Gelfand is a point behind; Kramnik, Leko and Aronian a point and a half back.  So Anand's "magic number" is 3.5 to beat Gelfand, and 3.0 to beat the next three.  His next three games are vs. Morozevich, Svidler and Grischuk who are at the bottom of the table.  Although it's still a bit too soon for Anand to start celebrating, he's certainly in a nice position at the moment.

Nothing against Kramnik, but I can think of nobody more deserving than Anand to be the next World Champion.

In an Anand-Kramnik match, I seriously doubt we'll be seeing Anand abandon 1.e4.  And there is no doubt that Kramnik's Petroff will face a sterner test in such a match than in tournament play.

I think the putative superiority of 1.d4 vs. 1.e4 is probably being a bit overplayed here.  That 1.d4 seems to have gained some popularity over 1.e4 at the highest levels is more of a fashion trend than a reflection of intrinsic merits.

Would Anand find a way to demolish the Petroff should Kramnik decide to go this way?  During the course of a match, I think it's quite possible, even likely.  The damage will be temporary, of course, and we will not see the end of the Petroff in any permanent sense.  But the outcome of the match could well turn on such a temporary setback.

Should the match come to pass, I kind of hope Kramnik will go with the Petroff just to see what Anand has (or will have) up his sleeve (certainly not the 5.Nc3 line).  Kramnik deciding to defend against the Spanish with a Berlin (or even a Marshall) seems just a likely, though.

Quote:


On the contrary, a match with Anand could see the end of the Petroff, that is if Kramnik actually risked it which I doubt very much. He would probably resurrect the Berlin or some other equally dull opening.

I like Moro's solution to the Kramnik problem, that being to prise him away from his Petroff/Slav life preservers into uncharted shark infested waters.

Toppy  

Quote:

Hmmm. The latter is a quick win within 20 moves in a serious game

[Event "Amber-blind 14th"]
[Site "Monte Carlo"]
[Date "2005.03.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand,Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C42"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Ne5 10.Kb1 a6 11.Be2 Be6 12.Nd4 Nc4 13.Qd3 Nxe3 14.Nxe6 fxe6 15.Qxe3 e5 16.Bd3 c6 17.h4 Rf6 18.g3 d5 19.Qxe5 Rxf2 20.Rhf1 Rf6 21.Qh5 g6 22.Qe2 Qd6 23.h5 Raf8 24.hxg6 hxg6 25.Rh1 Kf7 26.c4 Ke8 27.cxd5 c5 28.g4 Kd8 29.g5 Rf4 30.Rh6 Bxg5 31.Rxg6 Bf6 32.Rh6 Qe5 33.c3 Qxe2 34.Bxe2 Rf2 35.Bg4 b5 36.d6 Rg8 37.Bh3 b4 38.Rh7 bxc3 39.bxc3 Rg3 40.Re1 Be5 41.Rd7+ Kc8 42.Rf7+ Rxh3 43.Rxf2 Bxd6 44.Kc2 Kd7 45.Ree2 Kc6 46.Rf6 Kc7 47.Ree6 Rh2+ 48.Kd3 Rh3+ 49.Kc4 Rh4+ 50.Kb3 c4+ 51.Ka4 Rh2 52.Rxd6  1-0

[Event "Sofia MTel Masters"]
[Site "Sofia"]
[Date "2005.05.12"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand,Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C42"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 0-0 10.Nc3 Bf5 11.a3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.Re1 Re8 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.Qc1 Na5 17.c4 Qe4 18.Bd1 Qd3 19.Re3 Qxc4 20.Re5  1-0

Antillian wrote on 09/24/07 at 15:09:20:

Maybe the other 7 contestants will be disappointed as well?

Seriously, I hope Anand will beat Kramnik (I dont think so though). Would make for a convincing win, though Gelfand may still recover...

Well, I sure hope Anand will win today. Then we can really close the book
on the shamefull history of the world championship over the past decade.

Wow, Kramnik and Gelfand lost! There goes solidity.. Now the pressure is on Kramnik to beat Anand today with the White pieces. I think nothing has changed re Kramnik's strategy, but psychologically this defeat affects him (but in a good or a bad way?). On the side Gelfand, Grischuk, Leko and maybe the rest of the field are all waiting for an Anand loss to start hoping again.

Even if Anand draws Kramnik today, everybody will try to beat Anand as this is their only chance to win the Championship. But, honestly, I cannot see even Kramnik beating a Anand, if the latter avoids unecessary risks.