Chess discussions

Caruana overlooked the tactics badly, but great game from Karjakin and a deserved win overall (two pluses in front of everyone too).
 
lonelyred said:
Caruana overlooked the tactics badly, but great game from Karjakin and a deserved win overall (two pluses in front of everyone too).
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It was mainly that rook sacrifice in the end, which was very impressive by Karjakin to find it under such immense pressure (the situation and the time).
 
pillory said:
A cool +7 =1 for Carlsen in the blitz section of Norway Chess before the last game against Giri.
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Strategically posted before that game, since I had a strong feeling he was going to lose...

Carlsen looked sharp (but slow!) in the first round proper as well, winning a first-round game for the first time in two years, and Giri finally scored a full point after 26(?) consecutive draws. The big rating list winner of the day was funnily enough Peter Svidler, who climbed from 14th to 12th whilst commentating on the games thanks to Carlsen and Giri's wins.
 
So Carlsen finally won Norway Chess, and Kasparov delivered another mightily impressive blitz performance. He did finish behind Naka and So with only the relatively rubbish blitzer Caruana behind him, but he could easily have won the whole thing, and I think he beat Naka overall in their games. We need a Nakamura/Carlsen/Kasparov blitz showdown.
 
pillory said:
So Carlsen finally won Norway Chess, and Kasparov delivered another mightily impressive blitz performance. He did finish behind Naka and So with only the relatively rubbish blitzer Caruana behind him, but he could easily have won the whole thing, and I think he beat Naka overall in their games. We need a Nakamura/Carlsen/Kasparov blitz showdown.
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The thought of him vs Carlsen in a classical control and proper tournament (not demonstration)is mouth watering. But I doubt it will happen.
 
Amusing how far ahead Nakamura and Carlsen are in the Paris GCT rapid + blitz. Even with 9 rounds left (of 27) it would be a miracle if they don't finish first and second. Nakamura is half a point ahead, but Carlsen has probably had the more impressive tournament considering Nakamura's extremely lucky technicality win against Topalov and Carlsen's "clock awareness" loss a queen up against So.

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Well, barring a few off-days those two are quite unrivalled in fast chess these days. Much more significant gap than in classical chess imo.

MVL probably a bit gutted, since he can be competitive. Home-field disadvantage strikes again maybe.

And if Fabi ever gets a WC match, the opposition will probably aim for 12 draws and smash him in the playoff

Not sold on these fast tourneys tbh, I still much prefer the classical ones. I guess its better to attract new spectators, but watching blitz never gets me the same sense of getting in to the game - and it takes away a bit of the charm
 
Weird day. Naka started with three straight losses, and then Carlsen completely lost the plot in his last 1.3 games.
 
Nakamura finished joint last with only two wins, a 17-mover against Carlsen and a 117-mover against Caruana. Possibly the shortest and the longest game of the tournament?
 
The aggregated rapid results from Leuven and Paris:

+7 Carlsen
+4 So
+3 Nakamura
+1 Vachier-Lagrave
+1 Aronian
(+1 Anand)
-1 Kramnik
-1 Giri
(-4 Fressinet)
-5 Caruana
-6 Topalov

If we counterfactually say Carlsen beat So and drew Nakamura (because those two mistakes were so absurd, unlike the the (for rapid) quite normal way he went from winning to losing against Caruana), we'd have Carlsen on +10 followed by Nakamura and So on +2. I'm just mentioning this because I thought Carlsen played extremely well - "I thought" meaning "according to what I can remember from the computer analyses". He was completely winning in at least 12 of 18 games and, as far as I can remember, only in deep on-the-board shit in two, one of them the absurdity against Nakamura.
 
Carlsen is pulverizing the Bilbao field in anger after actually losing to Nakamura in the first round, but the real test for his Hulk powers will be black against Giri tomorrow. Is that what Caruana is talking about here?

 
The London Chess Classic has been a blast, for instance Caruana's prepped queen sacrifice against Nakamura and Kramnik's stalemate against the same incredulous man. So leads with +3, while Topalov is having another disaster (0.5/6). Caruana still has a theoretical chance of overtaking Carlsen in the rankings, but he must win today and in the last two rounds as well, so it's unlikely. It is however not unlikely that he will be very close at the end of the tournament (the gap is currently 10.4 points), so Carlsen will need to do well at Wijk aan Zee in January.

 
One day and five rounds left of the Rapid WC. Carlsen still has a decent chance to make it three in a row despite being below par, but I wouldn't mind if Ivanchuk won it, because he's awesome.



8/10 points
Ivanchuk Vassily
7.5 points
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Nepomniachtchi Ian
7 points
Aronian Levon
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Korobov Anton
Grischuk Alexander
Anand Viswanathan
Carlsen Magnus
Dominguez Perez Leinier
 
Final standings 1) Ivanchuk 2) Grischuk 3) Carlsen, all on 11 points. I'm very happy for Ivanchuk, as was Carlsen, and as a tribalistic fanboy I'm also very happy with Carlsen's performance on the last day. He just made one costly mistake, overlooking Korobov's 18...Bxg2. Bring on the blitz.
 
Revenge for Karjakin as he wins the blitz ahead of Carlsen on average opposition rating. Carlsen is furious with himself, but 16.5/21 is an excellent score. And he won the (sadly unofficial) combined rapid-blitz title for the third year running!
 
I'm watching it.
Carlsen-Anand now.
 
Two draws and a loss for your compatriot, @Grylte, in last three matches. Sorry, misses out on a win, and three are now at 10.5 points, Anand among them (didn't lose a single match). Not sure who's the winner though, commentators on live stream as well...tie-break matches or something else?
 
Mrs Smoker said:
Two draws and a loss for your compatriot, @Grylte, in last three matches. Sorry, misses out on a win, and three are now at 10.5 points, Anand among them (didn't lose a single match). Not sure who's the winner though, commentators on live stream as well...tie-break matches or something else?
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Yeah, he played really bad in the last two. I am not a chess player at all, but after his standards it was really bad.
His last win was amazing! Against Fed...something :)

I think they 3 with highest score play eachother twice, and if all end with draw, there will be Armageddon.
Armageddon is fun to watch, i think it's the game where white starts with more point, but have to win, black wins if he gets a draw.
 
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