Chess thread

[Karabiner]

Are you a GM Simon or is that a namesake of yours?

[Tal]

Are you a GM Simon or is that a namesake of yours?

It's a namesake. He's about four years older than I and, weirdly, we have similar styles. Admittedly, he is a lot better than I at it

[The Baron]

Bit gutted to see no Naka in next year's cycle.

[Tal]

Much has been made in the press in the last few days of bad sportsmanship. We saw Carl Froch and George Groves spend weeks exchanging nasty words and then, after a brutal encounter, the champion emerge controversially victorious and offer very little in consolation to his grieving and bemused opponent, while the fans had turned totally in favour of the defeated. We also saw the omnipresent ashes sledging debafe making the news again, as though it were somehow novel or surprising that sportsmen who don't get on not getting on should be a surprise to us.

And then there's Vishy:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/anand-i-was-outplayed-by-carlsen

It is a long interview but a genuine recognition of the better man winning is disappointingly refreshing. Even in chess.

We have the London Chess Classic coming up soon. A different format this year, essentially to ensure a few bigger names came as the schedule has been rammed for these guys. No Carlsen, but plenty else to cheer about.

[McGlashan]

plus wild card selection




edit: pic's too small. take a look at the player list here http://www.londonchessclassic.com/classic.players.htm

[Tal]

Rowson will be fun.

It should show the difference between a decent GM and the elite super GMs. Could be even more disparity when the FIDE wildcards are added

I'm looking forward to seeing Matt Sadler back in elite company.

[Tal]

Eat your heart out, Blatter!

The draw for the London Chess Classic has been done:

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/super16_draw.htm

Adams, Anand and McShane. Fabulous.

Nakamura and Caruana will be happiest with their groups.

[Tal]

I can't speak highly enough of the LCC. Plenty to see and do, crisply organised and plenty of encouragement for children.

Commentary room has some recognisable faces in it, too:

[Tal]

And a few side events if you're feeling fruity.

[McGlashan]

Chess player, writer, coach, commentator, olive farmer, guitarist and sexy beast (taken from their twitter bio).

Which London Chess Classic player am I?

[McGlashan]

The London Chess Classic is now underway, live coverage can be found at http://live6.londonchessclassic.com/index.html

It warmed up yesterday with a pro-celebrity challenge : http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-london-classic-pro-celebrity-challenge

[Tal]

Thank you, McGlashan. My blonde activity has been intermittent of late and that will likely be the status quo for a week or two.

Some cracking games in the first two rounds yesterday. In addition to the Caruana game analysed below, I'd definitely recommend McShane-Istratrescu for a juggernaut of an attack:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/london-super-sixteen-starts

As ever, the commentary and the analysis of Danny King and Lawrence Trent make these events even more slick and helpful.

[Tal]

"Not that one, you idiot!"

[Tal]

The second day's play threw up few huge surprises. Plenty of battling chess and lots of swashbuckling stuff. A couple of them gave their wicket away cheaply

http://en.chessbase.com/post/london-going-as-expected

Anand is playing some fabulous chess. I suspect you'll be questioning where this Anand was a couple of weeks ago. Partly, the rapidplay format really suits Anand, partly the pressure is off, partly the opponents aren't playing consistently brilliantly and partly it's because two weeks ago, the other guy was playing like a bawse. This is the game Anand is renowned for in the shorter format, but chess is more attacking when the clock becomes a factor; people make mistakes and miss killer moves, even at that level.

Just imagine the stuff someone like Anand or Kramnik can see in ten minutes' study of a board. Now, he has to make his decision on a critical position in only four minutes, say. His opponent might see the key line he missed. Bit, unlike blitz with only five or ten minutes each, they have enough time to go through a few main lines in their calculations. This is what makes rapidplay so enthralling.

[Tal]

Not quite as formally attired as in previous London Chess Classics. A symptom of the more fun attitude of the comp this year. The games don't count towards the players' official main rating.