With the win against Gashimov in round 8, Grischuk has pulled within 1 point of Topalov with 2 rounds to go. Grischuk will also have White against Topalov in round 9.
Round 9 pairings (Tuesday):
Alexander Grischuk – Veselin Topalov
Vugar Gashimov – Francisco Vallejo
Boris Gelfand – Levon Aronian
Round 10 pairings:
Veselin Topalov – Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian – Vugar Gashimov
Francisco Vallejo – Alexander Grischuk
Standings after 8 rounds:
| 1. | Topalov, Veselin | g | BUL | 2805 | 5½ | 2889 | ||||||||||||
| 2. | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2736 | 4½ | 2807 | ||||||||||||
| 3. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2781 | 4 | 2751 | ||||||||||||
| 4. | Gashimov, Vugar | g | AZE | 2759 | 3½ | 2718 | ||||||||||||
| 5. | Gelfand, Boris | g | ISR | 2761 | 3½ | 2705 | ||||||||||||
| 6. | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | g | ESP | 2705 | 3 | 2686 |
Official website: http://www.ajedrez.ciudaddelinares.es/index.htm
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Topalov is awesome.
Topa is a manipulator
Topalov is the Best Chess Player Ever!
He’s better than Kasparov,Capablanca,Alekhine…
He could be compared to Fischer is a way!
Everybody against him!
He can be compared yes, to all of them mentioned, but he would be on the wrong end of the balance.
I wonder about his strength in matches played outside Bulgary, but this will never happen I’m afraid.
@Anonymous 11:02AM: Topalov (and Danailov) were “strong” in the Elista match against Kramnik, but [thank God as far as I am concerned] not strong enough in the end … . In any case, I am personally glad that Grischuk won today – also because these means an exciting final round tomorrow.