Maybe not top 10 ... Maybe just top 20. He is good of course. (Wesley So)

What is so special about top ten? Have some excuses for them? Wesley So will beat plenty of them as you will soon see.

The face of chess will soon seems. Many of you won't recognize it. And that will be good.

It's just a matter of time before Wesley reaches the top 10 - so in that sense it's just confirmation of what many predict for him.

has the Petroff killed 1. e4? easy draw for Gelfand again. he made a quick draw in round 1 with the Petroff...
probably why Anand switched to 1. d4 against Kramnik at WC2008. he just couldn't find anything convincing against the Petroff...

"No upsets for me, I love it when big talents like Wesley So beat players like Ivanchuk"

When someone outside the Top 100 beats 1 of the top 12 players in the world, THAT'S AN UPSET!

It looks like somebody filled in the scores for the first players in the wrong order. What happened with the top-seats???

What about Gelfand? He has black, but still. A draw in only 12 moves?

None of the top 7 seeds won today!

Yes all top seed except Grischuk and Wang Yue did not win!. I guess this is good for the emotion!

Black Kamsky was the sole US winner with his 4... a6 Slav.

Here's an interesting article about the 4... a6 Slav http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3195

I did not understand the Moro game at all !

I agree with Glossu, this is exciting!

No upsets for me, I love it when big talents like Wesley So beat players like Ivanchuk... I think he's a great promise for the future...

BIG UPSETS: "Svidler lost with Black against Nyback, Morozevich went down with the white pieces against Laznicka, Sakaev defeated Radjabov, Ivanchuk lost to So and Inarkiev defeated Eljanov" --- None of these matches look as an upset to my mind... All this guys know how to play chess, so anything might happen... ELO differences inside a 100-points margin are not quite predictive.

Is this a sloppy report or people is already fully mad about a few rating points? Why to play a game at all if Dr. Elo developed the perfect prediction for the outcome of every single game... Anand (2700+) should not prepare at all to play Topalov (2800+), because he can't possibly win... Rubbish, all my money goes to the "weaker" Anand...

@Peter

Thanks, good work!
Now:

"suddenly Radjabov couldn’t prevent the loss of a piece on the kingside"

... a piece called pawn (to begin with, because a decisive one), and rather on the queenside! :-)

"It seemed that the Ukrainian (Ivanchuk) was totally outplaying his Pinoy opponent (So)"

Not so seemingly, at least to my modest chess sense. (And *of course* he should have taken the draw!)

"Li Chao2" Lol

Maybe with less unimportant information on the game's window (number of game, name of the tournament, ...) even this not-very-important things could stand better. More important: Elo of the players! (old sugestion already)

@everybody

Is it me, or Motylev played what one should call a perfect anti-Shvesnikov?
I don't understand (never played or faced) that defense, but someone pls tell me what mistake must Najer did, because Black's situation is pityfull (maybe not already lost, but dried as it could be, as minimum), as soon as move 18? What am I missing there??

Ivanchuk-So
Polgar-Nisipeanu
These eliminations should never be :-(

Go Moro!! (He seems to be more in need than Gata, at this moment :-) )

Go, go, go Wesley So!

"unimportant information on the game’s window (number of game, name of the tournament, …)"

I should add "number of the round". These things are NOT important there.
I think names and Elos of the players are. The rest is given by the whole article, or is useless.

"It’s just a matter of time before Wesley reaches the top 10 – so in that sense it’s just confirmation of what many predict for him."

If someday the Top 10 is composed only of players born after 1979 I see it as 1. Carlsen, 2. Aronian, 3. Gashimov, 4. Radjabov, 5. Ponomariov, 6. Grischuk, 7. Jakovenko, 8. Wang, 9. Eljanov, and 10. Karjakin. Alternatives include 11. Mamedyarov, 12. Dominguez Perez, and 13. Vachier-Lagrave. Vachier-Lagrave 2718 is only 3 years older than So and is #23 in the world. So 2640 is not even in the Top 100. There would be no room for him in the Top 10. I don't see it happening ever.

Ever seems like a long time..We will probably be already dead if your ever to be proven to right.
Then again your an Onischuk fan so I don't think Wesley So should be so concerned with your predictive powers. (though at around 2700 there is still time for Mr Onischuk.)

An interesting prediction would be - the day post 1979 players comprise the top ten. My uneducated guess would be after 2020. In which case I would bet that at least one player who is ranked at 2300 or below would be included in the list.

Course I'm an old timer what the heck do I know

@Castro: Motylev-Najer was a Najdorf, not a Sveshnikov. It is quite a relevant difference that black first goes -a6 (keeping a white knight or, in some lines, bishop from b5) before he plays -e5.
As far as I know (but I am not a Najdorf expert) the game was theory for a long time, and I think things went wrong for black only in the unbalanced pawn race ending.

Guys Wesley So was just lucky. Ivanchuk just could not pull it off this time.

Well, chess is a game of luck anyway. ;-) But So defended very well.

"An interesting prediction would be – the day post 1979 players comprise the top ten. My uneducated guess would be after 2020. In which case I would bet that at least one player who is ranked at 2300 or below would be included in the list."

Players like Carlsen come along once in a generation. The current 10th strongest player born after 1979 is the youngest Grandmaster of all time, ranked 18th in the world, and has a 2723 rating. I think he may crack the top 10 someday. At least 1 player has been rated as high as 2739 and never cracked the top 10. Your assumption that a kid rated 2300 now will crack the top 10 in 2020 is illogical.

Aren't there rules against playing the exchange slav versus Ivanchuk in a draw-is-sufficient situation?

Well Ivanchuk didnt have to play the Slav

@Thomas

Thanks Thomas! That's how chess openings uncultured I am! :-)
Still, that Black's position after 18.Kb1 seems to me as sterile as the worse critics on the Petroff (to say the least, because White looks like simply having domination --- in chessy meaning! --- and things to do... like winning easy).
Not knowing similar games, it apeared to me as Najer just put himself in position... Very sad. And very good by Motylev, of course.
I think you're parcialy wrong, because the lost pawn race was merely the least bad thing Najer could get, and was condemned long time before.

If I'm reading the official site correctly, it appears that Alexander Morozevich Teimour Radjabov and Vassily Ivanchuk were all top seeds who lost. This is exciting. I'm not saying Gelfand, Gashimov, or Svidler won't win, but it's more wide open with half the top 6 gone and arguably the strongest and most experienced Ivanchuk out. I can imagine a dark horse like Kamsky winning it all now and I did vote for him in the poll.

I guess Wang Hao from China will win this tournment. He is very powerful player. He didn't get enough chance show his chess due to his relationship with leaders(I guess). He has beaten his two opponents with two 2:0.

Are the pairings all the way to the final already clear (if so, could someone provide a link?), or is there a drawing of lots after each round?

http://www.pgndownloads.com/files/2009/2009_World_Cup.png

"I guess Wang Hao from China will win this tournment."

I guess not. He's not even the best Wang from China. #16 Yue Wang 2734 is. He's been rated as high as 2739 and #11 in the world.