World Chess Championship 2007
The 2007 World Chess Championship was held from September 12th to 30th, 2007 as a double round tournament with eight players in Mexico City . Organizationally, it was the successor to the FIDE World Cup 2005 from the time of the divided world championship claim 1993-2005; but it was held after the reunification battle in 2006 between the "classic" world champion Vladimir Kramnik and the FIDE world champion Wesselin Topalow . This made it the only undisputed World Chess Championship besides the World Chess Championship in 1948 , which was not held as a duel, but as a tournament with several participants.
The Indian Viswanathan Anand won the tournament and thus the world title with 9 out of 14 points. He won 4 times and drew 10 times, making him the only player in the tournament to remain undefeated. In the 2008 World Chess Championship he defended his title against previous world champion Vladimir Kramnik.
background
For the time being, the last time a world championship was held in tournament form, since 2010 it has only been determined between the world champion and his challenger. The challenger regulations for 2008 and 2009 were contractually agreed before the 2006 unification fight.
The 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship was also a double round tournament, but at that time the world title was shared between the FIDE world champion and the classic world champion Kramnik, who refused to participate. In his opinion, the world championship should be decided in a competition between the world champion and a challenger. Shortly after the 2005 tournament, FIDE announced that the 2007 World Cup would also be decided in the form of a double round tournament.
In May 2006 FIDE confirmed that in the autumn of the same year a union fight between the FIDE world champion Wesselin Topalow and the classic world champion Kramnik would take place. The competition conditions were:
- If Kramnik wins against Topalow, he will take his place in the 2007 World Cup.
- The 2007 World Cup will be played as a double round tournament.
Kramnik won the unification competition. In June 2007, he confirmed that he would recognize the 2007 tournament as a World Cup. However, he affirmed his preference for one-on-one fights. With the 2008 World Chess Championship , FIDE actually returned to one-on-one mode.
qualification
The first four of the FIDE World Cup 2005 were directly qualified for the 2007 tournament. Topalow, however, lost his place in the unification fight in 2006 to Kramnik.
Four other players qualified from 2005 to 2007 through a qualification process that contained three stages:
- Continental championships
- World Chess Cup 2005
- Candidates tournament 2006-2007
World Cup 2005
The 2005 World Chess Cup took place in Khanty-Mansiysk , Russia . It served to qualify for the candidates tournament. The game was played in a knockout system with a short period of time, similar to the FIDE World Championships 1998-2004 . The following players qualified:
Candidate competitions 2007
A place in the Candidates Tournament was reserved for the 2004 FIDE World Champion , Rustam Kasimjanov . Five places were given to the players who were best placed in the FIDE world rankings of July 2004 and January 2005 and who had not previously qualified. These were: Péter Lékó , Michael Adams , Judit Polgár , Alexei Schirow and Étienne Bacrot . The remaining ten places went to the top ranked players at the FIDE World Cup 2005 who had not otherwise qualified.
The Candidates Tournament took place from May 26th to June 14th 2007 in Elista , a city in Kalmykia , Russia . Originally it was planned as a knockout tournament over two rounds, so that one player would qualify from a quarter of the starting field. In September 2006 FIDE proposed a change to a round robin tournament. However, this decision was rejected and the tournament took place as originally planned.
The top seed was the 2005 World Cup winner, Levon Aronjan. The remaining players were ranked according to their rating according to the FIDE world rankings from January 2006. In the second round, the winner of games 1-16 plays against the winner of games 8-9, the winner of games 2-15 plays against the winner of games 7-10, and so on.
conditions
The "Best of Six" was played, so that the one who had reached 3.5 points first went through. Furthermore, the reflection time for 40 trains was two hours, for another 20 trains one hour and for the remaining trains 15 minutes + 30 seconds per train. If there was still no winner after six games, tie-breaks were played on the seventh day:
- Four quick games were played. Thinking time was 25 minutes + ten seconds per move. The winner was whoever achieved 2.5 points.
- In the event of another tie, two blitz games were played with a time limit of five minutes + ten seconds per move.
- If it is still a tie, the players will draw a lottery to see who will receive white or black in a final “Sudden Death game”. White got six minutes to think about it and had to win, Black only five minutes, but a draw was enough for him to advance.
