You know whats funny is that everone in the group can still win, wins bring points, and the way they played afraid to draw as well as blunders will not help.

KRAMNIK BACK WITH A BANG.......ANAND WORRY STARTS

So far I'm not surprised by anything that has happened in this trnt. except that Svidler is in last place & Kramnik is playing aggressively. It's good to see the Kramnik that we used to know again. He is truly a genius. It seems like he learned something from the World Championship match that he lost against Anand in Bonn, Germany last year. He is playing more aggressively now. I kept expecting him to become Drawnik again, but it looks like he is going to keep being the Kramnik that we know & love again. If he keeps this up, I'll never call him Drawnik again! Svid needs to stop playing the Grunfeld! He has lost twice already in this trnt. w/ it. He should play the King's Indian Defense instead. He plays it well. I still think that Aronian is the man to beat in this trnt. I still think he will win it.

Anand is the most sound player.He is sure to come back.

Oooh! We got to see a Sicilian! My favourite (out of the few I know)!

I'm still waiting for some of the Magnus killingspree... Magnus' the best!

Hope to see a Magnus vs Kramnik+Anand game soon!

Sure that, Anand will come first in this tmt..even Kramnik in his Best form..

I don't agree with the view that Kramnik has gone through "a dramatic change in style," I think we need to see a lot of games with various openings to reach such judgement. His play was amazing in Dortmund too, and he didn't lose a game in the olympiad against very strong opposition right after the WC match. So far he just seems like the regular Kramnik, the best chess player in the world. (Oh have I mentioned I'm a huge Kramnik fan?)

glad to see a Sicilian game

great.. but ANAND will be back..

Sweet action!

amitprabhale Kramnik has already played Anand and Carlsen.

I m waiting for the gr8 matches btwn: Kramnik V/s Anand; Magnus V/s Kramnik; Anand V/s Magnus.

****finding move that saves the black bish..(in magnus game) is easy.....but finding move that saves the black bish and prevents pawn promotion on A file.....ummmm

why did Anand agreed for a draw he had an extra pawn?

demetrios18: Maybe you share your "non-amateur" moves with us? 

Magnus and Levon look like to amateurs rated 1600 with each making huge blunders to draw. I guess one blunder and another blunder with other opponent equals a draw. I can find a move in less than 5 seconds where it could of defended to save Levon dark sqaure bishop but gave it up due to blunder. Magnus blundered to give up his bishop.

link to Topalov interview:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3553

it is great to see kramnik back in form.  maybe he wants to have one more crack at the world championship someday, so he figures he better start performing well in these tournaments in order to put himself towards the front of the line.

I am still surprised Topalov is not in the tournament.  But a thought just came to my mind:

After the WC 2006 loss to Kramnik, Topalov did an interview where he basically said that the Russians threatened him during the match, so he said he would never go to Russia again to play a tournament.  I do not know if he has been to Russia since that time, but that might be one explanation why he is not there...

"carlsen suffering from the flu virus" that does explain alot! i just wish i could play as good with flu!