Today's pairings: Anand-Adams 1-0, Polgar-Kasimdzhanov 1-0, Svidler-Leko 1-0, Morozevich-Topalov 0-1. Anand and Topalov lead on +2, Leko trails at -2.
Round two again stirred up the anger of the computer-addicted twits out there who wouldn't recognize a good game if it bit them in their silicon ass implants. The tablebase-endowed got all hot and bothered about all the "blunders" in the Topalov-Anand game, and they weren't even talking about the real mistakes! Both players made real human mistakes in the queen and two pawns vs queen endgame, i.e. errors that they could reasonably be expected not to make. But comparing the rest of the complicated check-fest to perfect tablebase computer play is absurd.
Back to human chess, Anand exhibited his habit of playing quickly and lazily in technical positions and allowed Topalov to create real threats with his bishop pair. (46.Bg5! was nice.) Later, the clearest win to me looks like 60.g5 Qe7 61.Qxe7 Bxe7 62.Bd4+ Kh7 63.Bxb2 Bxg5 64.Bg7. So, first Anand should have drawn, then he was clearly lost but defended with his usual tenacity and Topalov couldn't find the knockout. A thrilling game, if not a great one, and no doubt exhausting for both players.
Leko won the draw and got two whites in a row to start the event. He has used both of them to exhibit a total inability to play aggressively enough to put someone away in the Open Sicilian. Here he let his h-pawn sit around against Morozevich instead of blasting away. (31.h5 looks like a no-brainer, but surely not a forced win.) At least Leko didn't go on to lose this one, although it was close. He has reverted to Leko 1.0 at just the wrong moment.
Caught some of Seirawan's live audio commentary at Playchess.com during the round, great stuff as always from Yaz. Having done it myself I know it's tough to drone on constantly without a visible audience, but he is a stud at it. Informative and fun, he only needs to put some John Madden BANG! BOOM! into his voice so he doesn't hypnotize us all. (Unless that is his evil plan!) But he was doubtlessly as tired as the players by the third hour. He should also feel free to kick back and tell a few stories, that sort of thing, instead of worrying about giving a constant stream of variations and analysis. Maybe he did that when I wasn't listening.
[Round 3 update: White is okay! Adams lost control in complications and lost to a fine Anand attack. Polgar beat Kasimdzhanov in her style (20.Bb5!) in the same ultra-sharp, ultra-theoretical Sicilian piece sac line where she beat Anand a few years ago. But Fritz points out 22..Be5!! as saving, maybe even winning, for Black. (23.f4 Rxa2!; 24.Kb1 Kg7! amazing) So she should have taken the queen. That doesn't look good at first but White gets a rook back with an easy win: 22.Rxe8+ Kxe8 (22...Qxe8 23.Qd6+) 23.Rxe7+ Kxe7 24.Nd5+ The trick. White wins the a8 rook no matter what. 24...Kf8 (24...Kd6 25.f6!) 25.Nc7 with mate threat 25..Bf6 26.Nxa8]
Svidler beat Leko in a game that confirms Leko's horrible form. After the mindlessly passive 24..Rd8 Black is just wiped off the board. That knight on b7 is a crime against cavalry. Topalov won against Morozevich with black long after picking off a pawn with an amusing knight wheel starting with 24..Nc6. Moro is certainly not his normal aggressive self so far.

Veselin Topalov was first to arrive in San Luis, Argentina for the 2005
The World Chess Federation has reached an agreement with the leadership of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region-Yugra in respect of the organisation of the 2005 World Chess Cup. The tournament will be taking place from 3 to 24 December 2005 with the total prize fund of USD 1,572,000. [On the 28th this was changed to Nov. 26 - Dec. 17 to accomodate the Russian Championship final.]

I am a graduate student in computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (I live in Urbana). This is my first year. I already have an MS in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, home to Hitech & Deep Thought. I managed to take a class in parallel computing from 