Round 1
Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 1 Levon Aronjan 2759 1 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 4.0 7.0 16 Magnus Carlsen 2693 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 2.0 5.0 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 8th Alexei Shirov 2699 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 2.5 5.5 9 Michael Adams 2734 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0.5 3.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 2 Péter Lékó 2738 ½ 1 1 1 - - - 3.5 15th Mikhail Gurevich 2639 ½ 0 0 0 - - - 0.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 7th Judit Polgár 2727 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ - 2.5 10 Yevgeny Bareev 2643 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ - 3.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 3 Ruslan Ponomarev 2717 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ - 2.5 14th Sergei Rublevsky 2680 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ - 3.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 6th Alexander Grishchuk 2717 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ - - 3.5 11 Vladimir Malakhov 2679 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ - - 1.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 4th Boris Gelfand 2733 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 2.5 5.5 13 Rustam Kasimyanov 2677 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0.5 3.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 5 Étienne Bacrot 2709 ½ 0 0 0 - - - 0.5 12 Gata Kamsky 2705 ½ 1 1 1 - - - 3.5
round 2
Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 1 Levon Aronian 2759 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ - 3.5 8th Alexei Shirov 2699 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ - 2.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 2 Péter Lékó 2738 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ - - 3.5 10 Yevgeny Bareev 2643 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ - - 1.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 4th Boris Gelfand 2733 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 - - 3.5 12 Gata Kamsky 2705 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 - - 1.5 Seat Surname Elo 1 2 3 4th 5 6th TB total 6th Alexander Grishchuk 2717 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 2.5 5.5 14th Sergei Rublevsky 2680 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0.5 3.5
World championship tournament 2007
Attendees
- Vladimir Kramnik - reigning world champion
- Viswanathan Anand - 2nd place in the 2005 World Cup tournament
- Peter Swidler - 3rd place in the 2005 World Cup
- Alexander Morozevich - 4th place in the 2005 World Cup tournament
- Péter Lékó - qualified through the Candidates Tournament
- Boris Gelfand - qualified through the Candidates Tournament
- Levon Aronian - qualified via the Candidates Tournament
- Alexander Grischuk - qualified through the Candidates Tournament
Playing conditions
The first round of the double round tournament took place on September 13th, the last round on September 29th, 2007. The rest days were on September 17th, 22nd and 26th, i.e. after rounds 3, 8 and 11 respectively. The games began daily at two o'clock local time. H. 9:00 p.m. CEST. Time controls were at 40 / 2h, 20 / 1h, 15m + 30sec / rest , which means that each player has 2 hours for 40 moves, an additional 1 hour for another 20 moves and a further 15 minutes + 30 seconds per move for the remaining moves would have. The pairings were drawn on September 12, 2007 .
Results
Round 1 - September 13th Anand Gelfand ½: ½ C42 Russian Kramnik Swidler ½: ½ D43 Semi-Slavic Morozevich Aronian ½: ½ E12 Ladies Indian Grischuk Lékó ½: ½ C88 Spanish Round 2 - September 14th Kramnik (0.5) Morozevich (0.5) 1-0 E04 Catalan Gelfand (0.5) Grischuk (0.5) ½: ½ E15 Ladies Indian Swidler (0.5) Lékó (0.5) ½: ½ C89 Spanish Aronian (0.5) Anand (0.5) 0: 1 D43 Semi-Slavic Queen's Gambit Round 3 - September 15th Anand (1.5) Kramnik (1.5) ½: ½ C42 Russian Grischuk (1.0) Aronian (0.5) ½: ½ C88 Spanish Lékó (1.0) Gelfand (1.0) ½: ½ C42 Russian Morozevich (0.5) Swidler (1.0) 1-0 C45 Scottish Round 4 - September 16 Aronian (1.0) Lékó (1.5) 1-0 A33 Benoni Kramnik (2.0) Grischuk (1.5) ½: ½ E06 Catalan Morozevich (1.5) Anand (2.0) ½: ½ D47 Queen's Gambit rejected Swidler (1.0) Gelfand (1.5) ½: ½ C42 Russian Round 5 - September 18th Anand (2.5) Swidler (1.5) 1-0 C89 Spanish Gelfand (2.0) Aronian (2.0) 1-0 A60 Benoni Grischuk (2.0) Morozevich (2.0) 1-0 D38 Queen's Gambit rejected Lékó (1.5) Kramnik (2.5) ½: ½ C54 Italian game Round 6 - September 19th Aronian (2.0) Kramnik (3.0) ½: ½ E06 Catalan Gelfand (3.0) Morozevich (2.0) 1-0 E17 Ladies Indian Grischuk (3.0) Swidler (1.5) ½: ½ D43 Semi-Slavic Lékó (2.0) Anand (3.5) ½: ½ C78 Spanish Round 7 - September 20th Anand (4.0) Grischuk (3.5) 1-0 C88 Spanish Kramnik (3.5) Gelfand (4.0) ½: ½ D43 Semi-Slavic (Botvinnik variant) Morozevich (2.0) Lékó (2.5) ½: ½ C45 Scottish Swidler (2.0) Aronian (2.5) ½: ½ C69 Spanish
Round 8 - September 21 Aronian (3.0) Morozevich (2.5) ½: ½ E17 Ladies Indian Gelfand (4.5) Anand (5.0) ½: ½ E06 Catalan Lékó (3.0) Grischuk (3.5) 1-0 C88 Spanish Swidler (2.5) Kramnik (4.0) ½: ½ C42 Russian Round 9 - September 23 Anand (5.5) Aronian (3.5) ½: ½ C89 Spanish Grischuk (3.5) Gelfand (5.0) 1-0 E20 Nimzo-Indian Lékó (4.0) Swidler (3.0) ½: ½ B90 Sicilian, Najdorf variant Morozevich (3.0) Kramnik (4.5) 1-0 E61 King's Indian Round 10 - September 24th Aronian (4.0) Grischuk (4.5) 1-0 D30 Queen's Gambit rejected Gelfand (5.0) Lékó (4.5) ½: ½ E05 Catalan Kramnik (4.5) Anand (6.0) ½: ½ D43 Semi-Slavic Swidler (3.5) Morozevich (4.0) ½: ½ B17 Caro-Kann Round 11 - September 25th Anand (6.5) Morozevich (4.5) 1-0 B90 Sicilian, Najdorf variant Gelfand (5.5) Swidler (4.0) ½: ½ A15 English Grischuk (4.5) Kramnik (5.0) ½: ½ C43 Russian Lékó (5.0) Aronian (5.0) ½: ½ E15 Ladies Indian Round 12 - September 27 Aronian (5.5) Gelfand (6.0) 0: 1 D43 Semi-Slavic Kramnik (5.5) Lékó (5.5) 1-0 E05 Catalan Morozevich (4.5) Grischuk (5.0) 1-0 A28 English Swidler (4.5) Anand (7.5) ½: ½ C88 Spanish Round 13 - September 28th Aronian (5.5) Swidler (5.0) ½: ½ A29 English Gelfand (7.0) Kramnik (6.5) ½: ½ D47 Semi-Slavic Grischuk (5.0) Anand (8.0) ½: ½ D43 Semi-Slavic Lékó (5.5) Morozevich (5.5) 1-0 B66 Sicilian Round 14 - September 29 Anand (8.5) Lékó (6.5) ½: ½ C89 Spanish Kramnik (7.0) Aronian (6.0) 1-0 E15 Ladies Indian Morozevich (5.5) Gelfand (7.5) ½: ½ C42 Russian Swidler (5.5) Grischuk (5.5) 1-0 B90 Sicilian, Najdorf variant
Numbers in brackets represent the player's score prior to each round.
Final score
space | player | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | Points | SoBer | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Viswanathan Anand | 2792 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 9 | 59 | ||
2 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2769 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 8th | 54½ | ||
3 | Boris Gelfand | 2733 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 8th | 54¼ | ||
4th | Péter Lékó | 2751 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 7th | 47¾ | ||
5 | Pyotr Swidler | 2735 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6½ | 44¾ | ||
6th | Alexander Morozevich | 2758 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 6th | 41¼ | ||
7th | Levon Aronjan | 2750 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6th | 39¾ | ||
8th | Alexander Grishchuk | 2726 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 5½ | 40¼ |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wladimir Kramnik on the situation in chess (part 2), ChessBase , June 1, 2007.
- ↑ 2005 FIDE World Cup results at Mark Weeks' World Chess Championship Index
- ↑ The Week in Chess 580
- ↑ a b c FIDE announces rules for the 2007 World Cup and candidate competitions ( Memento from October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ FIDE proposes a 2007 Candidates Tournament, in: Chessbase, September 24, 2006.
- ^ The Week in Chess 654, in: The Week in Chess , May 21, 2007.
- ^ FIDE : Rules for the World Chess Championship. Archived from the original on April 5, 2007 ; Retrieved January 5, 2013 .
- ↑ Mexico Countdown: Opening Ceremony, Pairings, in: Chessbase, September 13, 2007.
Web links
- official website of the World Cup ( memorial from November 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Official website of the candidate competitions ( Memento of December 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- chessgames.com: Tournament report and games. Retrieved November 6, 2012 .