Chess

[Federberg]

I think they're easy to find on twitch, and besides they'll get put on to youtube at some point

 

[DarthFed]

Candidates tournament coming up in four days. Who do you want to win @Federberg and @brokenshoelace ? And who do you think will take it?

I'd like to see Kramnik take it and I think he has a decent chance but I'd probably rate Aronian as the slight favorite here. Also, watch out for Ding Liren, that guy could surprise. I started paying more attention to him this past year, very solid and strong player, a dark horse at the very least. Caruana, So, and Mamedyarov are capable too. This seems more evenly matched than the last one which had Topalov and Svidler who realistically had no chance at winning the event.

 

[Federberg]

Candidates tournament coming up in four days. Who do you want to win @Federberg and @brokenshoelace ? And who do you think will take it?

I'd like to see Kramnik take it and I think he has a decent chance but I'd probably rate Aronian as the slight favorite here. Also, watch out for Ding Liren, that guy could surprise. I started paying more attention to him this past year, very solid and strong player, a dark horse at the very least. Caruana, So, and Mamedyarov are capable too. This seems more evenly matched than the last one which had Topalov and Svidler who realistically had no chance at winning the event.

To both questions Levon Aronian. I can tell you who I would hate to see win. Mamedyarov, Ding and So. These guys would get crushed by Magnus. I wouldn't mind Kramnik winning. That would be a fun championship, although I doubt Vlad would have the stamina to last the course

 

[DarthFed]

Agreed that Kramnik wouldn't stand much of a chance due to stamina but you never know, especially if he steals a game early on.

I'm still skeptical that Aronian would have a chance but he has become more solid pisitionally over the years. It would be a fun match to watch though. If we are going off who would have the best chance in a match I think it might be Caruana but he's so inconsistent in tournament play and I wonder if it'd be similar in a match.

 

[Federberg]

Agreed that Kramnik wouldn't stand much of a chance due to stamina but you never know, especially if he steals a game early on.

I'm still skeptical that Aronian would have a chance but he has become more solid pisitionally over the years. It would be a fun match to watch though. If we are going off who would have the best chance in a match I think it might be Caruana but he's so inconsistent in tournament play and I wonder if it'd be similar in a match.

I just don't think Fabi has the mental strength for it. Don't get me wrong he's a heck of a player, and tremendously well prepared. But apart from his St Louis streak I don't see him being able to handle it. Funnily enough someone like Giri would be extremely dangerous to Magnus in the same way Karjakin was last time

 

[brokenshoelace]

I'm very upset MVL isn't playing. I respect Kramnik but wish the wild card was handed to Maxime. It's about time Aronian competes for the world championship and he'd probably make for the most interesting match. Rooting for him.

 

[Federberg]

I just loved this! Check out the burn from Magnus to a Giri tweet

 

[Federberg]

and here's more on the spat... makes me eager to watch the Candidates!

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/battle-of-the-non-candidates

 

[DarthFed]

I like a good hatred between the top players. Makes the action more exciting! And I agree that Giri is actually a pretty big threat to Magnus, especially as he develops a bit more.

And it all stemmed from MVL's statement that Kramnik understands chess better than anyone else. I can't see that as anything but a burn to Carlsen but it did have me thinking about "chess understanding" and how it is difficult to define. Almost like the discussion we recently had about variety in tennis, it comes down to how the players are able to apply it in their games. Id say Magnus has quite an edge over the rest of them.

Kramnik kind of fascinates me as he completely transformed from his younger days most likely due to his health. If you compared the Kramnik of today to 20 years ago and didn't know they were the same player I think most would say the younger version had a better understanding of chess. That young version made very few mistakes and was playing damn near perfect positional chess for many years. Yet this much more aggressive Vlad is still quite relevant even though he looks incredibly clumsy at times.

 

[Federberg]

yes I agree with this. I thought it was an odd insight from MVL to be honest. I'm amazed that anyone would think that Carlsen doesn't have the deepest chess understanding at the moment. I was always under the impression that MVL and Magnus were good mates, so it's doubly curious. Interestingly Magnus made comments years ago - and bear in mind he and Vlad get on just fine - but he felt that in sitting down with Kramnik he was surprised that his chess understanding wasn't as profound as he would have expected. Based on the interviews of his I've watched over the years I have a feeling he would say that Vishy and Levon are the players whose knowledge he most respects. And I don't get the impression that he necessarily would say that he himself has the deepest understanding

But that said, if Giri can just learn that actually winning is more important that not losing he could be a force one day

 

[DarthFed]

Giri's last couple tournaments have been encouraging. I don't see him being just a semi-relevant player though it's possible. Regardless of how passive he can be at times the fact that he is that rock solid and hard to beat at that age is impressive.

 

[Federberg]

Giri's last couple tournaments have been encouraging. I don't see him being just a semi-relevant player though it's possible. Regardless of how passive he can be at times the fact that he is that rock solid and hard to beat at that age is impressive.

I agree. My issue with him has never been about the quality of his chess. The way he talks and uses social media you would think he'd actually done something. It's annoying. And clearly both Hikaru and Magnus feel the same way

 

[DarthFed]

I know but I still find it a bit rich that Naka is joining in here, he hasn't done much more than Giri and he is more cocky than him and says some really stupid shit.

 

[Federberg]

I know but I still find it a bit rich that Naka is joining in here, he hasn't done much more than Giri and he is more cocky than him and says some really stupid shit.

He's won a few US Championships hasn't he? And open tournaments like Gibraltar. I think he's done a bit more than Giri has to date mate.

 

[Federberg]

I'm not one for prediction challenges in most sports, but DF and Broken, care to try a prediction challenge for these Candidate rounds?

First up tomorrow will be:

Kramnik v Grischuk

Karjakin v Mamedyarov

Aronian v Liren

Caruana v So.

I'll go for:

Draw

Draw

Aronian

So

What you got?

 

[DarthFed]

He's won a few US Championships hasn't he? And open tournaments like Gibraltar. I think he's done a bit more than Giri has to date mate.

Yes he's definitely done more and maybe I was exaggerating by saying "only a little" but he's also been around a lot longer, he's 30 and Giri is 23. At this time neither is a legit WC contender and I'm not just saying that because they're not playing this tourney as even if they were playing I don't see them winning this. I don't think Naka will ever get there but Giri might. He's certainly a bigger threat to Magnus than Naka is.

 

[DarthFed]

I will go with:

Kramnik
Draw
Draw
Draw

 

[Federberg]

My decisive calls are well and truly toasted. Looks like Faby has turned around his bad form

 

[Federberg]

Great call re: Kramnik DF. A bit of a bloodbath today. Doubt Wesley will be able to recover from that loss, I'm prepared to write off his chances now

 

[DarthFed]

Kramnik is still just ridiculously strong at his best. Consistency is his issue and that's age and his health as well as just having a more aggressive style.

I thought coming in that Karjakin's struggles could be due to hiding prep but maybe we should take them more at face value. Always bad to be way worse as White after a mere 15 moves.

Nice game from Caruana but looked like really loose play from So. Wesley has been in awful form coming in, I guess the only realistic chance he and Karjak had is that we know what they're capable of and they will eventually piece together a great tournament again. But after that first round I'm not bullish on either to say the least.