FIDE World Championship Tournament (2007)

The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 was also a double round robin tournament, but at the time the world title was split, with that tournament being for the FIDE world championship, and with Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik refusing to take part. Soon after the 2005 tournament, FIDE announced that the 2007 World Championship would also be a double round robin tournament.

In 2006, FIDE announced the World Chess Championship 2006, to reunify the world chess championship. Because the organization of the 2007 tournament was largely in place, conditions of that match included:

-If Classical champion (Kramnik) defeated FIDE Champion Veselin Topalov, Kramnik would take Topalov’s place in the 2007 tournament.

-The 2007 tournament would be a world championship.

Kramnik won the 2006 match. In June 2007, Kramnik confirmed that he recognized the 2007 tournament as the world championship, while expressing a personal preference for the championship to be decided by a match.^[2]

FIDE later announced that future world championships (beginning with the World Chess Championship 2008) would be decided by matches between the champion and a challenger. At the same time FIDE announced that, as compensation for being denied entry to the 2007 tournament, Topalov would have special privileges in the World Chess Championship 2010 cycle.

The participants and how they qualified:

Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) – reigning World Champion
Viswanathan Anand (India) – joint second place in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
Peter Svidler (Russia) – joint second place in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
Alexander Morozevich (Russia) – fourth place in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005
Peter Leko (Hungary) – qualified via the Candidates Tournament
Boris Gelfand (Israel) – qualified via the Candidates Tournament
Levon Aronian (Armenia) – qualified via the Candidates Tournament
Alexander Grischuk (Russia) – qualified via the Candidates Tournament

The tournament was a double round robin, with the first round on 13 September 2007 and the final round on 29 September 2007. The time control was 40/2h, 20/1h, 15m+30sec.  (Wikipedia)

Round 1

Kramnik-Svidler. Queen’s Gambit Declined or Semi-Slav. White had an advantage in developing, but Black keeped two bishops. Vladimir obtained a clear edge with the simple and strong 18.h4. There were many weaknesses in the Black’s camp. But then Peter gained sufficient counterplay with the pawn sacrifice 19…c5! after the dubious 19. Bb1 and 22. Nh2. Better is 19.h5 or 22.Bd3.
Morozevich-Aronian 1/2. Alexander attacked with 8.h4 in the Queen’s Indian, but had only the slightly better chances.
Anand-Gelfand. Viswanathan tried to attack on the kingside with h4-h5 in the Russian. Boris could gain a powerful counterattack by the bishop sacrifice 16…c5! and if 17.bxc4? then 17…Qa5, winning.
Grischuk-Leko. Peter got good counterplay with the counterblow in the centre 13…d5 in the Ruy Lopez.

Round 2

Viswanathan Anand showed immaculate preparation to score a stunning win over Lev Aronian in the second round of the World Chess Championships in Mexico City on Friday. Also scoring a finely crafted win was his arch-rival Vladimir Kramnik, who beat Alexander Morozevich in another second round.

The other two games ended in draws with Peter Svidler splitting points with Peter Leko and Boris Gelfand held by Alexander Grischuk.

Kramnik beat Morozevich in a mere 27 moves following a Catalan opening.

Round 3

The games of the third round were drawn as Alexander Grischuk from Russia signed peace with Levon Aronian of Armenia while Hungarian Peter Leko reached the same result against Boris Gelfand of Israel.

For the second time in three days Anand faced the Petroff defense.

Earlier in the first round Gelfand had played the same opening against the Indian ace and had got an easy half point.

In the post game conference Kramnik said that he was ‘well prepared’ for this key match and indeed, as it happened, black had some practical chances.

Anand played the opening nonchalantly but was in trouble after the queens got traded as one of his far advanced pawn came under mortal danger. Kramnik pocketed the pawn and transposed to a rook and pawns endgame which needed precise defense from Anand.

Having lost similar endgames a few years back, Anand’s homework came to the fore as he went on finding the best defense especially after black’s 33rd move. The final position was a stalemate after 65 moves.

