Its over in Wijk aan Zee for 2006. In Group A Topalov and Anand finish 9/13 with Anand taking it on tie breaks. Carlsen and Motylev also finish 9/13 on top of group B with Motylev taking it on tie breaks, and Atalik takes group C with 10½/13. (from http://www.coruschess.com/index.php) Of course there are many other stories asside from who the winners were.
With all the pre-tournament talk about whether anyone other than Topalov or Anand would seriously challenge for the lead, and did either of these two stand out as a favourite, the results hardly seem like a surprise, but was anyone surprised by any of the results or the performances of any of the players.
Personally I was glad to see a solid performance from Adams, who I thought might be starting slipping out of the super GM category.
I'm also interested in how Kamsky performs, having been away from the scene for so long. Though he did neither better nor worse than I expected, I wonder what it says that he drew only one of the 13 games.
I was not surprised to see Carlsen do well in Group B, but I do wonder at the all attention his "wonderkind" status gets him compared to the equally young and somewhat stronger Karjakin. On a similar note, I see Marlies Bensdorp, who finished second last in Group C, is the only player featured in a personal photo gallery on the tournament website. Okay, she's reasonably cute, but if you're on the internet and want to see pictures of attractive women, I could suggest better places to look than the Corus Tournament. (Note I said could, not will, so don't ask.)
Karpov may be right the level of chess play is degenerating throughout this tournaments. The ease with which both Topalov and Anand make (IMHO not always sound) material sacrifices and manage to get away with it is frustrating. Take the game in the last round between Anand and Gelfand, for example. The decisive error that Gelfand makes is, as I see it, not 15...Rb8 as the comments go but the terrible move: 38...Ng8?? allowing the capture of the pawn at e5 via 39.Rh5!
I found one more interesting thing: both Topalov and Anand usually played much faster in the opening (almost in blitz tempo) and usually ended up some half an hour spare time, while their opponents wasted 15-25 minutes on dubious moves.
And lastly the amount of blunders is just too huge for a competition of such magnitude.
Originally posted by SkorjIt tells me, he wanted to play to win. What did he have to lose? Some players, seemed to only to be able to draw. In some situations, he probably could have settled for a draw. He is exciting.
....I'm also interested in how Kamsky performs, having been away from the scene for so long. Though he did neither better nor worse than I expected, I wonder what it says that he drew only one of the 13 games.
Originally posted by hahahaaaaPersonally, I was happy to see Gata not finish in the basement. That said, setling for a draw is one thing. He needs to prove that he can force draws too (from slightly inferior positions).
It tells me, he wanted to play to win. What did he have to lose? Some players, seemed to only to be able to draw. In some situations, he probably could have settled for a draw. He is exciting.