Friday, January 15, 2010

Wijk aan Zee Super-GM Starts on Saturday

Looking at the list of players I noticed something interesting.

Title Player                      Nat.     Rating  rank   born
GM Magnus Carlsen       NOR    2810     1     1990
GM Viswanathan Anand  IND     2790     3     1969
GM Vladimir Kramnik    RUS      2788     4     1975
GM Vassily Ivanchuk     UKR      2749     8     1969
GM Peter Leko              HUN     2739    12    1979
GM Alexei Shirov           SPA      2723    20    1972
GM Sergey Karjakin       RUS     2720    21    1990
GM Leinier Dominguez    CUB    2712    25    1983
GM Hikaru Nakamura    USA     2708    28    1987
GM Nigel Short              ENG     2696    38    1965
GM Fabiano Caruana     ITA      2675     51    1992
GM Sergey Tiviakov      NED     2662    62     1973
GM Jan Smeets              NED     2657    73    1985
GM Loek van Wely        NED     2641   104   1972
Average rating: 2719 – Category: 19

If you rearrange the players by age you see there is four decades of players representated and they if they were teams they would be fairly evenly matched. 

GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2675 51 1992
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2810 1 1990
GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2720 21 1990

GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2708 28 1987
GM Jan Smeets NED 2657 73 1985
GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2712 25 1983

GM Peter Leko HUN 2739 12 1979
GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2788 4 1975
GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2662 62 1973
GM Loek van Wely NED 2641 104 1972
GM Alexei Shirov SPA 2723 20 1972

GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2749 8 1969
GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2790 3 1969
GM Nigel Short ENG 2696 38 1965

So which decade contains the winner?
I'm cheering for the youngsters because they play exciting chess, and for the old timers because they are my age.

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