Chess thread

[Tal]

Gelfand let it slip, really, and his understanding of the endgame (incredibly but at that level it is tiny things that make the difference) let him down.

It is a typical Carlsen win, nonetheless.

[MintTrav]

It must be horrible to be Gelfand. He can beat virtually everyone in the world at chess. According to Wikipedia, there are 1380 living Grandmasters (a lot more than I thought). He can beat all of them except about a dozen. Yet he is forced to keep playing (and losing to) the handful of players who can beat him. He must know he is going to be beaten to a pulp at this tournament but he has to play. So he looks like a duffer, even though he could thrash any of the GM experts commentating on the games.

[pokerfan]

Just found these back of house at Westfield Stratford,

Click to see full-size image.

Must have been in a real battle.

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

It must be horrible to be Gelfand. He can beat virtually everyone in the world at chess. According to Wikipedia, there are 1380 living Grandmasters (a lot more than I thought). He can beat all of them except about a dozen. Yet he is forced to keep playing (and losing to) the handful of players who can beat him. He must know he is going to be beaten to a pulp at this tournament but he has to play. So he looks like a duffer, even though he could thrash any of the GM experts commentating on the games.

There is an element of truth in that, but we oughtn't forget that Gelfand won the candidates last time and almost beat Anand in the world championship match.

It is like being Malaga and capable of beating loads of teams in loads of leagues but not likely to finish above Barca or Real.

[Tal]

Poker fan, it is your mission to get the chess board back in the Westfield.

I'll be down in April for the IPO London, so you've got time

[Tal]

Round 3 Roundup

Boris Gelfand 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler 1-0 Teimour Radjabov
Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Alexander Grischuk

There were some odd games today and the tournament really got going. Aronian found himself benefiting from a slow opening by Ivanchuk and the Ukrainian tried to compensate for his lack of incision by launching his h-pawn forward and going from 0-60 as fast as a Porsche 911. Chess rarely works like that and, against the very best, you will get punished.

Chucky ended up taking too long to look for ways to improve and lost on time, well before the time control.

Kramnik and Grischuk played a wild-looking game which eventually fizzled out into a draw. I'm never quite sure who is the more relieved player when that happens. I suppose Grischuk enjoys the crazy stuff a bit more but Kramnik is more than competent in that department.

Radjabov has played pretty well in the first two games and those who had taken 16-1 on him might have been checking their betting slips all day. Sadly for him and them, he got into an almighty mess against Svidler and tried a sacrifice in desperation. It was tricky but Svidler coped well and sealed the full point.

Carlsen's game was a textbook performance from the World Number 1. If you play through the game, you would be forgiven for thinking White should be winning. When it gets to 25...Nf8, the problem White has is that Black is defending everything and he has no way of creating any imbalances in the position. What is left is a bishop on the same colour as his own pawns (this is bad) against a knight that will slowly come into the game.

This is a simple positional idea called "Knight against Bad Bishop". The game should still be a draw, according to the computers and the experts, but it is very difficult to defend as White and, if he slips up slightly, it could be the difference between ½ and 0. That is precisely what happened and Gelfand tried to push his own pawns forward in a position where he had to concentrate on stopping Carlsen's. It is frightfully difficult to know that but Carlsen is a master of these positions.

Here are the games and some analysis of the Ivanchuk-Aronian game:

http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009178/candidates-r3-three-decisive-games-180313.aspx

[Tal]

The cross table after 3/14 rounds.

A day off for the players today. This will come as a welcome relief to Gelfand and Ivanchuk, who are on a run of 2 defeats.

They do have to prepare for playing each other tomorrow, however...

[MintTrav]

It must be horrible to be Gelfand. He can beat virtually everyone in the world at chess. According to Wikipedia, there are 1380 living Grandmasters (a lot more than I thought). He can beat all of them except about a dozen. Yet he is forced to keep playing (and losing to) the handful of players who can beat him. He must know he is going to be beaten to a pulp at this tournament but he has to play. So he looks like a duffer, even though he could thrash any of the GM experts commentating on the games.

There is an element of truth in that, but we oughtn't forget that Gelfand won the candidates last time and almost beat Anand in the world championship match.

It is like being Malaga and capable of beating loads of teams in loads of leagues but not likely to finish above Barca or Real.

I think the Anand result showed Anand's weakness rather than Gelfand's strength. Surely it is a cert that whoever wins here will beat Anand. I can't see him beating any of the top 4 at this stage.

