Schaak, it was only a year ago that Kramnik was world champion.  He didn't need this tournament to help his credentials.  He is a fiery competitor and was going to play hard regardless.  This tournament will not affect any of the participants' World Championship aspirations.   

Having said that, I am really glad to see Kramnik playing so well.  Anand is still within reach but Gelfand really hurt Aronian's chances.   

This was a great day for chess fans.  This year's edition of the Tal Memorial is really doing a great job of memorializing one of the game's greatest players.

Kramnik wins again against Ponomariov in a really sharp game. I was following it on live when all of the sudden  the live coverage ended both on ICC and TWIC.

I must say, Kramnik is really playing like a world champion!

Well, my impression was quite contrary that Kramnik has been more often on the black side of a Catalan recently than on the white side, speaking about the year 2009. (2 Catalan games: In Dortmund, there was Leko-Kramnik. And in the 2009 Zuerich rapid we had Topalov-Kramnik.) 

When it comes to Kramnik at the white side, I think, he switched back in his repertoire to main line QGD openings with Nc3 and Nf3 instead of Catalans with Nf3 and g3. 

BTW, it's quite funny that Kramnik tends to frustrate Khalifman's openings series this way: Just when they are about to rework the "Openings according to Kramnik" series to reflect a Catalan repertoire (see the Chess Stars Web page for more explanations), Kramnik is back to Nf3/Nc3. Which happens to have been the basis of the original first edition of the 5-volume series...

Antillian wrote on 11/10/09 at 12:12:17:


Perhaps it is premature. Perhaps not. Fact remains that to get back on top he'll have start banging some heads together and winning some tournaments other then Ultimate Drawfest aka Dortmund. I like to think he'll step up to the plate. 

GabrielGale wrote on 11/10/09 at 01:09:09:


It loks like Kramnik made the mental switch from WC to just supertournamentplayer again. Perhaps he has realised that to get in contention for the title again he'll have to do better then just +1/+2 in tournaments and that giving up half you chances to win games and only play for a win with white does make it difficult to win these kinds of tournaments.   

I voted for Aronian 'cos I think his time is a coming ... 'cos of his connection to Australia  ...
'cos I like his white repertoire ... 'cos I like his style ...

But seriously, Kraminik is showing good form. I came back to chess late and never really got to know the younger Kramnik and the Kramnik I know from the last 3 years did not really impress.

I would have voted fro Carlsen but for two factors: 1) the very latest news about the BUG!
2) The what I call Botvinnik (?) explanation that the top chessplayers cannot maintain their form indefinitely without sufficient R&R. Carlsen coming off a stupendous performance in Nanjing would find it hard to mainatin the form. Further the pressure of being top seed has to bite somehow and the gossip surrounding the late withdrawal from Euro Team Ch will only have exacerbated the issue (He is young and probably (and I am only speculating here) would not have developed a patina to shield off those negative remarks).

Speculation: Would Carlsen develop a certain ruthlessness required to gain the World Crown?

I notice that there's no love for Leko here.  It's a shame that such a talented player never really turned his skills to winning tournaments.  And now, it's probably too late in his career.   

He probably thought of himself as following in the footsteps of Petrosian and Andersson, but he never quite made it despite playing for the world title. (pace, TN)