“This was one of the toughest games I played so far, so a draw is a fair result”, Kramnik said.

Morozevich outplayed Svidler from an innocuous looking Scotch opening. After attaining a comfortable position in the middle game Svidler underestimated white’s attacking potential on the queen side and paid heavy dividends. The game lasted 37 moves.

Grischuk opted for the Ruy Lopez against Aronian and went for a direct attack at the expense of a pawn. Aronian had to remain alert for a long time battling white’s menacing forces but in the end the Armenian managed to hold his defense together.

“He was short of time, possibly with more time white could have found a better way to attack,” Aronian said after the game.

Round 4

For the third day in a row Anand was in a featured game – this one against Morozevich, considered to be one of the most original top class players. Moro had just recovered from the second round loss to Kramnik and the outplayed Svidler in third.

The Moro-Anand game went into the fashionable Meran variation of the Slav defence. The duo played at a blitz-like speed along well known lines.

Once again from here Anand showing great preparations came up with completely different new plan and Morozevich has to find how to react, as such positions can easily turn in Black’s favor.

After a strong opening, Anand had a variety of options in middle game and consolidated some advantage. White was forced to win an exchange but a black pawn got to d3 and was supported by a powerful pair of bishops.

As the players began to play faster, Anand had decisive advantage but the question was whether he really needed to go for the knight sacrifice earlier. Yet at this stage after 40 moves, Anand’s win looked only a matter of time.

Anand wanting to finish the game fast seemed to be going strong. Morozevich’s king was in delicate situation and though the material was equal, it was hard to find adequate moves.

Anand after Moro’s 56. Be6 looked very close to a win. But he slipped there and according to analysts allowed Moro back into the game at that stage. A few moves later Moro had warded off the threat and a draw was agreed after 61 moves.

Anand must have been disappointed as he had the advantage throughout the game till he missed a chance towards the end in a completely winning position. Morozevich was stubbornly finding defensive resources and was rewarded by achieving to draw in this seemingly hopeless game.

Kramnik was held to a draw by Grischuk in 60 moves from a Catalan. Grischuk fought well and held out for a good draw.

Aronian handed Leko a solid defeat in 45 moves from English Symmetrical start and Svidler and Gelfand were engaged in a short 24-move draw from Petroff.

Round 5

There were two surprises in Alexander Grishchuk and Boris Gelfand as they scored fine wins to climb into shared second spot with Kramnik.

Three of the four games produced results with white scoring wins and only Kramnik was unable to get a result with a draw against Peter Leko.

Grischuk trounced Alexander Morozevich in a 41-move game in Queen’s gambit declined, while Gelfand handed Aronian his second defeat of the tournament in 48 moves following a Catalan start. Leko and Kramnik drew in just 24 moves from Bishop’s Opening.

Against the Russian Svidler, India’s Anand started as clear favourite. But at this level with players trying to put in their best and coming in with a lot of preparation, nothing could be certain. Svidler with black showed tremendous fighting abilities.

He adopted the Marshall and Anand trying to gain some advantage played an unusual move order to try and fox Svidler.

With Anand (White) opening on the Q-side to deflect Black’s pressure in the centre, there were severe complications, in which Anand played incisively on both flanks.

Svidler was clearly in a bind as he was unable to focus and find a way out of the problems. It is a tribute to Anand’s clarity on board and his ability to maneuver a game in such a manner to keep the opponent in the trouble zone. Ultimately Svidler resigned before the first time control.

Svidler admitted that the game was so complicated that he could not think clearly in the last 20 minutes. At the same time, he gave full marks for a splendid game from Anand.

Anand had prepared very well and also managed his time well. That is indeed a hallmark of Anand.

Anand also agreed that the game was unbelievably complicated and said that he may have missed a win earlier, but in the end with a full point in his kitty, it did not matter.

Round 6

Viswanathan Anand defended skilfully as he split the point with Hungarian GM Peter Leko to remain in lead after the sixth round of the World Chess Championship in Mexico City.

The draw, however, allowed Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand to catch up with Anand at the top after beating Russian Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich.

Anand and Gelfand have four points from six games and have a slender half-point lead over their nearest rivals.

Anand faced the Spanish Opening in his game against Peter Leko and he replied with the Archangelsk variation. He sacrificed a pawn in the opening but Leko returned it in a couple of moves in an attempt to wrest the initiative.

The position looked dangerous for Anand but the Indian Grandmaster defended skillfully to neutralise all the threats. The players agreed to split the point after 21 moves in an equal position.

Gelfand was the only winner in the sixth round. Defending Champion Vladimir Kramnik had to be content with a draw against Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk split the point against Peter Svidler.

Gelfand continued his superb form and played the solid finachetto variation against the Queens Indian defence and obtained the better endgame after exchange of queens on the 17th move.

Round 7

Anand outplayed Grischuk in a game that for most part seemed headed for a draw.

With a breakthrough on his 31st move, Anand sacrificed his pawn to carve out a victory in 50 moves and take his tally to five points from seven games. Anand has won three of his seven games and drawn the other four.

Anand’s nearest rival, Boris Gelfand, who briefly shared the lead with the Indian ace, failed to score over Vladimir Kramnik and fell half a point behind Anand. Gelfand is at 4.5 points and Kramnik had four.

Gelfand seemed to go all out with a relentless attack on Kramnik�s position throughout the game. But towards the end, the grip loosened and Kramnik escaped with a draw. Gelfand accepted the draw in the 40th move.

A little later, Anand completed his win over Grischuk to overtake Gelfand and become the sole leader. Grischuk has got 3.5 points at the first half of the tournament.

Peter Leko, still looking for his first win drew with Alexander Morozevich in 60 moves.

Round 8

n the eighth round on Friday, Gelfand, with white, may have entertained some thoughts of upsetting the Indian Grandmaster when there was chance in the Catalan opening, but it was soon neutralised by Anand.
In a short, 20 moves, game, Anand decided to get out of the cramped position (13th move) and play freely, but quickly realised that it was not right time as Gelfand kept on developing the pieces and got a small advantage. But there was nothing much for the Israeli Grandmaster as well as Anand, and it eventually prompted both players to settle for a draw.
Speaking after the game, Anand said, ”I was able to use a new idea that I had worked with in May with Sandipan and it was a sort of surprise; it was not a complete novelty, but it is a rare move.
“I am happy that I was able to equalise and finish it in 20 moves.”
After a days rest, the Indian ace will have white pieces against Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian in the ninth round of the tournament.
Meanwhile, two other games of the eighth round — between Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik, and Alexander Morozevich and Levon Aronian — also ended in tame draws.
However, the last game of the round saw Peter Leko clinching his first victory of the tournament against Alexander Grischuk in a long battle that lasted over 60 moves.

Round 9

In a stunning result, Alexander Grischuk beat the so-far unbeaten Boris Gelfand in the ninth round in a game that was in the Nimzo Indian. The game lasted 60 moves and pushed Gelfand to one point behind Anand.

The other shocker came when Alexander Morozevich, one of the most creative players, but rather unpredictable, arrived at the board 12 minutes late, but went on to beat Vladimir Kramnik in an English Symmetrical opening. The game ended in 48 moves and put Kramnik in a difficult position. Kramnik is now at 4.5 points, which is 1.5 behind Anand.

Anand who had scored his first win of the ongoing championships over Aronian in second round with black pieces, was unable to repeat that success with white pieces, but coming in after a day’s rest, he looked solid with his preparation as the game began in the Marshall variation of the Ruy Lopez. However, Aronian, who has lost twice in these championships, was very precise this time around and took a draw in just 21 moves.

After initial moves, which have been analysed thoroughly over the years, Anand played a new move 15.g3 to try and take control of the f4 square. But Aronian was upto it and solved his opening problems easily.

