Chess thread

[Honeybadger]

Wow! Anand destroys Aronian in the first round to go to the top of the tournament table!

[Tal]

Wow! Anand destroys Aronian in the first round to go to the top of the tournament table!

Seriously impressive win. Be interesting to see whether he keeps that venom up in the rest of the comp.

I can see Aronian taking that out on his next few opponents.

[rfgqqabc]

Wow! Anand destroys Aronian in the first round to go to the top of the tournament table!

Seriously impressive win. Be interesting to see whether he keeps that venom up in the rest of the comp.

I can see Aronian taking that out on his next few opponents.

That's what i wanted to hear!

[McGlashan]

Here'a Daniel King with analysis on Anand vs Aronian #Invalid YouTube Link#. Aronian losing in round 1 should entertaining viewing, albeit less so for those with money on Aronian.

[Tal]

Here'a Daniel King with analysis on Anand vs Aronian . Aronian losing in round 1 should entertaining viewing, albeit less so for those with money on Aronian.

FYP

[McGlashan]

Here'a Daniel King with analysis on Anand vs Aronian . Aronian losing in round 1 should entertaining viewing, albeit less so for those with money on Aronian.

FYP

thank you

[Tal]

Live games here:

http://www.chessdom.com/candidates-chess-2014-live/

Aronian's game is wild! Superb victory from him. Anand has drawn already against Topalov.

[Tal]

Two days in and there has been no end to the drama. Aronian (thankfully) came out firing and won to get his title hopes back on track. We're going to see him register a few more wins and losses in this comp; that's his style.

Andreikin made a mistake and learned what happens at this level.

Kramnik gave us something special in his win against Karjakin, by finding a prepared new line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. It's a game that will surely find its way into a Kramnik anthology.

Reports and video here:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-rd2-three-wins-and-the-race-is-on



"I am so glad he played f5!"

[MintTrav]

Four draws tomorrow, I would expect. It was foreseeable that there would be wins today, with the stronger player having White in each game, whereas tomorrow the stronger player in each match has Black.

[Tal]

Certainly possible, MintTrav. Some strong Black players, though, so we will have to see.

Here is a brilliant little piece on some basic concepts we have seen so far:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-2014-spotlight-on-round-two

I really like when analysts explain things at a good level, because it is easy to pretend everyone follows at GM level but doesn't make the game accessible. I think that's what makes the likes of Danny King and Lawrence Trent so good, too.

[Tal]

Live games are here:

http://www.chessdom.com/candidates-chess-2014-live/

Underneath the boards, you will see there are four top computer engines' assessment of the position. Remember one point is the equivalent of a pawn and less than 0.5 is not decisive. Positive numbers mean the advantage is with White; negative with Black.

[Tal]

You almost picked it, MintTrav: three draws.

Anand continued to remind the world he's a very good chess player with a demolition of Mamedyarov with the Black pieces. The Azeri couldn't handle Anand's pressure as the centre opened and blundered horribly before resigning immediately.

Kramnik somehow survived a full scale onslaught from Svidler in an All-Russian encounter. The ability to save a game like this is just as important as Carlsen's ability to convert halves into ones. Kramnik is a master wriggler.

Games are here and analysis should appear during the course of the day:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-rd3-anand-grabs-early-lead-with-2-5-3

Click to see full-size image.

Svidler just doing his last minute reminders of what he has prepared.

[Tal]

http://candidates2014.fide.com/fide-world-candidates-tournament-2014-round-3-report/

Official tournament site has its own reports and they are nicely descriptive.

[MintTrav]

I felt sorry for the interpreter in the Svidler-Kramnik press conference, translating two Russians from English into Russian. I's not so hard to translate Q&As, and in the first three press conferences the players answered a question from the host, speaking slowly, waited for the translation, then answered another. Svidler and Kramnik were asked one question, Svidler said they will make it brief, and they immediately launched into a detailed private debate about the moves in their game, disagreeing frequently and both speaking very fast at times. The translator gave up several times, but recovered when things slowed down. Meanwhile the host lost interest and didn't interrupt for over twenty minutes. Interview starts about 6:17:30.

[McGlashan]

Sounds fun. Once Vlad starts talking it takes a lot of effort to get a word in edgeways.