Get Your Vote On

There's a poll in the message boards to pick the winner of the Petrosian Memorial team event that starts Wednesday. (I lobbied to get the name changed to the Mig Memorial since it starts on my birthday. [Actually it starts on the 10th, not 9th. Oh well, another strike.] This generous offer was declined because 1) my chess contributions fall a tad short of Petrosian's and 2) I'm not dead. I remember the Buenos Aires Herald calling the 1994 Sicilian Thematic the Polugaevsky Memorial, apparently unaware that Lev was alive and in attendance, although not playing.)

So far the Kasparov-led Petrosian team is leading the voting over the Anand-led World team. There are three top-ten regulars on each team, but I think many might underestimate the strength of the Armenian players. I'd say Akopian, Vaganian, and Lputian have at least as many major successes as van Wely, Bacrot, and Vallejo. They just don't appear in Wijk aan Zee and Linares.