Many people may not like Kramnik’s style. They may think it is too mechanical and boring. Many people may not like Topalov’s style. They may think it is too wild and erratic.
But when you bring together fire and ice on the chess board, only one can be the winner!
In many sports, good defense stops good offence. We have the best attacker versus the best defender in this colossal match. Would the same thing apply to chess?
Many people complained that too many mistakes were made by both players (Topalov a few more). That only proves that they are human. When the biggest prize is on the line, the true test of nerve will occur.
After all, in my opinion, this is the biggest match of both their lives!
Why?
When Kramnik played Kasparov in 2000, very few people gave him a chance, especially with his history against Shirov and Kamsky. The bigger pressure was on Kasparov and not Kramnik.
When Topalov went to San Luis, most people picked Anand as the favorite. The biggest pressure was on Anand and not Topalov.
Both Kramnik and Topalov have so much to lose in this match.
If Kramnik loses, his doubters will say he did not deserve to be a World Champion since he never really qualified properly to challenge Kasparov.
If Topalov loses, his doubters will say that Kramnik is the true champion because he defeated Kasparov and San Luis was not in the form of match play.
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t! You cannot please everybody.
All I can tell you is that I have very much enjoyed this battle so far. Has it been flawless? No! Has it been at the highest quality? No! But has it been very exciting? Definitely yes! And by the way, there were 48,556 logins on this blog during the game this morning alone. That tells me that there are quite a few people enjoying this match as well.
Topalov will not lay down and surrender without a big fight. Whether he can come back or not, he will certainly give it his best shot and I am certainly looking forward to the next 8 games!
Let’s not forget that Topalov already made two fantastic comebacks this year…
I just hope he can make it back into the match. Go Tiger !
This match is exciting, and I hope this is not the last one. I do not dispute Topalov’s championship from San Luis, but for the future I would like tournaments take place along matches. This way there is variety of the chess show.
“… Many people may not like Kramnik’s style. They may think it is too mechanical and boring. Many people may not like Topalov’s style. They may think it is too wild and erratic. …”
This is what I call being diplomatic.
Susan:
The expression is damnED if you do, damnED if you don’t.
Not that way you wrote it.
I think if Kramnik wins this one, all of us should just give him his due credit.
I have been rooting for Topalov all along but will be happy to welcome Kramnik as the world champion if he wins.
The most important thing is to have a single world champion and to achieve that in a fair contest.
I still think Topalov can win but he needs to recover psychologically.
The pictures from the last game says it all. He looks like the loser already.
Thank you Thomas! I corrected it!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Hey Thomas, you should also point out that you ‘stick to your gunS’ not ‘gun’ and you ‘cut them some slack’ not ‘slackS’ (slacks are a type of trousers).
S is difficult letter in another language …
I’m not a fan (or a detractor) of either player, so I am simply hoping for an exciting match that is in doubt up to the final game.
Strictly from an excitement point of view, I’d therefore like to see Topalov win a game, to make the match competitive again. So far, Topalov has proven that he can generate chances, but not that he can convert them.
I don’t agree that Topalov is demoralized. Obviously, a picture taken after a loss isn’t going to be very flattering. But Topalov is a fighter, and has made big comebacks before. I’m not saying that he will do so here; only that he’ll be fighting to the end.
Thomas,
Did you know that susan is fluent in 6 languages?
I wouldn’t be too damnED with a typo if I could say the same thing in 6 languages.
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia
“Beside her mother tongue, Hungarian, Susan Polgar speaks six more languages fluently: Esperanto, German, Russian, Spanish, English, and Hebrew”
I was quite pleased when I scored 5/6 on my GMAT’s (English section) but the rules of English grammer always bugged me.
So, I am quite impressed with people who have mastered multiple languages.
Dear Susan,
Are you going to comment this news:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3370
I would like to hear your opinion, but this things move so fast…
Thanks,
Beco.