I'll cut right to the chase... Bad News - the pairings are still all screwed up on the official WCC website... :-((( Good News - Rybka is still holding strong and pays 10 c-bucks for 10 c-bucks against Zappa! ~lol~

<REMEMBER, SATURDAY IS A REST DAY>

Round 8: Friday

Svidler-Kramnik: Svidler have a record of +2 -9 =15 against Kramnik. With white, Svidler is +2 -1 =9 against Kramnik. In their round 1 meeting, it was a draw after 23 moves.

Aronian-Morozevich: Aronian is +1 -1 =3 when paired up with Morozevich. With white, Aronian is +1 -0 =1 against Morozevich. In their earlier meeting, it was a draw after 25 moves.

Gelfand-Anand: Gelfand have a record of +6 -6 =24 against Anand. With white, Gelfand is +6 (none came after 1993) -1 (1993) =13 against Anand. Their earlier game, was a draw after 22 moves.

Leko-Grischuk: Leko have a record of +2 -0 =10 overall when facing Grischuk. With white, Leko is +2 -0 =4 against Grischuk. Their earlier game was a draw after 26 moves.

Also I'd like to say that the quality of betting has gone up recently. I am looking around for "bargains" and I can't find any--not even in the pick three!! This game is becoming more challenging as the quality of the players goes up.

If I may rant just a bit CG Bookie (I'll try to keep this short) considering the major nightmare in the official WCC chess tournament pairings which occurred just 20 minutes before game time yesterday. Hopefully you've also looked at some of the other Forums worldwide. We are all in shock that this was screwed up so bad 'pairing' wise. In the case here you put up the first new bet an 'Opening Choice' for Gris in his game with Anand just after you began the massive cancellation of all bets from Round #6 and some games also from Round #7. To me (us) looking at the clock quickly ticking away decided to start typing very fast. As I'd spent over an hour and half the night before working out my entire betting strategy and spending all of my c-bucks. It also took at least 5 minutes collecting all my 30 plus singular ticket bets to have any c-bucks to even begin to bet with.

It was only after I sunk about $1.6K into it (the 'Opening Choice' given above) that I realized: 1) This bet was for Round #7 (not Round #6), and 2) You were only going to put up one real bet for the current Round #6 - a mid bet for the game between Leko and Kramnik. Well it was right there I stopped and realized that I would have to either invest at least another 800 to 1.2K in c-bucks to neutralize my mistake and fix it (my total investment there was 2.8K, btw). Since two major openings (with two sub-opening choices) were involved and I wasn't sure yet which major opening system (the Sicilian or the Ruy) to favor. Plus, you didn't duplicate your betting entries from the previous spread (dropped the 'Daily Double' entry entirely). Had I known all this in advance (stressing the word 'advance') I would have pondered my betting strategy and crafted it much more carefully.

Next time if something totally horrendous like this ever occurs may I suggest that you 'Stop the Press' and take the time to explain to us exactly what's going on so that we fully and clearly understand it. In reading your disclaimer much later (within the small text block on the actual betting process of the webpage re: bogus published pairings made by FIDE) yes it's clear. However, this was no ordinary ~SNAFU~ it was a major blunder creating havoc throughout the chess world and I think many of us didn't realize for quite some time what was really going on and what had just actually occurred and taken place.

[Continued in the next post]

On the bright side at least for me (having $2.8K less to work and bet with) I tried my very best. Certainly had my opportunities but didn't hit the key components necessary to pull it off (I've already explained the advantages of having and making your c-bucks work for you in this Forum) and it's unknown if I could have done better with more. Since in the end I only ended up losing a few hundred c-bucks and still maintained my plus $5K status and neither <TIMER> or <Buriag> have run away with it yet! ~lol~ I was fully expecting to see maybe one or two CG.com members possibly breaking the $10K barrier already. OK - without further detailed explanation this is a good as place as any to end it. I just felt it important to point out very clearly there are direct consequences to your actions taken. It's all 'water under the bridge' now. ;-)

On to Round #8 and let the great CG Bookie betting continue and 'Good Luck' to all! :-))) Regards, - Mal

PS: Of course today we received another WCC present from Mexico... Today's great chess games were totally all screwed up! ~lol~ Naturally, it didn't affect the betting at all just the viewing pleasure until we all had the chance to figure it out. On which chessboard, with which opening system and with which players? All right so we knew immediately where the 'Kramnik-Gelfand' game was! ;-)

Exactamundo <TIMER> ! :-) I'll be holding a special place for yeah if I'm still in the game... As mentioned eons ago Priority #1 is to qualify (gain one of the top ten spots).

I bet 500 c-bucks on Phase II... ;-)

Round 9: Sunday

Morozevich-Kramnik: Overall, Morozevich is +1 -4 =4 against Kramnik. With white, Morozevich is +0 -2 =2 against Kramnik. In their earlier meeting Kramnik won with white.

Anand-Aronian: Overall, they are tied at +1 -1 =4. The win by Anand came in the earlier round of the tournament, where Aronian had white but lost. When Anand have white, he is +0 -0 =3 against Aronian.

Grischuk-Gelfand: Overall, Grischuk is +5 -3 =11 against Gelfand. With white, Grischuk is +4 -1 =4 against Gelfand. Their earlier meeting resulted in a draw.

Leko-Svidler: Overall, Leko is +2 -7 =19 against Svidler. With white, Leko is +2 -2 =9. Their earlier meeting resulted in a draw.