Even RankBeginner could draw this endgame ... if he were playing white!

1. Kramnik 9.0
2-3. Morozevich, Gelfand 7.0
4-5. Ivanchuk, Svidler 6.5
6. Aronian 6.0
7-8. Anand, Radjabov 5.0
9-10. Carlsen, Leko 4.0
11. van Wely 3.5
12. Vallejo 2.5

Good: Kramnik was in a class of his own, Radjabov dropped a couple of pieces in the beginning of his first blindfold tournament but finished even with Anand and ahead of Leko. Gelfand was very stable.

<maarnold: I don't have a basis for that comment...other than they always seem to play hard fought aggressive games against each other>

<Magnus Carlsen, the official bulletin tells us, started his blindfold game against Loek van Wely with an unusual request. To understand what he was asking we should explain that in the blindfold games the players have a choice. If you are playing with the black pieces you can ‘turn around the board’ and play with black at the bottom of the screen. Some players don’t care about this possibility, others find it more convenient to have the board just like they would have it ‘in real life’. Magnus was the first player ever to ask to play with the white at the top of the screen although he was White! The game was drawn. In the rapid game Carlsen picked up a whole point with the black pieces (which were on his side of the chessboard).>

When someone uses the phrase "mostly due", it sounds like they're saying the overall achievement isn't as impressive as it could be, and that somehow what follows "mostly due" is the result of unfair circumstances. For example: "Roger Federer won the US Open, mostly due to the relative weakness of his opponents along the way to the final." I think that in our case, a more appropriate tagline should be: "Kramnik wins the overall prize, thanks in particular to his stunning 9/11 score in the blindfold event."