Alexander qualified to Corus A by virtue of his well-deserved shared win in the B group last year. For this exciting debut, he is enjoying a small jump-start: He served as the on-site commentator at the recently finished Tal Memorial, where no less than 6(!) Corus A participants took part – a great chance to get up close and personal with his soon to be rivals.

2006 wasn’t a very active chess year for the former Russian champion, as except for Corus he played in only a few events in his home country, such as the Russian team championship (a good 5/8 score), and the strongest open in the world, Aeroflot (which he previously won), where he finished with a very respectable 5.5/9. Still, all these were good enough to push his rating back up a couple of dozen points. Claiming his ‘play for mate’ game style has mellowed, Alexander is still an aggressive and creative player who has a wide opening repertoire.

About 4 years ago, he was given his first taste of clashing with the world’s best in the Russia versus the rest of the world match. Then, a dismal 1/6 was all he could muster, but he certainly picked up what he will need to change to make this second shot a more successful experience.