As I mentioned in an earlier post, guessing who would move on in this type of knockout event is like picking lottery numbers. Less than 50% of the matches had a clear winner in round 2 (15 of 32 matches) and only 6 matches out of 32 had the score 2-0.
Will the strongest players of the tournament win the knockout? Not really. Were Khalifman, Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov the strongest players in their knockout events? No. To win a tournament like this, you would need to have strong nerve, good short match strategy and a lot of luck.
There can be several types of luck involved. One would be the pairing matchups. Some players are allergic to the style of some others. Therefore, someone can get lucky and get pairings against players they have good records against. Another type of luck would be on the board.
Am I against knockout tournaments? No. I think knockout events are great. It is exciting to the fans and even perhaps the media. However, I do not like knockout tournaments to decide the World Championship. I like it as a World Cup or as a World Championship qualifer.
As for the American delegation, four players made it to the second round. Alexander Ivanov is eliminated by Joel Lautier of France. Kamsky, Onischuk and Shulman are in a rapid tie breaker tomorrow.
Susan, do you think Topalov and Danailov were present there to signal the moves to Cheparinov ? 🙂
Also, we have to find out if Cheparinov was sitting at the same chair in all the games 🙂
It is a funny but sad situation because some sore loser(s) made unfounded allegations against Topalov. I hope Topalov will get mad and work harder on his game to be #1 for the next 5-10 years 🙂 This would be the best way for revenge.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
I think Cheparinov may have really made a name for himself by beating Ivanchuk. He is playing great chess. I think he has a good chance to win some more rounds.
I am also taken by Carlsen. very young and already has won in the first 2 rounds. very well played. Just amazing to me.
Kamsky has been in losing positions in both games but held the draw. he is not playing yet at his old level. I hope he wins the tiebreaks. I will be rooting for him along with all the other Americans.
Susan, You should be over there showing them how to play chess. knock their socks off.
As the tournament is moving forward, it is becoming more and more interesting… Lets see who qualifys for final 10. Anyway, this is not a world championship tournament but merely a qualifier to further matches. so i believe knock out format is ok for this. Most of the top seeds are moving ahead except Ivanchuk.