Round 13-14 of September 27th-28th 2007 by IM Malcolm Pein

Round 13 (September 28, 2007)

Gelfand, Boris         -  Kramnik, Vladimir      1/2   26  D47  Queens Gambit Meran
Leko, Peter            -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   33  B67  Sicilian Rauzer
Aronian, Levon         -  Svidler, Peter         1/2   46  A29  English Four Knights
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   73  D43  Anti-Meran Gambit

Round 14 (September 29, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Leko, Peter            1/2   20  C89  Ruy Lopez Marshall
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Aronian, Levon         1-0   35  E15  Queens Indian
Svidler, Peter         -  Grischuk, Alexander    1-0   42  B90  Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Gelfand, Boris         1/2   45  C42  Petroff's Defence

WCh Mexico City MEX (MEX), 13-29 ix 2007               cat. XXI (2752)
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                                     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 
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1 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2792 ** == == == 1= =1 1= 1=  9.0  2848
2 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2769 == ** == =1 == 10 =1 ==  8.0  2799
3 Gelfand, Boris         g ISR 2733 == == ** == == 1= 11 =0  8.0  2804
4 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2751 == =0 == ** == =1 0= =1  7.0  2751
5 Svidler, Peter         g RUS 2735 0= == == == ** 0= == =1  6.5  2725
6 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2758 =0 01 0= =0 1= ** == 01  6.0  2700
7 Aronian, Levon         g ARM 2750 0= =0 00 1= == == ** =1  6.0  2702
8 Grischuk, Alexander    g RUS 2726 0= == =1 =0 =0 10 =0 **  5.5  2675
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Round 11-14 PGN Annotated by Malcolm Pein

Vishy Anand is the 15th World Chess Champion. The 37 year old from Madras agreed a quick draw with Peter Leko in the fourteenth and final round at Mexico City to win the eight-player title contest with 9/14. Anand, the only unbeaten player, becomes the first non-Russian since Bobby Fischer in 1972 to win the undisputed world title and will play the former champion Vladimir Kramnik in a match next year.

Kramnik finished equal second with Boris Gelfand as only the three oldest players finished on positive scores. Anand was in serious difficulties just once, in the penultimate round but Alexander Grischuk, who finished last, missed a win in a rook and pawn endgame which we will examine tomorrow.

Kramnik lost the title he won from Garry Kasparov in 2000 but before the event he negotiated the rights to a rematch which will take place next year. His Catalan Opening, which proved so effective against Veselin Topalov at the world title contest in 2006 proved hard to handle at Mexico as well.

Anand drew his last two games and his victory was almost certain after the round thirteen game between his closest rivals Boris Gelfand and the now former champion Vladimir Kramnik, was drawn.

Peter Svidler won a game at the fourteenth and final attempt and this gained him an extra $39,000. The prize fund was $1.3 million of which Anand took home $390,000. The prize distribution was 1st: $390,000 2nd $260,000 3rd $182,000 4th $130,000 5th $104,000 6th $91,000 7th $78,000 8th $65,000

Here are games from the last two rounds including Kramnik’s clinical last round despatch of Levon Aronian. Kramnik made a late run but his missed win against Alexander Grischuk and debacle at the hands of Alexander Morozevich cost him dearly.

Grischuk had strong chances to beat Anand in round 13 and throw the event wide open.

Grischuk,A (2726) - Anand,V (2792) [D43]
WCh Mexico City MEX (13), 28.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 Another Anti Moscow Gambit Black has weaknesses and less development 10...g4 11.Ne5 Rg8 12.Nxg4 Nxg4 13.Bxg4 b4 14.Na4 c5 An unusual move employed by one of Anand's inner circle. Presumably it was designed to get Grischuk out of his preparation. It succeeded in that but Grischuk managed to remember the right continuation althoug he fell an hour behind on the clock. 15.d5! exd5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Qxd5 Bxd5 18.0-0-0 Rxg4 [18...Bxg2 19.Rhe1+ looks almost suicidal but Black survives after 19...Be7 20.Bd6 Nc6] 19.Rxd5 Nd7 20.Re1+ Kd8 21.Red1 Rd4 22.R1xd4 cxd4 23.Rxd4 Rc8 24.Bd6 Ke8 [The players agreed that 24...Bxd6 25.Rxd6 Ke7 26.Rxh6 Ne5 with activity was better] 25.Re4+ Kd8 26.Bxf8 Nxf8 27.a3! A difficult endgame for Black - Grischuk. the c4 pawn is very weak now 27...bxa3 28.bxa3 Rc6 I don't know if Vishy could have played better around here but he was moving incredibly quickly. On Chess FM Grigory Kaidanov put this down to nerves 29.Nb2 Rf6 30.Re2 c3 31.Nd1 Ra6 32.Ra2

