Chess discussions

Zarlak said:
Yeah, they're using like 3 different time controls getting progressively faster. 90 mins of 5+1 blitz, 60 mins of 3+1 blitz and 30 mins of 1+1 bullet.
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altodevil said:
I know. It's rapid/bullet too though right?
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Gukesh is a classical player. He's not good at rapid or blitz. He did pretty badly in Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz a few days ago. In Indian chess circles people were wondering why he signed up for this - he doesn't even play online.

BTW - Naka, the darling of internet chess players, didn't manage to win either the Rapid or Blitz at Tata Steel. It was Nihal and Arjun Erigaisi who won.
 
Zarlak said:
Even the best have bad days - looking forward to Nihal/Giri tomorrow though.
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Giri's style is the worst for Nihal to play against. He might spring an upset. Nihal is probably in the top 5 bullet players in the world so if he stays even in rapid / blitz he will win.

Also IMO the whole younger set of players are underrated and we will see a correction in the top of the charts in the next few years, with Magnus being the obvious exception.
 
Zarlak said:
8 mins left in Giri/Sarin and it's 11.5-10.5

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Went the opposite of what their records suggested but Nihal pulled it out in the end. Him vs Ding last year was a classic so will be fun to watch
 


Talking about Chess, this coming Sunday there will be cool ChessBoxing event coming on!
 
Naka is killing it with the A3 and H3 openings with white :lol: ,
 
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Magnus is freakish. One of the scariest, most dominant competitors I've ever seen. Swatted Fabi like a fly.
 
Nihal can give Naka a pretty good game if he plays to his best. Needs to not get caught in his own head when playing Naka.
 
Abraxas said:
Nihal can give Naka a pretty good game if he plays to his best. Needs to not get caught in his own head when playing Naka.
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I think Hikaru will come out comfortably ahead, but nowhere near Fabi/Magnus. Nihal will definitely give him some good games but I feel like the experience is going to favour Hikaru, Nihal seemed to very easily go on tilt several times against Giri which I think might go against him here at this stage in his career. But @NM seems to hate Hikaru so I'm sure he will disagree. :p
 
Zarlak said:
I think Hikaru will come out comfortably ahead, but nowhere near Fabi/Magnus. Nihal will definitely give him some good games but I feel like the experience is going to favour Hikaru, Nihal seemed to very easily go on tilt several times against Giri which I think might go against him here at this stage in his career. But @NM seems to hate Hikaru so I'm sure he will disagree. :p
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:wenger:
I like Hikaru a lot. I just like Indian players more. Hikaru should beat him unless Nihal plays out of his skin. That being said, the gap between Magnus and everybody else right now is as wide as it's ever been and he's going to walk this imo. Good prep for the rapid and blitz at end of year too.
 
NM said:
:wenger:
I like Hikaru a lot. I just like Indian players more. Hikaru should beat him unless Nihal plays out of his skin. That being said, the gap between Magnus and everybody else right now is as wide as it's ever been and he's going to walk this imo. Good prep for the rapid and blitz at end of year too.
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Ah my mistake, I took from your recent posts that you really didn't like him. I must have read the tone wrong.
 
Good effort from Nihal.

Kind of a golden opportunity missed though, as I think Hikaru was quite off form. Nihal missed some conversions that he really should have taken on another day, even allowing for Hikaru's defence.
 
Magnus collapsing.. Hikaru is going to take this. Hung a piece and mate in 2. Crazy times!

Kudos to Hikaru though
 
Hikaru probably wins it now. Really great clutch couple of games after the score tied.
 
Hikaru survives! Not a fan of his running down the clock multiple times in the match but it got him over the line. Deserved too. I thought he played better and Magnus being crap at the start cost him
 
NM said:
Hikaru survives! Not a fan of his running down the clock multiple times in the match but it got him over the line. Deserved too. I thought he played better and Magnus being crap at the start cost him
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Feels like taking the ball to the corner in the 90th minute and trying to hold it there. Boring af but I guess effective.
 
Zarlak said:
Feels like taking the ball to the corner in the 90th minute and trying to hold it there. Boring af but I guess effective.
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Yeah. Magnus was asked about it post match and said he had 0 issues with it. He actually gave a really good interview afterwards. Said he loved blitz and wanted to play it more, and that the way Hikaru played at the start was the best he's ever seen anyone play in the format.

Said he thinks he's still better and will prove it next time.. Typical Norwegian!
 
I thought the time wasting at the end was sort of okay, it might have been the difference between winning and losing. After you've battled for hours, if the format allows it then you'd be kind of silly not to take it.

It was incredibly cheesy to be doing it when it was 7-4 or whatever. But that's Hikaru for you. Don't think anyone else would have done that to the same extent.
 
Hans, Naka & Carlsen are all playing in the same championshi, wonder if Naka or Carlsen will turn up if they have to play Hans
 
Carlsen wins Rapid World Championship as Keymer, who could've equalized with him, blunders a winning endgame against MVL. Still a fantastic showing to finish second after just turning 18.
 
Carlsen's record in the rapid and blitz WC since 2014:

2014 R: Won
2014 B: Won
2015 R: Won
2015 B: 1.5 pts behind the winner :eek::eek:
2016 R: 0 pts behind
2016 B: 0 pts behind
2017 R: 0.5 pts behind
2017 B: Won
2018 R: 0.5 pts behind
2018 B: Won
2019 R: Won
2019 B: Won
2021 R: 0 pts behind
2021 B: 1.5 pts behind :eek::eek:
2022 R: Won
2022 B: Won

(Not held in 2020)

Simply miles ahead of the rest. The (joint) highest points total in 12 of 16 tournaments, and just half a point behind in two more.
 
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