Chess

[DarthFed]

22. Kf1! damn that's not easy to spot, didn't see it. I think black is in trouble now

 

[Federberg]

Yup. Even a novice, noticing Kh7 then a few moves later Kg8 would suspect that black is having problems

 

[DarthFed]

MVL playing really aggressive. f5 opens him up a bit but it also gives him some attacking prospects.

 

[Federberg]

Blunders occurring all of a sudden. First Svidler and then Giri..

 

[DarthFed]

bxb3 kxb3 rb8 kb3 and rxb2 and suddenly white is in danger. Ka2 was just weak even without missing that trick. He really doesn't play with a good set of balls and he ruins a lot of good positions due to it.

On second thought still looks pretty simple to draw this but white ruined a nice position for sure.

 

[Federberg]

yup. It's always been my problem with Giri. His conversion of good positions is actually quite poor. Which in a way shows how colossally strong he actually is

 

[DarthFed]

So-Naka is resignable here. Nice win by So!

 

[Federberg]

Yup. A first for him. A lot of first time wins recently. A good thing!

 

[Federberg]

Liking both MVL and Dings positions

 

[Federberg]

what on earth is going on today. Times like this you just miss Magnus

 

[DarthFed]

Anand's position as black vs. MVL was terrible after less than 15 moves. Some great defense after and a bad blunder by MVL. I actually thought Giri had a decent opening but he quickly got squeezed out of it and the piece sacrifice wasn't close to enough compensation

 

[DarthFed]

Naka-Topalov is interesting. Topa saced a queen for rook and knight in the opening but I think Naka may have some winning chances here. The other games look very drawish though there is still some action in MVL-Svidler.

 

[DarthFed]

Giri is going all out for a win vs. So. Unusual aggressiveness to say the least

 

[DarthFed]

Naka-Top looking more like a draw. It is oftentimes tough as a player when you have a material advantage to not overextend in desperate search for a win that's not there.

 

[brokenshoelace]

MVL has surprised me with the way he's looked this tournament given how great he's been recently. Disappointing. He's probably my favorite player on tour at the moment.

 

[DarthFed]

Well MVL has played a lot of chess recently. That and the Anand game was a shit happens type of loss in a game where he was superior up until the last few moves. Still 5 rounds left so he could still turn this around.

 

[DarthFed]

Some major fireworks building in Caruana - MVL. Other than that Topalov has winning chances vs. Ding. Good tourney for Topalov so far.

 

[Federberg]

Toppy is an odd fish. Sometimes he's good like here, but other times he's just plain awful. Must be a motivation thing.

I'm starting to think Svidler would make better use of his time as a commentator. Liking the Caruana - MVL game

 

[DarthFed]

Some good fights today but it looks like we are heading to 3 straight rounds of ALL draws.

 

[DarthFed]

I spoke too soon. Topalov ended up winning. Ding must have screwed up bad near the end, no way Topalov should've won so easily after the passed A pawn was snatched up.

Not seeing anything wrong with 61. Kf7. After Nf4 he has Bxg2+ Nxg2, Rb1+ followed by Rb2 winning back the Knight. Perhaps I'm missing something but that basic line looks like an easy enough way to draw.