32...Ng6?! [32...Rc6 33.Rc2 Ne6 34.Rxc3 Rxc3+ 35.Nxc3 Nf4 36.g3 Nd3+ Grischuk] 33.g3 Rc6 34.Kc2 Ne7 35.Nxc3!! [35.Kb3 Nf5 36.Nxc3 Nd4+ 37.Kb2 Rb6+ 38.Kc1 Rc6 39.Kd2+/-] 35...Nd5 36.Kd3 Rxc3+ [36...Nxc3 37.Rc2] 37.Kd4 a5 38.Kxd5 a4 39.Kd4 Rb3 40.Kc4 Kc8 [40...Ke7 41.Re2+ Kf6 42.Re3+/-] 41.Rc2! Kd7 [If the Black king was on f6 he would be holding. Anand missed 41...Rxa3 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? [White has made good progress and now the consistent move was 52.h5! Ra2 and it seems that White wins 53.Kd4 Kg5 (53...Ke6 54.Kc4 f5 55.Kb4 fxg4 56.fxg4 Rg2 57.Rd4 Ke5 58.Rc4 Kd5 59.Kb5! Rb2+ 60.Rb4+-) 54.Kc4 Rb2 55.Rd5+ Kf4 56.Rf5++-; 52.h5 Rb2 53.Rd4; 52.h5 Ra2 53.Kd4 Kg5 54.Kc4 f5 55.Kb4 (55.Rd5 Rxa3 56.Rxf5++-) 55...fxg4 56.fxg4 Kxg4 57.Rd5 Rh2 58.Kxa4 Rxh5 59.Rxh5 Kxh5 60.Kb5 Kg4 61.a4 wins by a tempo] 52...Rxh4 53.Rxa4 Rh1! Anand explained that h5 would be wrong as he would not get a passed h pawn. He needs to play f5 not h5 54.Rb4 Ra1 55.a4 Kg6 56.Kd5 Ra3 57.Kc6! [57.f4 f5] 57...Rxf3 58.a5 [It was worth investing a tempo to prevent Black from creating a passed pawn 58.Rb5! Rf4 59.a5 Rxg4 60.a6 Ra4 (60...h5 61.a7 Ra4 62.Kb7 Rxa7+ 63.Kxa7 f5 64.Kb6 etc) 61.Kb6 f5 (61...h5 62.a7 Rxa7 63.Kxa7 h4 64.Kb6 f5 65.Kc5 h3 66.Rb3 h2 67.Rh3+-) 62.a7 Rxa7 63.Kxa7 Kg5 64.Kb6 h5 65.Kc5 h4 66.Kd4 Kf4 67.Rb3 Kg4 68.Ke3+-] 58...f5! This saves the day 59.a6 Ra3 60.gxf5+ Kxf5 61.Kb6 h5 62.Rb5+ [62.a7 Rxa7 63.Kxa7 Kg5 64.Kb6 h4 65.Kc5 h3 66.Kd4 h2 67.Rb1 Kf4! keeping out the white king, draws] 62...Kg4 63.Ra5 Rf3 64.a7 Rf8 65.a8Q Rxa8 66.Rxa8 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

Kramnik,V (2769) - Aronian,L (2750) [E15]
WCh Mexico City MEX (14), 29.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 Nfd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.0-0 Rc8 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 b5 15.Re1 [15.c5 b4 16.Bxb4 Bxf1 17.Qxf1 Nf6 18.Rd1 Nd5 19.Be1 Ra8 20.h4 a5 21.Qe2 Qd7 22.Nc3 Rfd8 23.Na4 Qc7 24.Bd2 Bf6 25.Bg5 Bxg5 26.hxg5 Rab8 27.Qe5 Rb7 28.Rd2 Ne7 29.Qe4 Rb4 Khenkin-Sargissian, Mainz 2007.] 15...bxc4 16.Bf1 [16.Qe2 Nf6 17.Rac1 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bf6 Vyzhmanavin-Magerramov Chelyabinsky 1990] 16...Nb6 17.Rb1N [Improving upon 17.Nc5 Nd5 18.Qf3 Nxc3 19.Qxc3 Qb6 20.b4 which was played by Aronian's compatriot Gabriel Sargissian] 17...Nd5 18.Ba1 Bb4

19.Nc5!! Eliminating the activity of all black minor pieces at the cost of the exchange 19...Bxe1 20.Qxe1 cxb3 [This loses but after 20...Nc7 21.bxc4 Ra8 Else Qa5 wins 22.Qe4! Qe8 23.Bd3 f5 24.Qe5 Qe7 25.Bc3 Threat Ba5 25...Bc8 now Bf1-g2 or Re1 are both strong] 21.Nxa6 bxa2 22.Rb2 Nc7 23.Rxa2 Nxa6 24.Rxa6 The pawns are weak and the bishops strong. Against Kramnik, its over. 24...Qd7 [24...c5 25.Qe5] 25.Qc3 f6 26.Qc5 Rf7 27.Bc3 Qb7 28.Qc4 Qd7 29.Bg2 Kh8 30.Bxc6 Qb7 31.Kg2 [31.Bxb7 Rxc4] 31...h6 32.d5 Qb8 [32...exd5 33.Bxb7 Rxc4 34.Bxd5] 33.dxe6 Re7 34.Bb4 Rec7 35.e7

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