FIDE GP in Palma: The lions are awakened

I love to be proven wrong! In my report yesterday I made a remark about Radjabov's cautious play. Perhaps intentionally, I goaded Teimour into playing the King's Indian Defense today, and, boy, what a game it turned out to be.

King's Indian: A modern approach

Bologan: "If you study this DVD carefully and solve the interactive exercises you will also enrich your chess vocabulary, your King's Indian vocabulary, build up confidence in the King's Indian and your chess and win more games."

With this win Radjabov now is keeping pace with Vachier-Lagrave, who had to be content with a draw in the sharp encounter that follows. Maxime has a lot of confidence in his analyses of the topical lines. Small wonder, since his games create theory. Yet, sometimes, things may go wrong, and then Maxime believes he can find improvements over the board. The combination of the two makes challenging MVL's Najdorf a very dangerous proposition.

When facing Maxime's Najdorf there should be a sign that warns, "Here be dragons" | Photo: Agon

Despite not taking advantage of his chances today, Anish Giri must not be disappointed with his start in Palma. 1½ / 2 isn't bad, and, more importantly, Anish is going for his shots. If he continues this way, more wins will come his way.

How to play the Najdorf Vol. 1

A great moment when the world's leading expert shares all the secrets in his favourite opening. The Najdorf system in the Sicilian Defence has a legendary reputation as a defensive weapon for Black. In part one Garry Kasparov introduces the various sub-systems of the Najdorf, including the central “Poisoned Pawn” variation.

Today's round witnessed the awakening of another giant. Levon Aronian, who had a solid draw with Black in the first round, got the white pieces today.

'Impossible' is Aronian's bread and butter | Photo: Agon

Korchnoi once said, “Aronian can do things on the chessboard no one else can”. Victor was a hard guy to please, so coming from him it meant a lot. I wish he were still around to see this one.

Three rounds in and not a single upset. The favorites seem better players, which is no surprise, but they also seem more motivated. Of course, you give a few more rounds and you will see Nakamura, Ding Liren, and hopefully, some others making a push to join the race, but the overall system of the Grand Prix could use some improvement.

First, I cannot fathom the reason for restricting the field for every individual tournament to just 18 players. Why not the whole crowd of 24? It seems unfair for Grischuk and Mamedyarov to be relegated to mere spectators when the race for the Candidates is on the final stretch. Is the budget so tight that hosting the extra six players per tournament would stretch it to the breaking point?

Second, what kind of a Grand Prix doesn't offer prize money for overall placings? Leaving most of the field with nothing to compete for is not helping at all. There has to be at least 12 prizes for best combined results.

Third, I'd love to see the list of nominees restricted to only four spots for representatives of host federations. There's no reason to award someone's personal favorites with invitations to a World Championship qualifying event. It would have been much better to give those spots to direct qualification from Continental Championships. Instead, FIDE goes down the rating list in a vain hope that Carlsen, Kramnik, Anand and Topalov would show up. No, they won't. Not with the kind of financial incentive offered, and not with the tight calendar of events they already have.

I know I'm shouting in the wilderness. FIDE does things their own way, and without a major change in the leadership they will never come around.

Standings after Round 2

All games (Round 2)

Links

• Round 1: A promising start
• Official tournament site