Was watching the Polgar/Giri stream and Giri was instantly astonished. Magnus seemed baffled by it too.
Poor bastard has more games to go as well. Brutal stuff.
Poor bastard has more games to go as well. Brutal stuff.
Carlsen vs Nepomniachi
- Thread starter donkeyfish
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He should pack it in. That was brutal. I feel bad for him.
It's actually a bit amazing that Nepo did implode so spectacularly during the last two losses, but then managed to reset his mood (or at least put on a good enough facade) that he did a perfectly calm, even slightly ironic, press conference.
Ya he fronted up well in tough circumstances.
"Nepo, did you cut your hair as a mark of shame?"
"Magnus, did you feel sorry for Nepo today because he's so bad at chess?"
"Nepo, you said you felt shame after your last loss so how much more shame do you feel today?"
"Seriously though Magnus, you must have felt sorry for Nepo because he is so bad at chess?"
"Nepo, why are you so bad at chess?"
"Magnus, do you even feel good when you beat someone this bad at chess?"
"Nepo, how does it feel to have shat on your own dreams, hopes and ambitions?"
Only a slight exaggeration on my part.
A bit boring looking today, unsurprisingly. Was hoping for Be3, but very understandable choice by Carlsen
Nepo needs to be stripped of his GM title.
Collapsed completely after game 6, when was the last time a WC match was this one-sided?
I don't think g3 was a typical blunder. It's such a tactical move, you have to see and calculate the variations. Maybe Nepo thought being three points down, with three games (two black) to go was as hopeless as going for the complications of g3.
That's a reasonable guess. Today is less worse than the two other blunders for sure.
Yep. Think it's more a case of him having already decided that he'd rather avoid a draw as much as a loss in this game in attempting to win.
I'd never think this was -5 had I seen it in my game
Magnus cements his GOAT claim
Obviously an absolute collapse by Nepo but this really kinda makes you realize what an insanely strong performance Caruana put in in 2018.
You can only beat who is in front of you, but this WC was more Nepo losing it, than Magnus winning it. Things were looking relatively even for the first 5 games, the 6th could have gone to either side and after that Nepo imploded.
Carlsen said himself too didn't he, that Caruana and Ding would've been the toughest opponents this time around.
The 6th game changed everything tbf. If that ends in a draw then the subsequent implosion likely doesn't happen and it ends up being a much closer affair with Nepo ultimately looking a better challenger. He just wasn't prepared for the psychology of going behind the Carlsen, at least not after that sort of extended battle.
Still, can't say it wasn't a memorable match.
Still, can't say it wasn't a memorable match.
To be honest I'm not that surprised. I think most of the time you revert to your usual nature that has been built up over a lifetime when the going gets tough. Old habits really do die hard.
Ian has attempted to become more solid and focused over the last few years but this was always going to be a massive test of that.
Also, you have to look at what Wesley So said. He was one of the few people that wasn't saying it was 60/40 to Magnus. He was always adamant Magnus was a huge favourite. Ratings don't lie in chess, 70 points is gigantic over such a long match. Fabi was much closer to Magnus at the time and I think pure chess strength really shows in the difference between their respective performances.
It will be interesting to see how Firouzja goes over the next few years because realistically it's difficult for anybody else to come close. Nobody else really has the potential improvement in them to bridge the strength difference to Magnus.
Ian has attempted to become more solid and focused over the last few years but this was always going to be a massive test of that.
Also, you have to look at what Wesley So said. He was one of the few people that wasn't saying it was 60/40 to Magnus. He was always adamant Magnus was a huge favourite. Ratings don't lie in chess, 70 points is gigantic over such a long match. Fabi was much closer to Magnus at the time and I think pure chess strength really shows in the difference between their respective performances.
It will be interesting to see how Firouzja goes over the next few years because realistically it's difficult for anybody else to come close. Nobody else really has the potential improvement in them to bridge the strength difference to Magnus.
Yep, and he also said after 2018 that him and Caruana were equal in terms of classical chess and that Caruana kinda could also regard himself as the Classical Chess World Champion. I really hope Caruana (or Firouzja) win the Candidates 2022.
Meanwhile Russian chess community dives into a meltdown if Dubov (who was revealed to be Carlsens second after the match) is a traitor or not for helping Carlsen against a compatriot. Karjakin on twitter and Sergey Shipov (Russian FIDE commentator) with quite some salty remarks
Was it not already known that Dubov was working with Carlsen? I remember Giri saying on the broadcast that some of Carlsen's pawn sacrifice for initiative ideas were very much in line with Dubov's style.
Svidler assumed that Dubov was neutral, since he's supposedly friendly with both Nepo and Carlsen.
He was already his second at the 2018 world championship but many assumed he would stay neutral in this match because the challenger is from Russia.
Yeah. That was during game 2, Dubov loves sacrificing the pawn on c4. I really like his style, one of my favorite players.
The pawn sacrifices in the Spanish is the Jan Gustafsson way of playing chess.
I don't really see why it was an issue. It's an individual sport, really. Unless it's the Olympiad etc.
If I was Dubov and I can make some money and maybe learn a thing or two in the process, I'd do the exact same. It's a job, it's a mistake to think someone like Dubov is making millions each year. Also, Dubov has done some things with Magnus before so it's not like he's come out of the woodwork suddenly just because it's Ian.
Just a bit of sour grapes coming out from the Russians. Thankfully Ian was not the one that was worried about it.
If I was Dubov and I can make some money and maybe learn a thing or two in the process, I'd do the exact same. It's a job, it's a mistake to think someone like Dubov is making millions each year. Also, Dubov has done some things with Magnus before so it's not like he's come out of the woodwork suddenly just because it's Ian.
Just a bit of sour grapes coming out from the Russians. Thankfully Ian was not the one that was worried about it.
It makes some sense. There can't be that much motivation to face many of the guys that he has proven he is better than time and time again, simply for the sake of being world champion. He's been world champion for so long that it's probably not inspiring in and of itself, especially with the preparation and work involved.
Firouzja looks a very likely world champion, reaching high 2700s/2800 at 18 is generally a pretty telling point. I do think you have to reach the elite very early.
Nihal Sarin is another one I like for chess talent. But he has to make massive improvements over the next couple of years in rating and work on his openings. It's kind of hard to tell at 16/17 whether they're going to reach a limit.