It seems that the worlds leading players have been put to work by some kind of higher power. Today sees the start of the Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, a week after the Grand Slam final in Bilbao was completed. Backing up from that event are Carlsen and Anand, while Carlsen(!), Topalov, Yue, and Bacrot played in the Olympiad less than 3 weeks ago. The only player who is completely rested is Vugar Gashimov, although his rest from the Olympiad was not of his choosing.
As the event is being held in China, the games are being played in the early evening, Canberra time. This means a visit to http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/ will give you the live broadcast of the games, along with other info (NB Ignore the 2009 in the URL, the link covers the 2010 tournament). The only decisive game of the first round was a win by Carlsen over Bacrot, with the other 4 players taking a half.
Who do I think will win? I'm going to go with my usual pick for these sort of events and say Carlsen, especially given the confidence boosting first round win. Second may well be Topalov, with Anand playing a little more conservatively post Bilbao.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Wow. So living down under has his benefits. You can watch the games early in the evening.
Poor me however, rise at 07.00 am, make some coffee try to start the machines, and figured out at around 15.00 pm what happened in Carlsen-Bacrot ;-)
I am still enjoying your posting Shaun. Keep up the good work. Thanks! But ehh those sunglasses?!
The sunglasses? Nothing to say about the huge caterpillar on the upper lip? BTW Shaun, are you planning to be more creative this Movember?
you forgot to mention european club cup. also has big players.
and particular interesting is that aronian is now over 2800 and is marginal behind carlsen. out with the old guys!
The disqualified me last year because the mo connected with the sideies. This year I might try and pull off the "Snidely Whiplash" but whether I can do it in 30 days is debatable.
We have every confidence in your hirsuitness. As for them disqualifying you, that was not very charitable!
Post a Comment