After 5 rounds, Morozevich still maintains his clear lead at the 2008 Tal Memorial in Moscow. However, Mamedyarov and Ponomariov now join Ivanchuk in 2nd place with just 1/2 point behind the leader. With the loss to Shak, Kamsky is now next to the bottom. Shirov draws two straight games after opening the tournament with 3 straight losses.
Standings after 5 rounds:
1. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2788 3½
2. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2742 3
3. Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2718 3
4. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2781 3
5. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2720 2½
6. Leko, Peter g HUN 2741 2½
7. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 2½
8. Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2708 2
9. Kamsky, Gata g USA 2723 2
10. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2741 1
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Morozevich and Carlsen are the 2 most exciting players today. Maybe Topalov too.
Ivanchuk isn’t too bad either.
Update!: Nakamura 2703.6 on the live ratings !!!
http://chess.liverating.org/
Morozevich has something more:
Indisputable personality! Carlsen, Topalov, Anand or Aronian… are simply very good chess players.
FINALLY Morozevich plays well in a major tournament. I’d been thinking that he was secretly thinking he couldn’t cut it at the top and not playing against his peers to protect his ranking.