Round 2 World Cup Playoff (bold = rating advantage)
Which of these matchups would have the best chance for an upset?
Wesley So (Philippines) – Sergey Karjakin (Russia)
Daniel Friedman (Germany) – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) – Ni Hua (China)
Alexander Grischuk (Russia) – Sebastien Feller (France)
Nguyen Ngoc Trong (Vietnam) – Peter Svidler (Russia)
Lazaro Bruzon (Cuba) – Francisco Vallejo (Spain)
Bu Xiangzhi (China) – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)
Igor Lysyj (Russia) – Alexander Ivanov (USA)
Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) – Alexander Moiseenko (Ukraine)
Peter-Heine Nielsen (Denmark) – Michael Adams (England)
Alexander Riazantsev (Russia) – Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)
Etienne Bacrot (France) – Anton Filippov (Uzbekistan)
Ruben Felgaer (Argentina) – Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukraine)
Ni Hua
It’s hard to believe Karjakin would draw 2 games with someone who has a more or less 100-point disadvantage in ELO rating. Nerves, perhaps? So does have a reputation as a giant-killer.
100 bucks : So , Feller , Inarkiev !