Today it was all about one player. After Grischuk and Kramnik drew their game in 35 minutes and 13 moves; and after Gelfand and Svidler ceased hostilities after 22; and the Leko vs Aronian battle ended peacefully after 56 moves; we saw Anand going for the kill against Morozevich. His win leaves him a point and a half ahead of his nearest rival.
The summit game was sharp – heart-stoppingly so. Anand uncorked some deep preparation in a Semi-Slav, Kramnik fought back with ambitious intentions, Anand defended well and in fact took the initiative. The game ended after 41 moves in a draw, which left Anand a point ahead of the field. Aronian drew first blood, beating Grischuk in 42 moves of a QGD.
It was quite a shocker, first with Alexander Morozevich beating Vladimir Kramnik to relegate the world champion to fifth place; and then, late in the evening, Alexander Grischuk, who had lost his previous two games, bounced back with a victory over Boris Gelfand. This left Vishy Anand, who drew against Aronian, with a one-point lead on the table.
The duel of the leaders, Gelfand vs Anand, ended in a draw, which left Anand still in the lead in the world championship in Mexico. Peter Leko defeated Alexander Grischuk to get to 50% and move to fourth place on the table. The other two games were drawn. Saturday is a free day.
ishy Anand, the hightest ranked player, defeated Alexander Grischuk in a remarkably exciting game. Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand drew their encounter, which left Anand in the sole lead at half time, with a 2900+ performance and half a point ahead of the field.
The two oldest players in this tournament are in the lead. Israeli GM Boris Gelfand, 39, beat Alexander Morozevich, 30, to join Vishy Anand, 38, in the lead at the World Championship in Mexico. The other games were drawn. Vladimir Kramnik, 32, and Alexander Grischuk, 23, are half a point behind.
It was a long night, with Vishy Anand pressing hard with the black pieces against Alexander Morozevich, and Vladimir Kramnik trying to win a pawn endgame against Alexander Grischuk. In spite of the fight it was, in the end, only Levon Aronian who scored a full point against Peter Leko.
Another very tense round, with Alexander Morozevich outplaying Peter Svidler in a Scotch Game, and Vladimir Kramnik causing some problems for Anand in a rook ending. Leko vs Gelfand is still running (at 2:45 a.m. European time), with the latter trying to win a Q+P ending.
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