blonde poker forum
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 02:59:28 PM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
2272476 Posts in 66752 Topics by 16945 Members
Latest Member: Zula
* Home Help Arcade Search Calendar Guidelines Login Register
+  blonde poker forum
|-+  Community Forums
| |-+  The Lounge
| | |-+  Chess thread
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »
Pages: 1 ... 151 152 153 154 [155] 156 157 158 159 ... 164 Go Down Print
Author Topic: Chess thread  (Read 340679 times)
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2310 on: December 05, 2015, 12:07:05 AM »

Topalov was winning until he played Qa7



Giri pounced and now leads the London Chess Classic on his own after everyone else drew.

Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
McGlashan
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2555


View Profile
« Reply #2311 on: December 05, 2015, 12:17:12 AM »

Was Topalov in time trouble?

It's a bit late at night to think but surely you've got to exchange bishop for knight to alleviate the pressure on F2, hold the position and grind it with a pawn advantage.
Logged
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2312 on: December 05, 2015, 12:25:22 AM »

Was Topalov in time trouble?

It's a bit late at night to think but surely you've got to exchange bishop for knight to alleviate the pressure on F2, hold the position and grind it with a pawn advantage.

He was, yes. As you rightly observe, Nxf2 crushes.

Report and games here: http://en.chessbase.com/post/london-r01-giri-beats-topalov-with-black
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
George2Loose
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 15214



View Profile
« Reply #2313 on: December 05, 2015, 12:58:11 AM »

One of my biggest memories from school.

Think I was 16- school chess match. We're away from home.

It's 2-2. The whole club plus my maths teacher are gathered around watching the decider. I'm up against some geek from the opposing school.

We both have circa a min left on the clock. We both have one rook, one pawn left.

I am under unbelievable pressure. My clock is due to run down first. I am not the greatest player in the world. Very middle of the road.

The ticking of the clocks as we both make our moves is the only thing that can be heard as we play move after move.

I make my move in a split second- in that split second my maths teacher- Mr Robinson groans. There's a collective gasp from the whole room.

I know I've made a balls up under pressure but have no idea what in the heat of the moment.

Within a minute it's game over. Check mate. I'm devastated.

My maths teacher comes over and re creates the situation as only a great chess player can.

"Rupinder.... King takes rook- he offered it to you on a plate and you missed it"

I look up at him and he just shook his head slightly before walking away.

I never attended chess club again.
Logged

Ole Ole Ole Ole!
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2314 on: December 05, 2015, 01:07:25 PM »

That is a far too common story, G2L.

If it helps, I played a league match a few weeks ago where, the second I finished a 3 hour match, someone leant across the board and showed me what I did wrong, with that knowing, smug deference on their face.

"Yeah, thanks for that, mate"

I remember a schools match where, at 16, I played a lad who had been England captain back when we were both 12. I won the game (he wasn't playing as much by then and I'd got at least level and possibly a little ahead of him) and his headteacher then shouted at him

"YOU THREW IT AWAY!"
"But sir, he's good. I just lost"

Sir wasn't having any of it.

I could write all day about junior chess and never tire. Some incredible stuff happens, really. It's as bad as football.
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2315 on: December 05, 2015, 01:08:14 PM »

I'm heading to the Classic today for railbirding. Will be sure to point out to Magnus where he went wrong...
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2316 on: December 05, 2015, 04:51:17 PM »

Jen Shahade seems to be doing some roving reporter work for, I assume, the website.  

 Click to see full-size image.


Do I ask her about the Supernova Elite and rake changes or to do an In The Well on blonde?

Or do I start a staking thread for heads up OFC?
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
McGlashan
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2555


View Profile
« Reply #2317 on: December 06, 2015, 03:12:46 PM »

Tal, was there a good turn out at the chess on Saturday?
Logged
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2318 on: December 06, 2015, 04:01:41 PM »

Tal, was there a good turn out at the chess on Saturday?

Yes, it's fairly busy there. Lots of participants for the side events and +1s of course, but a healthy number of spectators too. Nice to see some familiar faces and old acquaintances from when I was on the circuit.

One small disappointment was the absence of Lawrence Trent from the commentary, as he is now Fabiano Caruana's manager. That must be a tough gig, jetting around the world in a game you also love.
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
McGlashan
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2555


View Profile
« Reply #2319 on: December 06, 2015, 04:04:17 PM »

Tal, was there a good turn out at the chess on Saturday?

Yes, it's fairly busy there. Lots of participants for the side events and +1s of course, but a healthy number of spectators too. Nice to see some familiar faces and old acquaintances from when I was on the circuit.

One small disappointment was the absence of Lawrence Trent from the commentary, as he is now Fabiano Caruana's manager. That must be a tough gig, jetting around the world in a game you also love.

Yes, I'd heard the tournament was a big draw.

Boom boom!
Logged
TightEnd
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: I am a geek!!



