Tiebreak results up at ChessBase. Some wild matches today, will be updating that page with some selected games and notes late tonight. It's all tough battles from here on out. Russia has flexed the old muscles and have seven of the final 32 participants.
Uhm, I saw only 7 Russians. Mig, did you just search for occurances of the string "RUS" is the pairings? In this case, you found one too many due to RUSlan Ponomariov :-)
No, it's that I made the mistake of glancing at the FIDE pairings page instead of my own results page. They have magically added Jakovenko against Vallejo Pons instead of Efimenko.
http://www.worldchesscup2005.com/round.asp?cat=2
Heh, they are wrong on the ICC too, but in a different way. They have Erenburg instead of Sakaev.
Jakovenko, Efimenko, what's the difference? It's all ... uhm, some kind of Slavic language to me ....
:-))
Curious as to who you guys are "rooting" for at this point. For me, Kamsky, Shulman, Van Wely, Carlsen, Shirov....
However one may feel about FIDE, you have to admit that the format does make it a fun event to follow.
Me, I'm with Sutovsky.
Just like Mae West, when he's good, he's very very very good. :)
Unlike Mae West, when he's bad, he's 0-2 and out :(
Carlsen winning would be neat too - imagine a 15-year old at the top of the world. So, I'm rooting for those two.
Carlsen most of all, maybe Bruzon, other than that no one in particular. Always the Russians though.
Russia may have seven, but I believe that all 3 Dutch and all 2 French are still alive, so these countries are winning the win-loss record contest.
I'm rooting for Kamsky. I used to love his playing style (even if Kamsky 2.0 shows extensive signs of rust).
Otherwise Shirov, just because it's been so long since he's had a really good result. Shirov used to make world chess news all the time once, now he is barely mentioned except on a nostalgic note.
Are the brackets posted anywhere?
I think Radjabov will finally fulfill his God-given talent. Is it just me or has anyone noticed how well he's playing since Kasparov stepped aside. Also, I find it interesting that Kamsky has reentered the arena now that Gary's gone. Both have accused him of interfering with their chess careers while he was active.
I'm big on Elvis style "come-backs" so I'm pulling for Kamsky. I'm watching as many games as possible though hopping around like mad. I enjoyed that lengthy Moiseenko / van Wely tie break scrap that seemed to run longer than the other games and of course it was exciting to watch Shulman's exploits. He proved himself to be very scrappy and tenacious. Bravo.
Oh, I guess Spain is also undefeated with 2 players (along with France and Netherlands). Go Western Europe!
While I respect Radjabov's playing ability, I just can't bring myself to like the guy. The way he won Dos Hermanas 2005, with 7 draws in 9 games, 5 of them drawn in under 20 moves, was extremely offputting.
And the way he bad-mouthed about Kasparov after the latter got him into back-to-back Linareses before his 17th birthday also didn't add him a lof of respect in my eyes. And all that why? Because he didn't get invited to a third Linares! Well, sonny, you got your chance to play, now take a place in line behind Shirov, Svidler and Ivanchuk, and don't disrespect Big Daddy!
Huge chessplayer, small human being. JMHO.
Kasparov's influence must have been tremendous indeed (on a Zhukovian scale, even) if his departure has caused Radjabov's playing standard to improve.
While I respect Radjabov's playing ability, I just can't bring myself to like the guy. The way he won Dos Hermanas 2005, with 7 draws in 9 games, 5 of them drawn in under 20 moves, was extremely offputting.
And the way he bad-mouthed about Kasparov after the latter got him into back-to-back Linareses before his 17th birthday also didn't add him a lof of respect in my eyes. And all that why? Because he didn't get invited to a third Linares! Well, sonny, you got your chance to play, now take a place in line behind Shirov, Svidler and Ivanchuk, and don't disrespect Big Daddy!
Huge chessplayer, still a lot to grow as a human being. JMHO.
Macuga, I didn't say that Radjabov's playing standard "improved", I said he was playing well. Why did I know that you would try and find fault with that? It's almost too easy to bring you out of your little world of petty remarks and frivolous observations. Pay attention everyone.
Macuga, I didn't say that Radjabov's playing standard "improved", I said he was playing well. Why did I know that you would try and find fault with that? It's almost too easy to bring you out of your little world of petty remarks and frivolous observations. Pay attention everyone.
I found the easiest way to see the whole bracket is with this type of blank bracket-
http://www.darters.com/brackets/64_team_single_bracket_1of2.htm
I am cheering for Radjabov to win the World Cup!
I think there is something special about him; he's my pick for future World Champion someday too. Forget Carlsen, Karjakin, Nakamura, and Volokitin. Radjabov is The Man.
[In the World Cup I am also pulling for Dreev, Ponomariov, Kamsky, and Bruzon to do well.]
Hmm... Radjabov, Dreev, Ponomariov, Kamsky, and Bruzon? Five different countries, five different styles. Do they have something in common that you like, GMinem?
Radjabov might be the most talented player in the world. He has the combination of creativity and precision it takes to be world champ. If he doesn't win this tournament, I think he'll keep moving up into the mid 2700's and be one of the top players.
Here is why I like these players, Stas.
