The 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiad is starting in about two weeks, but Philippines' squad is already in the heart of Europe for the final tests before the games start. GM Wesley So is absent though, making the team captain GM Eugenio Torre (2560) highest rated Pinoy in the starting lineup of 18.000 Euro worth Bad Wiessee Open. Torre is seeded 5th, while top favorite is Russian GM Vladimir Burmakin (2625).
Tournament website
The annual Corsica Chess Masters took place over the last several days, deeply in the shadow of Kramnik-Anand match and Cap D'Adge Rapid. For a tournament with fantastic 100.000 Euro prize fund, it is incredible that organizers do not bother to provide better internet presence. Leo Battesti, president of the local chess federation and once a man with great ambition in FIDE elections, never answers the emails, what else should be said...
More important, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan won this knockout tournament after beating Pavel Tregubov in the semis and then European champion Sergei Tiviakov in the final match.
Kramnik was well aware that it is nearly impossible to turn the tables while trailing three points behind Anand in the World Championship match, but he expressed a hope that he could at least win one game. And he succeeded so in the 10th game to spoil the prepared coronation of the new/old King. Most of the commentators agree that his chances for overall win didn't improve much, but finally he scored much desired win.
The warning bells should have rung in game 9, when Anand, leading 5.5-2.5 took on Kramnik in one of the sharpest openings in modern chess. Kramnik not only handled the complications well but also, most importantly, stayed level on the clock with Anand and only a panic attack on move 35 gave the Indian a chance to squirm out with a draw.Read GM Ian Rogers' blog on the uschess.org
Kramnik is famous for his World Championship come-backs but trailing 3-6 with three games to play looked too much even for him.
Yet in Game 10 Kramnik simply destroyed Anand; a quiet position turning bad with astonishing speed. "I didn’t do anything special," admitted Kramnik, "but the position became winning. It was a surprise."
When there are no real scandals in this crazy chess world, Chessbase's big boss jumps in to make some out of nothing. We all remember the heated discussion on why is Great Britain fielding several teams in the qualifications for Football World/Euro Cup and how he enjoyed the mess that he created. He is also the man who sent the "video proof" of Topalov's cheating to Kommersant, but that circus didn't produce the anticipated effect because most of the people disregarded it as plainly stupid.
And now last week, being too lazy to update the website about all the events, he neatly pardoned himself with malicious comments about internet access in Kallithea, Chalkidiki. I didn't care about it until I stumbled to a Greek Chess Blog that shows at least 20 people using wireless internet at the hotel's reception.
Now that Anand is almost certainly winning the WCC match against Kramnik, it is possible that FIDE will take the final steps to arrange the match Kamsky-Topalov to take place in the originally planned time frame.
There have been rumors that in case of Kramnik's win in Bonn, Alexander Zhukov's influence in FIDE would have blocked the other match just long enough for Kramnik to claim that he is not obliged to play against the winner.
On the other hand, had Kamsky or Topalov threatened with the Sport's court in Lausanne, which Danailov already used once to great effect, FIDE would be forced to act with greater efficiency.
World Mind Sports Games have started today in Beijing, China. Jennifer Shahade blogs on the USCF website while Chessdom has pictorial reports.
WMSG website
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