[Sorry about the page errors preventing comments. I was swamped with Garry's arrest and running out the door and didn't have time to check things or see any notes letting me know. Back in NY now.]
Well, the live coverage was mediocre while it lasted. The official site is on its third viewer in two days and the occasionally reliable DGT system has coughed up hairballs all over round 1.2. More than half of the games are missing. Most of the scores have garbage and/or are incomplete. No idea if the accompanying results on the live page are accurate. Is it so hard to rehearse this stuff? This isn't the moon landing; it's all been done before. And they wonder why dissatisfied folks like me theorize about corruption in the event bidding process. We're told time and again to be patient and understanding when the quality just seems to get worse. Every single aspect of online event presentation is getting cheaper and easier on practically a monthly basis and yet chess sites frequently continue to choke on providing even the barest minimum of coverage. The example set by the ones that consistently get it right (e.g. Corus) refute the perennial excuses of other organizers. (A relatively trivial PS to the webmasters of the official site. The new live page has broken the relative links in your left nav bar, putting every link there under the tfd directory.)
Okay, back the games, not that we know what's going on. Today is KO time for many players. Two games vs the risk of frostbite and you may consider the Mexican no-show Zamora to be the smart one. First-round losers do dog-sled away with $6,000. FIDE is saving a bundle by having the prizes listed in dollars! Btw, the ever-helpful Nigel Freeman on the scene confirms that Peralta flagged yesterday while pondering how to win B+N vs K. Three cheers for the lottery time control. It's 90'+30"/40, 30'+30"/g, which is slightly better than the old 90'+30"/g nerve-destroyer. There is no way a GM should be flagging that endgame with a 30 second increment. If karma means anything Peralta will duly lose to Inarkiev today and be eliminated. One rarely spits in Caissa's face without paying a price. Those matches finished on 1-1 after today play rapid tiebreaks tomorrow in sets of increasing speed. 25'+10 then 5'+10" then a 6' vs 5' armageddon game with black having draw odds.
Until they get round 2 figured out, ChessBase has some pics and analysis from round one. Post your coverage links below, folks.
"...Peralta flagged yesterday while pondering how to win B+N vs K. Three cheers for the lottery time control. It's 90'+30"/40, 30'+30"/g,..."
Well don't blame the time control for that at least... B+N vs K with 30 seconds time increment and he flagged?? How about moving the Bishop back n forth a dozen times so he he had 6 mins to work it out?
Dvoretsky would probably use it as another of his Tragicomedy examples in the next edition of his...
Nice to see that the official site has finally coughed up the result of Adams beating the Canadian/wherever 'hope'. Was a bit melodramatic all the sites talking about the 'upset' yesterday. Top players losing is an 'upset'. Nobody who knows about chess doubted that Adams would win in the end.
Alekseev and Ponomariov evened the score against Ismagambetov and El Gindy. Pavel Eljanov lost to IM Enamul Hossein, former Bangladesh champion, and Konstantin Landa lost to veteran Romanian GM Vladislav Nevednichy.
16 year old Indian GM Gopal drew both games with Kasimjanov. Ditto Kunte with Zviagintsev.
Don't expect Gopal and Kunte (like many others) are playing just to complete the formality. The only hopes for Indian team (Sasikiran and Harikrishna, not counting Anand here) have always underperformed in the past World Cups, in fact losing to lower rated players (here also they are struggling so far, just drawing to lower rated players!). May be they have difficulty handling the tension of a World Cup.
Harikrishna, in particular, plays irregular opening moves (very often), either he hasn't improved his opening play over the years or he simply does not have confidence in his own opening preparation. As a result, he tries to get an advantage in the middle game, which does not always materialize and loses his initiative in games with White. [Before somebody starts shouting that I hate Indians, I must point out that I am from India and like many others want Indian players to do well.]
Amit
Of the 9 Americans, Kamsky (2714) apparently is the only one so far to clinch his match. He won--as Black-- vs. Adly (2494). An "upset draw" is not so tough to recover from.
Julio Becerro Rivero (2568) lost his 2nd game against Bareev (2653), and was eliminated, 2-0
Alexander Ivanov (2565) lost his 2nd game to Navara (26566), and is out (1.5--0.5)
Alexander Shabalov (2626) was unable to recover from his loss with White in the first game. Dusko Pavasovic (2597) beat him 1.5--0.5
Sergey Kudrin (2563) was outclassed by Vallejo Pons (2660), also losing 1.5--0.5
The other Americans drew both their games, and so will go into the Tie-Breaks tomorrow.
Alexander Onischuk (2674) vs. Zaven Andriasian (2546)
Yuri Shulman (2616) vs. Rafael Leitao (2601)
Varuzhan Akobian (2585) vs. Michael Roiz (2644)
Gregory Kaidanov (2597) vs. Mikhail Gurevich (2627)
So, of the 4 1st Round matches which Americans have lost, just 1 of the players (Shabalov) was a ratings favorite.