View Profile
« Reply #2320 on: December 06, 2015, 04:04:32 PM »

you can buy headsets and tune into the commentary? all the games are on a big screen behind the players?

just wondered what the spectator experience was like?
Logged

My eyes are open wide
By the way,I made it through the day
I watch the world outside
By the way, I'm leaving out today
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2321 on: December 06, 2015, 04:20:07 PM »

you can buy headsets and tune into the commentary? all the games are on a big screen behind the players?

just wondered what the spectator experience was like?

There is a commentary room next to the playing hall, so you can either sit in the main auditorium and watch in silence (no electronic equipment allowed) or sit in the commentary room and let grand masters explain what's going on for you. You can take photos for the first ten minutes or so of the matches in the main event usually.

There is also a large room with the side events going on: at a guess, 500 competitors in those. Quite a few masters in the FIDE Open comp.

£20 gets you an all day pass, which you can buy on arrival. There is a cafe but bringing your own will be fine. Chess players are notorious for having their own sarnies and flasks.
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
Tal
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 24352


"He's always at it!"


View Profile
« Reply #2322 on: December 08, 2015, 08:03:45 AM »

There have been just three decisive games out of the fifteen played so far in the London Chess Classic.

In recent years, organisers have tried to find ways of encouraging attacking chess. One way was to employ the football points system of 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss and they did do that in the LCC in the past. Another is a more formal approach, which forbids the players from agreeing a draw before Black's fortieth move. As British GM and commentator Chris Ward put it, "if you're going to play a boring draw out, you're going to have to sit there and play forty boring moves each first to have it"

American commentator and grandmaster Marrick Ashley had his say in 2003: http://www.thechessdrum.net/65thSquare/DrawOffer/DrawOffer3.html

Ten years ago, in a top level comp in Sofia, the organisers forbade draws altogether, except by stalemate, threefold repetition or by insufficient material. Beyond that, if an arbiter (referee) determined that the game was drawn, then the players could shake hands. This has been revised a little but not much over the last decade and is seemingly popular, even if only really as a mechanism for attracting spectators through advertising.

There have even been comps where a percentage of the prize money is deducted for each draw. Imagine doing that in poker!

The best idea in my view was given by British GM Dr John Nunn, who opined, if you don't want a lot of draws in your invitation-only tournament, don't invite players who draw a lot of games and tend to do so quickly. Radjabov has yet to play in the LCC I believe.

Inviting a few weaker players (say, like a top local junior or a local attacking player) tends to stir things up a bit, much like where there's three decent teams in a group of four in a European football comp. The players are forced to have a go against each other if the weaker player can get a draw or better in one of his games.

There's no easy answer to it. The players have to police it themselves and remember the players who win the most games tend to get the invites and have a habit of winning tournaments. It's also quite hard to beat a chap with a rating of 2750...
Logged

"You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one"
Withnail160
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 14


View Profile
« Reply #2323 on: December 14, 2015, 07:07:25 PM »

Hi Tal - Thanks for the shout out for i-pools! We'll be doing more chess pools in 2016

I was thinking about exactly this issue too. I was hoping the big money on offer would lead to lots of aggressive games and pushing for wins. So 10/45 results was disappointing.

But the other World Chess Tour events produced lots of results: 20 in Norway Chess and 19 in Sinquefield Cup - with exactly the same rules.

The London tally might be a combo of a) the pressure of the money b) end of season fatigue c) saving prepared ideas for the Candidates next year.

On the other hand - despite the fact that many rounds of the tournament produced slightly dull "safe" chess, the last day was really tense with 4 or 5 players in the hunt for both the LCC and the GCT.

I think the Grand Chess Tour will continue to invite the 9 best rated and a local wildcard for each tournament, so self regulation isn't going to get rewarded. Personally I don't like the artificial solutions like 3 points for a win or "no draws till move 40" - it's up to white to win the point and Black to defend it.

The other idea I heard them discussing in the commentary was - in the event of a draw -  an armageddon game with colours reversed. This would encourage White to press for the win in the classic game. Get rid of draws altogether.

Or just outlaw the Berlin!
Logged
TL900
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2448



View Profile
« Reply #2324 on: December 16, 2015, 12:00:02 PM »

my rating is between 1350-1400 and I cant seem to progress past that. Is there any like common mistakes or tips/ways of thinking that take you from a 1400 to a 1600 or is it just a case of playing lots/learning/studying etc?
Logged

@MtSpewmore
Quote from: jgcblack
I wouldn't normally try so hard, but didn't have another opportunity I could wait for. I wasn't ready to surrender what I WANTED SO MUCH, that easily, I couldn't guarantee a call with me staying stoic and relying on a flinch "top pair" calling reflex.
Pages: 1 ... 151 152 153 154 [155] 156 157 158 159 ... 164 Go Up Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Page created in 0.174 seconds with 21 queries.