Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 6
Five down, three to go.
The leaders played shaky chess, to put it kindly, but two of three made is safely to the next round. Rublevsky very confidently achieved his draw against Ponomariov, but Bareev's passive play (with White) against Polgar forced him to defend for a while before pulling out the draw. And poor Adams played a miserable game against Shirov, losing a pawn for nothing by move 20 and going down without a fight. They'll play tiebreaks tomorrow, as will Gelfand and Kasimdzhanov, who drew today quickly, and Aronian and Carlsen, who also drew, but only after a spirited battle.
My predictions for tomorrow: Kasimdzhanov (he might be the #2 rapid player in the world, after Anand), Shirov (if Adams could play so badly today, I don't see him dealing with the pressure more successfully tomorrow), and Aronian (but I wouldn't bet a nickel on it!).
Match Standings after Game 6:
Aronian - Carlsen 3-3
Adams - Shirov 3-3
Leko - Gurevich 3.5-.5 (finished)
Bareev - Polgar 3.5-2.5 (finished)
Rublevsky - Ponomariov 3.5-2.5 (finished)
Grischuk - Malakhov 3.5-1.5 (finished)
Gelfand - Kasimdzhanov 3-3
Kamsky - Bacrot 3.5-.5 (finished)
Games here.
The leaders played shaky chess, to put it kindly, but two of three made is safely to the next round. Rublevsky very confidently achieved his draw against Ponomariov, but Bareev's passive play (with White) against Polgar forced him to defend for a while before pulling out the draw. And poor Adams played a miserable game against Shirov, losing a pawn for nothing by move 20 and going down without a fight. They'll play tiebreaks tomorrow, as will Gelfand and Kasimdzhanov, who drew today quickly, and Aronian and Carlsen, who also drew, but only after a spirited battle.
My predictions for tomorrow: Kasimdzhanov (he might be the #2 rapid player in the world, after Anand), Shirov (if Adams could play so badly today, I don't see him dealing with the pressure more successfully tomorrow), and Aronian (but I wouldn't bet a nickel on it!).
Match Standings after Game 6:
Aronian - Carlsen 3-3
Adams - Shirov 3-3
Leko - Gurevich 3.5-.5 (finished)
Bareev - Polgar 3.5-2.5 (finished)
Rublevsky - Ponomariov 3.5-2.5 (finished)
Grischuk - Malakhov 3.5-1.5 (finished)
Gelfand - Kasimdzhanov 3-3
Kamsky - Bacrot 3.5-.5 (finished)
Games here.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Elista Candidates, Round 2, Game 1: The Players Cooperate
- Elista Candidates, Pre-Round 2 Statistics
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Tiebreaks
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 6
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 5
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 4
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 3: The Halfway Point
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 2
- Elista Candidates, Round 1, Game 1
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Saturday June 2, 2007 at 2:19pm
I agree Kasim is very strong in action. So are Aronian and Carlsen, probably both in top 5 in rapid.