Chess

[Federberg]

Very good analysis. Magnus always very frank...

 

[DarthFed]

Interesting new concepts for the classical tournament coming up in Norway:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=96434

I have never been a fan of the 3 point for win, 1 point for draw scoring. I find this to be a bit of improvement, +2 for win and .5 for draw that can be a full point if you win an Armageddon game.

Also absolutely love that it is just 2 hours for the full game with a 10 second increment starting after 40 moves. With comps getting stronger and stronger and humans defending incredibly it is tougher and tougher to score a win. Giving players less time in classical is the wave of the future as well as more emphasis on rapid, blitz, and Fischer Random

 

[GameSetAndMath]

DF, you are still alive. Why are not you getting dirty?

 

[DarthFed]

DF, you are still alive. Why are not you getting dirty?

Yeah unfortunately still kicking. Bucks almost sent me to an early grave. If you're asking about me not posting much during clay I think you know why

 

[Federberg]

Amazing how the Carlsen - Giri head to head has turned around so decisively. Anish is now more of a Carlsen bitch than Hikaru! But yesterday was just a dereliction of duty

 

[DarthFed]

Amazing how the Carlsen - Giri head to head has turned around so decisively. Anish is now more of a Carlsen bitch than Hikaru! But yesterday was just a dereliction of duty

Yeah I've noticed that too. Giri seems to be playing a lot more aggressive than a couple years ago which isn't too surprising. That was a fun game yesterday. I feel like Carlsen has gotten a lot better with openings since the Caruana match. Giri probably wasn't much worse after castling yesterday but you can see the potential for quick danger.

 

[Federberg]

Yeah I've noticed that too. Giri seems to be playing a lot more aggressive than a couple years ago which isn't too surprising. That was a fun game yesterday. I feel like Carlsen has gotten a lot better with openings since the Caruana match. Giri probably wasn't much worse after castling yesterday but you can see the potential for quick danger.

Anish was very brave castling into trouble. I was amazed the engines were ok with it. Also why he went for Ne2 instead of Be3 completely escapes me. It felt to me that he would have solved so many issues by developing the bishop and making long castling possible. I highly doubt that bishop would have been in danger of e3 with Magnus's king on f8!

 

[DarthFed]

Anish was very brave castling into trouble. I was amazed the engines were ok with it. Also why he went for Ne2 instead of Be3 completely escapes me. It felt to me that he would have solved so many issues by developing the bishop and making long castling possible. I highly doubt that bishop would have been in danger of e3 with Magnus's king on f8!

Yes, if you are being brave in chess it better be an attacking move/sacrifice. Bravery in castling is never a good sign

 

[Federberg]

Maurice Ashley was interviewing Kasparov yesterday and asking about Magnus's place amongst the greatest. And GK mentions him as being part of the group of himself and Bobby Fischer in his peak years. Strong praise indeed! Probably fair..

 

[Federberg]

this run Carlsen is on is getting a bit out of hand now! Very Fischeresque and Kasparovian... Think it's fair to put him in that rarefied air now? Garry seems to think so...

 

[DarthFed]

this run Carlsen is on is getting a bit out of hand now! Very Fischeresque and Kasparovian... Think it's fair to put him in that rarefied air now? Garry seems to think so...

He is scary good right now. I figured the Caruana match would give him a boost but not like this. I think he might hit 2900 this time around but it's not easy, his rating didn't even go up 10 points with this recent performance.

 

[DarthFed]

Have you heard about this @Federberg

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chess-world-rocked-scandal-grandmaster-152828435.html

 

[Federberg]

Have you heard about this @Federberg

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chess-world-rocked-scandal-grandmaster-152828435.html

Yes I have. It’s pretty shocking. I think Lawrence Trent hinted at his suspicions in tweets almost a year ago. Odd for a 50yr old to improve their rating from 2500 to almost 2700!!

 

[DarthFed]

Yes I have. It’s pretty shocking. I think Lawrence Trent hinted at his suspicions in tweets almost a year ago. Odd for a 50yr old to improve their rating from 2500 to almost 2700!!

I'm surprised this didn't get more attention. It does, however, bring up a decent point as to what is a reasonable age to show serious improvement in chess. One of the grandmasters interviewed, Deviatkin, says he believes huge progress is very rare after age 30. I think that seems a bit on the extreme side as I think most great chess players historically have actually hit their primes in their late 20's or early 30's. Surprisingly this even seemed to hold true in late 19th and early 20th century with Lasker, Capa and Alekhine. Fischer had the dominant run between ages 27-29 before quitting, Karpov's best chess was late 70's and early 80's when he was late 20's and early 30's and Kasparov's best was definitely in his 30's. And with computers (as well as evolution and even nutrition) now playing such a bigger role I could see players making notable improvements at a later age than the past. It only makes it scarier for Carlsen who turns 29 later this year and there are of course many other guys under 30 near the top that will likely only get better.

