GM Aronian (2739) – GM Anand (2799) [D43]
17.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qc2 dxc4 8.e3 b5 9.a4 Bb7 10.axb5 cxb5 11.Nxb5 Bb4+ 12.Nc3 0–0 13.Be2 Nd7 14.0–0 Rfc8 15.Rfc1 a5 16.Nd2 Nb6 17.Bf3 Qe7 18.Bxb7 Qxb7 19.h3 Rc7 20.Qd1 Game drawn ½–½
Group A
S. Mamedyarov 1-0 L. van Wely
P. Eljanov 0-1 T. Radjabov
M. Adams 1/2 V. Kramnik
L. Aronian 1/2 V. Anand
V. Ivanchuk 1/2 M. Carlsen
J. Polgar 1/2 P. Leko
V. Topalov 1-0 B. Gelfand
Group B
D. Stellwagen 1/2 N. Short
W. Spoelman 1/2 Y. Hou
S. Movsesian – P. Harikrishna
J. Smeets 0-1 E. Bacrot
I. Nepomniachtchi – M. Krasenkow
E. L’Ami 1-0 I. Cheparinov
H. Koneru – G. Sargissian
Group C
F. Nijboer 1-0 I. Krush
P. Negi 1-0 A. Ushenina
Z. Peng 1/2 S. Li
M. van der Werf 1/2 J. van der Wiel
D. Ruijgrok – A. Braun
D. Reinderman – P. Carlsson
E. Grivas 1/2 F. Caruana
I predict that Anand and Topalov will just ride this one out, Carlsen will falter somewhere, and We will have a 3 player mad dash at the end between Aronian, Kramnik, and Radjabov.
Quotes from GM Nakamura:
Smallville(GM) kibitzes: Next year, hopefully I will be in A
Smallville(GM) kibitzes: But I need to focus on getting to 2730 by the end of the year first
Gelfand just blundered badly and it is 1-0 to Topalov.