Of the 4 matches that have gone to Tie-Breaks,
Onischuk and Shulman are favorites, Kaidanov and Akobian are underdogs.
4 of the 8 Chinese players are through to the 2nd Round, with 2 more yet to play Tie-Breaks. Maybe Mig was right that "a Chinese player" will make it to the final four. A clever pick, since he gets (at least) 4 players for the price of 1!
3 of the top 4 of the Chinese contingent are already in the 2nd round.
Wang Yue (2703)
Bu Xiangzhi (2692)
Wang Hao (2643)--8th among Juniors, only age 18
This can be a breakout event for any of these guys.
Zhao Jianchao (2566) has upset Emil Sutovsky. So much for my Dark Horse pick....
Sutovsky is too heavy to play good many games in a row.
Sadly, this time he couldn't even start.
"16 year old Indian GM Gopal drew both games with Kasimjanov. Ditto Kunte with Zviagintsev.
Posted by: jaideepblue at November 25, 2007 12:52"
He is not 16 years. He is 18 years old. And he is not a GM. He is an IM.
http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.phtml?event=5015693
He is not 16 years. He is 18 years old. And he is not a GM. He is an IM.
http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.phtml?event=5015693
Posted by: lovely at November 25, 2007 17:32
Well ....
http://www.fide.com/news/download/Titles2007.pdf
I haven't read "Chess Mate" in ages since my subscription ran out, so not up to date with the Indian scene :)
Ponomarion choked. What a kleenex. T0PAL0V R00LZZZZZZZ GO VESKO ! ! ! ! ! !
^^
Irrelevant, inane and childish. Get a life. And learn to spell.
Tie breaks started, Baramidze (Short's opponent) appears to be awol
Baramidze now found and playing
Thanks Nigel for the updates!
I have all the games up from round one on TWIC. There has clearly been some editing of round 1.2 so hopefully a lot of the problems there were yesterday have been addressed. In the end I hope they release a bulletin in PGN with their final versions (haven't found one yet however).
What happened to the exhibition between Kramnik and Anand in advanced chess in Moscow or did I just imagine that? I'm sure I saw it suggested somewhere.
No Mark, no imagination. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4271
"And what do you think about the so-called “advanced chess” match with Anand, where you can use the computer’s help?
This is purely a show. In this form of play, the computer’s role is 80% and yours only 20%. But this 20% is decisive. You have to know how to use the computer well, when to turn it on and when to switch it off. I hope I manage to do so. "
Here are the games (2 draws) from Anand - Kramnik "advanced chess" match in Moscow. Source: www.russiachess.org
[Event "Kramnik - Anand match"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007/11/23"]
[Round "01"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Board "01"]
[Input "DGT5101"]
[Owner "Association of chess federations, Moscow"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bb7 9. a3 Bd6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 a5 12. e4 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15.
h3 Re8 16. Be3 Qc7 17. Rad1 Rad8 18. Ne2 Bd6 19. Nd4 Nh5 20. Rfe1 Nf4 21. Bf1
Ne6 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. f4 f6 24. Qb3 Qf7 25. Bb6 a4 26. Qa2 Rd7 27. Be2 g6 28.
e5 Bc7 29. Bxc7 Rxc7 30. Bg4 f5 31. Bf3 Kg7 32. Rd8 Ree7 33. Qxf7+ Kxf7 34.
Red1 c5 35. Be2 c4 36. R1d6 Be4 37. Kf2 Re6 38. R8d7+ Rxd7 39. Rxd7+ Re7 40.
Rxe7+ Kxe7 41. g4 fxg4 42. hxg4 Bd5 43. Ke3 b4 44. Kd2 c3+ 45. bxc3 bxa3 46.
Kc1 Ke6 47. Kb1 1/2-1/2
[Event "Kramnik - Anand match"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007/11/23"]
[Round "02"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Board "01"]
[Input "DGT5101"]
[Owner "Association of chess federations, Moscow"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. h3 Ng6 11. Bg5+ Ke8 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Nd4 Bc4 14.
Rfe1 Bb4 15. Bd2 Rd8 16. a3 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Nf4 18. Kh2 c5 19. Nf5 Rxd1 20. Rxd1
Ne6 21. f3 Bb5 22. Rd2 h5 23. Kg3 Bc6 24. Kf2 1/2-1/2
Nooooo.....Big Nige goes down.
Last time I pay a russian to lock a german in a toilet...
Petroff not sharp enough, hey? Back to the Berlin, then.
Seriously, dare say it's a good choice for one of these ridiculous half-comp half-player games.