2014 Candidates tournament

[gbelday]

Frankly, never expected Anand to come thru so strong in this tournament after he looked done & dusted few months back against Carsen.

Just proves that Carlsen is in a different league. Actually I would put Kasparov and Carlsen a notch above the rest of the players competing here. Carlsen may turn out to the the greatest of all time (if he is not already).

[Prashant]

And it shows that match play is a different animal than tournament play. It is a completely different challenge to prepare for 7 opponents twice each over 17 days, as opposed to a single opponent with a huge lead time.

[arjun2761]

Frankly, never expected Anand to come thru so strong in this tournament after he looked done & dusted few months back against Carsen.

Just proves that Carlsen is in a different league. Actually I would put Kasparov and Carlsen a notch above the rest of the players competing here. Carlsen may turn out to the the greatest of all time (if he is not already).

I think to be the GOAT, you have to be head-and-shoulders better than your opponents for a significant length of time. Carlsen is certainly playing at a GOAT worthy level but needs to maintain it for quite some time (a LOT longer than his current reign) before he actually ascends to be the GOAT.

BTW, pretty amazing performance from Anand so far and hopefully he can close it out to challenge for the world crown. While Anand is likely not a GOAT, he is certainly among the all-time greats (i.e., the rarefied subset from whom you anoint a GOAT)...

[ajay]

Cross table at the end of Round 9. (Sigh! It took time to format this. Don't know if it was wise on my part to spend so much time)

Code: Select all

																						
Rank		Player			Rating     1(VA)	2(LA)	3(VK)	4(SK)	5(SM)	6(PS)	7(DA)	8(VT)	Points	Tiebreaks																
												W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B			   H2H Wins
1	Viswanathan Anand		2770  	X	X	1	½	½	_	½	_	_	1	_	½	_	½	1	½		6   	  	3
2	Levon Aronian 			2830 	 ½	0	X	X	_	½	_	1	1	0	1	_	½	_	_	½		5   	  	3
3	Vladimir Kramnik 		2787 	 _	½	½	_	X	X	1	0	1	_	_	½	½	½	_	0		4½  	2 	2
4	Sergey Karjakin  		2766  	_	½	0	_	1	0	X	X	½	_	½	1	_	½	½	_		4½  	1½	2
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  2757  	0	_	1	0	_	0	_	½	X	X	1	_	1	_	½	½		4½  	½ 	3
6	Peter Svidler 			2758  	½	_	_	0	½	_	0	½	_	0	X	X	_	1	½	1		4   	1½	2
7	Dmitry Andreikin 		2709  	½	_	_	½	½	½	½	_	_	0	½	0	X	X	_	1		4   	½ 	1
8	Veselin Topalov 		 2785  	½	0	½	_	1	_	_	½	½	½	-	0	-	0	X	X		3½  	  	1

[Sin Hombre]

And it shows that match play is a different animal than tournament play. It is a completely different challenge to prepare for 7 opponents twice each over 17 days, as opposed to a single opponent with a huge lead time.

Indeed. Carlsen only qualified by a whisker in the last candidates tournament.


As for him being the GOAT, he is no where near. It is as much about longevity as it is about peak form. I would have both Anand and Kramnik above him in the all-time stakes for now.

[prashanthm]

Cross table at the end of Round 9. (Sigh! It took time to format this. Don't know if it was wise on my part to spend so much time)

Appreciate the effort ajay! I know how hard it is to format it as I do these things whenever I post results... But honestly, we could just post the link to the results and be done with it, at least for chess

Or post an image like this....

[kujo]

Ajay's cross table has a little bit more info, which comes in handy when you are at this stage of the tournament:
The color of the pieces with which Anand will have to take on Kramnik and Sergey....
And the Head to Head for the tiebreaks


Appreciate the efforts, ajay....

[prashanthm]

Sure kujo..., I was only trying to make ajay's life easier when he is trying to help us by posting info

You're right about the color, but the official cross tables has the H2H tie-break numbers under the Res. column...

[suresh]

Thanks Ajay!!!!

[ajay]

Anand exploits has improved his live world ranking to #3 with a rating of 2785.9, just ahead of Kramnik (2783.8). Although Aronian is still way ahead with rating of 2826.7, but at this time Anand is definitely playing better than him.
Note that every player in this tournament has suffered at least 2 defeats except Anand.

Anand used to be a good tournament player in the past. But as world champ, his focus shifted to match play and he lost the edge in tournament play. I think with the burden of defending a crown gone, he is probably using his past preparation instead of hiding it. That is probably a big difference right now.

Will Anand score another win today

Mamedyarov is playing enthusiastic chess and may try to do too much, which may give the opportunity to Anand. So result may be possible.

[suresh]

Well in R10 Anand draws with Mamedyarov and Karjakin draws with Andreikin. The other two matches are not yet complete. Clearly, Anand will remain in the lead but the margin is yet to be determined.

Edit 1: Svidler beats Kramnik. Kramnik is in free fall.

[Tolamu]

According to Susan Polgar's tweets, Aaronian is heading towards a draw. So Anands margin of 1 pt + tiebreak is safe.

[Prashant]

Aronian draws as well. So Anand stays one point clear with four to go. What happened to Kramnik?

[suresh]

Aronian draws as well. So Anand stays one point clear with four to go. What happened to Kramnik?

Kramnik was asked the same question. He said that he is making mistakes that are usually associated with being tired. However, he doesn't feel tired and can't understand why he made a mistake today. Basically, he has no idea!

[ajay]

Putting a new cross table was not that tough as I could use previous format, move a row, and a column.

Aronian would need 3 wins from 4 games to get ahead of Anand. Not impossible, but really tough. (Any of the trio behind Aronian would need all 4 wins)
Correction: Mamedyarov would need all 4 wins, Karjakin and Svidler would need 3 wins to tie with points as well as H2H
But one has to be cautious as its not a done deal yet. This is under the assumption that Anand don't drop a game. Equation changes if Anand blunders a game. It is still an open tournament and even the trio of Karjakin, Mamedyarov and Svidler have their chances.

Code: Select all

																						
Rank		Player			Rating     1(VA)	2(LA)	3(SK)	4(SM)	5(PS)	6(VK)	7(DA)	8(VT)	Points	Tiebreaks																
												W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B	W	B			   H2H Wins
1	Viswanathan Anand		2770  	X	X	1	½	½	_	½	1	_	½	½	_	_	½	1	½		6½  	  	3
2	Levon Aronian 			2830 	 ½	0	X	X	_	1	1	0	1	_	_	½	½	_	½	½		5½  	  	3
3	Sergey Karjakin  		2766  	_	½	0	_	X	X	½	_	½	1	1	0	½	½	½	_		5   	2 	2
4	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov  2757  	0	½	1	0	_	½	X	X	1	_	_	0	1	_	½	½		5   	1½	3
5	Peter Svidler 			2758  	½	_	_	0	0	½	_	0	X	X	½	1	_	1	½	1		5   	½ 	3
6	Vladimir Kramnik 		2787 	 _	½	½	_	1	0	1	_	0	½	X	X	½	½	_	0		4½  	1 	2
7	Dmitry Andreikin 		2709  	½	_	_	½	½	½	_	0	½	0	½	½	X	X	_	1		4½  	1 	1
8	Veselin Topalov 		 2785  	½	0	½	½	_	½	½	½	-	0	1	_	-	0	X	X		4   	  	1