World Chess Championships 2007, Mexico

medpal · 12:27 PM

Chess has been in turmoil eversince Gary Kasparov got entangled with FIDE over prize money sharing and challenger selection.

There has been so many events and so many champions from various camps claiming to be the World Champion.

FIDE too took its own efforts to establish a championship cycle which truly represents a World Champion.

This was helped in tremendous way when a unification match was held in 2006 between Braingames Champion (Rival Faction) and FIDE Champion (between Vladimir Kramnik and Vaselin Topalov).

After which a new format was mooted with a championships cycle of evry two years and last winner getting a chance to defend himself.

This resulted in Kramnik being the undisputed world champion and getting his right to defend the chamionship in 2007.

Mexico was awarded the hosting rights for the 2007 championships.

The Championships

World Chess Championships 2007 being held in Mexico is touted as a new era in chess sports activities.

There are 8 participants in this years tournaments. The tournament will be held in Double Round Robin format (meaning every player will face other opponents twice in the tournament), eventual player with Higest number of points will be declared the Undisputed World Ches Champion.

The Participants:

Defending World Champion
3 players based on their ranks in last world championships.
4 qualifiers from the candidates matches held early this year.

The Venue.

Sheraton Centro Histórico Hotel, AVENIDA JUAREZ 70, COLONIA CENTRO, MEXICO CITY, 06010, MEXICO

The Schedule

The Players

Code:

Player	                        Nat.	Rtn	Birth
Vishwanathan Anand	IND	2792	1969
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2769	1975
Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2758	1977
Peter Leko	            HUN	2751	1979
Levon Aronian	            ARM	2750	1982
Peter Svidler	            RUS	2735	1976
Boris Gelfand	            ISR	2733	1968
Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2726	1983

The average ratings of these players is so high that this tournament is the strongest tournament in the history of Chess with assigned category XXI.

Our very own Vishwanathan Anand is the top seed and one of the favourite to win the tournament.

Vishwanathan Anand

Place of Birth: Madras, India
Date of birth: December 11th, 1969
Current FIDE rating: 2792
Current position in FIDE list: 1st (April 2007)
Highest FIDE rating: 2803 (April, 2006. 2nd place behind Topalov)
Highest position in the list: 1st (April and June 2007)

Most important achievements:
- In 1987, he became Junior World Chess Champion, and the Grand Master title.
- FIDE world champion, Teheran, Iran, 2000.
- Five times winner of the Wijk ann Zee tournament.

Latest results in 2007:
First place in Morelia-Linares tournament 2007
Second place in Melody Amber tournament 2007

Sites of interest:
VISWANATHAN ANAND PAGE
Viswanathan Anand - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Vladimir Kramnik

Birthplace: Tuapse, Russia
Date of birth: June 25th, 1975
Current FIDE rating: 2769
Current position in FIDE list: 2-3 (tied with Topalov)
Highest FIDE rating: 2809 (from October 2001 to January 2003)
Highest position in the list: 1-2 (shared with Kasparov) January 1996 with rating 2775.

Most important achievements:
- 2000: He defeated Kasparov in the World Championship Match.
- Three times winner of the Linares tournament: 2000, 2003 and 2004.
- Winner of high category tournaments in Wijk ann Zee, Dortmund, Tilburg, Dos Hermanas, etc.
- 2006: He defeated Topalov in the reunification match to select the official world champion.

Latest results in 2007:
- Wijk ann Zee Tournament, 4th place
- Melody Amber Tournament (blind and fast games) 1st place
- Dortmund 2007: 1st Place

Pages of interest about Kramnik:
Vladimir Kramnik - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Kramnik - World Chess Champion - Official website

Alexander Morozevich

Birthplace: Moscow, Rusia
Date of birth: July 18th, 1977
Current FIDE rating: 2762 (April, 2007)
Current position in FIDE list: 4th place
Highest FIDE rating: 2762
Highest position in the list: 4th place (many times)

Most important achievements:
2003: Russia champion
Winner of important tournaments, such as:
Biel (2003, 2004, 2006), Melody Amber (2002, 2004, 2006) Pamplona, 2006

Latest results in 2007:
Morelia-Linares Tournament, 2nd place
Melody Amber Tournament, 6th place

Pages of interest about Alexander Morozevich:
Alexander Morozevich - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Morozevich Digest. English page.

