World candidates matches heat up!

When looking at the eight players who qualified for the candidates matches, many had chosen Levon Aronian as the odds-on favorite. With Magnus Carlsen having withdrawn, Aronian was hoping to make a big splash against Alexander Grischuk.

Surprisingly, Armenia’s Levon Aronian failed to advance.

The match went into tiebreaks and Grischuk completed the upset in the first round. Vladimir Kramnik squeaked by Teimour Radjabov while his old nemesis Veselin Topalov was ousted by U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky. Boris Gelfand moves on against upstart Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Kamsky will play Gelfand while Kramnik and Grischuk will do battle. The matches will resume on tomorrow, May 12th.

Official Site: https://kazan2011.fide.com/


Round One

 
Nation
Flag
ELO
G1
G2
G3
G4
Tiebreaks
Pts.
Levon Aronian
ARM
2808
½
½
½
½
0
1
½
0
Alexander Grischuk 
RUS
2747
½
½
½
½
1
0
½
1

 
Nation
Flag
ELO
G1
G2
G3
G4
Tiebreaks
Pts.
Vladimir Kramnik
RUS
2785
½
½
½
½
½
½
½
½
7
Teimour Radjabov 
AZE
2744
½
½
½
½
½
½
½
½
5

 
Nation
Flag
ELO
G1
G2
G3
G4
Tiebreaks
Pts.
Veselin Topalov
BUL
2775
½
0
½
½
       
Gata Kamsky
USA
2732
½
1
½
½
       

 
Nation
Flag
ELO
G1
G2
G3
G4
Tiebreaks
Pts.
Boris Gelfand
ISR
2733
½
½
1
½
       
S. Mamedyarov 
AZE
2772
½
½
0
½
       

20 Comments

  1. Candidates’ Semi-Finals

    Nation
    Flag
    ELO
    Classical
    Rapid
    Blitz
    Pts.
    Vladimir Kramnik
    RUS
    2785
    ½
    ½
    ½
    ½
    ½
    Alexander Grischuk
    RUS
    2747
    ½
    ½
    ½
    ½

    Nation
    Flag
    ELO
    Classical
    Rapid
    Blitz
    Pts.
    Boris Gelfand
    ISR
    2733
    ½
    ½
    0
    1
    Gata Kamsky
    USA
    2732
    ½
    ½
    1
    0
    ½

    1. Daaim:
      What is your opinion about the Candidate’s format? Is it fair?
      Should Carlson not drop out? Who do think will win the WC match?

      1. These subjects have been discussed so long ago, I hate to rehash them again. Not sure if “fair” is the right word since there are drawbacks to every format. I thought it was a mistake for Carlsen to drop out. Anand will retain his crown for another cycle. Between Gelfand and Grischuk, Gelfand is the better match.

  2. Hey Daaim. Good to know your still keepin us informed about world Ches events. I’m in the Dominican Republic now. Only played a few games here.(skittles) Any Major Tournaments you know of? I don’t think it’s very big here. Keep in touch. Mel.

    1. What’s going on Melvin? Long time.

      Are you visiting or do are you living there for an extended time? Chess is not very widespread in the DR, but the are a few strong players. I’m not sure how to contact them.

      Do you ever get back to Chicago?

  3. I read that Grischuk was very surprised by Gelfand’s 9…b5! and it’s being called a novelty (I suppose because it hasn’t been played in a tourney) Out of curiosity, I set up the position through 9 g6 for my software and set it to its highest playing levels on 60 minute thinking. It claims to go up to a 3000 rating. 9…b5! is rarely played by my computer but it does play it. My software’s Frank Marshall personality emulator was the first to play it; so it seems to me that Grischuk shouldn’t be flabbergasted by it if he does a good amount of prep with a computer. Granted 9…Nd7, 9…a6, and even 9…c5 were by far more often played by my software.

  4. correction: I meant 60 minute game clock! It takes around 5 minutes for my computer to find 9…b5! Also, I see 9…b6 at times.

        1. Chessmaster ‘grandmaster edition’. Certainly not as good as Fritz.

  5. Exciting game today! Gelfand holds off Grischuk’s active play and wins the final classical game of the match. Gelfand will face World Champion Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship. Final game below with analysis by Alejandro Ramirez.

  6. Interesting comments by Alexander Grischuk on the future of chess…

    Boris and I have an excellent relationship, but on that point our opinions differ. He thinks my statement about “the burial of classical chess” is complete nonsense, while I still think that classical chess doesn’t have long to go. Why did I mention it while I was still winning matches? Because when someone’s losing people put it down to that – the man lost so that’s why he’s talking like that. But I said it when I’d won a match, and then another. And now I still don’t see any prospects for classical chess.

    You think we need to switch to rapid chess?

    It doesn’t have to be rapid. Fischer Chess is very promising. It’s also named Chess-960, after all, as there are 960 starting position. Well, some of those positions are a little absurd i.e. the pieces stand in absurd positions… Perhaps you don’t need to use all the 960 starting positions but, let’s say, 200 or 300? I don’t know the exact number. I think that really would get rid of all the forced draws, because it’s impossible to analyse 100 starting positions, never mind 900. I think the most promising option is Fischer Chess.

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