Translated material
Raja aspires to be king
Anand retains lead in championship tournament
At the world championship tournament in Mexico, after eight rounds, Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand retained the lead with 5.5 points. Boris Gelfand, competing under the Israeli flag, was half a point behind him.So far, the current holder of the chess crown is Vladimir Kramnik, and in the seventh round, which concludes the first half of the competition, it was his game with Boris Gelfand that attracted general attention. Interest was fueled not only by their tournament position, but also by the fact that the opponents have extensive experience playing in round-robin super tournaments, where the main bet is on white while maintaining the status quo with black. And here Kramnik has white, with whom Boris finds it difficult to play purely psychologically. After all, he, like no one else, knows how strong Vladimir is, since he played 32 games with classical control against him and loses to him in statistics “-3”, although he has a victory in the candidates match in 1994 with a score of 4.5 :3.5.
True, Kramnik was only 19 years old at the time, but over the last decade the picture has changed. Boris constantly loses to Vladimir, the last time this happened a month ago in Dortmund. But in Mexico City we see a different Gelfand, not concerned with statistics: he won two games in a row and is confident in himself, as evidenced by Black's choice of the sharpest Moscow variation, so popular at the tournament. The grandiose battle took place under the sign of Gelfand’s initiative, who kept Kramnik in constant suspense. He first launched a pawn attack on the kingside, then attacked the center, and finally attacked on the queenside. Kramnik defended himself clearly and after 40 moves the opponents’ resources were exhausted. A draw worthy of students of the Soviet chess school!
Compared to this match, the game of the other tournament leader looked much more boring. Alexander Grischuk has a special reverence for Viswanathan Anand. I remember that in 2005, for the opportunity to play an eight-game rapid chess match with him, he even refused to play for the Russian national team. And although Alexander lost that match (with a score of 3:5), the potential of the young Muscovite was appreciated. In the classic match, he did not dare to play a sharp game, agreeing to undergo “Spanish torture” (this is how Black’s problems in the Spanish game are sometimes assessed), which he could not endure. Having taken the game to the best endgame, Anand, one might say, won on bare technique and deservedly strengthened his leading position. As for Grischuk’s unsuccessful game, the football rule worked here: if you don’t score yourself, they will score against you. The Russian did not win “ready” positions against Aronian and Svidler.
In terms of playing style, Morozevich and Leko are antipodes. Peter is a pragmatist, relying on carefully verified analyses, and Alexander is a pronounced romantic, ready to rush into the unknown. But since a cold practitioner is often dried up by romance, their fight turned out according to Leko’s scenario. After the opponents in the Scottish game brought their forces to the center, Peter sensitively monitored any attempt by Alexander to be active in a roughly equal position and countered the problems with exchanges of pieces. The grueling, tense struggle lasted 60 moves and ended in a draw with a perpetual check. There was no fight in the game Svidler - Aronian, which ended in a draw on the 20th move.
Considering the chances of the participants over the remaining distance, we can say with confidence that there are three contenders left in the fight for the champion title - Anand, Gelfand and Kramnik. This is evidenced, first of all, by the reliability of their play; all three did not receive worse positions (the only exception being Anand’s misfire in the game against Kramnik) and they can handle the blow perfectly with Black, which indicates good opening preparation. If we talk about the physical form of the leaders, it is noteworthy that the group of applicants includes the oldest participants in the tournament. But while a lot has been said about Anand (he will turn 38 in December), the leader of the FIDE rating list and the current tournament - undoubtedly, this is his last real chance to become a world champion, 39-year-old Gelfand did not figure in the forecasts at all. And in vain! A graduate of the Spartak school of Tigran Petrosyan, world champion among juniors under 20 in 1997 (in those years this was considered very prestigious - the devaluation of chess titles had not yet affected the grandmaster corps), was considered one of the most promising young Soviet chess players.
A repeated participant in Candidates matches, Gelfand, even after leaving for Israel, demonstrates an extremely stable strength of play and for many years has been included in the leading group of the FIDE rating list. For example, a year ago he finished in the top ten and this year he retreated only to 13th position. The most experienced grandmaster, who has caught the winning spirit, is unlikely to miss the chance to intervene in the fight for the champion title. The only problem is himself - whether the good-natured Boris has enough character. In this regard, his fights with his main competitors, with whom he plays white, take on special meaning.
The eighth round maintained the status quo in the group of leaders. After a series of difficult battles, Gelfand demonstrated his peacefulness with white to Anand - he did not object. But Kramnik faced difficult trials in the Russian game, where Svidler prepared a surprise. The world champion's position seemed dangerous, but he confidently repelled the attack. Grischuk suffered his second defeat in a row, choosing against Leko the same variation of the Spanish game in which he lost to Anand. In a difficult fight, Morozevich saved the game with Aronian.
As for Kramnik, who faces the difficult task of eliminating Anand's two-point lead before the second round of the tournament, he is quite capable of this - it is well known how Kramnik concentrates on decisive games. It is no coincidence that he is the only participant who does not have a negative balance with any of his opponents. If we talk about the statistics of meetings with Anand, then recently Kramnik has taken the lead - the current “+2” is the largest gap in all the years of their rivalry. If we consider the prospects for the performance of the remaining Russian participants, we cannot but be saddened by the fact that two of them - the leading players of the Russian team, Svidler and Morozevich - are at the bottom of the standings. Grischuk also demonstrates unstable play.
Results. 7th round. Anand - Grischuk - 1:0, Kramnik - Gelfand, Svidler - Aronian, Morozevich - Leko - draws. 8th round. Leko - Grischuk - 1:0. Gelfand - Anand, Aronian - Morozevich, Svidler - Kramnik - draws. Position of the participants: Anand - 5.5 points, Gelfand - 5.0, Kramnik - 4.5, Leko - 4.0, Grischuk, Aronian - 3.5, Svidler, Morozevich - 3.0.