Chess thread

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010990/world-cup-final-3-easy-draw-010913.aspx

The World Cup final is a four game affair and Kramnik is just one away from lifting the trophy. He won game one and has drawn the next two, although he survived a scare in game two.

I would expect, like many, that Kramnik will be victorious today and that should bring to an end an excellent tournament for the Russian, who has got back to number 3 in the world and is once again looking towards a 2800 rating.

[MintTrav]

So Andreikin started the tournament with a rating of 2716, finished 2nd out of 128 players (including wins against Svidler and Karjakin) and ends the event with a rating of 2709. Good system.

[Tal]

So Andreikin started the tournament with a rating of 2716, finished 2nd out of 128 players (including wins against Svidler and Karjakin) and ends the event with a rating of 2709. Good system.

This is because he decided to draw with everybody and try to win in the rapidplay and blitz tiebreaks.

So, he lost rating points against the weaker players in the early rounds and then got virtually nothing for narrowly getting past the higher rated opponents.

He qualifies for the Candidates now and it's tough to see him troubling the top brass, although he will be playing with a different mindset in a classical all-play-all comp.

[theprawnidentity]

So Andreikin started the tournament with a rating of 2716, finished 2nd out of 128 players (including wins against Svidler and Karjakin) and ends the event with a rating of 2709. Good system.

Makes sense to me.  I started the week knowing that I was the sickest mofo in poker, I went to the tables and just pwned people, hand after hand, pwn after pwn!  I started with a bankroll of $1k, I now have $945, story checks out.

*scenario outlined above may or may not be based on actual events.

[Tal]

I've had a busy few days but it was remiss of me not to have mentioned the final result of the World Cup, so apologies all round.

Above, Andreikin offers Kramnik a draw, which the Russian great accepts without hesitation, despite being substantially ahead in the game. He only needed a draw to lift the trophy and this was Andreikin conceding the jig was up.

Vladmir Kramnik is the World Cup Winner!

[The Baron]

In some ways I really wish he'd won the candidates.

[Tal]

In some ways I really wish he'd won the candidates.

Well, I wish Kramnik were still world champion, so that he were playing Carlsen. They always have great games.

Anand tends to cancel Carlsen out a lot. They've drawn soooo many games. It could be a bit of a grind in November.

[The Baron]

Yes, better put.

I loved the Anand Kramnik WC. It's a shame they will probably not meet again at that level. It may be for the best though.

Kramnik Carlsen makes far more sense.

[The Baron]

I felt there was a spectacle of champion vs champion when they faced. Sort of like Ali Frazier I. And like that match Anand didn't stick to the script and decided to show he really was champion.

This time I just feel inevitability.

[Tal]

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011019/are-the-chess-world-champions-just-lucky-050913.aspx

An interesting article on the world championships, with a question asked of whether the victors are really just lucky. It is a question I suspect will draw strong views and one that anyone who has ever watched a sport can have an opinion on.

So, read the link above and tell me what you think

[Tal]

Magnus Carlsen plays his last event this week before he heads off to prepare to challenge for the world title.

He is in a four player all play all comp in St Louis with Lev Aronian and the top two Americans (depending on whether you count Caruana) in Kamsky and Nakamura.

I wouldn't be expecting fireworks from Carlsen. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if he didn't do hugely well. He won't be playing any of his prepared openings and will be keeping his secret weapons in reserve for November.

That said, this is Carlsen we are taking about...

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011066/sinquefield-cup-starts-tomorrow-090913.aspx

[Tal]

Rafa Nadal arrives at Flushing Meadows for his next match against Djokovic. He has sponsors' gear on, his teeth shiny and his lucky, slightly too small pants on. He's ready.

Except he's forgotten his racquet.

Impossible! Well this is what happened in round one of the latest SuperGM comp, when world number two, Lev Aronian, forgot to bring a pen!



The arbiters would be used to this in local comps, where there's always one donut who forgot the only thing a chess player actually NEEDS to play (writing down the moves is compulsory). But it is somewhat less common for a tournament controller to get a supplicatory glance from one of the best players ever to grace a board.

Funny, nevertheless.

Perhaps Aronian's mind wasn't on the job; he struggled against Nakamura and lost reasonably convincingly. In round two, he faced Carlsen, who tried an unusual opening in elite circles, which the Norwegian admitted he'd played purely to hit Aronian when he's down. The Leningrad Dutch is sharp and a dangerous weapon for amateurs, but these top boys know and understand theory so well that openings tend to have little surprise value, beyond the first couple of moves. Carlsen did get a good advantage, though, but couldn't quite convert.

Carlsen hasn't looked quite as potent in the second half of games in the last few comps, compared with the end of last year and the beginning of this. It is hard to tell what, if anything, this means, of course. He polished off Kamsky in round one very nicely and that game is well worth a look. His sense of timing is still a joy to behold.

Nakamura then beat Kamsky in a time scramble in round two in the All-American battle, so he leads by half a point early doors, with Carlsen hot on his heels, as thetwo play in round three to determine who holds the lead at the halfway mark.

[Tal]

Round one pictures and report, including the Carlsen win:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011107/sinquefield-01-kamsky-and-aronian-self-destruct-110913.aspx

Round two pictures and report:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011117/sinquefield-02-nakamura-at-the-top-110913.aspx

[Tal]

The sponsor, Rex Sinquefield, makes the ceremonial first move for Magnus Carlsen's game against Gata Kamsky.

Goodness only knows how much it costs to sponsor an event with four such high profile players. I expect only oil magnates and Toby Lewis could afford it.

[Tal]

Round the of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis ended in two draws, but neither was a boring affair.

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011132/sinquefield-03-exciting-draws-120913.aspx

The big game was the early leaders ans Nakamura had prepared in a way Carlsen could never have expected.



Sunglasses!

One can only assume that this is something he has picked up from his enjoyment of playing poker (which famously led to his falling out with then coach, Garry Kasparov), but it is the rarest of rare sights over the wooden board. There would be a question of whether it is ungentlemanly in most quarters, but there is equally greater flexibility afforded to the superstars than the rest of us mere mortals. There isn't anything in the rules forbidding the use of sunglasses AFAIK, but it will be quite a talking point amongst the kibitzers and the watching chess world.



This picture interested me.

Nakamura shakes the hand of the local chess club's head, who is making the day's ceremonial opening move. The American seems to be looking elsewhere and Carlsen is looking straight at his opponent. If only for a fleeting and otherwise innocuous moment, what a picture!

It didn't work for the American, at least completely, and he shook hands with Magnus after a clever and intricate battle.

On the other board, Kamsky played a really passive opening against Aronian, but the fireworks soon began. The Armenian almost got his first W on the board, but it wasn't to be.

The crosstable at the turn looks an awful lot like this: