Mexico City, Round 4 in progress
We're between two and a half and three hours in, and of the four games
Svidler - Gelfand
Aronian - Leko
Morozevich - Anand
Kramnik - Grischuk
one game is finished and at least one more is nearly decided. Svidler joined Anand and Leko in anti-Petroff futility, again testing Gelfand in the 5.Nc3 line. After 5...Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 he varied with 7.Bf4, but Gelfand passed the test and drew in 24 moves. It is my sincere hope that Gelfand smashes all three of these players in the second cycle for their impudence, but maybe those three really have no faith in White's chances for an advantage in the main line.
Aronian-Leko has been a Hedgehog of sorts, and is still in the dull phase. If Black goes for d5 or b5, it can sharpen up, so I'll try to stay awake until it's finished.
Morozevich-Anand has been a disaster for Morozevich, who quickly found himself with a lost position in the Reynolds Variation* of the Meran Semi-Slav. Black's up a pawn - a strong passer at that - with a better position, so while it's almost never too late to lose a game, realistically speaking it's 0-1.
Finally, Kramnik continued his run this tournament of completely outpreparing his opponents. Kramnik, with White, has achieved a nice edge and a huge lead on the clock, but Grischuk has played well enough that the game is still closer to a draw than a White win.
*Thanks to IM Dave Vigorito for the correction.
Svidler - Gelfand
Aronian - Leko
Morozevich - Anand
Kramnik - Grischuk
one game is finished and at least one more is nearly decided. Svidler joined Anand and Leko in anti-Petroff futility, again testing Gelfand in the 5.Nc3 line. After 5...Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 he varied with 7.Bf4, but Gelfand passed the test and drew in 24 moves. It is my sincere hope that Gelfand smashes all three of these players in the second cycle for their impudence, but maybe those three really have no faith in White's chances for an advantage in the main line.
Aronian-Leko has been a Hedgehog of sorts, and is still in the dull phase. If Black goes for d5 or b5, it can sharpen up, so I'll try to stay awake until it's finished.
Morozevich-Anand has been a disaster for Morozevich, who quickly found himself with a lost position in the Reynolds Variation* of the Meran Semi-Slav. Black's up a pawn - a strong passer at that - with a better position, so while it's almost never too late to lose a game, realistically speaking it's 0-1.
Finally, Kramnik continued his run this tournament of completely outpreparing his opponents. Kramnik, with White, has achieved a nice edge and a huge lead on the clock, but Grischuk has played well enough that the game is still closer to a draw than a White win.
*Thanks to IM Dave Vigorito for the correction.
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Sunday September 16, 2007 at 5:58pm