This second edition of the unfortunately translated "Final Chess Masters" in Bilbao isn't as high-powered as the inaugural event. Anand (right before facing Kramnik), Carlsen, Aronian, Radjabov,Ivanchuk, and eventual winner Topalov slugged it out in the glass cube in the center of the Basque city. This year there are only four players, a more modest Elo average, and a far more modest prize fund, roughly 25% of last year's. Only Aronian returns and only a substitute for Topalov, who qualified (post-facto) by winning in Nanjing but dropped out late when the reduced prize fund was announced.
But excepting his absence, a better line-up of fighters could hardly be imagined. Linares winner Grischuk, MTel victor Shirov, Corus winner Karjakin, plus Aronian. Karjakin isn't as consistently aggressive as the other musketeers but he's always keen for a theoretical battle and will be looking to make his mark against his three more experienced opponents. And of the four, the 18-year-old has the longest length of draws with white. A somewhat dubious stat, I admit, but from the "money's worth" perspective it does seem notable that Karjakin's draws with white last an average of 44 moves and Aronian's 38. The average is about 40; the easy-going Anand notches 35, somnolent Svidler 36 and tenacious Topalov 45. The famously obdurate Kamsky and Ponomariov, 48 and 52. Not quite as good as the Chicken Factor (tm), but an acceptable quick and dirty metric.
It's a short sprint of just six rounds and only two games to watch, but with players of this breed and with the Sofia rules in place, we should get our money's worth every day. I'll be on ICC Chess.FM tomorrow with GM Nick de Firmian for live coverage starting at 11am EDT, 5pm local time. [It now says "except the first round at 12pm EDT and last round at 10am EDT" I knew about the typical last-round shift, but the old schedule didn't mention the first round starting later. Sorry about that.] Also live with webcam here.
Aronian must be the favorite. The big question is which Shirov will be showing up for this tournament, the wild, careless, and over-eager gambiteer or the sound and aggressive world-class professional?
Shirov wild and careless: 1) Aronian; 2) Grischuk; 3) Karjakin; 4) Shirov
Shirov sound and agressive: 1) Aronia; 2) Shirov; 3) Grischuk; 4) Karjakin
Shirov on pot : 1)Shirov , 2)Aronian , 3)Karjakin , 4)Grishuk.
its bow chicka wow wow... not that a chess journalist would know that i guess
3 young guns and fire on board. It will be fun.
The "chicka-bow-bow" version gets 780,000 Google hits, so I'd say it's a matter of taste -- an area in which chess journalists (chicka) bow to no one. And since the alliteration + rhyme with the last syllable in "Bilbao" is the point, I'm sticking with it. Plus, I think I'm more going with a Ferris Bueller "Oh Yeah" by Yello vibe with it. Mmmm BOW BOW, chicka-chickaaaaahhh.
Oh no, he's riffin' on city names now...
Get out the bass, Mig. Wake the Miglette up at 3 am, and see if the wife just loves that!
25 % of last year's prize fund? That *is* a serious cut.
But if I recall correctly, 1st prize was EUR 150,000 the last time, so that would be EUR 37,500 this year. EUR 6,250 per game for the winner doesn't sound too bad.
It's 35,000 for the winner, then 30 for 2nd, 25 for 3rd and a guaranteed EUR 20,000 for last place. As you say, not that bad for 6 games.
I wouldn't say no. But Topalov doesn't need the money. As I've said before, I've got no problem with that. In fact, his withdrawal just means a better man will get it instead. Spread the wealth :)
First people were complaining that Topalov was going to play in Bilbao, now they complain because he isn't going to play. Good riddance I say :)
Nanjing will be more fun anyway, and one tournament this month will be enough for Topalov.
Of course Aronian is the (ELO) favorite, but it is still worthwhile pointing out how the players qualified for Bilbao:
- Karjakin won Corus ahead of (among others) Aronian
- Grischuk won Linares ahead of (among others) Aronian
- Shirov won MTel (no Aronian, but Topalov and Carlsen as part of the field)
- Aronian replaces Topalov based on his second place in Nanjing.
Nothing against Aronian - he is higher-rated for a reason, and he had other recent achievements (notably the GP tournaments). But it may be too early to discard the chances of the other three players?
It now says "except the first round at 12pm EDT and last round at 10am EDT." I knew about the typical last-round shift, but the schedule I saw before didn't mention the first round starting later. Sorry about that.
Any free live link to the games??
