Kamsky, Leko win Game 2 with Black. Bareev Beats Polgar.

Monday, 28 May 2007 00:00

Gata Kamsky, Peter Leko and Evgeny Bareev entered the win column in Game 2 of the Candidates Matches. Kamsky and Leko beat Etienne Bacrot and Mikhail Gurevich, respectively, with the black pieces. Bareev was among the last to finish, exacting the point from Judith Polgar in 64 moves. The Game 1 winners, Lev Aronian and Alexander Grischuk, drew to hold on to their one point lead while the other matches, Kasimjanov-Gelfand, Rublevsky-Ponomariov and Shirov-Adams remained tied. Watch games live at the official site. Download games. Read photo report. Gata Kamsky, Peter Leko and Evgeny Bareev entered the win column in Game 2 of the Candidates Matches. Kamsky and Leko beat Etienne Bacrot and Mikhail Gurevich, respectively, with the black pieces. Bareev was among the last to finish, exacting the point from Judith Polgar in 64 moves. The Game 1 winners, Lev Aronian and Alexander Grischuk, drew to hold on to their one point lead while the other matches, Kasimjanov-Gelfand, Rublevsky-Ponomariov and Shirov-Adams remained tied. Candidates Matches Rounds 1 and 2 shall select four qualifiers to the World Championship Tournament in Mexico City. Watch games live at the official site.

Photos by Casto Abundo

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Round 2: Monday, May 28th
Levon Aronian	1/2:1/2	Magnus Carlsen
Mikhail Gurevich	0-1	Peter Leko
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	1/2:1/2	Boris Gelfand
Sergei Rublevsky	1/2:1/2	Ruslan Ponomariov
Etienne Bacrot	0-1	Gata Kamsky
Vladimir Malakhov	1/2:1/2	Alexander Grischuk
Evgeny Bareev	1-0	Judith Polgar
Alexei Shirov	1/2:1/2	Michael Adams
Charts from Chessbase

Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Tot.	Perf.
Magnus Carlsen	2676	0	½					0.5
Levon Aronian	2759	1	½					1.5

Peter Leko	2749	½	1					1.5
Mikhail Gurevich	2635	½	0					0.5

Ruslan Ponomariov	2717	½	½					1.0
Sergei Rublevsky	2680	½	½					1.0

Boris Gelfand	2733	½	½					1.0
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2677	½	½					1.0

Gata Kamsky	2705	½	1					1.5
Etienne Bacrot	2709	½	0					0.5

Alexander Grischuk	2717	1	½					1.5
Vladimir Malakhov	2679	0	½					0.5

Judit Polgar	2727	½	0					0.5
Evgeny Bareev	2743	½	1					1.5

Michael Adams	2734	½	½					1.0
Alexei Shirov	2699	½	½					1.0

Wunderkind Magnus Carlsen watching other games, seemingly untroubled by his first round loss.

`I have a bad back,` explained Gurevich, who is the only player with a special chair.

Journalists asked at the post-game press conference if they will draw all six games and go into tie break. Rublevsky replied `When two strong players face each other, it is not simple to win and the result is most likely a draw.`

`We now have an equal lifetime score against each other,` Kamsky said at the press conference at which Bacrot was absent.

A pensive Malakhov waited in the sidelines for Grischuk to arrive before sitting down.

Journalists were waiting for their press conference after the game but at that late hour players must have been eager to go back for dinner.

Similar to their first game the previous day, Game 2 also ended in a draw by repetition.