Quote:
Originally Posted by YouKnowWho
Ding
Yu Yangyi
Radjabov
Vachier
4/4 baby. Can't say it wasn't close or my picks weren't extremely lucky, but I will take it!
Now the two easiest picks of the entire competition incoming:
DING - give poor Yu a rest day, fools! Apart from Ding simply being a better player, he has only played 16 total games in this competition, while Yu has played 25! Including an absolutely crazy match yesterday, going to Armageddon. I honestly don't know what FIDE is thinking - it is obvious that the main prize of this entire cup is getting to candidates, the final and the extra money is just a bonus. So how do they not give a free day before the semifinal, I. E. THE MATCHES WHERE THE ENTRANTS TO THE CANDIDATES ARE DECIDED, is beyond me. Anyway, I like Yu a lot, but it would take a superhuman effort from him to defeat all these odds against him, and Ding does not seem like a guy who will collapse under pressure (even though he might crack, a bit).
RADJABOV - yes, you read that right. MVL is slightly better in all formats, but it is definitely not a crushing edge like some might think. What he for sure does have, is a tendency to collapse under pressure. He has said in a recent interview himself that he understands that the window to become WcH or at least get to the match vs Carlsen is closing, so the pressure will be immense, and a lot of it coming from within. Radjabov on the other hand is sort of just happy to be here and don't think he feels nearly as much pressure as MVL.
There are also chess related factors - they haven't played much (due to Radjabov's hiatus, mainly), so MVL's opponent-specific preparation, which very often gives him an edge, won't be nearly as potent this time around, coupled with a fact that Radjabov is an excellent theoretician himself. Radjabov is also in an excellent form and should be fairly fresh, having played just 16 games up until this point - and some of them versus Mamedyarov, so we can sort of halfway discount those, so he actually played like 14. Even though MVL has also played only 18 (that's still like an extra match), but he had some close and very draining encounters versus Jakovenko and Aronian.
So, I add all that up and get a super easy Radjabov pick.
LETS GO!