Chess thread

[outragous76]

Anyone watching midsommer murders? Chess themed!

[Tal]

Anyone watching midsommer murders? Chess themed!

Er...no.

You know when the dead people's houses are sold? Well, who is buying them? Who moves house and decides to live in a village where someone is killed every week?

Quite a serious plot hole IMO.

[pokerfan]

I read somewhere Carlsen is the highest ranked Chess player ever.
How does the system work ? Wouldn't have thought this was possible at his age.

Poker fan, I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer your question in more detail. Was at DTD on Saturday (not on Sunday tho...).

Carlsen has been a grandmaster since he was 13 so it's not all that short a time for him to rise to world number 1. By his age, Bobby Fischer was right up there, too.

The overall standard of an elite chess player improved over time because there is more assumed knowledge; opening theory now is incredibly detailed and there are vast resources available. None of this was possible fifty years ago, say.

That he has overtaken Kasparov's record rating is an enormous achievement nevertheless.

Missed this, tks.

[Tal]

A man who is arguably Britain's most colourful chess master was the great Tony Miles. He died in 2001, aged just 46. Here is a neat piece about him and the games of a 22 board blindfold simultaneous exhibition he once gave:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7662

I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times. He could not have had more time for those who wanted to learn.

[Tal]

This is an obituary written by Malcolm Pein (now organiser of the London Chess Classic):

http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/milesmp.html

[Tal]

Three instructive endgame lessons on Chessbase today:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8764

Well worth a flick through (they're games played on JavaScript, so essay to follow - and you can skip to the relevant bits)

Knight against bad bishop is always a good one to recognise.

[Tal]

The Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee kicks off tomorrow and the full round-robin pairings for the main group are here:

http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/schedule/year/2013/group/1

I'm expecting a few draws first up but this should be a tournament where we see plenty of decisive games.

My pick would be Aronian and Carlsen as a 1-2, but we'll have to see how it goes. No betting market AFAIK.

[Tal]

...and here's the Chessbase preview:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8769

[smashedagain]

What sort of sponsorship would Tata be putting up and what's the prize money like. What would they be getting out of the sponsorship and what is the link with chess.

Tata steel own the works here in Scunthorpe and bought it from the Dutch firm that took over from British Steel.

[Tal]

Last year was a €10k first prize so nothing enormous. There's no entry fee for these players tho.

[Tal]

Live chess games:

http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/livegames

It is a really nice presentation with an engine underneath telling you who is winning.

Lots of draws as expected.

A couple of games look dead drawn and another is a technical win.

Karjakin is about to display some neat and precise play to beat Hou Yifan, I predict.

[Jon MW]

... What would they be getting out of the sponsorship and what is the link with chess. ...

I don't know anything about this specifically but when I worked at the British Chess Federation it was pretty clear that almost all sponsorship was as a result of the CEO or similar being a chess fan, there was rarely a commercial imperative.

[Tal]

Thanks, Jon. Sorry, Smashedagain. I misread your question, but Jon is better-placed to answer anyway

[smashedagain]

... What would they be getting out of the sponsorship and what is the link with chess. ...

I don't know anything about this specifically but when I worked at the British Chess Federation it was pretty clear that almost all sponsorship was as a result of the CEO or similar being a chess fan, there was rarely a commercial imperative.

i did not know if it was linked to the Dutch connection I meantioned or even a connection with India.

[Tal]

... What would they be getting out of the sponsorship and what is the link with chess. ...

I don't know anything about this specifically but when I worked at the British Chess Federation it was pretty clear that almost all sponsorship was as a result of the CEO or similar being a chess fan, there was rarely a commercial imperative.

i did not know if it was linked to the Dutch connection I meantioned or even a connection with India.

Chess in India is huge.

This tournament was until recently sponsored by Corus, which Tata has bought. Those aside, not sure of any connection between the company and chess.