Exciting tourney in Azerbaijan!
There is finally a top-level tournament that has an interesting collection of players. The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament will kick off in Azerbaijan with a very diverse field. Professional chess becomes a bit routine when you get the same permutation of players like Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, Morozevich, Svidler (and a couple of other players) in every tournament. This one has some of those common names (Svidler), but the games should be very interesting.
Another nice feature of this tournament is the “no draw offer” rule.
Draws: Players will not be allowed to offer draws directly to their opponents. Any draw claim will be permitted only through the Chief Arbiter in the following cases:
The Chief Arbiter may consult with the Technical Adviser before accepting any claim by players for a draw. The Technical Adviser must be a Grandmaster, rated at least 2500, who has held the title of Grandmaster for at least ten years and is an active player as defined by the rating system. The Chief Arbiter is the only authority who can acknowledge the final result of the game in these cases.
# Player Nat. Rating
01 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2765
02 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2752
03 Teimour Radjabov AZE 2751
04 Peter Svidler RUS 2746
05 Sergey Karjakin UKR 2732
06 Michael Adams ENG 2729
07 Gata Kamsky USA 2726
08 Alexander Grischuk RUS 2716
09 Etienne Bacrot FRA 2705
10 Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2696
11 Wang Yue CHN 2689
12 Ernesto Inarkiev RUS 2684
13 Vugar Gashimov AZE 2679
14 David Navara CZE 2672
Needs some more regional diversity! Would like to see some players in Latin America, Middle East, Asia, Africa (!) However these regions have to handle their business! 8)
Chess Base: https://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4576
Official Site: https://baku2008.fide.com/
This one is likely to go Carlsen’s way. I put all my money on him. Maybe Mame or Svidler will carry the day if Carlsen falters.
i dont think carlsen will win this one, this is his tourney to lose though. radjabov will do very well here maybe even win the tourney.
I stand by my prediction. Kamsky has great will to survive…..but Carlsen’s will lies more in winning than surviving. Anyway let’s wait and see. They are all monsters and any one of them can win!
Svidler has playing badly for sure ,the 3 time Russian Champion should stop experimenting but the victory against Kamsky as black was refreshing.Nice to see Gashimov hand Grischuk the defeat,
I hate tournaments where normal rules of Chess are bent to satisfy the organiser like no draw before move something etc ,im sure ir wont be long before someone suggests awarding 2 or 3 points a win .Organizers should stop tinkering with laws of Chess for tradition’s sake its no wonder we have this confuzion on right way to decide World Championship ,match ,knock out lottery or round robin .FIDE should sort this out.
carlsen really fought back here!
i think your right!! THE CHINESE INVASION IS HERE
i wish there was one in the u.s
My man Carlsen….did not lose my money