Before dismissing this as just one of the oddities that crop up with the K-factor at 40, the actual results that made this rating possible need to be acknowledged. This was not achieved by playing some unknown tournament scoring massively against lower-rated players. This was achieved playing the DC International, the World Open, and the New York International (won by Gata Kamsky). In those three tournaments he faced 13 international masters, scoring 8.0/13, and five grandmasters against whom he scored 3.0/5. His performance was consistent in all three events.
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