Who's playing in Morelia/Linares 2008? What are their strong and weak points? Who won the tournament three times? Player profiles.Morelia/Linares is an eight-player, double round-robin and is held from February 14 till March 8. Participants are Anand, Aronian, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Leko, Radjabov, Shirov and Topalov. The first part takes place 14-23 February in the Mexican city of Morelia, after which the players fly to Spain for the second part of the tournament: February 28 - March 8 in Linares.[TABLE=148]
PLAYER PROFILES | | Name: Viswanathan Anand
Country: India
Born: 11 December 1969
FIDE-rating: 2799
Ranking: shared 1st
Strong point: Status as world champion. Double winner (1998 and 2007). He's the best.
Weak point: Being the best, he'll either win or disappoint. Forgot for a while that he was the world champ, after Mexico, until halfway Corus. Has to remove the match against Kramnik from his thoughts for a few more weeks. |
Name: Veselin Topalov
Country: Bulgaria
Born: 15 March 1975
FIDE-rating: 2780
Ranking: 3rd
Strong point: Fighter. Will to win. Doesn't fear hard core theory. Personally responsible for the end of Kasparov's career, three years ago. (Won, together with The Boss, in 2005).
Weak point: Aftermath-gate (perhaps not a weak point anymore). And: slow-starter; it always takes some time before he realizes he's a terribly strong tournament player.
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| | Name: Alexei Shirov
Country: Spain
Born: 4 July 1972
FIDE-rating: 2755
Ranking: 7th
Strong point: Incredible talent for the adventurous. According to the experts, he played the prettiest move ever. Might have started a second youth, if we take Khanty-Mansyisk into account.
Weak point: Finished (shared) last no less than four times in Linares. Has a tendency for pyromania every now and then.
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Name: Peter Leko
Country: Hungary
Born: 8 September 1979
FIDE-rating: 2753
Ranking: 8th
Strong point: Solid fellow. Loses very rarely. Nice bloke.
Weak point: Too much of a nice bloke. Likes to win, prefers not to lose. Has his own father-in-law as a second, isn't that asking for trouble? | | |
| | Name: Vassily Ivanchuk
Country: Ukraine
Born: 18 March 1969
FIDE-rating: 2751
Ranking: 9th
Strong point: Experienced and unpredictable. Had won this tournament already before one of the participants was born. (Three times actually: 1989, 1991 and 1995).
Weak point: Oldest participant. Hasn't won a super tournament for a while. Said to have difficulties with pressure, despite torso.
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Name: Levon Aronian
Country: Armenia
Born: 6 October 1982
FIDE-rating: 2739
Ranking: 10th
Strong point: Huge talent. Coming up with the toughest moves is like brushing his teeth. Won Corus.
Weak point: Tends to forget to think at critical moments. Loves bughouse, which might lead to reckless sacrifices. | |
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| | Name: Teimour Radjabov
Country: Azerbaidzhan
Born: 12 March 1987
FIDE-rating: 2735
Ranking: 12th
Strong point: Young, energetic, fighter, will to win. Is playing the King's Indian almost as successfully as Kasparov. Speaks (and thinks!?) quicker than his shadow.
Weak point: Tends to not keep an eye on his laptop. Doesn't like the Armenian snack semushka.
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Name: Magnus Carlsen
Country: Norway
Born: 30 November 1990
FIDE-rating: 2733
Ranking: 13th
Strong point: Biggest talent in the world. Said to rarely analyse his own games, and spending more time on tennis courts, and yet wins Corus shared, at 17 years old. Will be more successful than Michael Chang.
Weak point: his backhand. | | |
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