Chess thread

[Tal]

My availability it a bit limited until this evening, so let me just give you today's games, starting at 2pm, as ever (White player first):

Magnus Carlsen v Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian v Vassily Ivanchuk
Teimour Radjabov v Peter Svidler
Alexander Grischuk v Vladmir Kramnik

Today could be moving day.

Gelfand has won two on the bounce and Carlsen has been resourceful rather than utterly spectacular. Aronian and Ivanchuk are two naturally aggressive players and both could do with a win. Grischuk will likely have a go at Kramnik, who will probably play on the counter, keeping an eye on the other games. Radjabov has admitted he is a bit short of match practice and Svidler has been a bit up and down, too.

Of course, it'll be four draws now...

[Tal]

Three entertaining games this time around:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009300/candidates-r10--kramnik-aronian-carlsen-win-280313.aspx

Round ten saw wins for the top 3 to pull clear of the field.

Svidler and Radjabov didn't feel like playing much today, so they drew

Carlsen won a cracking game against Gelfand to do the double over him and maintain his lead. Really is worth a watch, although I thoroughly recommend Danny King's video analysis of the key bits of the game.

Kramnik played the opening that helped him beat Kasparov a decade ago for the world crown: the Berlin Defence. Grischuk played it well, though, and the game was heading towards a handshake when Grischuk had a brain wobble and miscalculated, seeing his half point slip away immediately.

Aronian won the kind of game that will be easily understood by poker players. It was a bit of a levelling war. Ivanchuk threw a huge curve ball by playing a rarely seen Budapest opening. Aronian coped perfectly and soon had an edge, but Ivanchuk fought back and eventually equalised, but at the expense of having spent a lot of time on the clock.... Again.

So, what did Aronian do?

He turned the technical, positional game into a full-bore, snort-thrusting attacking game. This carried its own risks but it was essentially to force Chucky to spend more time than he wanted working things out. His sand ran out long before the time control and he had effectively given the game away at a key point in the comp.

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

Round 11 finished relatively early, with a couple of quick draws and two games finishing on or around the first time control. Today's results were:

Grischuk ½-½ Carlsen
Ivanchuk ½-½ Gelfand
Kramnik 1-0 Radjabov
Svidler 1-0 Aronian

A huge day for Aronian, who lost what might well be a crucial game against Svidler, who has been something of an enigma in this tournament. He has shown fight and imagination one minute and played a harmless, limp game the next. It was a complicated, unbalanced position but it was the Armenian who flinched first and Svidler handled the nuances of the resultant position with aplomb.

Carlsen drew without so much as a bead of sweat against Grischuk and Gelfand v Ivanchuk was a formality with two players who couldn't win the comp playing each other for a relatively modest financial reward.

Kramnik decided to take Radjabov on in one of his pet openings, the King's Indian Defence. Always a dangerous strategy, but it seems to be the case that the elite players are more than happy to play against this opening as White and only Radjabov and Nakamura (I think) play it with any real regularity.

The game seemed to go fine until Radjabov made a critical error, as he ran short of time to make the 40 move control. Kramnik was in no mood to mess around and clinically finished the Azeri off.

Games and reports are here:

http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009325/candidates-r11-kramnik-wins-aronian-loses-280313.aspx

[Tal]

Spectators and their tablets



Svidler and Aronian, before their game.

[Honeybadger]

Huge results today! Last couple of rounds are gonna be exciting. Hope it's still all to play for going into the last day when I get there.

[The Baron]

Unreal day yesterday.

V happy for Vlad. Him vs Anand would also be great.

[The Baron]

Hi Tal,

Before Carlsen ruins everything by being brilliant in the last few games can you give us a mini Kramnik profile? What are his strengths/weaknesses? What is he like? Should he have lost the WC in 2007 by tournament - do you think this format was fair? How the hell did he beat Kasparov so convincingly in 2000 when no one else had come close for years? Would he have beaten him again had they met in say 2003-2005 when Kasparov had a real return to form? Should Anand fans be happier he may be facing Kramnik than Carlsen? How will an Anand, Kramnik WC match play out? He seems to have a knack of turning up when it matters and seems to have hit form in just the right time both prior to and during this candidates tourny. Has his experience helped him peak correctly?

[Tal]

Many good questions, there, Baron. I'm just at the Mint playing today, but I will answer when I can.

[Tal]

Round 12

Carlsen 0-1 Ivanchuk
Aronian 0-1 Kramnik
Gelfand ½-½ Svidler
Radjabov ½-½ Grischuk

At the start of this coverage, I mentioned the last Candidates Tournament in 1962. There were fewer tournaments then and a lot more draws. Players rested more easily (although Tal had to withdraw through poor health).

After two intense weeks, the players are really showing signs of fatigue. It is making for dramatic, rather than spectacular chess, where it is a question of who will hold their nerve.

Logically, you would say the younger players should be best equipped for the stamina-sapping long format, but it is Kramnik who leads the field with two rounds to go, after defeating the ten years younger Aronian, who made the critical last mistake in a drawn endgame.

This meant that Carlsen needed to avoid defeat to stay in the lead but he struggled all day against Ivanchuk, who probably played his best game of the tournament to defeat the World Number 1. Carlsen was hugely critical of himself in the press conference; even petulant:

“First of all I think I played absolutely disgracefully, from move one.”

Assessing his position, halfway through, he said "Probably I'm actually not better but I should never lose it.” About the position after move 30, the Norwegian said: “I think there's still not too many problems for me but I just kept on missing more and more stuff.”

Svidler and Gelfand were both happy to settle for a half and Grischuk would have been delighted to salvage a draw against Radjabov from a difficult position.

[Tal]

The crosstable looks like this:

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

Analysis, pics and videos as ever on Chessbase:

http://en.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009334/candidates-r12--full-report-pictures-videos-300313.aspx



The new tournament leader, Vladmir Kramnik.



In the commentary room, International Master Lawrence Trent discussed the action with GM Nigel Short.

[Tal]

Hi Tal,

Before Carlsen ruins everything by being brilliant in the last few games can you give us a mini Kramnik profile? What are his strengths/weaknesses? What is he like? Should he have lost the WC in 2007 by tournament - do you think this format was fair? How the hell did he beat Kasparov so convincingly in 2000 when no one else had come close for years? Would he have beaten him again had they met in say 2003-2005 when Kasparov had a real return to form? Should Anand fans be happier he may be facing Kramnik than Carlsen? How will an Anand, Kramnik WC match play out? He seems to have a knack of turning up when it matters and seems to have hit form in just the right time both prior to and during this candidates tourny. Has his experience helped him peak correctly?

Kramnik is a solid player traditionally. Doesn't lose many games and gets better as the game goes on. He used this to good effect against Kasparov and neutralised the great man's opening advantage by playing simple openings and out playing him in the endgame. It became easier when he was ahead in the match, as Kasparov has to take more risks and he got picked off.

There's no reason why he can't be world champ again. He's had something of a renaissance (perhaps a little harsh as he's been in the top bracket throughout) in recent times. His openings are very strong and he still has the ability to win tight games. He is unquestionably one of the greats of the game.

[The Baron]

Cheers Tal, I didn't realise VK helped Anand vs Topalov. Is this due to bad blood there or a friendship with Anand. Sorry for all the Q's. Fascinating stuff.

[Tal]

Cheers Tal, I didn't realise VK helped Anand vs Topalov. Is this due to bad blood there or a friendship with Anand. Sorry for all the Q's. Fascinating stuff.

I'm not exactly sure, but Kramnik and Topalov reportedly don't get on. Apparently they don't shake hands and I doubt it's a coincidence that they don't play in the same tournaments very often.