Chess thread

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8699

The final bit of jockeying for position as the penultimate round came to a conclusion.

Anand ½-½ Nakamura
McShane 0-1 Polgar
Aronian ½-½ Adams
Kramnik 1-0 Jones

Click to see full-size image.

So it is between Carlsen and Kramnik as to who lifts the trophy tomorrow. Carlsen knows if he wins against Anand, Kramnik's result doesn't matter.

If Carlsen draws (and his record against Anand is almost overwhelmed by draws) and Kramnik wins, then you need a pencil...

First tie break is number of wins. That would be level

Second tie break is number of wins with Black.  Yep. Level.

Third is the result between the two. Draw.

So, it would be a playoff. Two blitz games to decide the champion. This favours Carlsen but not by as much as you might think. Kramnik has excellent opening knowledge and that counts for a lot. This would be a coin flip; like saying you'd take 88 over KJ, because you know there is a few percent in your favour.

Adams is playing for second, mind, and he will relish the prospect of being British Number 1 again at the first opportunity.

Polgar v Aronian smells like a dead rubber, although there is a chance of some extra prize money for the winner.

Nakamura v McShane could be a blood fest.

Marvellous.

[Tal]

[The Baron]

Tough tourney for McShane, I'm a bit gutted about that, love seeing him take some big scalps with agressive play.

Abs loving this - I've watched live tinternet chess all weekend. FML.

[Tal]

Yes it hasn't quite worked out this week for Luke. There comes a point where you have to remember he is an amateur player and there will be tourneys where his imaginative solutions and unusual plans don't work. When it all comes together - like the win against Aronian earlier this year or the win against Carlsen here a couple of years ago - it is completely magical.

Jones was excellent in the British Championships but this is a level up from there and you can lose a game without making a mistake (at least in the sense that a couple of suboptimal moves could be enough). He'll get into the 2700 club soon enough and I've no doubt he has the talent to make the top 50. He just needs to control his aggression a bit better (says a rank amateur!). It is his day off tomorrow, so he will finish by helping with the commentary.

[Tal]

An article on the emotions involved in a chess match.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8668

Given the level of detail and science involved, this might reasonably be labelled "honeybadger porn", so have a glass of water to-hand before you click the link.

[titaniumbean]

scrolled down to have a look at all the article in picture and big wall of text form before reading anything and I massively have the horn.


literally cant wait to read it. tyvm

[Tal]

scrolled down to have a look at all the article in picture and big wall of text form before reading anything and I massively have the horn.


literally cant wait to read it. tyvm

Carlsberg don't do endorsements...

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8700

The final round of the London Chess Classic brought to an end a tournament that will go down I am sure as being one for the ages. Some incredible chess was on display over the past none days and if it wasn't quite as dramatic today, the defensive skills were no less prevalent.

In tournaments over a week or so, you tend to find a particular opening cropping up again and again. This time, there have been a few games where the Ruy Lopez has featured and today there were three of them.

The Lopez starts:

1.e4  e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5

and the game can continue in a number of ways, with 3...a6 the most common and 3...Nf6 Kramnik's favoured Berlin Variation.

Aronian v Polgar saw one of the sharpest variations where Black played a line devised by and named after a man we have seen in our player profiles: Frank Marshall. He was a swashbuckler and the variation is a fitting reminder. Aronian coped well and they were the first to finish with a draw.

McShane had a final flurry with an exchange sacrifice (this means when you give up a rook for either a bishop or a knight) against Nakamura and made a rotten mistake to bring a very disappointing tournament to a close. The American claimed third place.

Adams v Kramnik has two players fighting for second, with Kramnik still in with a shout for first, if he could win and the Norwegian only draw. Kramnik's trusty Berlin was on display and Adams's attempt to put some life in the position didn't really work. They agreed a draw and I don't see either player felt they were in danger at any stage.

This meant Carlsen was the winner, but he didn't just shake hands with Anand and go off to celebrate. No sir. He fancied a win. Try as he might, Carlsen couldn't get enough from the position to get past Anand's defence so he had to make do with a draw.

Click to see full-size image.

The modern game is incredibly intense but it is wonderful to see a player like Carlsen come along and outplay the best in the world in level endgames. It is a great advert to us all that you don't need to agree a draw just because the pieces are level. Play on, says Magnus, and let the other guy prove he can defend.

It's been a pleasure doing the summaries. I hope you've enjoyed following the action.

[Honeybadger]

Tal, thanks so much for doing this. I have been enthralled every day.

[Tal]

Something completely different this morning.

It always interests me when poker players during a hand touch their 'phone. It might be to turn their music off, it might be to reject an incoming call, it is almost exclusively done in good faith. However, I do wonder whether, if I got into a big pot with them, knowing I was drawing dead, and they touched their screen, I could call the floor and ask for their hand to be declared dead.

We must all have thought about it, if only for a fleeting second. Most of us have the good grace to treat the game as a game and, unless it were for more money that we probably should be playing for, there's generally something there in the back of the heart stopping us from being a social pariah.

Sometimes though it is taken out of our hands and, say the TD walked past and saw the villain fiddling with his iPhone like Will.i.am when the camera is averted. He might call the rule without your enquiry; even against your wishes.

The same applies in chess. If your 'phone goes off during a game, you lose. That's it. All mobiles must be switched off when playing and there is a rule of strict liability. If it happens in a tournament, you are left with very little leeway and there is a fabulous story of Nigel Short turning up slightly late to a tournament, shaking his opponent's hand, writing his name on his score sheet, his 'phone going off and him writing 1-0 on the score sheet without barely a lift of his pen, leaving the playing hall without even taking his coat off!

On Monday, I played a league match against a stronger opponent (by about 200 rating points). The game was a wild and dangerous variation of the Dutch defence (1.d4 f5) and, about two hours into the game, he had a text alert. He went bright red. He held his hand out and said "I am so sorry", sighed and added "well that's it". I quietly said "Just turn it off" and he couldn't believe it. Against a stronger opponent, sadly, a lot of people claim the game there and it is a damning indictment on the state of league chess IMO.

There is no money at stake; no grand prize resting on the result. I play because I want a game. I don't want to lose and I'll try my damnedest to blast everyone off the board given half a chance, but it is over the board, not round it.

I ended up getting an advantage but the endgame was horribly difficult to win, so I accepted a draw after 2½ hours of play, rather than adjourning and completing the game in a couple of weeks. It was all rather odd and there are plenty of people in our league who would have claimed the game, but on this occasion, it didn't feel right to me.

Should we choose which rules we follow?

[Tal]

Tal, thanks so much for doing this. I have been enthralled every day.

Thank you, Honeybadger.

[kinboshi]

Should we choose which rules we follow?

Choose your own, as you did. 

[TightEnd]

Mr Tal

I have learnt and played a lot

(as black)

RuyLopez

Sicilian-najdorf-schvennigen - 3 versions (spelling?)

French, Caro Kann


although at my level I am soon out of prep as my opponents can do random stuff, early!

Which set of defenses are the most common that I should be genning up on next?



As white, players tend to be e4 or d4 players?

I have been exclusively e4 but am going to learn up d4 stuff next

[kinboshi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence,_Dragon_Variation

One not to be omitted from your repertoire if you're playing Sicilian.

[TightEnd]

yup, I should have included that

Fianchettoed bishops etc