With neither likely to make a dent, the duo agreed on a draw with both satisfied to share the point in the arising position.

Anand extended his lead to a full point with five more games to go in the Championships in Mexico City.

Round 10

While Kramnik and Anand played a draw, Gelfand and Leko drew in 24 moves of a Catalan. Lev Aronian has begun salvaging the tournament with a good win over the out-of-form Alexander Grischuk in 42 moves from Queen’s Gambit and Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich drew in 44 moves from a Caro-Kann.

The tenth round was possibly the most crucial game, as Kramnik needed to beat Anand to stay in the hunt for the title. For Anand, a draw or a win here would make his path to the World title somewhat simpler.

Playing in Anti-Meran gambit, Anand with black stayed solid. After coming out fairly equal in the opening, Kramnik tried to apply pressure with a new move on 17 ^th move. But Anand stayed his course. He had two pawns and a good position in return for an exchange.

While Kramnik kept pushing for pressure, Anand had sufficient counter play. By the 33^rd move, it was a position of dynamic balance which neither side could improve seriously.

Still Anand managed an excellent position with his pawn moves. For a brief while Kramnik seemed in bit of a trouble. He may have pushed forward, but probably in view of his excellent position in the tournament, he did not want to take any big risks, while going for a win. So, he agreed for a draw, even though he showed very good play and is on his way to becoming the new World champion.

Anand is now on 6.5 points with three wins, the most by any player in these championships, and seven draws. He is a full point ahead of Boris Gelfand, who at 5.5 is also looking tired in the tense championship.

Kramnik is lying joint third with fast-improving Peter Leko and Lev Aronian at five points.

Round 11

Second behind him at six points is Boris Gelfand, who drew with Peter Svidler in 11th round in just 22 moves of an English counter.
Vladimir Kramnik, seen as Anand’s main rival in the tournament, seems to have given up after agreeing to a 13-move draw in Petroff defence against Alexander Grischuk.
Peter Leko and Lev Aronian drew in 56 moves of a Queen’s Indian.
Anand finally found himself in a Sicilian game in 11th round. The talented but unpredictable Morozevich is one of the players who could stun Anand, but on current form, Anand was unstoppable.
Into 20 moves, most of it generally straight from theory, the game was equal. It was crucial for Anand to get his Knight into active play for advantage. Slight movement in that direction and after about eight or ten moves, Anand suddenly had some serious advantage.
The black queenside pawns were weak and Anand’s knight was heading into centre to control things. Once Anand’s queen joined the knight and rook in the attack on the weak pawns, the Indian was on the ascendant.
Anand retained the pressure and then Morozevich made a mistake soon after first time control. Anand not to one to throw away the chance marched ahead soon white was looking menacing with Moro’s bishop unable to stop his rival’s pawns.

Round 12

Interestingly, while Anand drew his game, the other three games produced results as Gelfand beat Levon Aronian with black to narrow the gap to the leader to just one point and Vladimir Kramnik beat Peter Leko to step into the third slot, half a point behind Gelfand.

Anand and Svidler were engaged in Ruy Lopez closed with neither player managing any noticeable advantage from the opening. With just 22 moves gone, Anand, with black, agreed to a draw and split the point.

Kramnik outplayed Leko 39 moves from a Catalan opening to come to sole third, while Gelfand had black pieces but outclassed Aronian in 40 moves from anti-Meran, which has been seen frequently at these championships. In another game, Morozevich beat Grischuk.

Round 13

Round 14

At the press conference with Perter Leko and Vishy Anand:

A crowd of fans and journalists led the new champion to a press conference. Even before it began, “congratulations” sounded, passing into applause.

V.A. (smiling) Thank you.

Press officer. So ladies and gentlemen. We have a new world chess champion, and I would like for him to talk about his excellent, beautiful result.

