Upsets fill World Cup
December 1, 2007
The Washington Times
David R. Sands – It’s no way to pick a world champion, but FIDE’s World Cup Championship can be a very enjoyable event on its own terms.
The 128-player knockout tournament, under way in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, was widely panned when the international federation used it for a decade to pick a world champion, as the vagaries of battle and the short two-game match format often produced less-than-worthy winners.
However, viewed simply as a competition, the World Cup format regularly produces a string of intriguing matchups and dramatic finales in every round. Top players have to step out of their elite cocoon and take on hungry young grandmasters and IMs from such chess non-powers as Bangladesh or Argentina.
The results can be spectacular mismatches or, on occasion, the early dismissal of a top grandmaster. Among the early-round casualties this week were No. 3 seed GM Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and English GM Nigel Short.
Veteran Dutch GM Loek Van Wely was lucky to get out of the first round against young Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, prevailing in the sixth blitz playoff game. Nguyen nearly won the match outright with a smashing victory over his more famous opponent in the first overtime session.
Here is the full article.
It’s a roulette game.
There are no upsets in chess, only overrated players sponsored by chess websites. For example, Nguyen is much better then Van Wely anyday.