2007 World Chess Championship (Mexico City)
The 2007 World Chess Championship has begun! The games started today and from all indications the games have started off with a fighting spirit… despite the draws. The field is as follows:
Participants
Viswanathan Anand (India 2792)
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia 2769)
Alexander Morozevich (Russia 2758)
Peter Leko (Hungary 2751)
Levon Aronian (Armenia 2750)
Peter Svidler (Russia 2735)
Boris Gelfand (Israel 2733)
Alexander Grischuk (Russia 2726)
Coverage
Mexico 2007 (official site)
Europe-Echecs (web coverage, photos, videos)
ChessBase (web coverage, photos, games)
TWIC (web coverage, commentary, games)
GM Susan Polgar (blog, live commentary)
The Daily Dirt (blog, fan commentary)
Chess OK (Sergey Shipov’s commentary)
Chess.FM (audio commentary… ICC members)
FIDE America (web coverage, photos, games… in Spanish)
Here are some of the regulations:
Schedule: Opening ceremony 12th Sept 2007. Rounds 1-4 13th-16th Sept 2007: Rounds 5-8 18th-21st Sept 2007: Rounds 9-11 23rd-25th Sept 2007: Rounds 12-14 27th-29th Sept 2007. Tiebreak games if required 30th Sept 2007, along with the closing ceremony. Play starts at 15:00 (Eastern Standard Time – New York) tiebreaks a couple of hours earler at 12:00. Prize fund: US$1.3 million.
Time control: 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in one hour, followed by 15 minutes plus 30 seconds for all the remaining moves (40/2h, 20/1h, 15m+30sec/all).
According to the FIDE regulations: Tie breaks for the World Chess Championship Tournament: When the top two or more players score the same number of points, the title of the World Champion will be decided by the following criteria, in order of priority: a) The results of the games between the players involved in the tie. If they are still tied: b) The total number of wins in the tournament of every player involved in the tie. If they are still tied: c) Sonneborn – Berger System. If there is no clear winner with the above 3 criteria, there will be a special competition between the players who still remain tied after using the 3rd criteria (Sonneborn – Berger). If still tied each player will play two games with the other opponents (one or more) with a time control of 25 minutes and an increment of 10 seconds per move from move one for each player. There can also be Blitz and sudden death games.
The World Championship cycle has gone through several permutations and the latest design was announced by FIDE, but you can also read the analysis on the ChessBase website.
One of the drawbacks of these championships is that they feature the same permutation of players as in Dortmund, Linares, Wijk an Zee, etc. There needs to be some “fresh blood” in the mix. Fortunately, Armenia’s Levon Aronian will bring a new face to the elite chess fraternity. It will be exciting to watch the world’s best square off!
Here are videos from opening ceremonies:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4e0KNr_gtw
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PIaIwNvjo0
Enjoy!
I enjoyed the Grischuk -Leko game a bit ,It was also interesting to see Anand gain nothing out of Gelfand’s Petroff.Does the Petroff take e pawn players out of business???Seems the case these days as Kramnik himself has adopted it with Success .I look forward to see this Defence more in this Championship. For those who enjoy good analysis on games I find Sergey Shipov’s analysis on https://www.chessok.com/ easier and more detailed .Obviously Yasser Seirawan is doing a good job on live commentaries on Chessbase.com but Mikhail Marin’s game commentaries are a joke .He never takes time to even give adequate alternatives only “browsing through”.Yes ,its that bad from a GM!I will try Susan Polgar blog today ,she is a hardworker I doubt she would let anyone down.
I predict at least 2 decisive results today.I will watch the games after the Springboks v England Rugby World cup today in France .
Brilliant chess being played at Mexico city. Some of the moves to me seems irrelevant but only after a couple of moves they start to show their worth. The formidable Kramnik seems unstopable .
I am still for matches ,I do not believe a round robin like this produces a real Champion .Like Garry Kasparov once mentioned tradition of world champions has to be maintained .Its a pity its been a long time since we had a decent World Championship.No wonder talented players like Piket,Salov,van der Sterren are no longer around ,one just gets frustrated .I got a good laugh when I read rules of current cycles,Topalov and Kramnik get all the priviledges all the way .I doubt any real sponsors would like to be involved in this fiasco .FIDE credibility has lowered significantly to quote Karpov “Even a dXXXhead would do a better job than Ilyumzhinov. The chaos in the chess world is caused by “leaders” who are unable to do their job properly.” https://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2495
The FIDE vice president Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia won the 2003 European Championship, on his own admission, by retracting a move during the decisive game against Malakhov.
Anyway onto the games themselves,The Petroff is reigning supreme ,Gelfand is spearheading the Petroff once again,now when is the Berlin coming??Nice play by Vishy against Morozevich but just couldn’t convert.Leko’s horrific game against Aronian is certainly what I have not been expecting but I expect the Hungarian to still finish in top 3.
“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”—-Mao Tse-Tung
Svidler should have gone for Petroff against Anand ,it would have a psychological impact as it has been doin well ,instead he chose a Marshall Gambit and ……Peter Leko in a bid to avoid Kramnik’s Petroff tried the out of favour Bishop’s opening( something every Russian kid is taught to defend against in very first chess lessons )the result was obvious ,drawn. Gelfand is rekindling the form that saw him clinch the Interzonal in 1990 ,its getting interestin as Grischuk played really well against eccentric Moro .3 decisive games ,good day!!
What is interesting is that Grischuk himself appears to have discovered that 1.e4 is long dead and started on playing d4 on first move
😆 
Should we then conclude taht a Chess game ends in a draw if played accurately??
A game played by men of equal strength, if played accurately, will end in a draw, and it is apt to be dull. ——Em. Lasker .
I quote an extract from TWIC website from the article https://www.chesscenter.com/twic/event/mex07/rd5.html ” “Boris Gelfand is demonstrating precisely why the Petroff is such a good choice for black. Three absolutely comfortable draws with black is gold dust in an event like this. Today he had a chance with white and he of course plays 1.d4 which means at least he has a chance to play for a win. “” 😆 😆 Makes me laugh everybody thinks Petroff is a draw now. 😉
Daaim – I remember discussing this topic with you at the World Open a few years ago – whether or not having white, and therefore the first move, is an advantage. I believe that having the first move is definitely an advantage, because it confers the initiative, and having the initiative is a definite advantage.
But it does not confer a decisive advantage. So I also believe that we will ultimately find out that with best play, black can always equalize, regardless of what opening scheme white chooses.
For a patzer like me, however, such issues are irrelevant. I’m still still trying to develop enough patience to not fatally drop pawns like I did in the final round of this year’s WO. 😉
Good job on the Mexico coverage!
Bravo to Anand for his undefeated performance at the world championships in Mexico City! I for one was quite pleased to see that Anand won, because he has been one of my favorite top class chess players for several quite a few years! 🙂 I also like the fact that Anand is a good representative for chess. I mean he seems pretty normal with an eloquent command of several languages, and what seems to be a healthy marriage! I’m sure that the folks back in Anand’s homeland are exceedingly proud of this Son of India! ❗