Standings after round 10: Grandmaster group A
1. V. Topalov 7½
2. T. Radjabov 6½
3-6. V. Anand, L. Aronian, P. Svidler, V. Kramnik 6
7-8. S. Karjakin, R. Ponomariov 5
9. D. Navara 4½
10-11. S. Tiviakov, A. Motylev 4
12. L. van Wely 3½
13-14. A. Shirov, M. Carlsen 3
What are the biggest surprises to you so far?
Which players performed above your expectation?
Which players performed below your expectation?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Carlsen – I’ve heard all the “too young”, “give him some time”, “not experienced” etc. and yet, I expected at least one win.
no real surprises
Carlsen still collects tournament experiences…Karjakin is somewhat more mature, a difference of 1-2 years at their age makes a big of a difference.
Navara has been a nice surprise for me. Anyway, looking each time at the standings of this and other tournament, I can’t help thinking how simple, yet “correct” was Arpad Elo with his formula.
No high-rated player can be there using luck or chance.
how can you be word campion and only win 2 out of 10 games
“how can you be word campion and only win 2 out of 10 games “
By beating Kasparov in a match without letting him win a single game. Then by winning the last game in a must-win situation against one of the greast defenders of all time Leko. And at last but not the least, by beating Topalov in both classical games and rapid games.
Hope you got it through your tick skull.
Anand at least he should have earned a point from two games with Kramnik and Topalov.
Probably Karjakin also should have been better.
Apart from that no big surprises
Beating the number 1 on the world, first in “slow” and then in rapid games, is a way to become world champion. There are others, but I think this one was pretty convincing.
The leader and the group behind him are not a surprise to me.Perhaps Radjabov second place is the only one.
It is sad to see Shirov in the last places,but he is not playing so agressively as years ago(he crushed Kramnik in a match.Do you remember it?),and in Chess Olimpiad he performed very bad with the spainsh team and lost rating points…well he is a businessman now, and maybe he has not the time to be brilliant. 🙁
“By beating Kasparov in a match without letting him win a single game. Then by winning the last game in a must-win situation against one of the greast defenders of all time Leko. And at last but not the least, by beating Topalov in both classical games and rapid games.”
I think the question was not how Kramnik became world champion, but how come being the world champion, he is playing the way he is…
Radjabov good, although largely through luck, Shirov bad. The latter less of a surprise than the former, sadly. Otherwise much as you would expect. Neither Anand nor Kramnik will be very pleased, but nothing massively disappointing/surprising.
Anonymous said…
“how can you be word campion and only win 2 out of 10 games “
By beating Kasparov in a match without letting him win a single game. Then by winning the last game in a must-win situation against one of the greast defenders of all time Leko. And at last but not the least, by beating Topalov in both classical games and rapid games.
Hope you got it through your tick skull.
Yes by cheating and with the help of the KGB
dickhead
Not only KGB, he got help from aliens too. With the alien technology Topalov didnt stand a chance.
2 of 10 win from toilet boy
the man right is no champ you grandmother do better
2 win from 10 games hahaha
I think the question was not how Kramnik became world champion, but how come being the world champion, he is playing the way he is…
Well, he is the champ, he’s got nothing to prove to nobody.
Navara’s inconsistent play. He blundered away at least three winning positions (but ended up winning when Carlsen missed the winning line), messed up a couple times in his loss against Shirov, and almost blew his game with Loek in round 7 (but Loek was able to match him mistake for mistake). He says he’s had trouble with nerves during the tournament, which seems evident from his play alternating between brilliant and sloppy. With calmer nerves, he could well have been at 7 or 7.5 at this point. I hope he can find a solution. Maybe just play more high powered, high profile tournaments?
“Yes by cheating and with the help of the KGB dickhead”
Anonymous, let me try to analyze why you hate him so much :
Kramnik is tall, good looking, very smart, cool as ice (remember the last game ot the title match with Leko?), at the top of his profession (unified world champion) and has overall positive scores against the rest of the best (Kasparov, Topalov etc).
Kramnik is immaculate at the stratosphere and apes like you, are trying to throw mud to him from the holes/trees that you live in. Eventually you will evolve into human beings, discover the rules of physics and will understand that trying to throw mud to stratosphere is absurd.
Anonymous said:
“Well, he is the champ, he’s got nothing to prove to nobody”
What makes a champ great is his legacy. Kasparov and Karpov keep making the list of all time great because of their tournament record as well as their match play.