Video of the players opening ceremony and drawing and my favorite striker and footballer from Bilbao Fernando Llorente
http://videos.chessdom.com/bilbao-chess-drawing-of-lots
I think if there are two different Shirovs it's just Shirov in good and Shirov in bad form. I don't see that he changes his approach as such that drastically at all.
Anyway he showed what probably was very good prep in drawing Karjakin easily with Black in the first round.
Some stuff from the Bilbao live coverage - interviews with Karjakin and Shirov after their 26 move draw (not violating Sofia rules). Most, including Shirov's comments, was in Spanish, which is my 5th language so I couldn't follow everything [but personally I wouldn't have reason to complain about local language coverage at Corus or Dortmund ... ,:)].
But when Karjakin was asked what it is like to play in a glass cube, he first replied "I felt fine" (his body language may have indicated something else, subject to interpretation) and then "but it was a bit noisy, you [GM Leontxo Garcia] were commenting and I could hear your voice". Isn't that an issue because Shirov may have understood the Spanish live commentary?
""but it was a bit noisy, you [GM Leontxo Garcia] were commenting and I could hear your voice". Isn't that an issue because Shirov may have understood the Spanish live commentary?"
Wow. Of course it is. That just shouldn't happen.
Given this tournament's lower prestige it's not as bad as when the same thing happened in the 1995 World Championship match (Kasparov to Anand immediately after they had agreed draw in game 8: "You know, Yasser (Seirawan) is analysing Re2, but I think that after this and this I can draw") but bad enough :)
Btw, that is from another DJtG interview, see my post at http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018636 this time :)
The key quote from Anand's comment:
"In general, trying to do things for the spectators they lost sight that you have players also."
Grischuk-Aronian 1-0
Levon keeps doing badly inside glass cubes. I wonder if this pattern is going to continue? Suppose Grischuk played well though.
To me it seems that Aronian's exchange sacrifice was too optimistic, did he take his role as a replacement for Topalov too literally? ,:) I also fail to understand the follow-up with 18.-Nd7, returning the central pawn which he had as compensation. He somehow managed to keep things together in time trouble, reaching move 40 with 4 seconds left on the clock, but then his position collapsed anyway (is 43.-Nd3 the final mistake?).
Anyway, my prediction ("it may be too early to discard the chances of the other three players?") seems to hold so far .... but it is a bit early to draw any conclusions after just one round. Didn't some people already predict a clear win at Linares for Anand, after his nice positional victory against Radjabov in round 1?
Grischuk's in good form,and will win the tournament.
(his body language may have indicated something else, subject to interpretation)
I can tell you easily , where is that video?
It was from the live coverage, not sure if it is still, or will again be made available. And I am not sure if you would/could be unbiased and objective - neither am I, that's why I put a 'disclaimer'. Another indication that Karjakin maybe "didn't tell everything" was that his answer was preceded by some silence, maybe 30 seconds.
In any case, a slightly strange question to ask IMO. Would any player really (dare to) give an honest answer such as "I didn't like it" or "actually I hate it, but do it for the money" - if this is his honest opinion? If that player was Kramnik [hypothetical for the time beind, but he could qualify for Bilbao 2010], he would be cited forever on this blog, or at least as long as Manu is alive ... .
But Manu, would you agree with acirce and me that being able to hear the Spanish live commentary inside the glass cube is (was) odd and [acirce] "just shouldn't happen"?
Another odd question from the live interviews shortly after the game: Players were asked to comment on the Bulgarian WCh bid, and whether Anand should play in Bulgaria. My Spanish is good enough to understand the first part of Shirov's answer: "Primero, yo no soy Anand"[first of all, I am not Anand].
For the rest, I cannot guarantee an accurate translation, as I didn't understand every single word. I think it came down to "a match on neutral ground would be preferable, but if no other sponsors can be found ..." [of course Shirov himself has past experience with matches, at least one, that didn't take place due to lack of sponsors]
" But Manu, would you agree with acirce and me that being able to hear the Spanish live commentary inside the glass cube is (was) odd and [acirce] "just shouldn't happen"?"
Of course , im not sponsoring the cube , i just like it as a concept.
Do you have any link for the interviews ?
See my answer to Manu: It was from the live coverage - available during the round via the Bilbao live viewer, I wouldn't know if it is archived and accessible later on.
BTW, the live commentary was at a quite high level (as far as I can tell based on my limited knowledge of Spanish). And it may be entertaining to listen to GM Leontxo Garcia even if you don't understand a single word!? ,:)
"I wonder if this pattern is going to continue?"
I guess not.
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