But with that said, a 55 year old who has long been 2500 isn't suddenly going to become a 2700. That is not a smart cheater lol. I remember a different (younger) GM got busted cheating a few years ago and they stripped his GM title but let him remain an IM. I wonder if they will do the same here.

 

[DarthFed]

I know we've probably had a discussion before about the opportunities to make decent money in chess, or should I say the limited opportunities...

It seems that streaming chess on Twitch and videos on YouTube have become pretty popular lately and some guys that get enough viewers/followers are probably making decent cash from it. I have briefly watched Naka and a couple other streamers on chess.com and it is pretty entertaining and you can see where it can be pretty instructive. They actually have some guys with fairly moderate ratings with a ton of followers that are probably making a lot of bank!

I am probably going to be setting up a Twitch and YouTube account in a few weeks, not expecting to make much but since I've been playing a decent amount lately due to puzzle rush I figured what the hell.

And then you look at the recent Paris rapid/blitz that MVL just won and he got a measly $37,500. Still seems like we are far away from a point where the average prize fund at the big tournaments allows a lot of pros to make a decent living instead of just the absolute elite.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I know we've probably had a discussion before about the opportunities to make decent money in chess, or should I say the limited opportunities...

It seems that streaming chess on Twitch and videos on YouTube have become pretty popular lately and some guys that get enough viewers/followers are probably making decent cash from it. I have briefly watched Naka and a couple other streamers on chess.com and it is pretty entertaining and you can see where it can be pretty instructive. They actually have some guys with fairly moderate ratings with a ton of followers that are probably making a lot of bank!

I am probably going to be setting up a Twitch and YouTube account in a few weeks, not expecting to make much but since I've been playing a decent amount lately due to puzzle rush I figured what the hell.

And then you look at the recent Paris rapid/blitz that MVL just won and he got a measly $37,500. Still seems like we are far away from a point where the average prize fund at the big tournaments allows a lot of pros to make a decent living instead of just the absolute elite.

Eric Hansen, despite his talent, more or less gave up on his professional chess career (or at least on his chances to be a super GM) in order to stream on Twitch on his Chessbrah channel and he's infinitely richer as a result.

 

[Federberg]

I know we've probably had a discussion before about the opportunities to make decent money in chess, or should I say the limited opportunities...

It seems that streaming chess on Twitch and videos on YouTube have become pretty popular lately and some guys that get enough viewers/followers are probably making decent cash from it. I have briefly watched Naka and a couple other streamers on chess.com and it is pretty entertaining and you can see where it can be pretty instructive. They actually have some guys with fairly moderate ratings with a ton of followers that are probably making a lot of bank!

I am probably going to be setting up a Twitch and YouTube account in a few weeks, not expecting to make much but since I've been playing a decent amount lately due to puzzle rush I figured what the hell.

And then you look at the recent Paris rapid/blitz that MVL just won and he got a measly $37,500. Still seems like we are far away from a point where the average prize fund at the big tournaments allows a lot of pros to make a decent living instead of just the absolute elite.

wow! Go for it mate! What a great idea.

There are a few entertaining sites. Chessbrahs as Broken mentions, and also I like Simon Williams "gingergm" and Daniel King's "powerplaychess" of course

 

[DarthFed]

Eric Hansen, despite his talent, more or less gave up on his professional chess career (or at least on his chances to be a super GM) in order to stream on Twitch on his Chessbrah channel and he's infinitely richer as a result.

Yeah that seems to be the most popular channel. I remember Hansen from WorldChessNetwork. Used to play a lot of bullet and some blitz with him, can't believe how good he became but then I was probably 18-20 at the time and he was quite a bit younger.

ChessNetwork is a channel with tons of followers too and the guy isn't that good. Maybe he knows a ton of people but obviously it is about being entertaining and informative too.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I'd recommend Ben Finegold for entertainment. The guy is hysterical.

 

[DarthFed]

wow! Go for it mate! What a great idea.

There are a few entertaining sites. Chessbrahs as Broken mentions, and also I like Simon Williams "gingergm" and Daniel King's "powerplaychess" of course

Yeah we will see. If it happens I will do some shameless advertising on here.

I will have to learn to tone it down after losses to some degree. My main handle on there Clown1985 is permanently banned from chat so I made a new one, ChessNThings. I get to switch names once so I do have to come up with something more creative.

I know ChessBrahs language can be colorful so hopefully I don't go overboard. My main problem is the pussies that play one game and if they win they run. It wasn't always like that but chess.com is swimming with them. I am getting to the point where I may abort all games with Russians but then they are usually 50+% of who I get matched with.