Chess

[Federberg]

 

[DarthFed]

@brokenshoelace Did MVL come to your club yet? You had mentioned he was going to do that awhile back. If so, how was it?

 

[Federberg]

Ding v So I think that So's tendency to castle late might allow Ding to highlight his fantastic tactical play. I'll go with Ding
Grischuk v Karjakin Grischuk
Kramnik v Aronian Surely this one's going to be the most bonkers game of the whole Candidates. 2 guys on tilt. I'll go for Aronian
Mamedyarov v Caruana draw

 

[DarthFed]

Ding - So - Ding. Maybe that incredible save will give him some confidence

Kramnik - Aronian - this could resemble a non-Morphy game from the 19th century. I hope it isn't a letdown, two guys in full tilt just out for blood and pride at this point. I will go with Aronian too

Grischuk - Karjakin - Draw

Mamed - Caruana - here is the game of the tournament as far as importance goes. A draw is good for Caruana so it will be interesting to see how aggressive Mamed gets. He can't get reckless ala Kramnik or Aronian or he could easily lose against a very in-form Fabi. And if Fabi does win today the tournament is done. I'm going draw though.

 

[Federberg]

Lol! Looks like Kramnik's at least smart enough to avoid going into a Marshall Attack against Levon

 

[DarthFed]

Jesus, you would think Caruana would go for less sharp play than this.

 

[Federberg]

he must be feeling fairly confident. In a way it makes sense. I don't think he wants an endgame fight against Shak. I think Shak is clearly stronger in that phase than him

 

[DarthFed]

Ng6 from Vlad makes me think he's going for Rxf6 after Be6, otherwise it was a complete waste

 

[DarthFed]

Rxf6, gxf6, Rxf6, Kg7 and I don't see much for white. Maybe kamikaze Vlad is in da house again?

 

[DarthFed]

Ah Nxe5, if Bxb3 then Rxf6 followed by Nd7, nice.

 

[DarthFed]

Well here we go, Rxf6

 

[DarthFed]

Caruana game spiced up quite a bit again. Should be a draw even with black up the exchange.

 

[DarthFed]

Even though Kramnik - Aronian was relatively meaningless that was a nice attack from Vlad.

 

[Federberg]

damn it! I had a series of meetings and missed it

 

[DarthFed]

And Mamed-Caruana was a draw too. I wonder if Fabi had a decent edge there at some point as I was surprised Mamed gave him the back rank so easily. Really looking like just a two-man race now which is unfortunate. I expected 3 or possibly even 4 to be very much in the mix. I guess Grischuk still has a shot too but just doesn't feel like it.

 

[Federberg]

out of Sascha, Fabi or Shak, the best option by a mile is Fabi. But I'm really not sure if Fabi is ready for that kind of battle

 

[DarthFed]

Everyone in the world is still a huge underdog vs Carlsen. Caruana figures to have as good of a chance as anyone. I think this tournament shows Aronian and Kramnik would have been laughable as far as it being competitive. Would have been fun to see but Kasparov vs. Short was also entertaining despite it being a total mismatch.

 

[Federberg]

Aronian v Karjakin draw
Caruana v Kramnik Caruana
Ding v Grischuk draw
So v Mamedyarov Mamedyarov

keeping it simple and going with form...

 

[DarthFed]

I will go with

Aronian
Caruana
Draw
Draw

 

[DarthFed]

Heck of a game between Ding and Grischuk. Aronian and Karjakin is quite active too. The leaders drew pretty easily.