After an exciting first half in Morelia, the super event will resume the second half in Linares tomorrow. Will Anand be able to hold off Topalov and Shirov who are only 1/2 point behind? Can Leko get out of his bad form?
Here is the matchups for the first round in Spain and 8th overall:
Round 8 – February 28, 2008
Anand, Viswanathan vs. Shirov, Alexei
Ivanchuk, Vassily vs. Carlsen, Magnus
Radjabov, Teimour vs. Leko, Peter
Aronian, Levon vs. Topalov, Veselin
Standings at the start of Linares:
1. Anand 4.5 (+2)
2-3 Topalov, Shirov 4.0 (+1)
4-5 Aronian, Carlsen 3.5 (E)
6-7 Ivanchuk, Radjabov 3.0 (-1)
8. Leko 2.5 (-2)
Official website: http://www.ajedrezmorelialinares.com.mx/
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
My prediction is that Anand will win because from now on he will not strugle to win….just to draw. That should come as no surprise to all since that is usually his technique. Anand = Mr Draw.
I also said at the beginning that anand would win but Magnus is so cute. If I just werent 10 years old and were rated at least 2600…
P.S. SUSAN CAN YOU POST THE PIC THAT IS ON THE TOP OF MY BLOG AS A CONTEST TO SEE WHO KNOWS HIM??
WCM Claudia Munoz
4th grade
womancandidatemaster.blogspot.com
I never realized Anand has such a pointy nose!
Anyway, either Anand or Carlsen should win. 🙂
Anon 2.12,
Lets have some statistics before calling Anand Mr Draw.
Here are draw % of current and two past top players for you, you will appreciate that only Morozevich stands out the one with less number of draws others are near to each other. Not surprisingly Leko topping the list followed by Kramnik.
Leko – 57%
Kramnik -55%
Ivanchuk 51%
Anand 50%
Karpov 49%
Topalov 46%
Kasparov 45%
Morozevich 35%
This is based on games in the chessgames database. I think its quite representative. I think if at all its Moro who stands out of the list and Leko if you want to include him. But otherwise 45-55% seems to be the range and 50 for Anand is reasonable. This seems to be the % of draw in modern chess for Top players. Kudos to Moro for having such a low draw percentage and such a good rating. But I dont think anyone will think him as world champion at any point.
I wonder why ( Susan Polgar Chess Blog ) doesnt post any commentary about the ” II Iberoamerican Championship” also playing in Linares , i know she speaks spanish..so it shouldn’t be so difficult..right?
Well, in ten years time you will be 10+10, and who knows?… may be also 2600 or whereabouts! 😉
You just have to gain a hundred points every year… it can be done!
Anyway, I’m not so sure Anand will this. Carlsen still has a chance and Aronian too. Besides Topalov and Shirov, although I wouldn’t bet on them.
Ah well, let’s see what will happen tomorrow! 🙂
Topalov might win ,if he does the San Luis thing – you know,a wee bit of cheating now and then.