2008 Villarobledo Rapid
This strong Villarobledo rapid tournament took place on August on 2-3, 2008. Former World Champion Veselin Topalov won clear first. He only yielded 2 draws (against Mamedyarov and Ponomariov). His key victory was against Shirov in the last round.
Final standings:
1. Topalov 8.0 (9 rounds)
2. Mamedyarov 7.5
3-7. Ponomariov, Palac, Malakhov, Ljubojevic, Arizmendi 7.0
8-17. Shirov, Paunovic, I.Sokolov, Van Wely, Abreu, Perez Candelario, Dreev, Guliyev, Lafuente, Minzer 6.5, etc. (136 players total)
Official website: http://www.ajedrezenvillarrobledo.com/
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Topalov will wipe Kamsky off the board.
Repeating the same thing over and over again, won’t make it true, you know?
Topa is victorious!
Tell fearless leader!
I love Topalov’s chess games, always exciting but I think Kamsky will give him a lot of trouble in match play just as Kramnik did because of the chess playing styles involved and Kamsky can beat anyone of the top players around today, so I would not be to surprised if Kamsky surprises everyone and defeats Topalov who has to be the favourite going into the match.