What are some of the biggest surprises so far after 5 rounds in Bilbao?
Special note: Topalov, Carlsen, and Ivanchuk had 3 Black and 2 White in the first half. They will have an extra White in the second half.
Round 6 matchups:
Vassily Ivanchuk – Vishy Anand
Veselin Topalov – Teimour Radjabov
Magnus Carlsen – Levon Aronian
Standings at the half way point:
Veselin Topalov 5 2 3 0 9
Magnus Carlsen 5 2 2 1 8
Levon Aronian 5 1 3 1 6
Vassily Ivanchuk 5 0 4 1 4
Teimour Radjabov 5 0 4 1 4
Viswanathan Anand 5 0 4 1 4
Traditional scores:
Veselin Topalov 3.5
Magnus Carlsen 3.0
Levon Aronian 2.5
Vassily Ivanchuk 2.0
Teimour Radjabov 2.0
Viswanathan Anand 2.0
Official website: http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com/en_index.asp
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan,
Biggest surprises so far are:
1) Carlsen’s loss with white to Topalov. He usually does very well against Top but in this game he played poorly.
2) Anand’s -1. Keep his powder dry for the Kramnik match and all that, but still.
–Porky Pig
I disagree that Carlsen played poorly against Topalov: He made a pawn sacrifice which turned out not to work, while Topalov played precisely enough that Magnus didn’t manage to recover. Magnus didn’t play very well either, I agree, but that’s not necessarily the same thing as playing poorly. You can play a decent game and still lose, especially when your opponent doesn’t make any serious mistakes while taking advantage of your own inaccuracies.
But I agree that Carlsen’s loss with white against Topalov, and Anand’s poor performance so far are among the two things that have been the biggest surprises so far.
I was also a bit surprised that Magnus defeated Aronian with the black pieces (relatively easily). But Magnus has defeated both Topalov and Kramnik with black (the former with the Alekhine defence!), so why shouldn’t he be able to do the same to Aronian?
Carlsen could be the leader, if only yesterday he didn’t waste a “penalty kick” against Anand…
why Magnus? why give back the rook to Anand??
Because he’s just a top player like the others, no god, and makes mistakes. Why not?