On September 17th, Michael Addams, the 9th rank
player in the world answered the 10 world championship questions. Adams did
not expose his preparations for this match. He did say that any thing can
happen and the strongest player will win. He did favor Anand, Topalov and
Leko but added that all the players are evenly matched.
Adams has showed this year that he can beat all the top players in
this tournament. Though he never wins any top tournaments, Adams has beaten
Kramnik, Anand, Topalov and Leko this year. It seems the only opponents
Adams can’t handle are Kasparov and Hydra. Lucky for Adams, they won’t be
playing in San Luis. I think of Adams as a top 10 chess iron man. He seems
to never miss a tournament. In 2005, he played in 4 top classical chess
tournaments, namely Corus, Linares, Mtel, and Dortmund. He also drew Leko in
an 8 game rapid match. Adams also played a 6-game match against Hydra, the
strongest silicon beast since Deep Blue. Unfortunately Adams was only able
to take a half point out of 6 games against Hydra.
Based on this very busy schedule, I am not sure how well
prepared or rested Adams will be for San Luis You also have to worry about
his confidence going into this tournament. Adams took last place at Mtel in
May. After taking the first 3 games against Leko, Adams lost the next three
games and had to settle for a drawn match in June. Hydra crushed him a few
weeks later. At Dortmund In July, Adams finished in the last third of the
pack.
Michael Adams knows the road through San Luis goes through
Anand, Topalov, and Leko. Adams also knows he has beaten these top players
this year. Adams is right, the strongest player will win San Luis. Adams has
show he can beat the strongest players.
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