Leading the points table with 7.5 points Viswanathan Anand has a golden chance to regain the World Chess Championship title as he takes on Russian Peter Svidler.
MEXICO CITY: Leading the points table with 7.5 points Viswanathan Anand has a golden chance to regain the World Chess Championship title as he takes on Russian Peter Svidler in the 12th round after the rest day.
Anand is just three draws away from winning the title as nearest contender Boris Gelfand of Israel will find it nearly impossible to win all the remaining games.
As things stand, Gelfand is 1.5 points behind Anand while Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Peter Leko of Hungary share a distant third spot on 5.5 points each.
Another half a point adrift is Alexander Grischuk of Russia while other Russians Alexander Morozevich and Peter Leko are sharing the last two spots on 4.5 points each.
It is likely to be a safe game for Anand in the next round when he meets Svidler, whom he has beaten earlier with white. Anand will have the black pieces and according to experts, the game is likely to end in a draw.
Theoretically it may still be possible for someone to catch Anand, but practically it looks impossible unless disaster strikes the Indian. A just indication that Kramnik had little interest in the title now came to fore in the previous round when the Russian took a quick draw with Grischuk.
According to Pundits of the game, Anand deserves full credit for his current position. He has never been in any serious troubles in any of his games and has taken chances, converting wild positions to his advantage in a few games.
It was an important moment in modern chess history in the previous round when Anand's dangerous trailers, Kramnik and Gelfand, had drawn their games and Anand could have taken a draw with safe play himself to maintain his comfortable lead. It was the ambitious decision to play a slightly irrational position, without any safety net that did the trick.
Anand defeated Morozevich in a classic finale and increased his lead.
Kramnik has been a disappointment for the fans here. The fact that he still remains in the next World Championship cycle as part of the new plan by World's governing body FIDE, has already met bitter criticism from many quarters.
Aronian had some problems in the start itself and has not been able to recover since. In what many expect to a decider for the second place, Aronian will take on Gelfand in the next round after the final rest day.
In other round 12 pairings Kramnik meets Peter Leko while Morozevich will take on Grischuk.
Pairings round 12: Peter Svidler (Rus, 4.5) v/s Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 7.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 5.5) v/s Peter Leko (Hun, 5.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 4.5) v/s Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 5.5) v/s Boris Gelfand (Isr, 6).
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