Peter Leko

Place of Birth: Subotica, Serbia
Nationality: Hungarian
Date of Birth: 8th of September, 1979
Current FIDE Rating: 2738
Current position in FIDE list: 8th place
Highest FIDE Rating: 2763 (July 2005)
Highest Position in FIDE list: 4th place (6 times)

Most important achievements:
2002: Winner of the Candidates Tournament in Dortmund, Germany
2003: Linares: 1-2 (tied with Kramnik)
2003: Ties 7-7 the match for the World Title (unofficial) against Kramnik, at Brissago, Switzerland.
2005: Wijk ann Zee: 1st place
2006: Tal Memorial, Moscow: 1-3

Latest results in 2007:
Champion of the World Rapid Chess Cup at Odessa, Ukraine.
Morelia/Linares: 8th place (6/14 points)
Melody Amber, Monaco: 8-9 place (tied with Carlsen)
Rapid Chess Match against Kramnik, at Miskolc, Hungary. Looses 3.5 to 4.5
Candidates Tournament, Elista, Kalmikia: He defeated Gurevich 3.5 - 0.5 and, Bareev 3.5 - 1.5; he qualified for the World Chess Championship Mexico 2007.

Pages of interest about Leko:
Peter Leko's Offical Homepage
Peter Leko - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Levon Aronian

Birthplace: Yerevan, Armenia
Date of Birth: October 6, 1982
Current FIDE rating: 2759
Current position in FIDE list: 5th place
Highest FIDE rating: 2761
Highest position in the list: 3rd (April and July lists, 2006)

Most important achievements:
2002: World Junior Chess Champion (Under 20)
2005: World Cup Winner in Khanty Mansiysk
2006: Morelia/Linares Tournament, first place.
2006: Armenia wins the Chess Olympiad with Aronian at first board.
2006: Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia: 1-3

Latest results in 2007:
Corus Tournament (Wijk ann zee): 1-3 (Shared with Topalov and Radjabov).
Morelia/Linares Tournament: 4-5 lugar (Shared with Svidler, with 50% performance )
Melody Amber Tournament(Mónaco): 4-5 (Shared with Svidler)
Classifies to the World Chess Championship in Mexico, beating Carlsen and Shirov, in the candidates matches of Elista, Kalmikya.

Pages of interest about Aronian:
Levon Aronian - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
The chess games of Levon Aronian

Peter svidler

Birthplace: Leningrad, Russia
Date of birth: June 17th, 1976
Current FIDE rating: 2736 points
Current position in FIDE list: 9th
Highest FIDE rating: (January, 2006)
Highest position in the list: 3rd – 4th (October, 2006; he tied with Kramnik: 2750 points)

Most important achievements:
Four times Russia Champion: 1994, 1995, 1997 y 2003.
1997 Tilburg tournament winner (shared); 1998 and 2006 Dortmund tournament winner.
2005 World Chess Champion in San Luis (Argentina): 2-3 (tied with Anand).

Latest results in 2007:
Morelia/Linares Tournament: 5th place
Melody Amber Tournament: 4th-5th place

Pages of interest about Svidler:
Peter Svidler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GM Peter Svidler Official Site

Boris Gelfand

Birthdplace: Minsk, Bielorusia
Country: Israel
Date of Birth: June 24, 1968
Current FIDE rating: 2733
Current position in FIDE list: 13
Highest FIDE rating: 2750 (january 2001)
Hihest position in the list: 3° (with 2727 points in July 1990)

Most important achievements:
1990: Linares Tournament: 2° place,
Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca: 1st place
1991: He plays in the World Chess Championship (Candidantes cicle), losing in round 2 against Short.
1993: Interzonal at Biel: 1st place
1994- Wins to Adams and Kramnik in the candidates matches, but lose against Karpov in semifinals.

last results in 2007:
Blitz World Cup in Odessa, Ukrania: 2° place (lost final against Leko)
Melody Amber Tournament, Mónaco: 6-7 place (Shared with Morozevich)
Festival Villa de Calatrava (25 minutes per player): 1-4

Pages of interest about Boris Gelfand:
Boris Gelfand - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
The chess games of Boris Gelfand

Alexander Grischuk

Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
Date of birth: October 31, 1983
Current FIDE rating: 2717
Current position in FIDE list: 16
Highest FIDE rating: 2732
Highest position in the list: 6th place (July, 2003)

Most important achievements:
2000: World Chess Championship in New Delhi, he got to the semifinals (he lost against Shirov)
2004: Russian Championship Finalist; there he lost against Kasparov.
2006: He won the Quick Chess World Championship in Rishon Lezion, Israel

Latest results in 2007:
Memorial Tal, Moscow (2006): 6th place, 4.5 of 9 possible
Quick Chess Calatrava Festival: 7th place
He qualifies for the World Chess Championship in Mexico defeating Malakhov and Rublevsky.

