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Poll closed Question: Who will win Wijk aan Zee?
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*** This poll has now closed ***


Carlsen    
  22 (44.9%)
Anand    
  4 (8.2%)
Kramnik    
  9 (18.4%)
Ivanchuk    
  4 (8.2%)
Leko    
  1 (2.0%)
Shirov    
  1 (2.0%)
Karjakin    
  2 (4.1%)
Dominguez    
  0 (0.0%)
Nakamura    
  5 (10.2%)
Other    
  1 (2.0%)




Total votes: 49
« Last Modified by: OstapBender on: 01/19/10 at 20:02:31 »
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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll (Read 63184 times)
TN
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #161 - 01/30/10 at 19:20:06
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Last round pairings:

Van Wely-Anand
Short-Smeets
Nakamura-Tiviakov
Carlsen-Caruana
Ivanchuk-Leko
Shirov-Dominguez
Kramnik-Karjakin

It's a funny coincidence that all the games in the 12th Round of the Corus A Group started with 1.e4. Wink
  

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Antillian
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #160 - 01/30/10 at 17:26:33
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Indeed Kramnik's Petroff has looked shaky - losing to Annand, and struggling for that draw against Shirov. 

Carlsen is now the sole leader going into the final round and is now heavily favoured to win clear first place. Hard to see Carlsen losing with White against Caruana. At worst, he might have to share the first prize with Kramnik or Shirov, should Caruana hold Carlsen to a draw and either Kramnik or Shirov win.
  

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belgian
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #159 - 01/30/10 at 16:39:12
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Willempie wrote on 01/30/10 at 09:31:08:
I predict him to make Anand suffer for the draw.


Nope. Anand wins in a gorgeous game. The Petroff is not an easy draw after all. Smiley
  
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #158 - 01/30/10 at 09:31:08
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OstapBender wrote on 01/30/10 at 07:04:17:
No "bye" for the leaders Kramnik or Carlsen next round:
Anand-Kramnik
Leko-Carlsen

or for Shirov just a half point behind:
Karjakin-Shirov

I predict a quick draw in Anand-Kramnik and wonder how hard Carlsen will fight for the full point with the black pieces against Leko.

Carlsen's probably in the best position to win the tournament right now, but I'd love to see Shirov move back into first with a victory over Karjakin (with the help of a couple of draws at the top).  He made such a fine effort in round 10 at trading places with Kramnik in the standings.

It is great to see Krammers back as a real fighter in tournaments. I predict him to make Anand suffer for the draw.
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #157 - 01/30/10 at 07:04:17
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No "bye" for the leaders Kramnik or Carlsen next round:
Anand-Kramnik
Leko-Carlsen

or for Shirov just a half point behind:
Karjakin-Shirov

I predict a quick draw in Anand-Kramnik and wonder how hard Carlsen will fight for the full point with the black pieces against Leko.

Carlsen's probably in the best position to win the tournament right now, but I'd love to see Shirov move back into first with a victory over Karjakin (with the help of a couple of draws at the top).  He made such a fine effort in round 10 at trading places with Kramnik in the standings.
  

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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #156 - 01/30/10 at 06:38:51
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I just got a look at Ian Roger's commentary of the Shirov-Kramnik game a few minutes ago (busy day).  Although it started off looking like an uneventful draw, it certainly got exciting in the final stage of the game!
  

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Antillian
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #155 - 01/29/10 at 18:00:14
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So Kramnik survives a close one to get the half point against Shirov. Meanwhile, Carlsen had a bye.  Looks like a straight fight between Kramnik and Carlsen going into the final furlong. 

Kramnik has the slightly tougher draw in the last two, having Black against World Champion Anand next. Not that he has been playing like a world champion recently. Carlsen has Black against Leko next.  Should be an exciting finish.
  

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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #154 - 01/27/10 at 23:11:57
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The remaining three rounds are much easier for Carlsen than Kramnik. I believe that Carlsen will win the tournament with 2.5/3 while Kramnik might make 1.5/3.
  
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #153 - 01/27/10 at 20:56:45
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Thanks Katar for posting that link.  I watched the video of Kramnik explaining his win over Carlsen.  It's unbelievable how much he sees.  And how much he looks at, even at the end of the game when he already had what looked like a winning position.    

Go Vladdy!
  
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #152 - 01/27/10 at 19:41:09
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And Smeets lost again.  This may be his last Corus GM-A tournament, especially with Giri moving up fast.
  
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #151 - 01/27/10 at 18:58:50
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Wow...another Shirov loss. And Anand remembers how to win. Kramnik might well pull this one off, but of course he still has to get pass Shirov and Ananad. Carlsen has far easier draws in the last three rounds.
  

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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #150 - 01/27/10 at 18:22:58
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The corus server seems to be down.

Kramnik-Ivanchuk  ½-½
Anand-Shirov         1-0
Karjakin-Carlsen     0-1

as reported on Susan Polgar's blog.

PGN's for round 10 games are here , but I don't know if they are being updated.

Dominguez has had an edge in his game against Nakamura (since move 20 or so), but I don't think it was ever a winning advantage.  On move 61, we had ending with Q+3P vs Q+3P with all pawns on the same flank.  Nakamura's pawns are worse (doubled, isolated) but easy to defend.  Assume this one will be a draw.


The PGN's at this site  are being updated. A couple of other games finished are:

Dominguez-Nakamura  ½-½
Leko-Short                   ½-½

So it's Kramnik alone in 1st with 7/10
Carlsen and Shirov tied for 2nd with 6.5/10
Karjakin, Nakamura, Dominguez, Anand, and Ivanchuk all have 5.5/10


There is also up to date, live coverage at Chessvibes.
  

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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #149 - 01/27/10 at 17:12:26
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Nakamura is a new face with an attractive style. I´d invite more players like him and neglect players like leko.
  

The older, the better - over 2200 and still rising.
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #148 - 01/27/10 at 14:02:33
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Actually, Kramnik said that he will be a top ten player, not that he is a top ten player.  I've no idea if Carlsen has said that yet.

But you're right, it doesn't matter what I say.  What matters is what the sponsors of the elite tournaments think.
  
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Re: 2010 Wijk aan Zee, Group A Poll
Reply #147 - 01/27/10 at 07:35:57
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Smyslov_Fan wrote on 01/26/10 at 19:18:14:
I had stated elsewhere that I wanted to wait to see how Nakamura handles losing in a top-flight tnmt before I considered him a super-GM.  

It looks like I'm going to have to wait another tournament (or two or....) before I accept him as one of the top ten players in the world.

He's an excellent player with an excellent future, but he still has some serious weaknesses to overcome.  One will be a more sophisticated opening repertoire and another will be to improve his fighting spirit. 

(The second weakness had been suggested before when Nakamura declined invitations to elite tournaments in the past, but showed itself in a different form when he suffered his second consecutive loss.)

How many times has Kramnik suffered consecutive losses since, say, Carlsen was born?

I just ran a cursory check on Kramnik's games from late 1989-2009.  I didn't include any blitz/blindfold/simul events and I only counted consecutive losses in the same tournament.  I came up with:

Linares 1994: Losses to Karpov and Shirov
Siemens 1999: Losses to Anand and Kasparov
World Ch. Knockout 1999: Losses to Adams (rapid stage)
Sophia 2005: Losses to Ponomariov and Anand

Overall, this is a very impressive and short list!



Too bad it doesn't matter if you accept Nakamura as top ten or not. Kramnik and Carlsen have both stated numerous times during this tournament they can see his improvement and would consider him a contender.
  
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