Standings at the half way mark:
1 Ivanchuk Vassily 2740 UKR 5.0
2 Topalov Veselin 2767 BUL 3.5
3 Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL 2.0
4 Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE 2.0
5 Aronian Levon 2763 ARM 1.5
6 Bu Xiangzhi 2708 CHN 1.0
Ivanchuk has often been considered a great talent of chess. Some even say that he is as talented as Kasparov or Karpov. He has dominated many tournaments in the past when everything clicks. Unfortunately, he seems to falter in super elite event. But not the 2008 Mtel Masters, at least not so far. 5-0 against this field is unfathomable.
So what’s his secret? Is it the tie that blinds his opponents? Is it the suit that intimidates his opponents? Is it the jokes which crack his opponents up? Or is it the special Sofia water? Can you solve this mystery? 🙂
sold his soul to Ilyumzhinov?
Maybe Rybka wasn’t so good afterall scoring 3.5/4 against Adams?! 5/5 here is better- but we don’t claim Ivanchuk is 3000+ strength- it is too small a sample.
Adams did not even have Rybka’s games to prepare with, unlike Ivanchuk’s opponents.
No secret- just continuation after a gap of his 3 linares wins and supertournament success in the 1990s. It is his true level.
Wouldn’t it be cool if, following this tournament, the two highest rated players in the world were born in the sixties?
Wouldn’t it be cool, when FIDE finally went back to the old WCC cycle:
– Zonal Tournaments
– Interzonal Tournaments
– Candidates Matches over 10 games
– Final WCC Match over 24 games (every 3 years)
That would be cool.
This modern mini-matches world-cup grand slam bullshit really sucks!
When did Rybka score 3.5/4 against Adams???
Adams played against Hydra! And it was 5.5/6!
Man vs. computer has has nothing to do with human competition.
Don’t talk if you don’t know what you are talking about.
Why not anonymous?
Anonymous
I completely agree with ano 9:02. Even if it’s hard for the candidates, as they have to work hard to get to title match. But it never stopped new players from becomin world champs, so…
But maybe a Candidate’s Tournament is better, like in the fifties and sixties. Not only it’s less demanding than a series of three 10-game matches but also these tournament’s enourmously enrichened chess theory (see Zurich, for example).
Bruno
I think it has always been known that Chuky can play like this since Linares ’91. His problem has been consistency, and nerves. When he is on his game though, he sure is capable of amazing things.
If he can keep this up it would have to be the greatest tournament performance ever and put him in the lead for the chess oscar this year.
Bruno,
a candidates tournament may leave room for unfair support of a certain player. Imagine e.g. Cheparinov loosing deliberately to Topalov in order to support him.
Exactly this issue (with soviet players back in the 50s of course) made Fischer demand for candidates matches instead of a tournament and I totally agree with him here.
The players that qualified out of this match-cycle were Spassky, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov and I think that these were exactly the best players in their respective time.
I totally trust this cycle to come up with the really best player. This type of cycle would re-establish the “quality proof” for a chess champion that got lost with (FIDE)-Champions like Khalifman, Kasimdhzanov, Ponomariov and Topalov (!)
To anonymous 11:55: You must be crazy to put Topalov in the same pool with Khalifman and Kasimdjanov. Topalov has at least shared first in all big chess tournaments, he is one of the only 9 people to have won a Chess Oscar in the last 40 years, and he won the WC title by 1.5 points in a tournament with the 8 strongest players at the time. I understand you may not like him, but you shouldn’t allow your emotiions to cloud your common sense.
The answer to the mystery is that he is a ninja—a chess ninja! Look at how his hand is positioned.
Sam in Lubbock
i think they should check his eyebrows for some sort of antenna or transmitting device.
i trhink its hes super trendy haircut, jaa.
jb.
It is the 100 proof Smirnoff Vodka!
…and of course, his incredibly strong “Pimp Hand”.
Respect the hand, chess bxxches!
“You must be crazy to put Topalov in the same pool with Khalifman and Kasimdjanov.”
Topalov never qualified for a WCC like Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov and he has never won a WCC match. He lost his match against Kramnik in 2006 while applying dirty tricks that brought him one game win on forfeit. But even this didn’t help him. So he never qualified and he never won a WCC match. IMO he has therefore no right to be mentioned in the same line as Spassky, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov.
Kramnik is special for one reason: although never qualifying for a match with Kasparov he nevertheless won this match.
After his win against the then FIDE Champ Topalov he definitely has to be considered a true Champion.
FIDE could have started anew here, but they f…ed it up with conducting a WCC tournament again in 2007.
So we have to wait after the match Anand-Kramnik to have a true champion again.
That’s how I see it. Period.