spoilsport, should have let him promote to a third queen.

Anyway Kramnik was a genius today.

Anand played well to pretty much humiliate Aronian. Gelfand-Grischuk a fair draw. Svidler is trying to beat Lékó in a difficult endgame, I doubt he will.

Morozevich missed 21..Qd5!? in crazy time trouble though. But it's not like we can expect perfect play from anyone with a couple of minutes left for 20 moves.

More plays as if he wants to to prove Freud's theory of "death instinct" ( kind of "killer instinct" reversed).

"Anyway Kramnik was a genius today."

"Morozevich missed 21..Qd5!?"

How is Kramnik a genius if his opponent missed a possible equalizing move?

Maybe you mean Kramnik was lucky today ...

"Anyway Kramnik was a genius today."

"Morozevich missed 21..Qd5!?"

How is Kramnik a genius if his opponent missed a possible equalizing move?

Maybe you mean Kramnik was lucky today ...

I guess, Kramnik played to exploit Moro's time trouble today. Every Vlad's move left Moro few responses to choose from, and Moro got hooked up.
Kramnik built his play today strategically perfect, playing not by position, but exploiting opponent's psychology. Unusual for him, and shows he is really ready to fight and win.
Yesterday Kramnik played his best friend, this can explain his uneven play in that game, IMHO.
I predict, in first half he will play correct drawish chess vs. Anand, Aronian, and Leko, and try to put more aggression on Grischuk, and, may be, Gelfand (depends on how Gelfand will show himself in previuos rounds) to make +2 in first half.
Regarding Anand, the bottom line is that in this tournament we'll not be able to predict much. Just compare the dull white Anand from yesterday with tough guy from today.
Both Leko and Svidler, IMHO, are willing to finish +1, they are not going to fight for the title.
Moro, as usual, does not know himself, how he will play tomorrow.
Grischuk and Gelfand are still hiding their intentions.
And Aronian... Let's see tomorrow how he recovers to make predictions.

Please, spare us the 'how can you call someone who made a mistake a genius' innuendo. Why don't you switch your chess engines off and try using your brain a little? Kramnik played an absolutely masterful, if not wholly perfect, game today. He sacrificed two pawns for strategic gain. He was fearless in following through the strategic theme with a piece sacrifice. He out-calculated Moro in the tactical labyrinth. And all this against a 2750-player.

Kramnik was NOT a genius today. He was plain lucky!

Because Moro was allowed that opportunity only when Kramnik made a slip in a winning position. Apart from that the game appeared flawless and Kramnik's whole concept very impressive.

How much of "luck" it was depends on how easy 21..Qd5! (22.Qxb4 Qf3! followed by Bd5) would typically have been to find under the circumstances. I doubt if anyone would have found that over the board with Morozevich's insane time trouble. Must have been a very hard move for a human. But it's hard to tell for someone who is not a super-GM....

no chess knowledge,
Genius does not mean error-prone. Genius means behind understanding. Moro would be considered a genius if he lose less frequently ;-)

Was Tal genius? Thousand of chess fans do think so. And how many of his sacs were correct?

And can you name at least two well known persons who would name, say, Botwinnik, Smislov, or Petrosian geniuses?

Sometimes it seems that Kramnick is playing a different game from everyone else. Even against Morozevich, a unique and sometimes weird player, it is Kramnick's will that is stamped all over the game. How does he do it?!

I find positions like today's Kramnick-Morozevich game, with multiple pawn pairs ready to capture and recapture, especially difficult to figure out. I thought M must be right to begin by exchanging 14.... ed4, right - otherwise K gets a powerful pair of central passed connected pawns. But it turns out just as bad, with K getting connected passed b and c pawns. Oooo it got ugly.

Was 22.... Nxb6 possible for Moro? Sure it loses a piece to 23. Qc6, but what Moro did 22. ... Ne5 loses a piece too, albeit with mate threats all around. At least Nb6 would eat one of the future queens.

I don't see anyone writing the book, How to Beat Vladimir Kramnick...

tjallen

Unfortunately Danailov is not in Mexico to stop this latest infraction! Kramnik is clearly violating the FIDE rules by writing down his moves before playing them. Look at the video before 5.Bg2.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4114

After 21..Qd5 White must even be very careful not to get worse or even lose. But then Black must find some only moves in turn.

This is a pure computer line. 21..Qd5 22.Rac1! Bc5! 23.Qxa6! Nb6! 24.Rxc5! Qxc5 25.Be3 Qxc7 26.Bxb6 Rxa6 27.Bxc7 Rxa2 and draw (right?). Most of this is forced. Is it possible to improve somewhere?

18-minute podcast wrap-up of round 2:

http://www.chessninja.com/download/02-migpodcast-2007wch.wma

Amazing game from Kramnik. Such a chaotic position you can't criticize anyone for missing anything, really. Human game, human mistakes. The only real sin was Kramnik playing too quickly in Moro's time trouble, if anything. Interesting that Moro found the ..Qf3 idea a few seconds later, but then it didn't work.

Mig:

Isn't your "podcast" a bit of a misnomer since it's in a format that can't even be played on an iPod? Is there a reason why it's not in MP3 format or some other open format?

Collyeratis,
Moro should ask for win by forfeit ;-)
Danailov can still send this video to FIDE Ethics Commission to fight back! He has time till tomorrow. Kramnik must be banned from the tournament, and replaced by Topalov who should also get the whole point vs. Moro by default.

