The Bilbao super tournament will take place on September 2-13, 2008. The field is very strong with 6 players competing in a double round robin format: Anand, the in form Vassily Ivanchuk, Veselin Topalov, Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian.
Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and another 60 minutes to finish the game. The total prize fund amounts to €400,000:
€150,000 for 1st
€70,000 for 2nd
€60,000 for 3rd
€50,000 for 4th
€40,000 for 5th
€30,000 for 6th
The players:
Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2798
Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781
Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2777
Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2775
Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2744
Aronian, Levon g ARM 2737
I will be joining my friends former WC Boris Spassky and the best chess commentator in the world Mr. Leontxo Garcia at the commentary booth.
Any prediction for the order of finish?
Now that the UEFA soccer season is over Chuky should be fine. Since his incredibe run at M-Tel he has only lost 2 games. Both of them directly related to soccer distractions. His favorite Ukranian team will have to wait until 2012. I believe young Vassly’s childhood dream was to be a Torres of Spain or a Michael Ballack of Germany. Instead he had to settle for being one of the 6 or 7 top grandmasters in the world capable of winning the WC.
At 39 it seems Mr. Ivanchuk has matured into a formidable GM. His opening repertoire is nothing short of encyclopedic. With two of the 4 contenders(Anand and Topalov) on the roster at Bilbao, he does not need additional motivation.
He deserves a shot at the WC for many reasons.
The most important of which is he would be very good for chess(a la Fischer) even if he was champion only for a short while. The man has a sense of humor about life that Americans have always found refreshing and irresistible. He is likeable with a boyish charm and the American press and the American Public would eat him up. Even Anand doesn’t have the “Caveman” chess playing virtuoso qualities that Ivanchuk does. It is easy for John Q. Public to identify with him. And he makes them laugh. What more do you want. In addition to that he has an underdog image. And we all love to root for the underdog.
Here is to a generation of new young Chuky wanna bees for the mid 21st century, just as the 20th century was filled with Bobby wanna bees.
hmm, let me see…thats a difficult question…the winner will be….hmmm…
Carlsen…:)
Susan,
when you meet Boris Spassky please ask him to write a book about the 1972 WCC match.
I’m sure a lot of chess fans would appreciate having a match book written by one of the contestants of the ‘match of the century’, and Bobby is no longer…
Make that 4th, Anand, Ivanchuk and Topalov will be top.
Carlson will choke and finish second to last. He has no nerves and cannot stand pressure. Mentally he is a very smart coward. Carlson will never become World Champ because he plays like French (and Dutch) – cracks under pressure.
Carlson maybe, but not Carlsen.
Anand wins, Carlsen nipping at Anand’s heels.
If only Topy would finish last that would make my day complete.
Excellent idea, Anon 9:53 PM.
This is something that certainly needs to happen, and Spassky is not getting any younger…
I would be particularly interested in knowing:
(1) How well did Spassky really prepare for this match? (eg re. Karpov’s stories)
(2) How comfortable was Spassky in having Geller as his main second, and did he always follow his openings advice?
(3) To what extent did Spassky think Fischer’s reprehensible conduct at the start of the match cause his dreadful performance in games 3-10?
(4) If he had been given the opportunity to play into the Modern Benoni again, would he have done so, and if so what did he have prepared?
(5) Was the move Nb1!? in game 11 prepared or an over-the-board idea?
(6) Why, in game 13, did Spassky seem to have absolutely nothing prepared against the Alekhine? Given that Fischer had played this opening several times in 1970, it had to have a reasonable likelihood of appearing.
(7) What possessed Spassky to play the dreadful and pointless move e5 in game 15, thus throwing away a well deserved win?
Spassky really should write more and reveal some of his secrets before it is too late!