I predict Ivanchuk winning the one decisive game and the rest of them ending in draws. Have to admit that most of the games have been pretty interesting though.

So far Hoogeveen looks like Nanjing minus Carlsen and the chineese "costume shirts". I'll bet if Carlsen was playing here - we would have had some wins by now....

Hope Polgar wins this as a first step of her comeback to the top 10 (where she blongs). Go Judith !!!

Why feel you have to like or support one of the players ? Chess isn't a football match.

What is important is the games.

A lot of the chess legacy consists of games by people we know little or nothing about. They may have been ghastly people in real life. But unless they are ghastly on the chess board - by which I don't mean bad play, but stuff like taking back moves & other forms of cheating & gamesmanship - it doesn't affect our appreciation of the games.

Nobody's going to play better or worse because you are for or against them, are they ?

It's hard to decide myself over 4 players I like! (For totaly diferent reasons, that's funny!)
Maybe Judith, yes, she's been away from chess achievments for longer.
Anish is the less favourite, of course. Winning this would be...Wau!, but the good thing is that anything is a good result for him, from now on.

@Castro: Why do you like Tiviakov about as much as the other players? I am just curious ... . IMO, he doesn't play the most attractive chess in the world, and he had his fair share of scandals: dropping out of the Dutch championship, cheating accusations against an opponent (roughly at the same time as Mamedyarov's against Kurnosov, though not as widely discussed on the Internet).

I do not question his invitation: He is currently the highest-rated Dutch player, and it may have played a role that he is living in Groningen - also in the northeastern part of the Netherlands, rather close to the tournament location.

@Thomas: I am not Castro, but I like Tiviakov's chess. As White he can make his wins look incredibly easy, he is extremely strong positionally. And he plays offbeat openings (like the ...Qd6 scandinavian) and shows they're rock solid. He's one of the most if not the most active players on the planet, and he makes goofy photo reports. I follow his games whenever I can.

In case of the Dutch championships, I think he is less to blame than the KNSB is. I haven't heard of the cheating accusations.

@Remco: I understand what you mean - even though I follow Tiviakov not as closely. But to me it seems that he shows refined positional chess mostly against somewhat weaker opponents. In top events (e.g. whenever he gets to play Corus A) he doesn't mind drawing all of his games? Of course there is nothing wrong with being "not quite a super-GM"; he still is a strong player (about 700 points higher-rated than I am ...). I merely wondered why Castro likes him as much as the other three players, or what his "totally different reason" is.

Playing a lot, that's what the Dutch championship incident was basically all about - be it sufficient to say that my opinion differs a bit from yours.

Cheating accusations were against IM Leonid Milov at the Pfalz Open in Neustadt, Germany last February. At the time it was discussed at Utrechtschaak.nl (including contributions by Tiviakov himself) and also a bit at Dailydirt.

@Chris: Fair enough, but chess can still be more interesting to watch if you like one or both of the players. On the other hand: I personally dislike Topalov as a person, but can still enjoy and appreciate his chess.

If "Carlsparov" were playing here – we would have had some wins by now…. :-)

@Redpawn: Not necessarily - Carlsen was, unknown to the wider public, already "Carlsparov" in Dortmund and still had a series of draws. And Ivanchuk was already Ivanchuk at MTel last year when he started with 5/5.

@Thomas

It's something not easy to explain. It's a bit of "rooting for the underdog". He is not a top-top GM, but one senses he can beat anybody. Also, I also find his chess actractive (except some --- you're right --- eforthless draws), and "out of the book", something I apreciate to see at top level.
I think I also find his look very nice :-) I seeze the oportunity to say I'm against the dress codes in tournaments. Yes, I know, the image... the sponsors... Hell with it!
As for less acceptable behaviour (dutch championship and cheating claims, or others), you could be right, but I don't have enough information on those. Of course I'm against unethical actions...

I think the reasons for liking the other three are simpler to understand and similar to most people's. Everybody loves them and their chess games! :-)
They only differ slightly for me in quality, not in quantity, as they are completely diferent personalities and chess players. All of them wonders of their own!