"Isn't your "podcast" a bit of a misnomer since it's in a format that can't even be played on an iPod? Is there a reason why it's not in MP3 format or some other open format?"

I second that. I can't listen to it either. Mp3 would be much appreciated.

I just now went over the game and anyone that is finding fault with Kramnik's play against Morozevich today does not understand chess. That was a truly remarkable game! Total domination and it doesn't get any better. Quite frankly it's laughable to listen to the critizing of his play today. Boring? Lucky? etc. Yeah right!?

All in all quite exciting chess today. If you want perfect play, watch the computers go at it. To me, the human element makes the super-GM tournaments much more compelling.

Collyeratis at 20:19 wrote:
{
Kramnik is clearly violating the FIDE rules by writing down his moves before playing them. Look at the video
}

Ha! Yup you caught him (at 1:36 on the video). Danailov must be drooling.

Of course, Kramnik did not ERASE and re-write another move: that behavior is where the note taking problem gains conception.

The arbitor likely wants to minimize his effect on the games, and would caution Kramnik only if Moro raised a concern.

It looked like Kramnik prematurely wrote his upcoming move only because he needed no thinking time for it, and he already had his pen in his hand.

I was going to ask -- How much thinking time did Kramnik spend on his daring 13. Pe4:pd5 (whence followed pf6:Ne5 14. Pd5:pc6)?

Then around 8:12 on Mig's audio_cast he answered: 15 minutes.
Does not sound like Kramnik had this move prepared.

In this digital age, it is a little frustrating that the game viewer which had the clock times for each move during the game, no longer does after the game.
Especially since Moro's time trouble in this game was such an important factor, and since most .PGN lack this crucial info.

(E.Winter could cite this omission of clock times from .PGN files as a source of historical distortion.)

Too bad there is no clear close-up video of Kramnik moving 13. Pe4:pd5.

Kramnik must be banned from the tournament, and replaced by Topalov who should also get the whole point vs. Moro by default.

I agree with this except for the default to Moro, which would be unnecessary because all the other competitors will commit suicide or go into hiding once the Bulgarian arrived in Mexico. Then Topalov would raise Capablanca from the dead and beat him 10-0 at rook odds.

Kramnik must be banned from the tournament, and replaced by Topalov who should also get the whole point vs. Moro by default.

I agree with this except for the default to Moro, which would be unnecessary because all the other competitors will commit suicide or go into hiding once the Bulgarian arrived in Mexico. Then Topalov would raise Capablanca from the dead and beat him 10-0 at rook odds.

How is 21. ...Qd5! winning equalizing for black? 22. Qxb4 is not forced. A quiet 22. bxa6 keeps the advantage for Kramnik.

21. ..Qd5! just appears to be an interesting, crowd-pleasing move, nothing more, nothing less..

Similarly, 19. Bd6!? doesn't do anything for White in Aronian-Anand game. Anand was not stupid enough to play 18. ..Qe7 if thought 19. Bd6 is bad for him. He must have thought 12. ..Qxh4 would have offered him sufficient compensation...

Two astonishing wins, fine fighting games, won in great style.

And fine pieces of psychological warfare: Now the alpha dogs are leading the pack, and everyone elses reduced to "young pretender" status.

I am impressed by the way Kramnik and Anand won: It was not because they had better positions right from the start, but because they got into risky, double-edged positions, and proved to understand better what to do with it, to be the better player. Perhaps if they would have switched sides with their opponents in the middle of the game they would have won the same position from the other side.

"How is 21. ...Qd5! winning equalizing for black? 22. Qxb4 is not forced. A quiet 22. bxa6 keeps the advantage for Kramnik."

22.Qxb4 loses, of course. On 22.bxa6, 22..Qf3 is still good, but 22..Nb6! probably much better. (Still can't take the bishop.) 22.Rac1 as in "my" line above is forced and it seems like best play ends up in a drawish endgame indeed.

I don't think 21. ... Qd5 is inhumanly difficult to find, not even in time-trouble. Black's best hope for counterplay in that position is the weakened white squares around White's king, so this should be a candidate move.

Heh. What a complete player this Aronian. I just realized in this chessbase video that he moves his pieces with the left...but writes with the right hand.

Which hand does he use to press the clock? I think he uses both hands with Arianne!

acirce said: 21..Qd5 22.Rac1! Bc5! 23.Qxa6! Nb6! 24.Rxc5! Qxc5 25.Be3 Qxc7 26.Bxb6 Rxa6 27.Bxc7 Rxa2 and draw (right?).

Nice line, but what about 22. ... Bh3

tjallen

Vlad Kosulin says: "Was Tal genius? Thousand of chess fans do think so. And how many of his sacs were correct?"

Actually, surprisingly many (and yes, I get your point and agree with it). Tal simply was one of the best chess players in history, and an extremely original genius!

incidentally, no praise too high for Kramnik's win against Moro. He not only took on the "chaos master" in madness but initiated it, and seemed to revel in it! Amazing, brave, confident and masterly play.

incidentally, no praise too high for Kramnik's win against Moro. He not only took on the "chaos master" in madness but initiated it, and seemed to revel in it! Amazing, brave, confident and masterly play.

-- Posted by: d_tal at September 17, 2007 08:01

If the "chaos master" had had more time left on his clock, the result may have been very different. The clock beat Moro more than anything else.

true gmnotyet, but the clock is an integral part of the game. Otherwise its called Correspondence chess.

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    This page contains a single entry by Mig published on September 14, 2007 10:25 AM.

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