GM Kramnik (2799) – GM Van Wely (2681) [D11]
12.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qb3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Ne4 8.Nc3 Nxg3 9.hxg3 Bg7 10.e3 Nd7 11.Bd3 Rb8 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.g4 a6 14.Ne2 Nf6 15.Ne5 Nd7 16.Nf3 Nf6 17.Ne5 Nd7 18.f4 gxf4 19.exf4 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Qa5+ 21.Qc3 Qxc3+ 22.bxc3 f6 23.exf6 Bxf6 24.Rb1 b5 25.a4 Game drawn ½–½
GM Adams (2726) – GM Gelfand (2737) [C42]
12.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Nc3 Bf5 9.Re1 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 0–0 12.Rb1 Na5 13.Qf5 c6 14.h4 Nc4 15.h5 b5 16.Bg5 Nd6 17.Bxe7 Nxf5 18.Bxd8 Rfxd8 19.Ne5 Rac8 20.Nd3 Kf8 21.Nc5 Nd6 Game drawn ½–½
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
This is so lame.
Round 1 and no fighting spirit.
There’s absolutely no surprise that the first result would be an early draw between Adams & Gelfand. As Dennis Monokroussos wrote in his assessment of the players:
Gelfand: Draw, draw, draw, draw, draw…so much talent, so little will to risk. He’ll draw 9 or 10 games, minimum, some quickly, and won’t be invited to another super-tournament until 2010.
For his commentary on the other 13 players go to:
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/
Mr. Jack…glad you can predict the future! You can already “see” into the future and who is or is not going to be ivinted to tournaments in 2010.
Hey…got next weeks lottery numbers? If not, then you might not be able to predict the future as well as you think.
Draws are part of the rules of chess. Early draws, late draws, fighting draws, a draw is part of the game.
Fact is, you have absolutely no idea who will or will not be invited to any “super-tournamanet in 2010.
But, if you can see the future…then why can’t you predict the moves of the GM’s and be one yourself. Afterall, you can “predict” future events and decisions.
Stop predicting two years in adavance. It’s silly and you have, truthfully, no idea what’s going to happen in 2010…except….
The USA will still be the strongest and greatest nation on Earth…with a Republican president.
Last anonymous, learn reading.
Jack quoted someone else so do not blame him for knowing the future.
“This is so lame.”
Of course it is. I hope Kramnik will miss that half point he could have done with white to one player who’s weaker than him.
If I was a middle strong GM participating in such a tournament I’d always hope to get the strongest player in the first round…. 😉
Hi !
Does anyone know why Carlsen won his game ?
There does not seem to be any large advantage for him…
Or maybe Mamedyarov lost on time ? But he seemed to make it to the 40 th move ?
A few issues which should be kept in mind i these super duper tourneys.
1. The players all are pretty close in strength. Among closely matched players especially strong GMs, a draw is therefore a likely result.
2. What I think is getting everyone mad is that these are not fighting draws – where both sides were trying to win for say 40-60 moves, but quick desultory affairs where neither side seemed to be really trying.
3. The nature of these round robins is that there usually isn’t much action in the beginning – players are feeling each other out – trying to figure out who is out of form – the players who are in the slump then will be picked on by everyone else hoping to score points. So the middle rounds usually see th most action. In the last few rounds, only the contenders will be trying hard to score points, with everyone else trying to keep position – so draws again show up.
4. So part of the issue is the way tourneys are set up – their structure doesn’t naturally build towards an exciting conclusion. Add in very cautious GMs who are evenly matched then one can have a lot of draws.
Sofia rules and you have none of these issues.
Didou, Mamedyarov was positionally busted after …Ne3. All Carlsen had to do was to walk his bishop and rook in.
C’mon. These guys should have gone on a bit longer!