Chess thread

[kinboshi]

4-0 to boshi. Three of them time losses :-(

Variance

i noticed Boshi was wearing an ear piece and kept texting your moves.

Invoice in the post.

I was in losing positions in at least two of the games, so if I had been getting help, it wasn't very good...

[smashedagain]

4-0 to boshi. Three of them time losses :-(

Variance

i noticed Boshi was wearing an ear piece and kept texting your moves.

Invoice in the post.

I was in losing positions in at least two of the games, so if I had been getting help, it wasn't very good...

A bad day for chess playing footy supporters

[Tal]

4-0 to boshi. Three of them time losses :-(

Variance

i noticed Boshi was wearing an ear piece and kept texting your moves.

Invoice in the post.

I was in losing positions in at least two of the games, so if I had been getting help, it wasn't very good...

A bad day for chess playing footy supporters

Behave the pair of you

[Tal]

Wijk aan Zee came to a fascinating conclusion yesterday and there was still time for a shock.

China's Wang Hao turned World Champion Vishy Anand over in a Scotch Opening. Anand lost out in the race for second place because of it. If you play through the game, whilst Black gets an active knight, the White bishop covers more ground and, as the position opens up, this becomes critical. Anand tried a cheapo at the end (this is a chess colloquialism for a last ditch swindle attempt) but it wasn't to be.

Carlsen had already locked up the tournament and was playing against Giri, who had been solid if largely dormant all comp. Draw then? Yes and no. Carlsen got into a bit of a mess out of the opening against the Sämisch variation of the King's Indian (this is defined by white playing f3) and the position after 12 moves looks utterly horrible for Black. Giri pressed and won a pawn but Carlsen found a very cheeky way to get a perpetual check, which Giri can only have missed, and the draw was saved.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8806

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

Carlsen rode his luck, but his dominance of the game is hardly in dispute.



Anand will see this tournament as a pivotal moment, where his aggression and willingness to use it came back, albeit with mixed results. He will likely have to defend his title either later this year or early next and he will need to show that fight then, as he will surely be playing someone more skilled and aggressive than Gelfand.

[The Baron]

Hi Tal,

Will Carlsen's rating keep going up? How far can it go iyo?

[Tal]

Hi Tal,

Will Carlsen's rating keep going up? How far can it go iyo?

Good question. No one knows how good Carlsen can be. All we do know is he's getting better and, as long as there are people around him improving, too, the pace of his increase needn't slow down all that much.

Obviously there is talk of 3000 and there was such talk in Kasparov's dayday, but he could conceivably win the Candidates' tournament with a big score and be pushing 2900 by the summer. That would be ridiculous.

[Tal]

Here is a story about a man I've never heard of but who has led a fascinating life, much celebrated in his native Hungary and has been seemingly crucial to the success of Hungarian chess for a generation:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8812



Gabor Kallai

Worth a read and requires no specific chess knowledge to understand

[Ant040689]

Worth a read and requires no specific chess knowledge to understand

Unless it's in Hungarian?

[Tal]

Worth a read and requires no specific chess knowledge to understand

Unless it's in Hungarian?

Only one way to find out

[Honeybadger]

I used to have a couple of books on basic openings by that Kallai guy. Seem to remember them as being really good if not very detailed.

[Tal]

Excellent. You've made me think that I should have a rummage myself and check whether I have one stowed away.


The second world war had a significant impact, understandably, on chess, but chess reciprocated:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/world-war-ii-and-chess

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7037

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

A couple of nicely compiled articles on recent chess cheating scandals (in before someone says 'kinboshi'):

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8818

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8817

The big chess news is that Peter Heine Nielsen, who has been a second of Anand for ten years, has decided to work with Magnus Carlsen for the upcoming Candidates' Tournament.

Now I should explain that Anand isn't playing in the Candidates, because the idea of the tournament is that the winner has the right to challenge Anand for the world title. However, you wouldn't find Andre Villas-Boas working with Man City just because spurs got knocked out of the cup.

There is too much knowledge of training practices, experimented lines, tried and tested novelties and ideas for this not to be a big deal.

It seems hard to figure Nielsen will revert to working with Anand after the Candidates - why would Carlsen work with him here otherwise?

They have been friends for a fair while, so in that sense it isn't a huge shock. However, it is the timing and the obvious implications that are causing headlines.