Tromso World Cup 2013

[Greg Breed]

Kamsky's out

Yes sad, I was hoping Kamsky could progress.

[Paul Dargan]

Some will have seen the recent "vote for your favourite English language chess commentator poll" ... where Lawrence, Nigel, Danny, Si williams and many others are options.

I like most commentators - different mixes of analysis, anecdotes, interviews. Sometimes I think I get 'too familair' with one style and an alternative comes across as better, when in fact it's just different.

I also agree that as we get to the end of a tournament there's less games and, therefore, a risk you get some seriously boring/inaccessible to rank-and-file players games.

Anyway - I'd also add Yasser to the top-rated commentators .... if you haven't got his ChessBase DVD of best games it's amazing. The obvious level of passion/enthusiasm for the game is infectious. Of al lthe games collections videos I have his and Kortchnoi's are the best in this regard.

Paul

[John McKenna]

I was also interested in seeing Kamsky in the final but his luck ran out. Andreikin & Tomashevsky are a bit too similar in some respects - both being not just young Russians but from Saratov. Chessbase reports that Andreikin has lost standard rating points due to winning only one long game so far and drawing the rest - some against lower-rated opponents.
As for the commentary, I too enjoyed watching and listening to Susan & Lawrence in the earlier rounds but welcome the heavier, serious approach of Nigel & Dirk for the finals. I did see Nigel having fun discussing laundry arrangements with Max Vachier Lagrave & Vlad Kramnik. Apparently the main hotel has no laundry service but despite reports that Svidler burnt his hand ironing Vlad continues to wash and iron. Max has decided on the alternative approach of buying some new shirts. Nigel thought this a good use of some prize money and the safer option, however, Max had better watch out for all those little sharp pins when unwrapping.
I have found the chess itself mostly very entertaining due to the great variety of players' styles and the format of the matches. Kramnik should try hard to win the today's game rather than take another quick draw and risk the tiebreaks. The other semi-final may well go all the way - to the bitter end for one protagonist.

15:00 BST - both games just past yesterday's low-water mark in terms of number of moves and they look as if they're shaping up rather than shipping out.
17:00 Tomas v. Andrei 1/2 in 29. Vlad is a pawn up and applying pressure, Max is running low on time (6mins. + inc.) at move no. 33.

[Nigel Short]

Looking forward to the tie-breaks?

[Andrew Bak]

I think Kramnik's mindest in this tournament is a very interesting wildcard. Of course he is playing to win but he is playing with a freedom where he doesn't really mind if he loses, which will make him a very dangerous opponent.

I think Maxim will find it very tough to crack Kramnik and it will be an all-Russian final.

The other match is just a coin flip, both have played very well in the rapids as Nigel and Dirk have pointed out on the broadcasts and I think it is impossible to pick a favourite.

[Roger de Coverly]

I think Maxim will find it very tough to crack Kramnik and it will be an all-Russian final.

The World Cup has two qualification places for the next Candidates. If Kramnik is a finalist, does it lose one of them to the next in line on the rating lists? Alternatively will the third place play-off, assuming there is one, be for the right to play in the Candidates? At the very least, there will be one new name joining the well known elite players.

[John McKenna]

Not so sure that Vlad will see off Max today - after all the former has been spending valuable time washing & ironing while the latter is buying & wearing, thereby saving time for preparation. However, I believe that Vlad no longer believes in chess preparation due to the saturation point having being reached hence he would rather soak his socks, etc.
Yes, the other match is difficult to call but Tomashevsky is a cool customer and must know all about Andreikin (who must know all about Tomashevsky) and I think he (Dimitri) may crack first today.
Yesterday, in the commentary, Nigel explained how FIDE make up the rules as they go along and can be influenced by a visit from the right people to their office in Athens, so expect a line of top class chess seconds to be forming outside sometime soon.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think Maxim will find it very tough to crack Kramnik and it will be an all-Russian final.

The World Cup has two qualification places for the next Candidates. If Kramnik is a finalist, does it lose one of them to the next in line on the rating lists? Alternatively will the third place play-off, assuming these is one, be for the right to play in the Candidates? At the very least, there will be one new name joining the well known elite players.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Ches ... nship_2014

Note 3 is of particular relevance.