V.A. Thank you, thank you very much to everyone. You can imagine how I feel right now. And this whole tournament was like a dream for me … Yesterday I had to work hard, but today … I remembered Tal’s expression that when a hand wants one and the heart of the other, it never works. Therefore, I decided to play very reliably and strive for a draw. It’s fine. This is the second time I have won the title, and this time there are no dissatisfied, since we have a combined title from last year. The feeling, of course, is magical (applause) .

Press officer. Everyone has a lot of questions. I would like to ask Peter about this game and about the championship as a whole.

Peter Leko. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Vichy on winning the title. There is especially nothing to talk about today’s party, it was not a party, but as a result. Vichy chose one of the most reliable options, and I, playing black, had no aggressive intentions. If he plays carefully, then everyone is fine. I would like to add that Vichy and I have been very good friends for about 15 years already, and I always believed and hoped that Vichy would become a champion. It was something special – that it was we who played this game, and I was the first to congratulate him. Finally, he achieved his main goal, because I know how hard he fought for it all his life. He deserves it, and I can only congratulate him once again.

V.A. (Somewhat excited) . Thank you, thank you very much (applause) .

Peter Leko. I would also like to add about the tournament itself as a whole. I was glad to be here, the feeling is just fantastic. It is very nice to play in Mexico, where the fans and the organization were at the highest level. Undoubtedly, I expected a more successful fight for the title from myself, but I did not have enough concentration, and I had to pay hard for my mistakes. In this situation, I am pleased that I finished the tournament in the upper half. It’s always nice to be here in Mexico, so I want to thank everyone: participants, organizers, fans – thanks for the great competition.

QUESTION FROM THE HALL. As it was decided, the winner of the tournament will play a match with Vladimir Kramnik. You won, you are the new champion. Will you play this match?

V.A. Of course. This is recorded in the contract. I’m not sure that everything has already been agreed, but in principle, yes, this is included in my plans.

QUESTION FROM THE HALL. Question to Peter. You have already played a match with Kramnik. What advice would you give Vichy?

Peter Leko. (laughs). Vichy played with Kramnik more than I did, so I don’t think he needs my advice. I can only say that, undoubtedly, the chess community has been waiting for this match for quite some time. I recall when in 2001 there was a match in active chess in Mainz in 2001, it was an incredibly exciting sight. Well, now they will play a real match next year, i.e. classic chess for absolute … i.e. for the highest, since, of course, winning the championship title in the tournament is simply fantastic, but, of course, if you manage to defeat Kramnik in the match, you become just the absolute king, and I have no doubt that this is what Vichy intends to do. But I also know how serious Kramnik is about matches and how well he is preparing for them. I think that both chess players and fans will enjoy this match very much, and its content will enrich chess. I don’t know, however, what will happen to the Russian party(everyone smiles, especially Anand) , but I think we will see other openings there.

Press Officer. Question to you, Peter. Will you continue to fight for the championship title now that you have begun your search for an extra career at the university? (the stunned Leko changes in his face and just turns white) .

V.A. It turns out that you quit chess for a while to study at the university, but you didn’t tell anyone about it, even your friends (laughter) , and we would like to ask if you would do it again.

Peter Leko. (slowly recovering) This is a very pleasant surprise. Those. I don’t know how people found out (the champion’s infectious laughter) , but one thing is certain: my wife is continuing her studies at the university and she is recorded there with the same surname Leko. Probably somewhere in the university they published it and thought it was me (laughter) . But this is not about me, of course, I continue to play chess, while my wife will study at the university.

QUESTION FROM THE HALL. Vichy, comparing yourself today with Vichy Anand of the 1995 sample of the match with Kasparov, how, in your opinion, have you changed?

V.A. (with a smile) Today I’m much more experienced, but it’s impossible to compare, because the technologies have changed, and the rest of the chess players … I won’t say that they have become stronger, but their approach has changed, it’s even difficult to compare how we play today, that was in the 95th. But from the changes in me, I would choose a great experience.

Press Officer. The security question is for you, Vichy and Peter. What do you remember most about the tournament, what did you like most?

