Chess

[Federberg]

Wei Yi is taking Anish to the woodshed! bwahahaha!

 

[DarthFed]

Terrible endgame play there by Giri to throw away the half point. It's not easy for a knight to trap a bishop like that, so I can see how Giri probably couldn't picture being dead lost after c4 but still a bad miss. If anything you'd figure he might outplay his younger opponent in a bishop vs. knight endgame.

Carlsen is going to win the tournament as usual but I'm sure Naka is all smiles today after drawing the game and winning their mini match this tournament.

 

[DarthFed]

Also, impressive tournament by MVL at Dortmund. Winning by 1.5 points over a very strong field and he is now #2 in the live rankings. His star is clearly on the rise and like Carlsen he is just 25 years old.

 

[Federberg]

^yes indeed. Very impressive from MVL. He has become very solid indeed.

Karjakin messed up what looked like a strong position in his endgame against So today. Not sure it was definitely winning but he could have maintained an edge.

Funnily enough with Giri, I bet you he wouldn't have messed up like that against Carlsen I think he let his guard down today and got duly punished. That surely has to be Wei Yi's biggest scalp to date. Well done young man! The fact that his endgames look fairly solid at such a young age bodes welll.

 

[Federberg]

Wei Yi is one strong kid. I can really see him growing into a monster that Magnus will find difficult to contend with. They need to get him into more of these strong tournaments

 

[Federberg]

good hold by Wei Yi. Stood up to the Carlsen strangle

 

[DarthFed]

Impressive hold by Yi. Carlsen had a pretty strong position from the get go in this one but Yi defended it well.

I think the same as you, that of all the current players Yi might be the one who eventually takes the title away from Carlsen. It will probably be many years down the road to where Yi can have a decent chance in a match. Carlsen is just too damn strong for anyone right now. Also, It is definitely a good contrast of styles.

 

[Federberg]

Thought this was funny, from the chess24 site...


After the game Wei Yi was asked to sum up how he feels about how things are going so far in Bilbao, but didn't give quite the global answer expected:

I feel very tired… very, very tired.

Magnus had a few more words to describe his opponent’s performance:

He plays very well and he’s showing so far that he belongs in the tournament and I hope for him he can have a successful end to the tournament as well.

Asked how 17-year-old Wei Yi compares to the 17-year-old Magnus, the World Champion felt a reminder was required:

I don’t know… right after I turned 17 I won in Wijk aan Zee, so I was also pretty good back then! But he’s come a long way.

Good old Magnus. He's absolutely right. Sometimes people forget how good he was. Wei Yi's rating might have a higher peak than Magnus at that age, but Carlsen was winning big tournaments. People forget...

 

[DarthFed]

^ Yeah Magnus has that edge. He's not an in your face arrogant jerk like Kasparov could be but he is quick to remind everyone he is the best and he doesn't really like other players getting attention. Honestly I like that attitude and it serves chess players well.

That and Carlsen was actually rated higher at age 17 but not by much.

 

[DarthFed]

Also, a general statement overall but it's kind of cool to see big time contenders surfacing from more countries. Carlsen is from Norway, MVL is from France, there are a couple very strong American players, Giri is Dutch, etc. Russia is still the strongest country (and the whole old Soviet Union if you want to combine them) but China has to be #2 and they have become stronger and stronger. With that said they have not had a true WC contender yet but Wei Yi and possibly Ding Liren seem poised to change that.

 

[Federberg]

^yes agreed. Exciting times. Funnily enough this is one of the reasons I'm a bit sceptical about the whole ratings inflation thing. As with all sports, people get stronger over time. ELO can't be compared across time, so admittedly you can't compare one's rating now versus 10 years ago. But the fact that the pool is so much deeper now, and they have the learned knowledge of all past champions, it's hard to say this isn't the toughest field to play against in history

 

[DarthFed]

Rating inflation will always be an endless debate. It is tough to prove no matter what side of the debate you're on. While I do think there is some inflation, I do think the level of play on average is higher than it ever has been and that's to be expected. Kramnik is currently rated close to what he was in 2000 when he took down Kasparov for the title, but I don't think he is nearly as strong...aside from openings where EVERY serious professional player's opening knowledge is increasing year after year. So if you get a time machine to have Kramnik 2000 vs. Kramnik 2016 I think the former wins often if he is at least equal in the opening, but the latter is naturally going to be better in the openings. And that's why nobody can truly say for sure that rating inflation exists.

 

[DarthFed]

Strong play by So in this game vs. Giri. He's got him on the ropes here.

 

[Federberg]

Rating inflation will always be an endless debate. It is tough to prove no matter what side of the debate you're on. While I do think there is some inflation, I do think the level of play on average is higher than it ever has been and that's to be expected. Kramnik is currently rated close to what he was in 2000 when he took down Kasparov for the title, but I don't think he is nearly as strong...aside from openings where EVERY serious professional player's opening knowledge is increasing year after year. So if you get a time machine to have Kramnik 2000 vs. Kramnik 2016 I think the former wins often if he is at least equal in the opening, but the latter is naturally going to be better in the openings. And that's why nobody can truly say for sure that rating inflation exists.

That makes a lot of sense. Although we have to remember than even though Kramnik now has so much less energy, his greater knowledge will probably neutralise a lot of that. I mean.. just imagine if Kramnik the World Champion tried to use his Berlin knowledge against the current Kramnik, I'll go with the current Kramnik because a lot of those lines have been analysed to the nth degree now. But in general I agree...

 

[Federberg]

In fairness to Anish, he's actually becoming a lot more interesting with his play. He's trying, but this is something I alluded to some time ago. You spend so much time trying not to lose, it gets even more difficult to play aggressive/ creative chess. I suspect that's what he's going through now.... except against Magnus

 

[Federberg]

this Carlsen - Giri game is getting interesting. Credit to Magnus. He does what he can to muddy up the play and take opponents out of their comfort zone. He just might correct the insult today

 

[Federberg]

at the risk of being an engine bunny, Magnus is not playing the optimal lines here. But perhaps he's relying on the amount of time Anish has spent already?

 

[DarthFed]

Pretty nasty looking attack built up here. Ra7 looks like it forces g6 and that's not a fun concession.

 

[DarthFed]

And Magnus pushes h5 first...black looks pretty tied down here, Ra7 is obvious threat and not easy to meet. Giri is defending this well, I'm not following an engine but maybe h5 was a slight error.

 

[DarthFed]

Time a factor for both but black is the one whose position needs more time to analyze. One mistake and it's over.