Linares final Standings:
1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2779 8.5
2-3. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2690, Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2741 7.5
4-5. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2728, Aronian, Levon g ARM 2744 7.0
6. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2750 6.5
7-8. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2783, Leko, Peter g HUN 2749 6.0
What were the 3 biggest surprises of the event? Which was your favorite game?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The 3 biggest surprises in order:
1. morozevich
2. carlsen
3. up until round 12 there were only 2 players with a + score.
My favorite game: anand-carlsen.
My favorite games: Morozevich-Topalov, Topalov-Aronian
The biggest surprise for me was that Topalov was unable to win the rook ending against Leko. Especially since I read somewhere a comment by a grandmaster who evaluated that kind of position as “technical issue for Topalov” (or something similar). I can’t exactly recall where I read that comment, can’t find it right now…any hints?
Just my 2 cents worth… Carlsens performance was a fluke – a flash in the plan. I do not think he has got it. His victories against Ivanchuk were more a case of inexplicable lapse of concentration by Chucky that any great play. Just my opinion.
– a-chess-enthusiast.
I think Carlsen proved he is going to be the best if he wants it. Hopefully he takes it more seriously than Nakamura.
I can already say it, though I cannot really yet prove it: The greatest of our time, of chess players, are Anand, Kramnik, Morozevich and Leko. One of them has become champion already; at least two have the chance next spring.
I like Anand, though he plays it very safe these days. I cannot critisise him for it, really; in some of his wins he has known what his opponent should do to draw, but checked whether the opponent does this.
Morozevich single-handedly brought the french back to the forefront, and otherwise too played with foresight. He did not do what he did because someone said it leads to whatever, but he did what he did because he had a plan. He cannot be beaten when he discovers the king’s gambit and the dutch defense.
Leko had a bad rung this time, but what had he for motivation? He has a candidates event soon; that is where he must show his skill.
Oh, I got carried away with the superlatives. To the questions asked:
Surprises were: Topalov, Carlsen and Leko. The most I liked Morozevich’s french games, probably the last against svidler the most; as if you need a Sicilian to achieve fights with black.
Anand getting to be #1 is imho the biggest surprise. Luck was never on his side for a long time now. Congrats to him!
– Vinay
Topalovs performance is the biggest surprise. He played really well this time and finishing with stunning -1 in such a strong tournament is not easy. Congrats to him!
Morozevich-Leko (round 9) was a rousing good game. Moro wiped the map with him with a great sacrifice of R + P for N + great long-term attacking chances. Moro initiated the sacrifice on move 15 and was behind in material until move 40! He ended up winning a few moves later. To play that long with such a strong initiative while being significantly down in material is great stuff.
Aronian’s defeat of Anand was also an interesting game that I enjoyed.
Surprise is Morozevich’s “funny” performance. The great improvement award goes to surely Magnus Carlsen. The worst performance “awards” are going to first Topalov (the worst “number one”) and then Leko (the unlucky man).
Favorite games are 1st Anand-Carlsen game and then Morozevich-Topalov game.
To Siron>>>
In Leko-Topalov game it was not so easy to win and it was already seemed as a draw though black has one more pawn. The win would be available if Leko blunders but he did not, and remember that Topalov is an “oppening grandmaster” for me he is not the master of all parts of chess!
Topalov is 2750 at the oppening part of game.
Topalov is 2650 at the middle game
and finally He is 2550 at the endspiel!
All experiences proved my comment!
Morozevich did badly in Mexico. So he decided to get some external help in Spain. That explains his sudden “Good Performance”.
Now all we need to do is get some photos of his manager and post it for analysis. I’m sure Moro will be found to be a cheat. No one can have a sudden increase in Chess Strength in just 4 days. Especially at his age.
>>The biggest surprise for me was that Topalov was unable to win the rook ending against Leko. >>
Why? It was a drawn ending. Leko wasn’t playing *that* bad.
>>Just my 2 cents worth… Carlsens performance was a fluke – a flash in the plan. I do not think he has got it.>>
Oh well, if an anonymous guy on the net believes it for reasons he can’t explain, then it must be true.
>>Anonymous said…
Morozevich did badly in Mexico. So he decided to get some external help in Spain. That explains his sudden “Good Performance”.
Now all we need to do is get some photos of his manager and post it for analysis. I’m sure Moro will be found to be a cheat. No one can have a sudden increase in Chess Strength in just 4 days. Especially at his age. >>
Thanks for validating all the charges against Topalov. Good luck catching Moro.
Topalov doing so bad (last place)
Magnus doing so well (2nd Place)
Morozevich coming from last to 2nd.
Morozevich’s win over Topalov.
Hey Hayri Kaya and anon guy.
Now I recall where I read it. It was actually here the live blogging. But some her totally unbiased evaluation disappeared then. So it is not just the unpleasant posts that get deleted here…sometimes it is even the host’s opinion.
COUNTING 1 OF 5 for Topalov
Im not saying Topalov was cheating before this tournament, but I start counting proof. This is proof number 1 that he was suspiciously getting good result by using help from other resources. I need 4 more proofs to make a conclusion.
I hope in all next tournament, everybody will watch him with anyone near him, so there is no chance for him to get help. I will count until 5 bad results.
If only he can break one of it, then I must admit he is just a good chess player with bad luck, but if he has bad results in 5 streak super chess tournaments after being observed, then I considered him cheating without the need of any other proofs.
Is that a deal or no deal?
excuses… excuses…
so its ok for other players to have such performance improvement but not for Topalov??
The fact is that before this tournament… Topalovs performance improvement last year was used as a “proof” that he cheated.. now that another player performed similarly.. that player didnt cheat.?!?!
Its only a matter of time (or tournaments) before the other “proofs” are repeated by other GMs. Are you then going to give excuses for them too???
The Morozevich-Topalov game had a good result, but a painful way to get there. Topalov messed up the endgame. Not pretty.
After a long fight between Karpov and Kasparov (FIDE and PCA), now chess really needs a good top players as ambassadors. It is breaking my heart to see the recent comments about cheating in chess. I am sure the new #1 player will bring the honour and dignity to chess among the public. I never considered Anand as “comparable” to Kasparov or Karpov. I felt he doesn’t have the killer instinct in the tournaments. Now I realize that Anand has done much more than Kasparov or Karpov. Being in top 5 for more than 15 years, he was never criticized being unprofessional. Long live his commitment to chess.
Regards,
P. Anandh
“The fact is that before this tournament… Topalovs performance improvement last year was used as a “proof” that he cheated.. now that another player performed similarly.. that player didnt cheat.?!?!”
There is no “proof” that Topalov cheated, only cause for suspicion. And there’s not even cause for suspicion in Kramnik’s case.
There is proof though, that Topalov directly violated the FIDE Ethics rules against public accusations against fellow players or sponsors. The fact that he’s not alone in having done that doesn’t mitigate his guilt.