It has been an exciting two weeks at Foros. Carlsen held on to his lead and won the event by a full point. Ivanchuk made a late surge to capture clear second.

The July 2008 FIDE rating list is causing a lot of discussions. Should FIDE rate events faster? There are 2 sides to this. Unlike ratings from a national federation, the FIDE rating is used for norm calculation. Therefore, if FIDE rates event and updates as it happens, it will cause havoc to organizers, especially for RR events. I think a compromise can be to have two lists. One list should be updated weekly and the second to be updated every three months (for norm calculation purpose).

Regardless of what the ranking says, chess fans around the world are excited about the progress of Carlsen. He has proven that he is the real deal and we may be witnessing one of the greatest ever. I hope that Carlsen can maintain his poise and grace and not let all the success get over his head. His father is doing a nice job managing him so far.

It’s Saturday Open Forum! What would you like to discuss? The forum is yours!

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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