After a year’s break, the pleasant GM from St. Petersburg is back at Corus. 2005 started with a middle of the crosstable placing in the Linares-Morelia event with 6.5/14, and the same in Sofia’s M-Tel (5/10). Next came a lukewarm result in the Olympiad (+1), but just as it looked as if this would be a mediocre year, came Dortmund. An exciting joint win (with Kramnik) lifted Peter’s year and his elite status to shared 3-4 place in the world. The year ended with an uneventful even score at the Tal Memorial (4.5/9).

Svidler was keeping active in other events, including good performances in the European leagues he takes part in: German, French and Spanish, and a cool 2nd place in the World Blitz Championship in Israel (behind Grischuk). After 3 years of reigning as the undisputed king of the Fischer-Random variant, Levon Aronian stopped Peter this year for the first time, beating him in Mainz.

Corus had traditionally been rough on this multiple time Russian champion. Twice he finished with a minus 1 score – a result he cannot find satisfying. Could this year be the one to finish at or close to the top?