Candidates Moving On!

The first round at the candidates is over and boy wonder Magnus Carlsen has been ousted by Levon Aronian who isn't exactly an old man himself! Their match was certainly the center of attention in the first go, and rightly so. Exciting chess from exciting players. It went the full distance even in the rapid tie-break games.

Meanwhile, I almost fell over backward when Shirov came back on Mickey Adams. I figured Alexei would roll over and play dead for sure. Seems I was wrong.

As for the only American entry, I am pulling for Gata, since he seems to be fully out of his dad's shadow these days. He looked strong in his quick dispatching of Ettiene Bacrot who looked like he would much rather be playing poker.

Finally, I think the toll of having children and being a Mom is catching up with Judit Polgar. She hasn't looked quite as strong as other top caliber players since the championship tournament in San Luis.

Candidates Finals Pairings
Levon Aronian 2759
Alexei Shirov 2699

Peter Leko 2738
Evgeny Bareev 2635

Sergei Rublevsky 2680
Alexander Grischuk 2717

Boris Gelfand 2733
Gata Kamsky 2705