Linares 2009 Round 8 & 9 catchup

I missed round 8 and 9 again due to not feeling well, it's not like the flu or anything, just sometimes the polymyositis (stable) and all the meds (over 20/day) have an effect on the body that just "lays you up", a quote I heard in my childhood up in South Dakota, it was 7 degrees F here today in Kansas, I would hate to see what the temp was up there! I'm just not used to it anymore, I remember as kids we would put 3 or 4 pairs of socks on, couple pairs of pants and shirts, plus winter coat and go outside in this weather and play American Football, when there was a snowbank in the endzone, would could pretend we were our heroes (Tony Dorsett when running and Roger Staubach when passing), and dive into the snow like we were hurtling a huge defensive line to get the touchdown. The thought of hurtling myself over anything just plain scares me now! OWW! I can't even dive over a crack in the sidewalk, but they get me! :) I noticed something, it's not slow-motion like when you were a kid, just BOOM! On the floor or sidewalk, lawn, whatever...heaven help anything below me!

Well to Linares...

Round 8 Results

T. Radjabov 1/2 V. Anand
M. Carlsen 0-1 L. Aronian
A. Grischuk 1/2 L. Dominguez
V. Ivanchuk 1/2 Wang Yue


Round 9 Results

V. Ivanchuk 1/2 T. Radjabov
Wang Yue 1/2 A. Grischuk
L. Dominguez 0-1 M. Carlsen
L. Aronian 1/2 V. Anand


Stsndings after Round 9

1 6.0 GM Alexander Grischuk RUS 2733

2-4 5.0 GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2779
GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2776
GM Levon Aronian ARM 2750

5 4.5 GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2791

6-8 3.5 GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2717
GM Wang Yue CHN 2739
GM Teimour Radjabov AZE 2761

I do have to say that GM Anand's position in the pack is a surprise to me, but I guess if you are the World Champ and the title is not on the line, you don't have as many worries, it will also be interesting to see how the Amber tournament goes, although it's rapid and blindfold chess, it's always a very interesting event. As an added plus, World Champion Viswanathan Anand (India), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Gata Kamsky (United States), Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Wang Yue (China), will be the twelve participants, if only GM Kramnik was there! This tournament starts on March 14, 2009 So another thing to look forward to seeing!