Six of the eight players from last year's tournament are back in 2008, and yet the Morelia leg saw twice as many decisive games as in 2007. A number of factors have contributed to the slugfest so far, including the two new players, Alexei Shirov and Teimour Radjabov, whose aggressive style and opening choices are less drawish than, say, the Petroff as played by Kramnik.

Kramnik hasn't played in the tournament since he won it in 2004, the same year Shirov last competed here. Of course Shirov is no stranger to Linares, having played in ten editions of the tournament since 1993. He has placed last, or tied for last, in five of them, but also finished as high as second, a half point behind Anand, in 1998. Now, after a strong 2007, Shirov is back the Top 10, ten years later, and again a half a point behind Anand, who leads the field with 4.5/7.

Shirov took out Radjabov's pet K.I.D., in Round 7, to move into a tie with the early leader Veselin Topalov. After the game on Saturday, Shirov told me that he's generally satisfied with his play. "It was a little bit sad not to convert the advantage yesterday," he said referring to his draw with Black against Vassily Ivanchuk, from a position in which he was clearly better. "After that," added Shirov, "It was not even easy to sleep properly."

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Shirov credits Anand with showing the best chess so far, and Vishy's +2 score (with 3 wins and 1 loss) puts him exactly where he was this time last year. The difference is that today he is the sole leader, whereas in 2007 Magnus Carlsen, then 16 years old, was putting on one of the most spectacular performances by a youth in chess history. He led the tournament through much of the first half and finished an impressive second overall.