Chess thread

[Tal]

Sunglasses, eh?

[Tal]

Statement by Magnus Carlsen
After qualifying for the World Championship match by winning the London Candidates I have been highly motivated for, and looking forward to the World Championship match against reigning champion V. Anand.

I’m deeply disappointed and surprised by the FIDE decision to sign a contract for the 2013 match without going through the bidding process outlined in the WC regulations, and for not choosing neutral ground. The bid from Paris clearly showed that it would be possible to have more options to choose from.
The lack of transparency, predictability and fairness is unfortunate for chess as a sport and for chess players.

My team and I will now start preparing for the match. The main thing now will be to come to an agreement with the Indian Chess Federation and FIDE regarding terms and conditions before and during the match. I really hope this process will run quick and smoothly.

Lastly, I will not let the news from Baku diminish the joy and excitement derived from playing the top level Norway Chess tournament starting tomorrow.

Magnus Carlsen, May 6th, 2013

[Tal]

So, what do you reckon? Should the World Champ get home field advantage? Should he have the right to choose? Should the governing body be allowed to decide?

As to the history of the Championship Match, here you will find a list of the matches, dating back to de Labourdenais:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_world_championship_matches

There was a spell if USSR domination and Moscow made sense to be the venue. Alekhine defending his title in 31 against Capablanca in Cuba stands out as an interesting one. By that point, Alekhine (iirc) couldn't play in Russia, but there were other countries!

So, what do we think?

[Tal]

There's a puzzle every day on Chess.com:

http://www.chess.com/

Have fun with this one. Nothing too fiendish but might take a cup of coffee

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009753/norway-chess-2013-rd1-strong-start-with-three-wins-090513.aspx

There's a tournament just started in Norway and the us aan impressive lineup, including, Carlsen, Anand and Aronian.

Round one saw three wins from the five games and I shalln't do a daily report more that posting the links, unless there is something particularly interesting or instructive, as Danny King's videos and the Chessbase reports are excellent.



It is all super-GMs with the exception of John Hammer (what a name! 70s Detective?). He is a strong player, capable of winning comps the world over, but this is a big step up in class. He's the local boy (yes, Carlsen is but he would have been invited anyway) so let's see if he can claim a scalp or two.

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009745/norway-2013-blitz-won-by-sergey-karjakin-080513.aspx

The day before round one, there was an exhibition blitz comp, which was won by Sergei Karjakin:



I would encourage you to play through the Hammer-Carlsen game, as Carlsen's killer blow is a beast.

[moonandback]

forget super GM's forget ratings north of 2500 the big game yesterday was obviously the Ballinasloe chess clubs junior B (under11) final which was won by My Daughter Aoife who is now the proud owner of a little silver cup. she is also apparently the first girl to win a club championship at any age group ever (since 2002 when they started) /brag #datsmygirl

[Tal]

Spring onions for that!

Brilliant. Well done.

[Tal]

Latest action in Norway:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009767/norway-2013-rd2-karjakin-has-202-100513.aspx

Carlsen v Anand was a fun one, where you weren't sure whether Carlsen was going to break through at the end. The post mortem on video is worth watching.

[Tal]

In 1927 in London, the following game reportedly teaches us to watch what we are doing.

Palau v Kalabar

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2



4...Ke7

White, I can only imagine, spent a few seconds staring at the board in disbelief...



...before playing 5.BxB+ as it dawned on his Yugoslav opponent that he had picked up his king instead of his queen.

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009779/norway-2013-rd3-brilliant-win-by-anand-110513.aspx

I would emplore you to play through Anand's win yeaterday, the analysis of which is linked above.

Anand is starting to play like a man who doesn't want to let his world title go.

[MintTrav]

Unusual suit & cap combination by Nakamura

[Tal]

It most certainly is. He seems to play in caps quite a bit, but with a suit is pushing it at best.

[Tal]

A couple of rounds to catch up on in Norway. Karjakin beat Aronian with the Black pieces after the Armenian made a miscalculation, but he then was beaten by Carlsen, despite a positive start to the game.

Karjakin has threatened to run away with the competition but Carlsen's win pegs his lead back to just a point.

Carlsen isn't the only man on 3, as Hikaru Nakamura defeated Anand in an elegant, manoeuvring game.

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009788/norway-2013-rd4-sergey-karjakin-still-perfect-130513.aspx

Yesterday, the underdog, John Hammer, managed his first win, beating Wang Hao in an error-strewn encounter.

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009810/norway-2013-rd5-carlsen-beats-karjakin-140513.aspx

The wins are well worth playing through, if you have a few spare minutes. I would particularly recommend Nakamura's win against Anand. The American allows himself to have doubled pawns in the centre, but pawns can only be weak if they can easily be attacked.

Have a look at the position and try to see how many times White can hit the pawn on e6. Do as much manouvreing as you like. Now how many times Black can defend it and how much easier it is.

There's a clue here as to what White wants to do: get rid of the major pieces - the queen and the rooks. This would make the pawns much more vulnerable. Nakamura ends up having to swap off one set of rooks but he won't allow the queen exchange. Instead, the doubled pawns give his pieces space and that makes all the difference.

Here is the crosstable as it stands:

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

Karjakin was quick out of the traps but a couple of inaccuracies let Carlsen back in and the Norwegian was eager to pounce.