Round 11 results:
| 6 | GM | Alekseev Evgeny | 2700 | 1/2 – 1/2 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2735 | 14 |
| 7 | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | 2669 | 1/2 – 1/2 | GM | Wang Yue | 2752 | 5 |
| 8 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2733 | 1 – 0 | GM | Gashimov Vugar | 2734 | 4 |
| 9 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 2740 | 1 – 0 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2763 | 3 |
| 10 | GM | Leko Peter | 2735 | 1/2 – 1/2 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2694 | 2 |
| 11 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2741 | 1/2 – 1/2 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2751 | 1 |
| 12 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2725 | 1/2 – 1/2 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2741 | 13 |
Standings after 11 rounds:
| 1 | 1 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | 2751 | UKR | 7 | 36,25 |
| 2 | 8 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2733 | UKR | 6 | 33,50 |
| 3 | 12 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2725 | RUS | 6 | 33,00 |
| 4 | 4 | GM | Gashimov Vugar | 2734 | AZE | 6 | 31,50 |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | 2740 | AZE | 6 | 31,00 |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Alekseev Evgeny | 2700 | RUS | 5.5 | 30,50 |
| 7 | 13 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2741 | ISR | 5.5 | 30,25 |
| 8 | 3 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2763 | AZE | 5.5 | 29,75 |
| 9 | 10 | GM | Leko Peter | 2735 | HUN | 5.5 | 29,25 |
| 10 | 5 | GM | Wang Yue | 2752 | CHN | 5.5 | 28,25 |
| 11 | 11 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2741 | UKR | 5 | 29,00 |
| 12 | 14 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2735 | RUS | 5 | 28,00 |
| 13 | 7 | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | 2669 | RUS | 4.5 | 25,00 |
| 14 | 2 | GM | Akopian Vladimir | 2694 | ARM | 4 | 21,25 |
Official website: http://astrakhan2010.fide.com/
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
If I try to analyse the situation with 2 rounds to go: Eljanov looks like winning the tournament, which is bad news for someone trying to overtake Radjabov. Of those at 6 points, Gashimov would have to beat Radjabov in this tourney by 40 points and they would be at the same total result, Jakovenko by 50. This is hard to do with Radjabov currently sharing 2nd place, and the win of the tournament seemingly out of reach. The points apparently go, 180, 150, 130, 110, 100, 90 etc. Wang Yue would have to beat Radjabov by 30 points, but he is where Radjabov was yesterday. And I believe it is impossible for Leko to beat Radjabov by 60 points now.
So unless Radjabov does not hold his ground, it looks he will be in the WC qualification cycle along with Aronian. Well, if Radjabov is 4th in this tourney, and Gashimov 2nd, then they should be at a tie. For Jakovenko to be second, Radjabov will have to lose ground the pack at 5,5 also.
So it is a three-way situation, with perhaps a chance still for Wang Yue also.
Oh but the match schedule has interesting final games:
Tomorrow, Gashimov-Radjabov, Eljanov-Jakovenko and Wang Yue-Ponomariov
Last round, Radjabov-Wang Yue, Leko-Gashimov, Jakovenko-Akopian and Gelfand-Eljanov.
So there are still chances for change among these contenders for the WC cycle.
To look at it objectively…Eljanov is a little lucky…but luck is what you create…He’s certainly not dominating over everyone…but good on him.
Oh, immersed with understanding the qualification cycle, I must not forget to mention this is good result so far from Eljanov!
I noticed now, that since the Candidates tournament will apparently be held in Azerbaidzan, apparently one of Radjabov, Gashimov, Mamedariov will get there by organiser invitation. Yet of course, everyone wants to secure their place.
At the moment the secured contestants are Topalov, Kamsky, Aronian, Gelfand, Carlsen, Kramnik. So the second place from the Grand Prix and an Azerbaidzani left to be decided.
As a final point, in case of any tie in the overall Grand Prix situation, the tiebreak advantage will be 1. Wang Yue 2. Gashimov 3. Radjabov 4. Jakovenko.
Looks like you have no idea how the scoring system works and how things can change dramatically from round to round:
After round 9 the provisional standings were:
Gashimov 385.33
Jakovenko 365.33
Grischuk 363.33
Radjabov 363.33
Leko 362.5
Wang Yue 353.33
After round 10:
Gashimov 413,33
Radjabov 378,33
Jakovenko 363,33
Grischuk 363,33
Wang Yue 353,33
After round 11:
Radjabov 425.83
Gashimov 385.83
Jakovenko 365.83
Grischuk 363.33
Wang Yue 353.33
Leko 320
Things change dramatically after each half point scored more or less in this tournament. And now you want to tell us that Radjabov is almost through??? Things can and probably will change dramatically until the last round. Only then will we know.