Who will win Dortmund?
Okay,
we start with some of the divination methods mentioned in our news blurb. Clairvoyance
is of course seeing the future ahead of time. Omphilomancy is divination
by contemplating the navel, while haruspicy makes use of the entrails
of animals to predict what is in store for us.
If you balk at plain chess sense you may try studying your dreams (oneiromancy),
smoke patterns (capnomancy), thunder and lightning (ceraunoscopy), or the eating
patterns of chickens (alectryomancy). And if all this sounds too outlandish
for you, why don't you try our favourite, the straightforward, reliable sideromancy,
which tells the future by casting an odd number of straws onto iron brought
into red heat in a fire and reading the patterns formed by the straws, their
movements, and the nature of the flames or smoke.
But we digress...
On Thursday the German GM tournament, Sparkassen
Chess-Meeting, starts in Dortmund. Six players take part in a classical
chess round robin which ends on August 10th. It is your task to pick out the
winners – actually, to predict as accurately as possible the outcome of the
tournament. You can win some nice prizes in the end. Full details are given
at the bottom of this page. In the meantime here is some information to jog
your memory.
The six candidates
|
Vladimir Kramnik, 28, Russia, Rating: 2785
Kramnik is a truth-seeker, working hard and meticulously to find truly
great moves. It is not the easiest approach to chess. It did win him the
Classical Chess World Championship in October 2000. But he has not been
playing a lot since. In fact this is his first tournament since the Melody
Amber rapid and blindfold event four months ago. Will Kramnik be able
to adjust to being able to actually see the pieces? We must remember,
though, that Kramnik wins Dortmund practically every time he plays. In
69 Dortmund Super-GM games over ten years he lost exactly once (to Adams
in 2000). He is definitely going to feel very much at home in Dortmund.
|
|
Viswanathan Anand, 33, India, Rating: 2774
Easygoing and one of the greatest talents around. Vishy has been showing
his world class by winning Wijk aan Zee, the Eurotel Trophy in Prague,
and other top events – not to forget the SIS Masters in Denmark with an
incredible 5.5/6 score. However he seems a bit uncomfortable in Dortmund,
which played host to his worst result ever (in 2001, where he lost four
games and scratched Dortmund off of every map in his house). On the other
hand he has something to prove – there is no such thing as a jinxed
city, my friends – and has proved that he can always rise to the occasion.
|
|
Peter Leko, 23, Hungary, Rating: 2739
The drawing king mutated into one of the world's most violent players,
going for bust in practically every game. That was the style in which
he tied for first (with Kramnik) at the 2003 Super-GM in Linares. Peter
won the 2002 Candidates Tournament in Dortmund, but there are no sponsors
for his title match against Vladimir Kramnik yet. We hear that Einstein
will declare the winner of their mini-match in Dortmund the challenger
of the FIDE world champion. [Joke, laugh!]. When predicting Leko's results
you should look at his first four results in Dortmund: they went Last,
Last, Fourth, Fourth, First. See any pattern there?
|
|
Viorel Bologan, 31, Moldavia, Rating: 2650
Also know as Viktor, he qualified for this tournament by winning the Aeroflot
Open at Moscow (Bologan should probably share and Dortmund prize money
with Peru's Julio Granda Zuniga, who lost horribly to Bologan in the final
round to hand him the qualification spot which Aleksandrov had thought
he had locked up). As far as we can tell Bologan has only one classical
chess win against a 2700+ opponent: Bareev in 2002. But he is a very experienced
player who has still not reached his peak strength. Good for surprises.
|
|
Teimour Radjabov, 16, Azerbaijan, Rating: 2648
The youngest player in this field, but already incredibly suave and sophisticated.
At 16 he has already played over 50 games against 2700+ players and chalked
up wins against Ivanchuk, Polgar, Bareev, Kasparov (with black in Linares!),
Ponomariov, and Gelfand. He is good to do the same to anyone in the Dortmund
field. One problem he may face: he has never really competed with other
teens before. He can probably see it coming: some day, for the first time
in his life, he will lose a game against someone who is actually younger
than himself.
|
|
Arkadi Naiditsch, 17, Germany, Rating: 2574
Germany's greatest talent, Naiditsch, has only once in his life played
a game against an opponent rated over 2645 (Georgiev in 2002, draw). Now
he has to play ten such games in a row. Duck. However we should not forget
how he blasted the 2640 Robert Hübner in the German Championship in 2002.
|
How to cast your vote
There is a link to the entry
form at the bottom of this page. You should use it to predict how the players
will finish, i.e. which place each will occupy in the final table. To
facilitate automatic counting please only use the surnames of the players in
the list (Kramnik, Anand, Leko, Bologan, Radjabov, Naiditsch). And
spell them correctly. You should also add some commentary that explains your
choice.
All entries must be received
before August 1st, 2003. The winners will be selected on the basis of the most
accurate predictions given. If more than one entry gives the most accurate final
placings than the winner will be decided by lots. We receive the right to choose
a second winner by the quality or originality of the comments.
Please give your full name
and place of residence. Without this your entry cannot be considered. We reserve
the right to quote your commentary on this web site, in full or abridged, with
your name and place of residence given. If you supply information on your professional
status that might also be used. Please note that letters
written in CAPITALS or with very unruly orthography will not be quoted.
The prize will be two copies
of our latest Fritz program, signed by the winner or all the participants of
the Dortmund tournament.
Voting now closed
