Saturday, September 24, 2005

World Chess Championships

Next week, FIDE's "official" World Championship Tournament begins. Just about everyone has their opinion on who will win. So I thought, I may as well jump on the bandwagon.

Michael Adams
Runner-up from the Tripoli event. But let's get serious here. An Englishman winning the World Championship? I don't think so. Individual triumph by the English are so near impossible that one wonders why Adams bothers to turn up.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov
He got lucky last time. I mean, who really takes this guy seriously? Still, he'll be good punching bag for the 2700s. But you'll never know - he could do an Arkadij!

Peter Leko
Boring as bat shit. Just look at the score table for Linares 2005. He won Wijk this year but results since are dismal. Finished near bottom at Dortmund. The nerves will get to him.

Peter Svidler
Four-time winner of the Russian Championships and a semi-finalist in Tripoli. Solid but unexciting. Like Leko, he scores too many draws for my liking.

Vishy Anand
Will this Indian ever be World Champion? Now that Kasparov is retired, his chances have shot up. But I think he's wishing the time control in San Luis was faster. Good odds, but not my pick.

Judit Polgar
A woman? A woman as World Champion? Naah...get real.

Alexander Morozevich
Probably the most exciting player, what with his penchant for unusual lines. I hope he does well with them, but against super-GMs the chances are thin. Is there a World Blitz Championship? Moro will win that.

Veselin Topalov
The man! Consistent top finisher this year with wins in Linares (beating Kasparov) and Sofia (beating Anand). This world number 3 from Bulgaria is definitely in red hot form. My money's on him.

9 comments:

Milan Lee said...

I hope Anand will win. Leko has good chances, but as you said, his game is deadly boring ;)

Anonymous said...

"Will this Indian ever become world champion"?

C'mon, who won the world championship in 2000-2001?

The Closet Grandmaster said...

yep, he beat Shirov. But who says that was or this is the real title? You don't play the best, you're no champ.

Anonymous said...

As webmaster for Judit Polgar Fan Club I strongly disagree!!

Judit has a descent chance of becoming World Champion !!!

Get ready to be surprised.

GilaChess said...

I'm putting my money on Judit no matter how slim her chance appears.

Hmmmm...

Judit Polgar - World Champion

has a nice ring to it :)

Anyway, I support women chess - I just created a website for WGM Anya Corke.

The Closet Grandmaster said...

polgarfan, well it's always nice to be surprised. I've got nothing against a woman winning, but honestly?

Gila, nice to c u again. where's the link?

Anonymous said...

Do you want a bet? I am happy to put 100 AU that somebody else but not Topalov will be the winner. Do you have 100 AU to sacrifice?:)

Anonymous said...

In my opinion the order of favorites is Anand, Leko, Topalov, Moro and Svidler... The last 3 are the punching bags.:)

The Closet Grandmaster said...

Sorry to disappoint you mate. But the domination of Russia is over. In another 5 years, the Chinese will take over everything.