Round 8 top board matchups:
| 1 | GM Pashikian, Arman | 5.0 | ARM | 2621 | GM Kurnosov, Igor | 5.5 | RUS | 2602 | |||
| 2 | GM Predojevic, Borki | 5.0 | BIH | 2650 | GM Moiseenko, Alexander | 5.0 | UKR | 2676 | |||
| 3 | GM Zhou, Jianchao | 5.0 | CHN | 2612 | GM Zhigalko, Sergei | 5.0 | BLR | 2587 | |||
| 4 | GM Bacrot, Etienne | 4.5 | FRA | 2722 | GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 5.0 | RUS | 2664 | |||
| 5 | GM Khairullin, Ildar | 4.5 | RUS | 2574 | GM Sargissian, Gabriel | 4.5 | ARM | 2677 | |||
| 6 | GM Zhou, Weiqi | 4.5 | CHN | 2542 | GM Zvjaginsev, Vadim | 4.5 | RUS | 2636 | |||
| 7 | IM Kosintseva, Tatiana | w | 4.5 | RUS | 2497 | GM Riazantsev, Alexander | 4.5 | RUS | 2634 | ||
| 8 | GM Potkin, Vladimir | 4.5 | RUS | 2613 | GM Ehlvest, Jaan | 4.5 | USA | 2595 |
Official website: www.aeroflotchess.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Go Kurnosov! Show Shak that you’re the real deal!
Go Kurnosov Go! Go again to the Toilet! I’m sure you’ll win!
Updated test file of the accusation, and final:
(a) Any 2700+ class player would be expected to match Rybka on 8.35 of Black’s last 10 moves.
(b) Since the average from nearly 10,000 sampled moves by 2700+ players is 57%, this means the game had an unusually forcing character.
(c) The stats on such small data are meaningless for guilt, but the difference between 83.5%, 57%, and a mistaken “conventional wisdom’ that humans match under 50%, helps explain why the accusations arose.
Oh, I see…
Kurnosov is a real deal! With every round he is placing his leadership on the line
Like I said before, only one rule will prevent such things in the future – the players have to be at the table for the whole game.
Is that really so unheard of like some commentators say?
OK, leave out the “real” sports like football, basketball, tennis, etc. Lets focus on darts, poker, bowling, snooker, etc which are more similar to chess. Can a player be late for the start of the game in any of the mentioned sports? Hell no. Can a player leave at any time of the game. Hell no. Can the players terminate the game at any time they wish? Not really. Can others behave like primadonas and have no obligations to the press? NO. Now what makes you think that chess is so different from above mentioned games to deserve all those privileges???
Chess players are just a bunch of spoiled brats. They want to earn like professionals, but they don’t want to behave like ones.
If they want that chess is just an amateurs sport then fine, there is nothing wrong with that. But they can only play for peanuts then, not for real money. For ammount of their professionalism chess players are over-payed.
So they have a choice, either they start to act like professionals (and the money will eventually come) or they remain at the amateur level. But then you can say goodbye to high prize funds and appearance fees.
The major difference between chess and the other sports you mention is that time plays a crucial role in chess. Are there time limits in any of those other sports ? Of course not. Managing your clock is an essential chess skill ( which top players like Ivanchuk still haven’t mastered ). If you’re in control of your own time you can use that as you wish, which is what chessplayers do.
“Are there time limits in any of those other sports ?”
Yes. A player can not take infinite time at the snooker table. It’s same with poker, bowling and just about everywhere.
Let’s take snooker. When one of the player is playing the other one HAS to be at his designated spot and wait for his turn. He can not go anywhere, not the toilet and certainly not go out to have a smoke! And thats eventhough he would have time to do that, and you can’t really cheat in snooker.
Leaving the table like you don’t care what your opponent does is unrespectful and just a very bad habit. So if you want to play, then play like it was meant to – at the table. if not, then just don’t play.
This exactly what I’m talking about – chess players think they are so special, that no normal rules apply to them.