Pages of interest about Grischuk:
The chess games of Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

References:
Official Website
FIDE
chessbase

medpal

Opening Ceremony in Pictures

The Players all lined up at the opening ceremony with their escort kids

The escort kids or guides of player at the opening ceremony

The Dignitories
Chief Organiser Jorge Saggiante in first photo, in second Honorary FIDE president Florencio Campomanes, Third image FIDE General Secretory Ignetius Leong, other FIDE dignitories in other photos

Chaos at the time of drawing of lots, Anand and Morozevich respectively

The Players and their entourage

medpal

The Pairings :

medpal

First Round Report:

Everything went smoothly, leaving aside fears of some technical problems as such big event was being hosted for the first time in Mexico for Chess Community.

On the playing arena there wasnt much excitement with all the games ending in draws.

looks like players are waiting for mistakes to arise in opponents games and also to check the fitness levels. We can expect big moves coming around in second half of the rounds.

Nothing much to write home about.

medpal

Mid Tournament Report

There has been an interesting trend in this the strongest ever world championships. Earlier it was observed that when younger players enter the scene the elder brigade used to loose out their shine and used to play under the shadow of younger players.

But during the era of Kasparov and now Anand have shown that Older generation and The newer Generation can infact coexist and also fight for the top honours.

This tournament has also seen Anand leading with now Gelfand in second place have made younger players languish behind.

At present after first phase of seven rounds of play Anand in in solo lead and Gelfand is in Solo Second place. Defending and pretournament favourite Kramnik is in Third place.

As the first phase has been finished the players have sorted to a peculiar strategy. Almost every player has done the homework very well and adopted to a strategy that defending well and agreeing to stronger players for draw. Adopt aggressive strategy against only weaker opponents, that has resulted in less games ending in results.

Now the second phase begins we can have sure shot exciting endings as players will try to snatch initiative from leaders with attacking plays, and almost all weaknesses being exploited with chess software supports.

But in my opinion with Kramnik in third place Anand emerges as the strongest contender for regaining coved crown of the World Champion

, barring a dip in form of Anand and sudden herroics of Kramnik.

Looking forward to excellent competition ahead.

Round wise results:
Round 1

Round2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Standings after Round 7

Safin

Viswanathan Anand Wins World Chess Championship

World Number 1 Viswanathan Anand has regained the World Chess crown, which he first won in Teheran in 2000.
Anand, 37, replaced Vladimir Kramnik of Russia as the champion on Saturday, winning the Championship with a tally of nine points after playing a quick 20-move draw with Hungarian Super Grand Master Peter Leko in the 14th and final round of a tournament that he dominated from the start.
Anand's dazzling achievement is coupled with the Indian ace crossing the magic ELO rating of 2800 for the second time in his career and continuing his top ranking for the third time in succession since climbing up the FIDE charts in April this year.

Meanwhile in an interview just after winning the title, this is what Anand had to say.
"Yes, I heard about it (the welcome given to the cricket team). It would be interesting to see what kind of reception I get when I come to India by the end of this month (October)," Anand said over phone from Mexico in an exclusive interview.

omg This is gonna become one royal mess for the government now

Already Pankaj Advani is going on hunger strike

squarecut

"Chess, what is that ?" will be the government response.

Fortunately for Anand, his prize money from this title win is much higher than the few lakhs that different state governments have announced for cricketers.

bottle

nice coverage doc

Nikhil

BTW, Pankaj Advani isnt going on hunger strike. I dont want people getting the wrong idea

And yeah, I am very happy abt vishy. But it doesnt matter anymore. He has nothing more to prove anymore.

stridEr

yeppie Anand has done it finally. & proved it 2 the world that he is the best