Topalov is keeping the same tradition by his impressive and crushing record so far in Super Tournament since becoming Champion.
It is sad that the Classical World Championship was decided by Rapid play
“It is sad that the Classical World Championship was decided by Rapid play”
polo_mateo this is completely misleading. It was NOT decided by Rapid Play. It was decided first by playing 8 classical games where Topalov team played extremely ugly tactics to steal a point from Kramnik. Kramnik kicked Topa’s ass big time.
Kramnik is and will be remembered only with the fact that he is a TOILET champion. Stick this into your head.
Who else can do the best of his work in the toilet.
Is there anybody else on the world that earns his money, titles recognition etc. in the toilet. It is not possible to be so arrogant even in the university – if you go more than twice to the toilet on an exam you will get punished for sure.
No, the only one is Kramnik – because the organization of the match and blind supporters like you let him do this.
And now he is just having some fun on tournaments enjoying settled friendly draws while everybody else have to struggle for their recognition. Because he doesn’t care for anything else but the title – nomatter how is it obtained.
This is a caricature of a champion!
>>Topalov lost the match. Grow up and get over it.>>
You call this match…?
No this was a settlement for Kramnik to get the title!
He cheated – that is fo sure. And the organization of the match covered him and redirected the negative outcome to Topalov just because he dared to protest.
Surprise – Radjabov, who has done quite well
Disappointments – Shirov (obviously), Anand (I expected him to perfom better) and Kramnik (Not because is doing bad, but because he is not fighting hard for the tournament, lots of quick draws. I hoped for a real battle on the top. Well, the last 3 rounds are quite interesting, he can still shine in the tournament)
Topalov is doing quite well, but i expected that (good tourney player, at the top of the ELO list)
Karjakin is only 10 months older than Carlsen, but somehow his excellent accomplishments have gotten somewhat lost in the chess world’s fervor over Magnus Carlsen. Not that he isn’t quite the talent himself, but Karjakin is equally as talented, in many cases even more talented tactically. (They are only separated by 12 points on the latest FIDE list.)
What are the biggest surprises to you so far?
Anand losing to Kramnik and Topalov.
Which players performed above your expectation?
Radjabov
Which players performed below your expectation?
Carlsen & Shirov
chess kids are great they deserve a real chess champion to look up to,
read great comments about him. if the champ won 8 or 9 out of ten games he would be their hero,
just as Bobby Fisher was to kids in his time,
but 2 out of ten 8 draws is nothing to look up to,
or the way he got the title by suspected cheating
with a corrupt fide and putin with his henchmen
Vladimir Kramnik
Years covered: 1988 to 2007
Current FIDE rating: 2766
Highest rating achieved in database: 2811
Overall record: +471 -132 =733
Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
365 exhibition games, blitz games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.
Garry Kasparov
Years covered: 1973 to 2006
Current FIDE rating: 2812
Highest rating achieved in database: 2851
Overall record: +872 -153 =639
Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
272 exhibition games, blitz games, etc. are excluded from this statistic
“how can you be word campion and only win 2 out of 10 games “
KRAMNIK WILL NEVER EVER PLAY THE SAME AGAIN, FOR NOW HE IS MARRIED [GOOD FOR HIM],AND HAS BETTER THINGS ON HIS MIND ASIDE FOR THE ROYAL GAME OF CHESS. SEEING MORE WINS [CUTTING OUT 1/2 “IN GENERAL”] WOULD DO WORLDS OF GOOD FOR CHESS AND ALL OF IT’S FANS.
KRAMNIK SHALL REMAIN A LEGEND NO MATTER WHICH WAY YOU LAY THE CHESSMEN DOWN.
Anonymous said…
chess kids are great they deserve a real chess champion to look up to,
This is very true in all sport and games the young children mimic their hero champions.
In Chess the kids are let down and have no Hero Champion to Idolise
Thanks to the likes like Susan who works till she drops down more kids than ever are playing chess,but they do need a real Chess Champion as their Hero
The blame is the FIDE who will not give Chess Players a fair go in fear of not being able to manipulate who is champion
Kramnik will win all the last three games becoase he is the world champion
Carlsen probably used electronic devices to inflate his rating, and had to refrain this time due to the increased publicity.
Some of his games look downright amateur.
Also, Kramnik seems to have no desire to play. There’s no excuse for draws in around 20 moves.
I am surprised at how reckless Shirov has played. Many other players are more deserving of playing in the A group.
SharkBite