Carlsen has such a huge rating that he is already used to having to play for a win against everyone in the world. It's not like something has changed. If this "make draws against Magnus, press for a win against everyone else" scenario was easy to implement, people would be doing it in every tournament.
Yes, exactly.
He is not too strong. Gelfand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk are better players.
Bump.
(Chucky loses two games in 2 days, Carlsen has lost 2 classical games in, what, 18 months?)
It seems the crisis has killed even your notion for freedom. Keep pushing!Opa-Opa bikan ta gidia sto madri...!
So far you have succesfully found the two players that will take the last two places, but I think your third choice (Kramnik) will do better than sixth place. Other than that, your prediction seems 100% correct, but you hold the final standings upside down by accident.
The "slow" start is due to the draw. He played Aronian with black in round 1 and Kramnik in round 2 (who is extremely tough to beat, even with white). And he now beat Gelfand with black, which is tough, too.
All 3 rounds were games, he was supposed to draw in my opinion. So he actually is ahead of his pace.
@ Winnie_Pooh: "What a crazy set-up - why not simply take the top ten of the actual FIDE list?"
Why don't you read up on the FIDE's dirty politics? Their Istanbul torunament for example? Many officials vote for whoever pays for their trip and / or a bribe. otherwiese, Karpov would be the chairman (or whatever the boss is called) of FIDE.
Money talks!