[Tal]

It must be horrible to be Gelfand. He can beat virtually everyone in the world at chess. According to Wikipedia, there are 1380 living Grandmasters (a lot more than I thought). He can beat all of them except about a dozen. Yet he is forced to keep playing (and losing to) the handful of players who can beat him. He must know he is going to be beaten to a pulp at this tournament but he has to play. So he looks like a duffer, even though he could thrash any of the GM experts commentating on the games.

There is an element of truth in that, but we oughtn't forget that Gelfand won the candidates last time and almost beat Anand in the world championship match.

It is like being Malaga and capable of beating loads of teams in loads of leagues but not likely to finish above Barca or Real.

I think the Anand result showed Anand's weakness rather than Gelfand's strength. Surely it is a cert that whoever wins here will beat Anand. I can't see him beating any of the top 4 at this stage.

He does well against Aronian, as it happens. One of those odd quirks where a player just suits another. He played a game against Aronian recently that was out of this world.

I do agree, though, that I wouldn't back Anand to retain his title.Doesn't mean he will make it easy or that he isn't an outstanding player even now.

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

Radjabov gives Svidler a hearty staredown

Click to see full-size image.

Before he starts his game with Aronian, Ivanchuk sits in the audience.

Click to see full-size image.

Carlsen looks up at the big electronic display to see how the other games are going.


These photos are taken from chess.com:

http://www.chess.com/news/candidates-tournament-round-3-9936

[curnow]

how does this work , the winner goes on to play Viswanathan Anand , think most of us want Carlsen playing him  but not sure this format will give us the result we want & games against Radjabov , Kramnik & Grischuk will who wins

[Tal]

how does this work , the winner goes on to play Viswanathan Anand , think most of us want Carlsen playing him  but not sure this format will give us the result we want & games against Radjabov , Kramnik & Grischuk will who wins

Carlsen is suited to long format tournaments much as Man United are suited to a season-long league.

Knockout matches throw up silly results and that was precisely what happened last time there was a candidates.

[EvilPie]

What's that opening called Tal where Magnus has gone Kd7?

Does it have any particular advantages?

[Tal]

What's that opening called Tal where Magnus has gone Kd7?

Does it have any particular advantages?

I take it you mean Nd7 for knight (chess notation is an odd little sort!).

It is the Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen's Gambit. That's the Qa5+ bit of it, anyway.

Your question is, I gather, more about Carlsen putting the knight on d7 rather than c6. The point is, as Black in this opening, you choose either to put the knight on c6 and have a more pressure on the centre or to have an extra defender of the d-pawn with c6 and play more solidly with Nd7.

It is really a choice/style thing.

The pawn structure of c6-d5-e6 is quite common against the Queen's Gambit, but make sure you look after the dark squares, as they can become exposed if you don't.

[Tal]

I've had the pleasure of watching the live streams of the games of Round 4 with my old coach and a Grandmaster, so I can report on events with some level of confidence.

Carlsen was the only winner today. A little while ago, I posted a video about how people seem to play differently against Magnus Carlsen, to the point that they seem to lose the game themselves when they play him. This was one of those games, as Grischuk had a perfectly respectable position and then tried a kamikaze kingside attack when keeping it simple was the order of the day. He had also managed to put himself in a horrible mess on the clock. Carlsen was patient and picked his opponent off for the full point.

Radjabov v Kramnik was last to finish and it was the Azeri, Radjabov, who threatened most to seal victory, prodding away with two hanging pawns (connected only to each other) and keeping the pressure on Kramnik. Kramnik's defence and technique was resolute, however, and a long and intense game ended in a draw.

Svidler caught Aronian on the hop a little, by playing an opening different to the one he almost always plays. Far from critical, though, and Aronian was able to play sensibly from his existing vast opening repertoire. Svidler made a clever sacrifice in order to kill off any attacking hopes for Aronian and a draw was agreed relatively quickly.

The fourth game was a bit bonkers, with the bottom two facing each other. Ivanchuk chose a rarely seen opening and both he and Gelfand took what seems like an age over each move for the first three hours. All of a sudden, the game exploded into life after Gelfand had deliberately trapped in his own bishop(!). Ivanchuk sacrificed a piece for an attack, only to settle for a perpetual check, when it became clear that there was nothing more in it. I suspect both players are both frustrated and relieved.