Photo by Fred Lucas
Standings of grandmaster group A
Standings after round 2
1. V. Anand, H. Nakamura, I. Nepomniachtchi, J. Smeets 1½
5. L. Aronian, M. Carlsen, A. Giri, V. Kramnik, E. l’Ami, M. Vachier-Lagrave 1
11. A. Grischuk, W. Hao, R. Ponomariov, A. Shirov
Standings of grandmaster group B
1. L. McShane 2
2. Z. Efimenko, D. Navara, G. Sargissian 1½
5. L. Fressinet, S. Ganguly, L. Liem, F. Nijboer, W. So, V. Tkachiev 1
11. L. Chao, W. Spoelman, R. Wojtaszek ½
14. J. Hammer 0
Standings of grandmaster group C
1. M. Bluvshtein, K. Lahno, I. Nyzhnyk, S. Siebrecht, D. Vocaturo 1½
6. B. Bok, M. Kazhgaleyev, R. Pruijssers, T. Sachdev, D. Swiercz 1
11. J.W. de Jong, I. Ivanisevic, M. van der Werf ½
14. R. van Kampen 0
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
One must be spoilt by other recent tournaments with no quick draws, but I do now think that the Sofia rule is absolutely necessary. Without it players clearly get to ‘pass’ rounds, and this is uncompetitive. Not sure of the Bilbao system, but already the Sofia rules I think reduce the number of not only short draws, but draws in general. The audience does want to see what they came to see, which is played out games, so the rules should reflect that.
Those who can’t see are the problem. (I’m refering to the draw babbler above.)
And because they can’t see, they need a dead body to be satisfied.
If we can only get rid of these kind of people (Play yo-yo or something more suitable!) chess is fine again.
Why, chess is fine as it is. It is tournament rules should be looked at, and personally I found the London tournament great. Players should do the best thing for themselves according to the rules, but the tournament rules should be in favour of no short draws since none of the audience like seeing those so much.
Otherwise, while I am not so certain people should be killed to change things, I am fan of the adage of not trying to fix what isn’t broken.