Report up here. A remarkable 11 of 16 matches are going to tiebreaks, involving most of the top seeds. Quite a few blunders today, although not all of the players can blame exhaustion. A few of the worst were by players who haven't played on both previous tiebreak days. But the stress of the KO format and the quick time control rarely produce memorable games, as has been well documented over the years. Sad to see Shirov go out before making the next stage, but at least Gurevich played a fine game to beat him. Nice interview with Khalifman at the official site. Also one with Ivanchuk if you missed it.
thanks for the chuky link, missed that earlier. think this explains Chuky's breakdown to some extent..
OWww!
Did Khalif really say that?!
"It is better to pretend to be sick, and not play, than to go to the Russian SuperFinal and hope to score only 50%".
Gee, wonder what player(s) BadBoy might've been referring to?!
Peace and Joy,
Yah, that wasn't too subtle for anyone with a memory going back a year. Maybe it's also a sort of call-out to prevent it happening again.
my memory goes back six months at best for trivia, so please remind me
Kramnik bailed on the event at the last minute last year.
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/archives/kramnik_bails.htm
oh yeah, thanks! Not sure where the barb was intended though. Subtle irony, or support of Kramnik?
Shame to see Shirov ousted. Kamsky will have his work cut out for him against Grischuk... anyone think he can pull it off? Seems to me that Gata's only tangible advantage (experience) is really negated by the format. I'd like Gata's chances more in a longer match, certainly.
However, perhaps it's harder for Grischuk to prepare for a guy who's been out of chess for some time, and doesn't have a large number of recent games to go over....
My predictions for the top 8:
Bareev
Bacrot
Aronian
Grischuk
Dreev
Gurevich
Rublevsky
Ponomariov
Out of the 8 losers, three bounce back to take the remaining candidate slots:
Gelfand
Van Wely
Lautier
(There should be 10 slots in all, but Bacrot is qualified by rating, so #11 is also in)
Kasparov "bailed" from Corus 2002, because he'd contracted a virus. He gave a week's notice.
Kramnik "bailed" from the Russian Championship 2004 because he'd contracted an illness. He gave eleven days notice.
Karpov confirmed his participation in the Russian Champship two days before Round One. He "bailed" the next day, giving one day's notice.
Of these three "bailouts" only Karpov's can fairly be described as "last minute."
According to chesspro.ru, Kramnik's letter (dated Nov. 3 and sent from France by his doctor) wasn't received until the 8th, seven days before the start of the tournament. Being pro-choice, I'd imagine it makes more sense to date cancellations from when they are received, not conceived.
Of course Karpov's bail was preposterous and left them a player short. That he had done something similar a year before, leaving the Botvinnik Memorial to play in the FIDE KO, was incredible.
Let's hope that Kramnik has recovered from the Leko match by the time Corus starts next month.
Anyway, back to 2005. Hard to pick against the favorites, but mini-matches are made for surprises. Aronian has looked very impressive. Bacrot has been getting great positions all week with both colors. Grischuk has also looked impressive, while Kamsky has needed more than his share of luck. But just one good game is all you need in this format sometimes.
Carlsen continues to progress. This is already a triumph for him, even if he falters in Round 4. I'm afraid he will, though, because he's come up against the extremely experienced and solid Bareev (well, solid as long as he doesn't get blown away in 20 moves in the French Defense).
Damn shame about Shirov, I agree.
I doubt Kamsky will survive the encounter with Grischuk - he hasn't really been convincing in his classical matches so far. He's gotten by on grit and nerve, but I'm not convinced he's fully shaken off his 8-year rust. Especially since Grischuk and Ponomariov are, to my mind, the favorites in this event - they're talented, young, and don't crack under pressure.
R3.3 item now up for all your prediction needs.
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/archives/world_cup_2005_r33.htm
I wouldn't worry about Shirov. He's qualified to the candidates matches by rating anyway, unless both Kramnik AND Kasparov decide to show up; and if you believe THAT could happen, I have a nice bridge to sell you ...