Chess - General Thread

[kujo]

Tennis base-liners and slower courts destroyed the typical serve-volley type players. I don't believe it will happen in chess anytime soon. But here is an interesting article.


http://en.chessbase.com/post/baseline-c ... -carlsen-1

The dagger, ending Vishy Anand's hopes, came in Game 9 of the World Championship match in Chennai last year. It sealed Carlsen's victory, although the match officially finished after the next game with the score 6.5-3.5.
...

But something extraordinary happened during the game. Being pushed back, Carlsen spread all his powerful pieces on the edge of the board and with his kingdom on the baseline, he sent forward a single pawn to do battle. The little foot-soldier won the war against Anand. Carlsen became the ultimate baseliner.

[Atithee]

Whose turn this board depict? I assume Carlsen was playing black in this game?

[kujo]

Yes Carlsen was playing black. This is actually a crucial point in game.

All Anand needed was some support for his Queen and he is gonna checkmate Carlsen! He decides to get his Rook out for that attack, ignoring the red highlighted pawn (b file) that was advanced just now by Carlsen. Notice that the Black King is tightly surrounded by it's own pieces and has no-where to escape from such threat.

so, move 27. Rf4 by Anand.

Carlsen queens his pawn and issues an automatic check to the King. Anand blocks that check with 28. Nf1 (instead of 28. Bf1, which would have secured him a draw). He is thrilled that there is a chance to force a win here. However it was a short lived thrill, as Carlsen replies 28 .. Qe1 instead of the expected Qd1.

Anand realises that he is not going to get any support from his Rook, and will lose material here (29.Rh4 Qxh4 ). Game, set, match, Championship over!!

The next Game they play, Carlsen has white pieces and he is able to draw for the world championship.....

[kujo]

Governator is a chess fan it seems....

http://en.chessbase.com/post/2014-arnol ... rpore-sano

During the weekend of April 25-27, the largest multi-sport event in the world, the Arnold Classic, held its second Brazilian edition in Rio de Janeiro. This massive sports festival, created 25 years ago by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer in Ohio, USA, is dedicated to sports, health, and fitness, and at the personal insistence of Schwarzenegger himself, one of the sports was chess.

If ever there was a sign that chess was crossing the usual boundaries of popular acceptance as a sport this was one, but it must be said that the driving force behind its inclusion was none other than the governator himself, a renowned fan of the game. Still, seeing is believing, and I duly registered myself as a journalist, representing ChessBase News.

[prashanthm]

Caruana is having the best time of his life having 7 wins in 7 rounds in the strongest ever tournament (Avg ELO: 2802).... Carlsen is second, 3 points behind......

[kujo]

Caruana drew the remaining 3 games to finish with 8.5/10. He gained 35 rating points because of this stupendous performance. Magnus finished a distant second with 5.5/10.

Here is an interesting picture from the event:


On the rest day, the players engaged in a truly novel chess variant: Burning boards, played with candles. Fabiano was taken by the aesthetics and decided to stalemate his opponent despite a tremendous material advantage. Credit: Mike Klein


ps: how did they move those burning candles around?!!

[prashanthm]

In the recently concluded World Jr. Championship, 4th seeded Vidit had some mishaps in the middle, but finished 5th overall... Srinath, Karthikeyan and Diptayan Ghosh finished 7, 8 & 9 respectively making it 4 in the Top-10...

Vidit is the new kid on the block who is fast rising up the ranks.. He is India's # 6 with tournament wins abroad...

http://www.worldjuniorchess2014.com/sta ... und_13.php

On the girls side, 6th seed Padmini Rout finished 4th and Srija Sheshadri finished a surprise 10th... Srija was actually 3rd after 11 rounds, but lost her last two games.......

http://www.worldjuniorchess2014.com/sta ... und_13.php

[sameerph]

Indian boys win gold at U-16 Chess Olympiad.

India win gold at U-16 Chess Olympiad

We continued to produce young chess players of promise giving hope for the future.

[ajay]

25 years back, a 12 year old girl became the #1 rated woman in the world, and held on to that spot. In 2005, she was #8 in world ranking with peak rating of 2735 , and she is the only woman to ever cross 2700 ELO points. Can you guess?
Yes, Judit Polgar.

However, last week the reign of 25 years came to an end as Hou Yifan took over the #1 spot for women in live ratings as she beat Das Arghyadip in the second round of on going Gibralter event. Hou Yifan (2685) continues to take big strides in chess and she is on course (may be this year itself) to become 2nd woman in history to break 2700 barrier.

[Tolamu]

Grenke chess classic

Anand lost to his nemesis Carlsen with white in 4th round.

After 4 rounds:
Naiditsch 3 (bt Carlsen in Rd.3)
Carlsen 2.5
Caruana 2.5
Adams 2
Bacrot 2
Aaronian 1.5
Anand 1.5
Baramidze 1

[Saniapower]

The 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival has just concluded. It was an open tournament. After beating Topolov there was no looking back for Hikaru Nakamura as he went on all the way to clinch the top prize. Hou Yifan of China who has just completed her graduation finished first among the women. Btw Anand has confirmed his participation for next year.

Final Ranking crosstable after 10 Rounds:

1. Nakamura Hikaru(USA) 8.5 2919
2. Howell David(ENG) 8.0 2818
3. Hou Yifan(CHN) 7.5 2772
4. Vitiugov Nikita(RUS) 7.5 2770
5. Topalov Veselin(BUL) 7.5 2767
6. Wagner Dennis(GER) 7.5 2759
7. Wei Yi(CHN) 7.5 2754
8. Adhiban B(IND) 7.5 2750
9. Harikrishna P.(IND) 7.5 2748

[Tolamu]

Grenke chess classic

Anand lost again to Aaronian in 5th round.

After 5 rounds:
Carlsen 3.5
Naiditsch 3.5
Caruana 3
Adams 2.5
Bacrot 2.5
Aaronian 2.5
Anand 1.5
Baramidze 1

[Tolamu]

Grenke chess classic

Very poor tournament for Anand.

Final standings:

W D L Pts
1.Carlsen 3 3 1 4.5
2.Naiditsch 2 5 0 4.5
3.Adams 2 4 1 4
4.Caruana 1 6 0 4
5.Aaronian 1 5 1 3.5
6.Bacrot 0 7 0 3.5
7.Anand 1 3 3 2.5
8.Baramidze 0 3 4 1.5

[ajay]

Depressing results. And Anand has to play another tournament immediately - Zurich Chess Challenge with high level field. Caruana, Anand, Aronian, Karjakin, Nakamura, Kramnik.

[ajay]

Anand has bounced back in the Zurich tournament. He beat Aroninan (that's a revenge win after losing to him 10 days back) and now Anand is o the verge of beating Nakamura (after a string of defeats over a long stretch of time). Two wins (although not yet done) will put him on the top in this tournament with one round left.

[update] Anand won his game as expected. Excellent win! Is it the first classical win for Anand against Nakamura? [Yes. Prior to this game Anand had 4 losses and 9 draws] Nakamura has been very hot recently (9 wins 4 draws in 13 games), winning Gibraltar tournament convincingly and winning twice in three rounds here beating Caruana and Karjakin. If Nakamura had won today, he would have been #2 in the world - a practical dream for the current chess players with Carlsen so ahead

Most likely, Anand just needs a draw in last game against Karjakin to win the tournament. With winner getting two points and draw fetching 1, the current positions are:

Anand 6
Nakamura 5
Kramnik 4
Aronian 3
Caruana 3
Karjakin 3

Last round
Karjakin -Anand
Nakamura-Aronian
Caruana-Kramnik