Chess Pundit

Round 2 finished with another decisive game.

Adams vs Leko was a short 18 move draw, which I assumed yesterday. I figured Leko is happy to draw as black and Adams was too stunned/timid from yesterday’s collapse to push an aggressive game against Leko.

I thought Kasparov was going to win the following endgame versus Kasim, but it resulted in a draw. Kasparov only had about 3 minutes to go and 9 moves from time control.



Annan vs Topalov was an interesting game. It was a Sicilian.Najdorf. Here Annan has prevented Topalov from castling and has the queenside majority, but the position is still quite dynamic.



The game then traded down into an interesting endgame. However, white's pawns were able to get rolling faster than black's.



Nearing the end, some chess kibitzers kept clamoring that it was going to be a draw, but I could see that Anand had the easy win.




Predictions for Round 3

Leko - Anand 1/2-1/2 -- Anand looks for revenge and Leko knows it. Look for a long tough draw

Kasim - Adams - 1/2-1/2 GM draw. Adams is still shaky and won't press as black. Kasim is spent from his draw with Kasparov.

Vallejo Pons - Kasparov 0-1 - Gary knows he needs to press any advantage against the young Spaniard.