Bull!

Leko is taking a break from chess.

I know it's futile to counter Leko-bashing with facts, I will try anyway: Fact is that he couldn't qualify via the Grand Prix Series - he finished 7th, still (well) ahead of Kazan participants Mamedyarov, Gelfand and Kamsky. He didn't participate in the World Cup, the other qualifying event.
I know it's stretchy, but just half a point more in Nalchik, Jermuk and Astrakhan and he would have gotten Grischuk's or even Radjabov's spot. In the first two cases, the problem was his "usual" loss in the final round - else he would have been tied with Aronian for first and second place, respectively.
Whether one likes his style or not (how can you be sure that "nobody" does??), he is or was a world-top player who might have qualified for the candidates event, but didn't in the end.

No one wants to see uneventful or preanalized draws anymore and where is Leko there is such a draw. Therefore he doesn't get invitations anymore. Good for chess.

Eight Candidates, eight soviet surnames!

I think none of the players will even try to win with black, only with white, so there's only one game left for Aronian to win the match without a tiebreak that is impossible to predict. But I suppose there will be many draws and tiebreaks here. Maybe 55-45 after all since Aronian is clearly better than Grischuk.

First round produced 3 draws

With Sasha escaping with a draw with the Black pieces, Aronian has to face the White pieces twice in the remaining 3 games. Given that Aronian has an edge in Rapid, how do you rate Aronians chances of winning this match?

Is 60% too optimistic?

Already known who is playing white http://www.chessdom.com/news-2011/candidates-matches-opening-live-blog namely Aronian, Mamedyarov, Kamsky, and Radjabov. For Russian pairings of course http://www.chesspro.ru/

“Fine, he beat Kasparov, but that is all he ever did.”

I guess that’s not too bad.

kramnik will stop aronian, and put an end to this non-sense. fans here have bad memories, or selective ones, and only seem to recall favorable events from recently. volodya will rectify that D-:<

I think Aronian is the main reason why Carlsen is mistaken not to take all the chances he can to get the title. The Armenian is strong and young and no push over.

I voted for GM Levon Aronian. But I wish all the players well.

Although the 4 games match is short, I'm glad the classic time limit 2hrs 40 mvs ... and classic score card [ 1 ] [ 1/2 ] [ 0 ] are going to be used.

@Sander You're right, it wouldn't make much sense to use the soccer score card in match play, but it could've been used to make even less sense, or about as little sense when it is used in round robins. my two cents.

It appears that Aronian is likely to convert his position to a win vs Grischuk(After White's 50th move I am writing this) and other three games have been drawn in Round 1 of the Ct. Ty.-
D.M.Modak
6th May 2011. 22.05 hrs.

Meh,the voting looks like a popularity contest.It certainly is not as clear cut as this pole suggests.Expect some suprises and upsets.

Im not entirely sure why is that Kramnik is the second choice here , he never won a qualification instance for a WCH match in his life...
BTW , im sure nobody misses his style that much but ... where is Leko?

Mangus Carsen was victimized by Kasparov's deceitful move. Kaspa was afraid that if Carsen joins the tournament he, (Carsen) would win the title and wrestle ou the recrod from him (Kaspa). Dont trust Kaspa.

Kramnik and Topalov are out of form. The final will be between Kamsky and Aronian, with the latter as a winner.

Breaking news:

Anand is Kamsky's second

Carlsen is Radjabov's second

Kasparov is Gelfand's second

and - behold - Nakamura is Topalov's second.

I think all the second's should play instead.

Thx for the promotion kakashi, but not all companies like free videos.

This is a "trailer" for the canidates matches! It's amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww1IyO7mO6U

So far noone commented on what's actually new and quite interesting in the article, but might have been overlooked: Karjakin is Kramnik's second.
I think it's a wise decision (by Kramnik) in the short term, but a risky one in the longer term. Kramnik was Kasparov's second and (a few years) later beat him in a match. Karjakin now is Kramnik's second and will probably play a major role in the next WCh cycle ... . Well, who knows whether that's also the case for Kramnik - this might well be his last chance to regain his title.

BTW, as pointed out by Dennis Monokroussos, it seems that Chessvibes got the tiebreak rules wrong. There might be up to 10 blitz games (five mini-matches), not just two, before Armaggedon.
The relevant rule 3.7.2 states: "If the scores are level after the games in Article 3.7.1a, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of 2 games shall be played with a time control of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment after each move. In case of a level score, another 2-game match will be played to determine a winner. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one sudden-death game will be played as described below in Article 3.7.3."
Article 3.7.1a discusses the rapid games, then "2-game match" obviously refers to blitz - not to the classical and rapid matches which have 4(-6) games.
http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates.pdf

Indeed, if those had been the seconds. As it is Kamsky has Sutovsky and Volokitin, Grischuk has Riazantsev, Bacrot and Svidler, Gelfand Rodshtein and Huzman, Mamedyarov Ubilava and Mamedov, Radjabov his dad and I don't remember the others.

I'm looking forward to what Radjabov comes up with. He has been keeping a very low profile lately. Did he spend time on super preparation or on women?!

In terms of talent, Kramnik seems to me to be ahead of the field here. Aronian might be playing better lately (better results), but an inspired Vladimir will always have an advantage to me. You are just a little down, Vladimir. That's all. Remember what made you fall in love with this game in the first place. Have fun with chess: play some weird lines, try some speculative/doubtful sacrifices, play lines that YOU might find interesting even if they are not entirely correct. Try some sidelines in the Petroff, try old moves, old ideas, etc. Forget about results for a while and you will surely comeback strong. You owe that not to fans but to yourself.

On the other hand, if Topalov is in shape here he's my favorite. I've not followed his results lately, but when he is on he strikes hard, especially in your mind.

I hope all the players feel well rested and ready to play, because they are all very strong players whose particular styles and game philosophies can certainly ensue great chess. Good luck to all of them!