[John McKenna]

Note 3 - see Alex H above - has just become even more important as Max's Scotch has crashed it seems to Vlad's "wash, iron & win" prep. (0-1 in 22!)
And now, my other tip, Tomashevsky is going backwards on the board and down on the clock... but I think he will hold.
He did not fumble (1/2 in 37).

Karamnik (1/2 in 38) & Andreikin (1-0 in 42) thru to final, Max & Evgeny to play off for 3rd?

[John McKenna]

Bimp!?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I think Maxim will find it very tough to crack Kramnik and it will be an all-Russian final.

The World Cup has two qualification places for the next Candidates. If Kramnik is a finalist, does it lose one of them to the next in line on the rating lists? Alternatively will the third place play-off, assuming these is one, be for the right to play in the Candidates? At the very least, there will be one new name joining the well known elite players.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Ches ... nship_2014

Note 3 is of particular relevance.

I believe note three got removed since you posted that. The perils of referring to an editable webpage!

Is this the note you were referring to?

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... -kramnik-3

(That's an old page version in the history)

"If Kramnik qualifies through reaching the final in the Chess World Cup 2013, then the next highest rated player from August 2012 through July 2013, Karjakin, will qualify via this rating criteria."

Still, someone could have made that up. Really, you want to refer to the actual rules as published by FIDE.

Anyone want to start speculating who the wildcard might be?

"Organizing committee's wild card (FIDE rating in July 2013 at least 2725)"

That would be one person from the top 24 in this list:

http://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=265

Eliminating those already qualified, we are left with:

3 Caruana, Fabiano (could still qualify by right)
5 Grischuk, Alexander (could still qualify by right)
7 Nakamura, Hikaru
9 Gelfand, Boris
11 Kamsky, Gata
12 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (could still qualify by right)
13 Dominguez Perez, Leinier
14 Ponomariov, Ruslan
15 Wang, Hao
16 Svidler, Peter
17 Adams, Michael
18 Leko, Peter
19 Morozevich, Alexander
20 Giri, Anish
21 Vitiugov, Nikita
22 Ivanchuk, Vassily
23 Radjabov, Teimour

[Steven Gardner]

Still, someone could have made that up. Really, you want to refer to the actual rules as published by FIDE.

The official rules are in reference [2] of that article and confirm the statement about qualifying by rating.

[David Sedgwick]

Anyone want to start speculating who the wildcard might be?

"Organizing committee's wild card (FIDE rating in July 2013 at least 2725)"

That would be one person from the top 24 in this list:

http://ratings.fide.com/toparc.phtml?cod=265

Eliminating those already qualified, we are left with:

3 Caruana, Fabiano (could still qualify by right)
5 Grischuk, Alexander (could still qualify by right)
7 Nakamura, Hikaru
9 Gelfand, Boris
11 Kamsky, Gata
12 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (could still qualify by right)
13 Dominguez Perez, Leinier
14 Ponomariov, Ruslan
15 Wang, Hao
16 Svidler, Peter
17 Adams, Michael
18 Leko, Peter
19 Morozevich, Alexander
20 Giri, Anish
21 Vitiugov, Nikita
22 Ivanchuk, Vassily
23 Radjabov, Teimour

So far the only firm bid for the Candidates Tournament 2014 is from Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia. There has been speculation that they might nominate Svidler, although it's not clear to me why he would be preferred to Grischuk.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So far the only firm bid for the Candidates Tournament 2014 is from Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia. There has been speculation that they might nominate Svidler, although it's not clear to me why he would be preferred to Grischuk.

Interesting. Thanks for that.

One thought has occurred to me - when I was looking at the results from Dortmund, and working out which rating list they would go into (the September one, I presume), I had thought that the World Cup results would go into the October list because the tournament finishes in September. But I've now realised that it is only the games in the final that will take place in September. Will the other games in the World Cup (which all took place in August) be rated for the September grading list?

[Roger de Coverly]

Andreikin (1-0 in 42)

How is it pronounced? One twitter poster suggested "and Ray Keene"