@fabelhaft did an amazing recap on what's up in this year's edition. Personally, I really hope Kramnik makes an outstanding result, though I'd bet on MVL (not sure why, maybe due to results last year, when MVL won convincingly in front of Kramnik, Caruana and then all the others).
If anyone wants to make a concrete prediction (OP included
), feel free to submit it right here below ("Tournament Prediction Game"
):
https://goo.gl/forms/SWJZnn0GmGJA7ccw2
The Dortmund tournament starts this weekend, and the Chessbase preview mentions more than once how strong the line-up is. But to me it feels as if the tournament used to be stronger. Back in 2001 all the participants were top 10, with Topalov (who shared first with Kramnik) the lowest rated player in the field. Still Topalov already then had won his share of top tournaments.
This is Kramnik's opposition this year:
Bluebaum
Fedoseev
Wang Yue
Nisipeanu
Andreikin
Wojtaszek
MVL
That is, the only opponent in the top 20 is #8 MVL. So the tournament ought to be a two horse race between Kramnik and MVL. The highest rated player after them is Wojtaszek, currently #24, but in spite of his rather high rating he has never scored a great result in a top field. Wang Yue is no longer one of the top five Chinese players, even if he maybe was their top prospect a decade ago. Andreikin and Nisipeanu have their share of strong tournaments, but rarely with top results. Fedoseev and Bluebaum are promising, but with much left to prove before anyone will expect them to win an event like this.
Kramnik could with a great score in Dortmund even reach #1 on the rating list. At the same time it has been many years since he won a classical only tournament. Maybe it's time for that now. Kramnik has four whites in the seven rounds, one of them against main opponent MVL. Kramnik starts with white against Fedoseev in the first round on Saturday and ends with white against Bluebaum in the final round. The main game of the event, Kramnik vs MVL, is played in the fifth round.