Peter Leko. (with a hitch) . Of course, yesterday’s game was a very pleasant one, a good memory, but in general, unfortunately, my serious yawns (general laughter) , which haunted me for some time , were much more remembered . Those. I won’t say that I played badly – I played pretty well, but, doing one-way views, you fight against yourself, which is already difficult in such an already difficult tournament. So I’m glad that both times that I went negative, I managed to immediately return to 50%, although it is obvious that I had completely different moods, but it did not work out. So I try to focus on the future and continue on. It was undoubtedly not my best tournament, but also not the worst. I think that I fought, but did not use my chances.

V.A. I am generally very pleased with my parties here. I think the only really bad day for me was yesterday. There were no easy games before, but yesterday I was, you know, so close to missing it … I would still be half a point ahead, but if I lost, it would be very painful. So to save that position was very important. It is more difficult to choose the best game, since all my victories were achieved in a very difficult and interesting fight. The party with Svidler required great dedication, as well as the party with Aronian and Grischuk, and of course, with Morozevich, which lasted for ages. So it’s very hard to make a choice, I’m just very happy with my level here.

QUESTION FROM THE HALL. Congratulations, Vichy. This is the second time that you are winning the league title. Which one was harder to conquer and how do you relate them to each other?

V.A.Again, choosing is not easy. In Delhi, I had a lot of hard games, but here I have a feeling that everything went very smoothly. There I had one moment with Khalifman, in the second installment of the tie-break, where I stood completely hopeless, and in addition to everything, the winning move was completely obvious. There was an endgame just like with Kramnik, he has a rook and a pawn, but he also has an e pawn. So all he has to do is take my a-pawn, give the rook a check on a2 – and this is the end, and I just can’t do anything. At that moment I felt completely destroyed, but the further part of the competition went very smoothly. I can’t say that there were too many difficulties in my games, and in general I was not in real danger. But even one such moment can be worth all the others. Naturally, the format here is completely different, you will not fly out one bad day. But the struggle here is very intense, two parties against each, so that not only you cannot be knocked out, but you also cannot be knocked out and you have to play again with each one. It’s very difficult to compare, and it’s impossible to compare beautiful memories – they all remain beautiful memories(with a happy smile) .

		1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	Total
1.	Anand, V	–	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9
2.	Kramnik, V	½ ½	–	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 0	1 ½	½ ½	8
3.	Gelfand, B	½ ½	½ ½	–	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	1 1	½ 0	8
4.	Leko, P	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	–	½ ½	1 ½	½ 0	1 ½	7
5.	Svidler, P	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	–	½ 0	½ ½	1 ½	6 ½
6.	Morozevich, A	½ 0	1 0	½ 0	½ 0	1 ½	–	½ ½	1 0	6
7.	Aronian, L	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	–	1 ½	6
8.	Grischuk, A	½ 0	½ ½	1 ½	½ 0	½ 0	1 0	½ 0	–	5 ½

Anand in the Indian press: “Being the undisputed world champion is a relief. Since last year the feud was resolved in chess and we instituted a unified chess title, I am the absolute world champion,” Anand said after his scoring a superb 9/14 score in the event.
I wanted to win the title here as I finished close to it in the last two attempts. This was my third attempt since 2000… I tried to win at San Luis and now this is third. Still six years is a long time whichever way you look at it.
Every player and every format is a different challenge so I can’t compare Tehran from here. It will be like which hand I prefer more. But I am happy to go through this field undefeated,” he said, referring to his four victories and 10 draws. “Although draws in last three rounds were enough for Anand to lay hands on the title, he said he still had his share of nervous moments, the scariest one being the penultimate round game against Alexander Grischuk. Draws in the last three rounds were enough to see me through but I had the scariest moments in match against Grischuk (in the 13th round). I thought I really came down on that day but I was surprised that I won it so easily.
I noticed that my lead was slightly narrowed but I was glad to save the game against Grischuk which kept the full point lead…”