Chess thread

[Tal]

Did Vlad let things get a bit personal with his choice of tactics?

On move 11 or 13 he could of captured the h4 pawn and defended a position with weak dark squares, instead he chose to fight toe to toe in what proved to be a worse off position.

Easy to make a lot of the personal stuff, but it does seem absurd to suggest it played no part at all in either player's decision making process.

[Tal]

Wanna see a graph?

Wanna see LOTS of graphs?

Want 'em chess themed?

Interesting ones, you say?

http://en.chessbase.com/post/seth-kadish-visualizing-chess

[Tal]

A masterpiece from Aronian puts him level with Anand at the halfway mark. The Armenian is well known for his handling of complicated positions and his positional dexterity in this game was an absolute joy to behold. Not like Carlsen's endgame manoeuvring but a series of precise moves in a tough position that earned him the full point. A nice analysis of the game is here. Do go through it if you have a few minutes:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-rd7-pandora-s-box

Kramnik really should have lost but won. He's somehow still well placed to win this tournament.

Here we are at the turn, then:



The small matter of Aronian v Anand next, then...

[Tal]

The fans expected fireworks. They barely got a slimline tonic. Aronian and Anand shook hands long before the thirty move cutoff, having (I assume) obtained the consent of the arbiter. Nothing happened and there's nothing more to say.

Karjakin and Svidler provided the day's only real entertainment, with the former pouncing on a couple of slightly misjudged moves and showing real guile to seal the full point with Black.

Reports and games are here:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-rd8-a-solid-round

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

Does anyone else look at these photos with a little sadness that there aren't more spectators?


One point of note is that Anand has four Whites to come out of his remaining six games. Aronian has three of each left.

[The Baron]

4 really enjoyable games today

[Tal]

4 really enjoyable games today

Not if you've backed Aronian

[The Baron]

4 really enjoyable games today

Not if you've backed Aronian

On the two old boys :-)

[McGlashan]

4 really enjoyable games today

Not if you've backed Aronian

On the two old boys :-)

Kramnik presumably, Svidler and Topalov must be ages with him. Anand must be providing you with a nice sweat.

[McGlashan]

8eightate and unicycle bet go 1.4 for Magnus Carlsen to retain his world champion title. It must be a bit too long if Vishy wins this, but as we learnt at last years candidates there could be some unexpected results to come.

Oh yeh didn't someone mention laying Vishy?

[Tal]

Am I right in saying there was some 40/1 available on Vishy? Seem to recall there was.

[Tal]

As you will have gathered, it was quite a day off you're a fan of the veteran Indian former world champ, Viswanathan Anand. Not only did he beat Topalov, but both of his main competitors lost. Kramnik proved there is no Russian alliance by losing to Karjakin and Aronian went for a gap that wasn't there and fell to Mamedyarov.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/candidates-rd9-decisive-round



He's a funny player, Mamedyarov. He is dogged but capable of a golden game. Aronian is in serious danger of out-Aronianing himself; his desire to push for complications is fine against 2600s, but you have to accept that this is the Candidates and everyone is a great player, capable of working out the variations and picking off the mistakes.

What that does mean, however, is that he is the most likely person to catch Anand. He's a point behind and with the tie break against him, so effectively 1.5 points. Anand will probably be playing very solid openings, staying unbeaten and will put Aronian to the task of catching up.

It isn't over.

If Anand holes out from here and stays unbeaten, in the context of the last year, I would say this is right up there with the great tournament performances of all time.

[McGlashan]

And his secret tactical edge is to wear a comfy shirt.

[MintTrav]

Oh yeh didn't someone mention laying Vishy?

I don't recall anyone disagreeing before the results were known.

[McGlashan]

Is this Anand's high point? He now has two Black games against Svidler and Aronian, and both days the remainder of the five real candidates all have winnable games. I suspect the table could look quite different at the weekend. I imagine that this is the point where you'd get the best odds on Anand falling back. If I was a betting person, I'd have a bet tomorrow on Anand not finishing in the top two (three?), while the table still flatters him.

This was the post I was thinking of.