Radja makes a draw with Carlsen

In the combined classification Kramnik is one full point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who defeated Paco Vallejo 1.5-0.5. In the blindfold competition Kramnik is in a class of his own. In seven games he's only spilled half a point. In the rapid competition Vishy Anand now tops the table with 5? points from 7.

In their blindfold game Peter Svidler and Vishy Anand followed the game that the former played against Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. Anand introduced a novelty with 18…Bxd5 where the Armenian had taken with the queen. Black has good compensation for the pawn and White can only hope for an advantage if he manages to untangle his pieces. Not an easy thing to do with the powerful black knight on e4. Svidler's attempts to chase the knight away were unsuccessful and when Anand offered a draw he saw no reason to decline. To his mind if anyone was better in the final position, it was Black.

The rapid game was no fun for Svidler, who got into trouble in the opening and was suffering all through the game. Showing admirable technique Anand converted his advantage, not allowing his opponent even a trace of counterplay.

Paco Vallejo tried to be 'solid' in his blindfold game against Vasily Ivanchuk. The Spanish grandmaster has a rough time in the blindfold, where he was doing so well in the past two years. And he doesn't have an explanation why things are different. Unless it's the fact that this time he did some blindfold training before he came to Monaco! His quiet approach against Ivanchuk didn’t bring him anything except for a series of exchanges. The board was already quite empty when the players agreed on a draw on move 20.

Vallejo was not looking for solid play in the rapid game, but hoped to grab his chances with active play. Things went fine until Ivanchuk got an advantage with 22.c6 and this advantage grew considerably in the phase that followed. But instead of wrapping up Ivanchuk started dithering and spoiled his entire advantage. Vallejo looked to be safe, until he once again ran into trouble and this time defeat could no longer be averted.

The blindfold game between Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov saw another Schliemann-Jaenisch variation of the Ruy Lopez. White won a pawn, but Black had sufficient counterplay to win it back. Still, it looked as if Carlsen had a definite advantage and that Radjabov would be hard-pressed in the ending. The question was if he'd be able to get perfect coordination between his pieces and secure the safety of his own king at the same time. This task proved too steep, particularly as he was down to seconds on his clock when some crucial decisions had to be taken. When Radjabov defended accurately with 25…Kg8 and 26…Rf8, Carlsen had one final 'look' and then went for a threefold repetition.

Despite a 'stupid' opening Carlsen got a satisfactory position with black in the rapid game. Encouraged by these positive developments he got too optimistic and played 16…c4, a move he criticized after the game. He also missed 20.Nd1 which cost him an exchange. Nevertheless Black seemed to be doing fine and apparently this was a feeling that Radjabov shared as after 30 moves he offered a draw. Carlsen thought it over for a while and then he accepted as he had come to the conclusion that 'the offer had been quite a generous one.'

In his blindfold game against Peter Leko, Vladimir Kramnik surprisingly played the Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez. A theoretical discussion ensued in which Kramnik was the first to play a new move, 23…Bf4. Or rather it was a novelty for the outside world as Leko had studied the move before his world championship match against the same Kramnik in Brissago in 2004. Kramnik had investigated the move some time ago and admitted that he had gone through his notes yesterday. Despite all the complications the game was in balance till one move from the end when Leko's memory played a trick on him. Believing Black's h-pawn was on h4 he moved his king to that square, only realizing that he'd made a big mistake when he didn't see 'Kxh4' on the screen but 'Kh4.' After Black's answer he had no choice but to resign. This was the second time Kramnik and Leko played a Marshall and in all probability you remember the first occasion. In Game 8 of their match in Brissago Kramnik played with the white pieces and lost because he played a move that he had only briefly (and clearly too briefly) checked with a computer before the game. As Kramnik smiled after Saturday's game, 'Yes, Black is definitely OK in the Marshall.'

Kramnik also won the rapid game, corroborating the opinion that after his brief lapse in Round 5 he is back in control again. In the opening Leko ended up in a worse position when instead of the equalizing 13…b6, he played 13…f5?!. Kramnik was much better, but could have struck harder with 24.Nxb7 when after 24…Qxb7 25.Bxc6 Qb6 26.Rxb4 Nc5 27.Nd4 White should be winning comfortably. Another missed chance that Kramnik pointed out after the game was 33.Raa7. After the move that he played, 33.Rba7, he had missed Black's reply 33…Qc6. White was still winning, but he had complicated his task. Leko's decisive error was 39…Bf6?. According to Kramnik he should have tried 39…Rxa6 40.Rxa6 Nd7 with chances to draw.

After fifteen moves into their blindfold game Boris Gelfand sat wondering if he had the wrong position before his mind’s eye or if his opponent, Loek van Wely, had forgotten where exactly all the pieces were placed. Going through the game in his mind Gelfand came to the conclusion that it was Van Wely who was visualizing the wrong position and proceeded to push his pawn to c6 with devastating effect. Black's 15…Ne4 was a blunder, after 15…Rc8 the game would just have started. The rest was painful for Van Wely as White's task wasn't too difficult. When on move 25 his queen was trapped, the Dutchman had had enough.

In the rapid game Van Wely tried 9.Qe2 in a popular line of the Queen's Indian, a move he had prepared especially for Monaco. According to the Dutchman, Gelfand's answer was not the critical one and after 12.Nd6+ White obtained a very pleasant position. After the game Van Wely agreed with the experts in the hospitality lounge who believed that he should have tried 22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.f4. The move he played, 22.c5, left Black with a firm position and after 48 moves the players shared the point.

The blindfold game between Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich was a prolonged affair that ended with a typical blindfold accident. Morozevich had no complaints about the opening, but gradually he ended up in an unpleasant position. For a long time he had to defend, walking a thin line between holding and going under. But as he did so he also got the feeling that his opponent was losing the thread of the position. Or rather the squares where the pieces were, because several times Aronian had to re-enter his move because his first choice was not accepted by the computer. Aronian's oblivion proved fatal on move 73 when he played his white-squared bishop to e8, leaving his black-squared bishop on e5 en prise.

Aronian felt there was not too much to say about the rapid game which ended in a draw. Except for the fact that he might have tried to maintain the extra rook for a while with 24…Qd2 instead of returning it immediately. Indeed, Black would have gotten some chances in this case, but here too most likely the ultimate result would have been a draw. Aronian explained that he had not grabbed this 'chance' because after the first game he had felt 'like a zombie.'

Results round 7:

Blindfold: Svidler-Anand 1/2-1/2, Vallejo-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2, Carlsen-Radjabov 1/2-1/2, Leko-Kramnik 0-1, Gelfand-Van Wely 1-0, Aronian-Morozevich  0-1.

Rapid: Anand-Svidler 1-0, Ivanchuk-Vallejo 1-0, Radjabov-Carlsen 1/2-1/2, Kramnik-Leko 1-0, Van Wely-Gelfand 1/2-1/2, Morozevich-Aronian 1/2-1/2.

Standings after the seventh round: 1. Kramnik 10.5; 2. Ivanchuk 9.5; 3. Anand 8.5; 4. Aronian 8.0; 5-6. Svidler, Gelfand 7.5 each; 7. Morozevich 7.0; 8. Leko 6.5; 9-10. Carlsen, Radjabov 6.0; 11. Vallejo 4.0; 12. Van Wely 3.0.

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