Screencap from Chess24.com
Congratulations to Ms. Batsiashvili, who is having a great year, professionally. I'm sure Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will be sending you a very expensive present soonest!
I'm also sure that somehow Magnus will still manage to win the tournament on tie-breaks after finishing on 50%. That's just how the organizers roll these days.
I am firmly in the camp that believes the top player's ratings are inflated because they tend to avoid playing in Opens (Kramnik played in his first open in something like 20 years just within the last year), and this is an example of what can happen when the top dogs move to the shallow end of the pool.
ReplyDeleteThese results are rare, but when the opportunity is present, the top guys will get nicked enough (a draw is a rating loss) to keep rating at a more accurate level.