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Author Topic: Chess thread  (Read 340644 times)
Tal
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« Reply #360 on: October 11, 2012, 08:43:00 PM »



And now they are underway.


 It is a common feature - especially for Carlsen and Aronian - that the players will have a wander after about half an hour to see what the other guys have been playing in the other games.



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Tal
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« Reply #361 on: October 11, 2012, 09:00:30 PM »

I've mentioned this before but Anand is in a bit of a rut. He can't seem to win - or lose - a game. Eight consecutive draws is a little silly. It certainly can happen of course but a player who has been known throughout his career as creative and attacking is showing none of that now.

I would expect him to draw the remaining games from this tournament, in all honesty. He wouldn't want to lose as he'll finish below 50% and he's not showing signs he'll be winning any.

Tomorrow's game is against Carlsen and they generally draw their games.
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The Baron
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« Reply #362 on: October 11, 2012, 09:15:34 PM »

I've mentioned this before but Anand is in a bit of a rut. He can't seem to win - or lose - a game. Eight consecutive draws is a little silly. It certainly can happen of course but a player who has been known throughout his career as creative and attacking is showing none of that now.

I would expect him to draw the remaining games from this tournament, in all honesty. He wouldn't want to lose as he'll finish below 50% and he's not showing signs he'll be winning any.

Tomorrow's game is against Carlsen and they generally draw their games.

What has made such a dramatic change in style?
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Tal
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« Reply #363 on: October 11, 2012, 09:33:46 PM »

On a personal note (to finish off this long set of posts), I found out yesterday afternoon that I was to be playing a different chap to the one I expected. This one I had a bit of a run in with last year, where he basically accused me of pulling a stroke. It was a misunderstanding but the chap is into his late 70s at least and quite frail. He was not to be convinced and left our club last year claiming that he was giving up chess.

In preparation for last night's game, I had a look at last year's record and learned some variations for the opening he plays as Black against 1.e4. He is a surprisingly strong tactical player and my equal in rating. He has been a much stronger player so was going to be a threat. I was satisfied that he would make a certain seven moves to start with. By preparing three possible lines, depending on what he did after move 7, I had the bases covered.

And so it proved. The game and the tactics were close to a game played in Illford in 1964 between two strong Brits of the day, Penrose and Clarke. It sounds like it was easy but far from it. It took a lot of hard work to make the right moves and keep the pressure on. I cramped my opponent, pushing him back to defend his position.

The trick then is to avoid letting him exchange pieces and not to open the position up with pawn swaps. Instead, I gradually got my pieces into the best positions and made threats against a few of his pawns, each time either forcing another pieces out of position or making him commit to a pawn move that would leave a gap behind.

After a threat to blast open his defences with a sacrifice, he had to concede more ground and his weaknesses became to sizeable and numerous. I found an elegant checkmate to wind the game up, which is always pleasing.

I know all this sounds general but I hope it explains a bit about the thought process.

Learning opening moves by rote is all well and good but there is a risk. What happens if the villain deviates? Say you know that villain will likely play 1.e4 and then king's knight out and then king's bishop out. So you learn what to do about that. What happens when he plays 1.e4 but then plays the bishop before the knight? Do you play the second move you were going to play? Or do you play the move you were going to play after he moved the knight (changing your move order)? Or do you play something different?

Let's make a poker comparison: Tikay says on Sky Poker one night that if a guy check-calls on a two-suit flop, then check calls the blank turn, then leads the blank river, he might well have missed his flush draw. You remember that. Good. You play at DTD one afternoon and you come up against Tal at the tables, who does just that. Now, you snap call with 22 and I show top set (hero, I know...). What you didn't take into account was that there was another player in the pot so I was leading into two players rather than one. A subtle change that might make no difference or might make all the difference.

Understanding > Knowledge
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The Baron
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« Reply #364 on: October 11, 2012, 09:39:28 PM »

Can you post up your move list from your recent game? I'm sure like many I'm very intrigued.
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Tal
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« Reply #365 on: October 11, 2012, 09:45:33 PM »

I've mentioned this before but Anand is in a bit of a rut. He can't seem to win - or lose - a game. Eight consecutive draws is a little silly. It certainly can happen of course but a player who has been known throughout his career as creative and attacking is showing none of that now.

