Gashimov Memorial 2015 - Round 8

Opening: B91: Sicilian: Najdorf

Player(s): Adams, Giri

IM John Watson recaps Round 8. Most of us keep writing Anand off because of his age. If Vishy were in his 20's we all would be here writing that he's the best player around, obviously after the unreachable Norwegian monster. Anand, playing all kinds of openings, is having a great tournament in Shamkir, and today's brilliant win against Azeri #1 Mamedyarov confirms his state of grace. Vishy is playing good chess, interesting, even daring at times, for the joy of his many fans. Magnus Carlsen drew with Wesley So; this put Anand only half a point behind the World Champion, making Vishy the only player who can hope to catch Carlsen on top in the last round. Adams interrupted the negative string of bad results, by winning a very nice game against the young Giri. Tomorrow last round, starting at 6AM EDT, with Carlsen vs. Mamedov and Caruana vs. Anand. The World Champion has - in theory - the easiest game, but in a last round anything can happen.