Radjabov: He is a real fighter; you can tell he is very into his games and into winning. He actually reminds me of Kramnik when he was 18 or 19. This is why I think he is a future world champion.
Dreev: I've just liked Dreev for years. Super-solid/technical. Somehow that is appealing, plus we like the same openings.
Ponomariov: I would just like to see him do well since he's on his "comeback" tour so to speak.
Kamsky: [same reason as Pono, plus the last thing the U.S. needs is another lawyer.]
Bruzon: He had some nice games in Wijk aan Zee 2005; good solid style. I'd like to see him invited to another top tier event.
Actually Radjabov "the fighter" has one of the highest draw ratios among the top players from what I understand.
Odd opinion about Radjabov, almost exactly contrary to my own of him. He's definitely raised his level in the past year, but he spent several years languishing. He readily took draws against stronger opponents and showed very poor fighting characteristics overall, unless his back was against the wall. (For this reason he regularly showed more fight with black.) He was poorly served by his fame in some ways. Getting dropped in with players rated a few hundred points higher can make you over-cautious.
Rooting is a good question. Obviously I'm for a few friends, acquaintances, and all-round nice guys. Then there are a few to root for sensational chess. And of course everyone who has posted to the Dirt gets special favor.
In spite of whomever I'm pulling for from the start of an event like this I usually wind up getting behind somebody playing beyond their pre-tournament perceived "level". National loyalties are secondary to me when it's obvious somebody is kicking it up a notch as they say. These are gifted chess players and not local football teams we're supporting. Mig, I admire your ability to be rather even handed in light of the fact that these players are real people to you.
My favorite players so far are Gelfand, Carlsen and Dreev. Too bad Ivanchuck is alrealdy gone.
All South Americans are gone. The only player left from Latin America is Lazaro Bruzon, from Cuba. So I think that I am rooting for him. (he will play Bareev now)
looks like Carlsen took down Cheparinov with black, and radjabov got schooled by van Wely.
I'm cheering hard for Shirov. He has posted here on occasion and I thoroughly enjoy his games and books. Shirov was screwed over as bad as anyone in the history of the world championships and deserves another rise to the top. Imagine how wonderful it would be if somehow Kramnik held onto his title claims until this cycle was over and Shirov emerged as the FIDE title holder. Talk about all time grudge match!! No doubt Kramnik would get a serious beating. GO SHIROV!
sure russia has seven players but did you notice that 25 of the 32 players were under one name Soviet few years ago?
I think the most likely development is
1/8 finals:
Carlsen - Bruzon
Bacrot - Lautier
Aronian - Vallejo
Grischuk - Kamsky
Gelfand - Dreev
Shirov - Malakhov
Rublevsky - Sakaev
Van Wely - Ponomariov
Quartefinals:
Bruzon - Ponomariov
Bacrot - Sakaev
Aronian - Shirov
Grischuk - Gelfand
Semifinals:
Grischuk - Ponomariov
Bacrot - Shirov
Final:
Grischuk - Shirov
Regarding this tournament, Radjabov has only one draw in seven games. If he can even the score against Van Wely tommorrow, no easy task, he should do quite well. His playing so far is sharper than it has been of late. Honestly, I didn't think Carlsen would get past the 2nd round. He's definately proved me wrong and I'm glad to see it.
bmajors, I guess what you say is technically true. I can't be bothered to check it exactly. However, some of these players that are counted as ex-Soviets are so young that most(if not all) of there chess development would have been in an autonomous country.
Hi Mig
Have you heard anything from Nakamura? Has he said anything about his two games and gone performance? And what happens next?
did Shirov ever get paid for winning the match against Kramnik for the shot at the title.
that entire fiasco was a disgrace on Fide's part and Kasparov's part. I will say that throughout the entire mess Anand stood with dignity and honor and has lived up to trying to do the right thing. he pretty much stayed out of the squabbling. I really admire Anand for being able to do that.
Shirov really took a psychological punch after punch from that sordid affair. It would be nice to see him come back to his former confident self.
I am rooting for Kamsky and Carlson and Bruson and Shulman. I think that covers from north to south america plus the Wonderkid.... if I missed anyone i root for them also.
whoever wins this I will be happy and feel he deserves the win. that player will have played and won a lot of games. he will certainly have worked hard and he will deserve the win.
but I believe many of the people who are knocked out deserve to win also. they are good players and could have won. I think it is a great sporting event.
AFAIK, Shirov never got paid. To intensify the absurd, Kramnik DID get paid for losing the match, in the six digits range, I recall. Shirov's payoff was supposed to come in the shape of a big-bucks match vs. Kasparov - which never came.
How was the Shirov fiasco a disgrace to FIDE? Sure, they have a lot of sins listed on their heavenly ledger, but they weren't involved in that particular fiasco, were they?
I did hear from Hikaru, but just a note about his annotations for Black Belt. He'll probably be annotated the loss to Ganguly, so cough up your five bucks. :-)
will shirov replace kasparov in candidate matches??
That is the only way he could possibly get in as he lost the World Cup match to Mikhail Gurevich.
If anyone needs printable chess tournament brackets there are some listed on WWW.PrintYourBrackets.com, there are quite a few different ones.
Sorry I guess I should have put a direct link.
http://www.printyourbrackets.com