I would expect him to draw the remaining games from this tournament, in all honesty. He wouldn't want to lose as he'll finish below 50% and he's not showing signs he'll be winning any.

Tomorrow's game is against Carlsen and they generally draw their games.

What has made such a dramatic change in style?

Good question, Baron.

The obvious answer would be confidence. However, he hasn't played well for some time and - from an outsider's perspective like what I have - he's been in decline for maybe 18 months.

His world championship series was criticised for being a bit dull but it was as much Gelfand's preparation neutralising Anand's game as anything else.

Is his interest in the game waning? That's hard to know. He isn't showing signs of that in press conferences and he is playing plenty of tournaments.

Maybe he's just got a bit stale. That can happen if you play too much and he is in demand.

He is still a very, very strong chess player.
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« Reply #366 on: October 11, 2012, 09:48:11 PM »

It seems today's players all get on very well. What are the greatest rivalries in chess in it's past and in today's game in your opinion?

Thanks Tal.
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« Reply #367 on: October 11, 2012, 09:51:53 PM »

It seems today's players all get on very well. What are the greatest rivalries in chess in it's past and in today's game in your opinion?

Thanks Tal.

Karpov v Korchnoi are my Liverpool v Manchester United rivalry from my childhood.  But the biggest one for me is Fischer v Spassky.
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« Reply #368 on: October 11, 2012, 09:52:43 PM »

It seems today's players all get on very well. What are the greatest rivalries in chess in it's past and in today's game in your opinion?

Thanks Tal.

Karpov v Korchnoi are my Liverpool v Manchester United rivalry from my childhood.  But the biggest one for me is Fischer v Spassky.

Who was Liverpool?
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« Reply #369 on: October 11, 2012, 09:58:45 PM »

It seems today's players all get on very well. What are the greatest rivalries in chess in it's past and in today's game in your opinion?

Thanks Tal.

Karpov v Korchnoi are my Liverpool v Manchester United rivalry from my childhood.  But the biggest one for me is Fischer v Spassky.

Who was Liverpool?

Karpov, obviously - he won Wink

(He had a bigger rivalry with Kasparov though really)
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The Baron
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« Reply #370 on: October 11, 2012, 10:00:42 PM »

It seems today's players all get on very well. What are the greatest rivalries in chess in it's past and in today's game in your opinion?

Thanks Tal.

Karpov v Korchnoi are my Liverpool v Manchester United rivalry from my childhood.  But the biggest one for me is Fischer v Spassky.

Who was Liverpool?

Karpov, obviously - he won Wink

(He had a bigger rivalry with Kasparov though really)

Cheesy

Were you firmly in one camp I mean?

Yeah I've studied most of Karpov v Kasparov, mbsfn to be a Russian chess fan at that time.
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kinboshi
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« Reply #371 on: October 11, 2012, 10:07:12 PM »

Kasparov was the current Barca side.

Simply the best ever, by a mile imo.
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Tal
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« Reply #372 on: October 11, 2012, 10:28:13 PM »

Capablanca and Alekhine didn't get on too well and are regarded as two of the all-time greats in their own right. That would be your Liverpool v Man U, I reckon.

Fischer v the USSR would probably be the greatest rivalry. He was a man on his own at times against eight Soviet players. There were odd results and draws that meant that a Soviet player won and Fischer was never backward in coming forward to put his opinion in. He frequently said the Russians conspired and colluded. This would have been the mid sixties, so Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Keres, Kotov, Smyslov, Spassky and a number of others, with Fischer the only threat sometimes.

With the Cold War in full swing and chess just about the National sport of Russia under communism, can you imagine how important victory was for both sides?
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Tal
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« Reply #373 on: October 11, 2012, 10:31:54 PM »

Can you post up your move list from your recent game? I'm sure like many I'm very intrigued.

Will do but will prob have a look at it myself to see whether there was anything interesting I missed first. Will put it up in the next week.
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« Reply #374 on: October 11, 2012, 10:48:16 PM »

Can you post up your move list from your recent game? I'm sure like many I'm very intrigued.

Will do but will prob have a look at it myself to see whether there was anything interesting I missed first. Will put it up in the next week.

Post up the whole game, bit by bit, and let us amateurrecdonkfish examine it Cheesy
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