The line of carnage continues for Grischuk. He took out both tournament favorites!
Aronian R.I.P.
Kramnik R.I.P.
Is Gelfand next?
-Mark
Gelfand & Grishuk !! Winners
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Blitz playoffs...enough said
I think it was unfair for people to think that Grishuk had caused an upset by defeating Aronian(the so called favourite,he actually deserved to be the favourite but along with Kramnik,someway somehow Kramnik was considered to be a lesser favourite than Aronian,perhaps because of aronian' high rating plus his string of strong performances but aronian has been one of the strong 2700+ for the past decade(since 2005 I think) but other than that what brilliant legacy does he carry?).And he has been having his string of performences for quite sometime only unlike someone like kramnik who has stood the test of time for pretty long.Let's do a 1 on 1 comparison for all the players with aronian.
First Gelfand with Aronian.What are the main qualities/legacy(as some people want it for the sake of rating and all) of Aronian which make him much more superior to gelfand?.Gelfand is actually more or less like anand.he is old,solid and a excellent chess player.The only thing that could have give aronian the plus was his age but even then Gelfand defeated Mamedyarov who I think(I'am not 100% sure) is younger than Gelfand.Even Gelfand is master of openings,so openings would not have been a plus for aronian.I don't consider Aronian to be superior to Gelfand.Plus Gelfand has experience which plays a vital role in such matches.
Second mamedyarov(big name,by the way!).Well I think Aronian has stood to be the better player than Mamedyarov(Not just for rating which I don't give a lot of concern but rather on performences) but when it comes to the chess board mamedyarov is a very strong player and along with his rating he has shown himself to be a strong player for quite sometime.So both of them are near to equal but somehow aronian is perhaps slightly better because chess is after all a game of skills which i think aronian posseses more than shakhriyar.Plus Aronian has the capability to mainatain his cool even in the most extreme conditions which is what shak does not posses to a great a extent.
Third Topalov.I think it would have been the best and the most exiting pairing of the tournament!I can't even imagine topalov to be a lesser player than aronian.He doesn't need to be justified.
Fourth kamsky.Well here comes a big debate.He is such a under rated player that it is quite uncomfortable for me to compare him with aronian.He has been one of the strongest if not best players in the top circuit but for some reason his no of successes have not been up to the mark/expectation.Perhaps it's something with psychology(I don't know).I will like a strong player(or a master) to do this comparison for me because i find it quite difficult to say that aronian is better than kamsky.openings have been a bit of a plus for Aronian and vice versa for Kamsky(and perhaps psychology as well but I'am not sure)But again he has passed the test of Topalov(who was the favourite against Kamsky) so kamsky had his own chances.After all that's why kamsky has passed to the next level while aronian's out.So perhaps the result speaks for itself.Nevertheless even I don't how correct my comparison is between aronian and kamsky.You decide!
Fifth Grishuk.I don't see any way in which Aronian is anyway superior to Grischuk .Not even psychology or in keeping cool of mind.Remember even in the first game between them(not the tiebreakers) Aronian was the one who had winning chances but could not convert it only because of a wall named as Grischuk.He has all the calibure required for being called a world class player.And the result of their match shows that.Aronian had good chances in most of the non tiebreaker matches but grischuk was the one who held nerves and forced tiebreakers.
Sixth radja.Well radja has been a rising player for now and Aronian has been able to make far more impact in the chess world than radja so perhaps he Aronian would have been a favourite(and perhaps the better player) against him.But we should not forget that radja made Kramnik pass through a severe test before kramnik qualified.And perhaps without malfunctioning of the clock he could have even won(After all he was ahead in tiebreakers!).If Kramnik had to do so much work against Radja(By the way,Kamsky and Radja were two of the most underrated/least favourite players of the tournament) then why should we take it for granted that Aronian would have defeated Radja?
Finally Kramnik.The only reason because of which levon was a greater favourite than Kramnik was because of their(both Aronian and kramnik) tournament results for quite sometime.(especially last year).It all started for Kramnik when he was in Dortmund.He was the favourite to win that tournament but fared pretty bad.The main blow came when he lost to Ponomariov.After that people started to consider that Kramnik's day are over and he is not capable to play the top guns of the game anymore (rubbish!).Kramnik has stood the test of time more than anyone in this tourney.In chess,experience is also a factor which Kramnik has at its best.In experience comes such factors such as fairing pretty bad in tournaments but Kramnik is not going to be upset to such things.But we ordinary people felt that his days are over.In my opinion Kramnik and aronian are fairly matched at the present moment and I think both deserved to have the title of being favourites.And no matter who says what it's actually Aronian who has been eliminated while Kramnik has passed on to the next round(Even though I know the current system of choosing candidates is flawed and sometimes gives the less deserving man the chance to qualify ,but still it's kramnik not aronian who has qualified).
Finally in my view all the four men who are into the semis have showed that they deserved to be into the semis and this achievement of theirs should not be disregarded just by saying "the fide system is flawed,and gives the weaker players the chance etc etc"(Even though it's true)their credit should not be taken away from them.Gelfand,Kamsky,Grischuk and Kramnik got what they deserved.Grishuk Gelfand will now be very interesting and I think there must be some butterflies in anand's stomach.
Anand will have the superior opening-preparation again no doubt. Kasparav, Carlsen and so many others helped Anand against Topalov. Maybe Grischuck will take away the Russian help but even without them, Anand has others and the discipline and knowledge. He has faced Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik and Topalov and has superior training and experience in the match-format.
Anand will have a fair relaxing preparation, I don't want to lower the expectations from Grishuk or Gelfand; but Anand would normally have the upper hand... UNLESS
Am I the only one astonished for the results of the semi-finals tie-break today, or there are others? I mean Both are great GMs of course, but I did not expect that at all. Grishuk to take over Kramnik ? I really did not anticipate that...
I believe Anand is going to have a good sleep tonight. what do you think?