Pooped in Poikovsky

Apparently the pace was too much for the fighters in the Karpov Poikovsky tournament and the last round was lame enough to shoot had it been a horse. Either that or they dedicated the end of the event to the fat Karpov instead of the thin Karpov. It was shaping up well. Four players were tied for first going in: Rublevsky, Jakovenko, Gashimov, and Shirov. Gashimov had beaten Shirov the round before in yet another defeat for the Marshall, which is starting to look a little vulnerable. To make things even more exciting, Shirov had white against Rublevsky in the final round. They did light things up for a bit, but the well-calculated tactics fizzled into oppo bishops and a draw in 28 moves. Jakovenko got a little plus with black against Onischuk but couldn't prevent liquidation into a dead endgame. Wang Hao surprised by not even taking a swing against Gashimov's Petroff Defense. 15 moves and a draw offer is a strange strategy when a win can give you a share of first. Even the indefatigable Bologan fell under the spell. He played the Berlin against Inarkiev and they drew after making all of three original half-moves. Volokitin and Sutovsky showed up to try to get out of last place. They drew anyway and shared the cellar with Inarkiev and Onischuk on -2. Wang Hao finished on +1, Bologan -1. An curious balanced and symmetrical crosstable with no one outperforming or underperforming his rating by more than 70 points.

Now we turn to Biel, where Magnus Carlsen is in action defending his title. He's the heavy favorite over Dominguez, Alekseev, Bacrot, local boy Pelletier, and hustling Americano Alexander Onischuk, who will have two days to travel and recover before the first round on Sunday the 20th. Alex shared first with Carlsen last year but lost the blitz playoff.