Meat wrote on 09/16/07 at 18:14:27:


Well, I don't think we will see any of the players deviate from their standard repertoires until the last few games, unless there are some real surprises.  The Petroff seems, as usual, quite reliable.

I get the feeling that Kramnik is pushing a bit too much.  He was right to play to the end in his game against Anand, but this time it seemed like spending a great deal of energy just for the sake of spending energy.  This is a long tournament and Kramnik should accept that a game is drawn when it's drawn and not when there's no material left at all.

On the other hand, Svidler needed a quick draw as White because his play seems to be a full level below that of the field.

Aronian and Morozevich are living up to the expectations that they would have the most fireworks with two decisive results each, but Kramnik and Anand are still the clear favorites.

Leko looked rusty in his Sunday loss.  I had wondered aloud previously if he had been playing enough games before the tournament, and now Leko looks likely to finish in the bottom half unless he can play himself into shape.

Only four rounds have been played and there's going to be a lot of interesting chess.  I'm still rooting for Kramnik and Anand but so far Morozevich has really impressed me with his maturity.  Watch for Moro to pick up several seemingly easy points.  (There really are no easy points to be had in this tournament.)

Aronian won, but the two remaining games look less like clear wins than they did earlier.   

Anand seems to have allowed Moro to win back his pawn, and Kramnik tried to force matters via what appears to be an overly clever line and is watching his advantage disappear.

Anand could still ultimately win, but I have my doubts about Kramnik's prospects.

Agreed.  And Gelfand has a decent start with 2/4 with three Blacks.

In this round, Anand and Kramnik both look poised to take away a full point and increase their leads.  This is especially clear in Anand's game where Moro is a pawn down, with absolutely no compensation (if anything, Anand also has the better position).  I agree with HgMan that the Catalan is a beautiful opening in Kramnik's hands!

Aronian has a nice spatial advantage against Leko, but Leko's position (hedgehog-like) looks solid enough for the moment.

Some interesting games this round.

Kramnik's Catalan seems to have Grischuk over a barrel.  They're at move 21, where I'm already starting to like White, and Grischuk is down to 14 minutes left on the clock (Kramnik has over an hour).   

Interesting that Kramnik played 11.a3 instead of the 11.Rfc1 he played against Anand in a nice win at Corus 2007 (11.a3 came later in that game, though it does appear to be a useful move in these lines; I rather thought getting the rook into play was the more obvious continuation).  It looks as though Kramnik has put some serious preparation into the Catalan.  That's good news for Catalan players like me!

And I thought someone will certainly come up with a good new idea against the Petroff in this tournament. The players can count on having to face it a few times so I guess nobody has found a decent antidote yet.

I for one wouldn't mind a little more diversity in the choice of openings. How about someone play a Caro-Kann, French, Sveshnikov or King's Indian? After all these are also very reliable and well respected defences. It's not like I'm asking for a BDG, is it?

The official Mexico site has Anand facing Kramnik as White twice in this tournament, but the pairings that I posted don't show that.  I really hope the pairings shown here are correct.

The big game of the tournament so far is to be played today, with Anand having White against Kramnik.  My bet is that this early on, the game will end in a draw.  But both players know how important a win here would be.  I won't be able to watch it live but will definitely "watch it on tv" (that is, see the replay).

I wanted to make a comment about the choice of the very first move.

It seems that at this level 1.e4 is not the best after all!  If you wan to win as White you have to be quite a bit more subtle!

So, 1.e4? is not best by test!