Chess

[brokenshoelace]

Giri loves draws so much he gives up winning in order to draw. Rook C8 was a horrible move. Went from winning to agreeing to a draw with one move.

 

[DarthFed]

Giri just can't finish the deal. He's making an art out of it this year. It's kind of ironic that he usually is pissing it away with passive moves when he needs to be aggressive while this time he saw a check and he strangely took it.

Nice win by MVL, I've long been impressed with how aggressive he plays with the black pieces even against elite opponents. Forget the idea that he should be happy to draw with black.

 

[brokenshoelace]

In Giri's defense, it was move 40 and he apparently had 4 seconds left on the clock before he made that move, but it's been happening way too often this year.

 

[DarthFed]

Ah, I didn't realize that. In that case it's perfectly understandable. Not sure if he often has issues with handling his clock but it may have cost him yesterday. Didn't really seem like an overly complex game either.

So ended up winning and taking the lead in the tournament. He still has to play Caruana and MVL though. This tourney could heat up yet.

 

[DarthFed]

MVL - Naka is getting interesting, Naka looking to take advantage of weak queenside pawns and MVL will probably need to snatch that f-pawn and earn himself 2 passed pawns on the kingside. Exciting game for a Berlin Wall.

Other than that So has a pretty nice position as black vs. Svidler. A win today and he could take total command of the tournament.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Don't think it was smart for MVL to get into a Berlin where white castles after Nxe4. I don't know why GM's don't play d3 more given how near impenetrable the Berlin has become, and avoid going straight into an end game.

 

[Federberg]

Totally agree. I just shudder at the thought of having to go through a mainline Berlin. I know that some of these endgames can be rich, but I would rather have the tension of the middle game for choice

 

[Federberg]

Am I right in thinking that if So wins here, Giri will be the only one in the top 10 who hasn't won a super tournament?

 

[Federberg]

Well done Wesley. He's really tightened his game up. As has MVL. Giri seems to be going backwards though. In fairness to him he seems to be trying more risky moves. Wouldn't surprise me if he becomes the real threat to Magnus in a year or two

 

[Federberg]

This is precisely why I don't really care for Giri. Here's a quote from the just finished Tal Memorial, where he came second to Nepomniatchi...

"He had what I lacked. He was very optimistic throughout and he never got punished for it, because he was calculating very well here. If you calculate well you can get away with a lot of nonsense! There are examples in the history of chess – I’m not talking about Ian at all, I’m just talking in general – of strong grandmasters who, if you talk to them about chess, seem not to understand anything, but they play extremely well. The thing is, if you calculate well it doesn’t matter how you evaluate the position - you’re going to make good moves. If you think you’re winning the whole time and you weren’t, you can still make good moves.

I don’t talk about Ian now, but he did calculate very well here and, in general, he’s the kind of player for whom the game… is just one big variation, just calculating this one long variation from move 1 to the end of the game. When these kinds of players are in shape then everything works. When they’re not in shape it’s not the same, but here he was in shape and he played very well and very bravely. With White he took a lot of risk against Aronian, against Anand. He was shaky in both games but he just pushed forward and saved himself. I wouldn’t say I’m jealous, because it doesn’t work all the time like that."

 

[DarthFed]

^ Interesting quote. And though there is a lot of truth in what he's saying he does come off as being bitter as that clearly is not his game. It's rare you have someone who can calculate tremendously and at the same time is a great positional player. Those that are both are obviously going to be great, great players.

 

[DarthFed]

In a few weeks they have an online blitz and bullet chess battle between Carlsen and Nakamura on chess.com. It is the finals as Naka beat MVL and Carlsen beat Grischuk in the semis. I play on that site (they have free memberships too) and was able to check those matches out. I think it is 5 minutes +2 seconds increment for the first hour, 3 minutes +2 seconds increment for the next hour and finally 1 minute +1 second increment for the last hour with the first game of each format being Fischer random. With the increments I think Carlsen will be the clear favorite but it should be exciting to watch.

 

[Federberg]

In a few weeks they have an online blitz and bullet chess battle between Carlsen and Nakamura on chess.com. It is the finals as Naka beat MVL and Carlsen beat Grischuk in the semis. I play on that site (they have free memberships too) and was able to check those matches out. I think it is 5 minutes +2 seconds increment for the first hour, 3 minutes +2 seconds increment for the next hour and finally 1 minute +1 second increment for the last hour with the first game of each format being Fischer random. With the increments I think Carlsen will be the clear favorite but it should be exciting to watch.

Yes I watched those matches too. I was a bit surprised at the end when Grischuk admitted that his only hope had been to get a decent lead in the blitz sections. As he put it, Carlsen is just an absolute monster at bullet. Is there anything the dude can't do? Can't wait to see them go at it!

 

[DarthFed]

The online blitz battle is today! Carlsen vs. Nakamura, starts at 1 PM Eastern.

 

[Federberg]

I'm watching. Can't wait for the bullet. No real surprises so far

 

[Federberg]

No surprise Magnus is dominating the blitz sections. 5 point lead is too much I think. Hikaru needs to claw some back. I don't think he beats Magnus in bullet by that margin

 

[DarthFed]

Magnus is retardedly strong (sorry for being politically incorrect). Just too much for even Naka to handle so far. I thought for Naka to have a legit chance he would need to sweep the 3 chess 960 games (Fischer Random). So far Naka is 1 win and 1 draw in those but it doesn't matter.

 

[Federberg]

Yup. He's just so impressive. In any version of chess, amazing to watch

 

[DarthFed]

Bullet will be very exciting to watch. It's obviously Naka's best chance but a 5 game hole is likely too much to make up.

 

[DarthFed]

funny start to the bullet frame, both took turns blowing an outright win. The wonders of bullet chess