Chess

[DarthFed]

Qf1? I think Qb3 was a lot more aggressive and threatening.

 

[DarthFed]

6 straight days playing? Are they ever giving these guys a rest?

 

[DarthFed]

Nico is white and has his knight on a1 after 16 moves. Usually not the best sign
Shakh clearly with a better position.

 

[DarthFed]

Another well played draw in a Carlsen game. Navarra is playing pretty well.

Was wondering if Svidler would go for g4 there! I didn't calculate it out too far yet but certainly looks like MVL is under serious pressure here.

 

[DarthFed]

But Raf8 seems to be a bigger threat than I figured...

 

[DarthFed]

Yep it looked lost, wow. Well I guess my comfort is that Svidler missed it as well. Seemed innocent enough but ended up a disaster.

 

[DarthFed]

Comps didnt like white's position after the natural looking Re4, black was already much better before g4 but that hastened the end.

 

[DarthFed]

Shakh seems to have too many threats. His position is open too but I think he's winning. After that Svidler fiasco I hope I'm not wrong on this one too

 

[DarthFed]

And that ended quickly. Two man race in this tourney now.

 

[Federberg]

didn't realise Magnus wasn't leading!

 

[DarthFed]

didn't realise Magnus wasn't leading!

Yep, Shakh is up half a point but Magnus has white vs. Nico in a few rounds. The draw vs Nico is the difference right now. Aside from Nico just being way outclassed and the Svidler game today it's been a pretty well played tourney so far.

 

[DarthFed]

Fireworks in Carlsen-MVL. Whites position looks quite a bit better

 

[DarthFed]

Nico down a pawn and position as white in the blink of an eye. I get the idea of having the "young" homegrown talent but surely an older and stronger Swiss GM would've been a better choice. This is a world of difference compared to having Van Wely and other strong but overmatched GM's at big tournaments.

 

[DarthFed]

MVL looks totally busted here unless I'm missing something. Shakh is having a hell of a tournament

 

[DarthFed]

Just don't understand 13. Nf1 from MVL, position looked awful after that but then again I'm not sure I've seen 11.Nxf2 played by black before.

 

[DarthFed]

There had to be something obvious I'm missing on 20.g5 which would have trapped the knight. I don't see white being able to bring home an attack which makes me think I'm going blind. Shakh still is better here but not sure this is a win. Even if g5 wasn't playable I think he screwed up with Qe5 giving Nf4

 

[DarthFed]

Nxf4 played, after gxf4 it has to be Rc8 I think

 

[DarthFed]

Draw agreed, man that's a bad one from Shakh I'm thinking. But I've been badly wrong in a couple games recently.

 

[DarthFed]

Comps only gave Shakh a slight edge and didn't recommend g5. Only thing I got right is that it wanted Qf7 over Qe5 which would have given black a solid but not huge advantage.

 

[Federberg]

I missed today's games. I see Shakh is bringing it home