1. Anand 6.5
2-3. Ivanchuk, Carlsen 5.5
4-5. Svidler, Aronian 5.0
6. Topalov 4.5
7-8 Leko, Morozevich 4.0
Round 11: Tuesday, March 6th
Alexander Morozevich – Vishy Anand
Magnus Carlsen – Vassily Ivanchuk
Peter Svidler – Veselin Topalov
Levon Aronian – Peter Leko
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
With the current standings in Linares… Anand will be the new World #1 in the next update of FIDE ratings!!!
Congrats GM Anand!!!!
Uh, the tournament isn’t over yet. Have you ever heard the bit about not counting your chickens?
Of course you’re not as bad as the Topatroll who assured us that Topalov would score at least +5 in the second half. That’s already impossible.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=susanpolgar.blogspot.com
Thanks for the traffic link. As you can see great coverage of the important chess events (like the World Championship in Elista) draws an incredible number of visits. The visits drop off as more mundane topics are discussed or the coverage of events like Linares is incomplete.
Susan, don’t you mean “invincible”? 😉
no She meant “invisible”
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Well, there are a few rounds to go and both Carlsen and Chucky have a good chance of catching up.
You never know with Chucky. He is a genius and on his day is capable of beating anybody and anything.
Very interesting. 10% of the traffic from Poland and less than 1% from Hungary.
Maybe they bundle all those countries together and call it Poland.
As of today Anand and Kramnik are the best players in the world….Topolov is aggresive but I fear that the controversy that he is in might hold true.Ivanchuk is the only player who has a chance to catch up with Anand in this tournament with his flamboyant playing style.
It seems like pretty silly journalistic hyperbole to ask if a 1 point lead with 4 rounds to go makes a player “invincible”. It also puts an undue onus on the players. If Anand doesn’t win now (as could easily happen), people will think he suffered some kind of impossible collapse.
Invincible? No. He was already vinced by Aronian.
Hi,
‘Very interesting. 10% of the traffic from Poland and less than 1% from Hungary’
It is nothing strange Poland and Hungary are called in Europe as ‘brothers in law’.
From Xth to XIV century there were near relations between kings families of both countries and in 1956 there were the people protests versus Soviet Union in both countries. It was tragic for Hungary, much blood on the Budapest streets because of soviet army, unfortunately.
It is very good free blog, somehow as Hyde Park in London, where the mouths are not closed.
Regards
Pony.
Hi,
‘I think the whole thing is unfair to Topalov.’
Not the whole world but the media only ! I suppose that
all the players know what to think about what has happened. It is obvious for them, no one wants to have the partner hidden in ‘toilette’.
I am surprised that sponsors tolerates such a behaviour.
Regards
Pony.
Anand Invincible?
I like Anand but over the years he’s proven that he lacks the guts to deal with adversity.
Linares is the typical scenario where Anand is at his best when he gets a good start and starts cruising. But when Anand has to come from behind he just crumbles.
Remember his easy draws in San Luis when he still had a chance to catch up Topalov, or losing a rapid match against Karpov in the FIDE knockout Championship when he was the clear favorite once the match went to rapid chess.
Ivanchuk is the only Super GM that can flame out faster than Anand.
Topolov must be tired he had a Mate in 2 on move 32 in round 9 with Ivanchuk and he didn’t see it.
One anon wrote this:
I think the whole thing is unfair to Topalov. Right now he should be playing as the World Champion. He found the tapes and wires that show he was cheated and even wrote a book about it. Then they tried to smear him with the phony hand signals scam.
After all this turmoil he is expected to battle in these tournaments against the likes of Anand who he usually mops the floor with.
I think the entire chess community owes him an apology and ought to restore him to the World Championship.
It was I who stood up and when many people were outraged that Kramnik is accused of cheating, I said that it is possible, the possibility shouldn’t be dismissed based on some kind of poorly interpreted faith or trust. BUT….there and then the Topalov group failed to PROVE that. The cable is meaningless, that by itself is not a proof (especially I have not seen a connector on those pictures). According to all the rules and regulations, all protest must be submitted before the players leave the premises. Unless Topalov did that (which I don’t know about) Kramnik probably could even walk up and admit he cheated, he would still remain the world champion.
But he didn’t and Topalov failed to prove any of his accusations on time. Therefore:
IT IS OVER.
Kramnik is the world champion and that’s that. From this point on it is plain silly to make statements like yours. How do you even imagine that? Like “gee….that pesky cable…although it wouldn’t be a proof even the courtrooms of a third world country…..although you lost the match …although you failed to submit an official protest…..although you are now traling a world event with good chess players, Kramnik not even included…..but we love you so much….so here…..take this….you are the world champion”.
Surely it would be ridiculous and such world championship would have ZERO value.
Topalov lost. Get over it. I like him too, I think he is a great chess player, but he lost. With or without cheating, at this point it became irrelevant.
Only, the world of chess must acknowledge that cheating is indeed possible, and they should make provisions to make sure that it WON’T BE possible. In the future.
Gabor
Gabor
Well said !!!
” a proof even the courtrooms of a third world country”
So strength of evidence depends on economic standing of the country where it is presented.
Good logic.
As far as I am concerned Kramnik’s title is illegitimate until he explains exacly why those wires were there – which there is no explanation of.
In my eyes Topalov is the real World Champion and was robbed!
I AM NOT A CROOK!!
“As far as I am concerned Kramnik’s title is illegitimate until he explains exacly why those wires were there – which there is no explanation of.
“
topalov should first explain why he needs to use computer help before karmnic has to explain why he needs wires and why he didn’t upgrade his hardware to wireless.
Ivanchuk, Leko and Svidler missed wins against Anand. Caissa sure is rooting for him to get to the #1 spot!!