Assessment of the Players’ Performance at the First Break

Anand

He hasn’t played his best, but well-enough to be in third place and within striking distance. In the first round, he dispatched Judit quite convincingly. It was also one of the worst games by Judit in a long time. Therefore, even though he played well to capitalize on the situation, it was not really a true test to measure his form. In the second round, he was outplayed by the gutsier Topalov. He showed his resiliency by defending well. In the end, Topalov misplayed and Anand earned a hard fought lucky draw. In the third round, he dominated an out-of-form Adams. In round four, he underestimated Kasimdzhanov and lost badly. Even without playing his best, Anand is still in good shape with a plus one score of 2½ out of 4.

I give his performance a B.

Topalov

Topalov was a little lucky in the first round. Leko misplayed his superior position and Topalov punished him severely. In the second round, he played with pure guts and heart and achieved a completely winning position against Anand. A few blunders cost him the half point. In round 3, he ground out a win against Morozevich and he basically did the same against Adams in round 4 to lead the field by half a point. So far, Topalov is the player of the tournament. He could have gone 4 out of 4.

I give his performance an A+.

Leko

Leko started out horribly. He had an excellent position against Topalov in round one only to misplay it and lose badly. In round two, he barely hung on against Morozevich. In round three, he seemed to play without any spirit and once against lost, this time to Svidler. Even though he didn’t play his best chess in round four, he beat my sister to stay within a minus one. So far, he has played way below his capability.

I give his performance after four rounds a D.

Svidler

Svidler has performed better than I expected. He seemed to play uninspired chess in the first round against Adams and didn’t do much against Kasimdzhanov in round two. Suddenly, he woke up against Leko in round three and was able to take advantage of Leko’s poor play to earn a full point. In round four, he hung around against Morozevich and once again capitalized on his opponent’s poor play to earn another full point. Now, Svidler is in clear second with a plus two score. He has played excellent economical chess and spent very little energy.

I give him an A for his performance after four rounds.

J. Polgar

My sister has not played well at all. Her opening repertoire is too predictable. She seemed to be nervous in round one and lost badly. In round two, she fought extremely hard to hang on against Adams for a draw. In round three, Kasimdzhanov got outplayed tactically. Both sides made inaccuracies, but Judit pulled out a magnificent win to pull herself back to the .500 mark. She misplayed the opening in round four against Leko and lost again quite badly. I’m not sure if she has been saving some of her best stuff for crunch time, but her she has underachieved so far in the opening.

I give her a C- after four rounds.

Adams

Adams took a safe draw against Svidler in round one. It didn’t seem that he was ready to engage in a tough battle. In round two, he achieved a wonderful position against Judit, but failed to capitalize on it. Even when he offered a draw, his position was better with chances still remaining. In round three, he misplayed a complicated position against Anand and promptly lost. In round four he misplayed his position against Topalov and was squeezed to death. After four rounds, Adams is at minus two and tied for last place with Morozevich.

I give Adams’ performance a D.

Morozevich

He is a mystery. He seemed to be in a fighting mood by trying very hard to win against Kasimdzhanov in round one, but only got a draw. In round two, he was doing well against Leko, but again failed to win. In round three, Topalov outplayed him in a tight position. In round four, he once again tried hard against Svidler and lost again. He is sharing the basement with Adams at the first break. It seems that he is trying, but either he has been unlucky or out of form.

I give his performance a D after four rounds.

Kasimdzhanov

He played hard against Morozevich, but only managed a draw in round one. He took any early draw against Svidler in round 2 in a position with plenty of play left for both sides. In round three, he missed his one chance to win the game after Judit blundered, and lost badly. In round four, he played like Superman and thoroughly dispatched Anand to move into clear fourth place with a .500 score. He showed that he can hang with the big boys after four rounds.

I give him a B.
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A full report and additional analysis can be seen at http://www.chesscafe.com/polgar/polgar.htm

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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