He’s tied with our old friend NepoAbdusattorov beats Carlsen in a drawn Queen ending, and takes sole lead with 8/10.
He’s tied with our old friend NepoAbdusattorov beats Carlsen in a drawn Queen ending, and takes sole lead with 8/10.
Oops, didn't wait until round end. I think Carlsen dropped his position from drawn to lost 3 times since entering endgame database territory.He’s tied with our old friend Nepo
Yeah, it's true but it's hard to judge them too harshly. I think they thought they were actually being fair with respect to pandemic issues when they gave Radjabov the spot.FIDE's decision not to include a candidate's place based on rating has totally screwed Ding Liren, who is currently the third-rated player but hasn't been able to play in any of the qualifying events due to COVID-related visa issues.
How do these speed runs work? Seems a bit unfair that someone thinks she's playing a 1400 but it turns out she's playing a GM. I assume Narodistsky must clear it with the website first so that they know he is doing it. I bet they get some cheating reports about the 1100 who has 98 percent accuracy. I would hope his opponents get rated based on his actual rating not on the basis of the rating of speedrun account.Naroditsky's speed run today had a game he played where intentionally played into a bad line against the Scotch gambit, then wound up with a very instructive endgame.
View: https://youtu.be/NqtT3roFaBs
He clears the run with chess.com before hand, and they refund the opponents' rating.How do these speed runs work? Seems a bit unfair that someone thinks she's playing a 1400 but it turns out she's playing a GM. I assume Narodistsky must clear it with the website first so that they know he is doing it. I bet they get some cheating reports about the 1100 who has 98 percent accuracy. I would hope his opponents get rated based on his actual rating not on the basis of the rating of speedrun account.
Probably they never should have allowed the first half of the Candidates to go forward at the time in 2020. If FIDE had postponed it like they should have, Radjabov would have been able to play and they wouldn't have had to give him a free spot in the next cycle.Yeah, it's true but it's hard to judge them too harshly. I think they thought they were actually being fair with respect to pandemic issues when they gave Radjabov the spot.
The pandemic just sucks. You can try to do the right thing in good faith without knowing what all the unintended consequences will be.
That one seems to me to be interesting like the castling one but so unlikely as to be entirely academic. If en passant capturing was possible in a position then either the advancing pawn is captured en passant or there are passed pawns at least to the opponent’s fourth last rank. Either way it’s hard to imagine that position repeating. So you would have to imagine a game in which the pawn is not taken en passant, the passed pawns do not advance and neither pawn or other piece is taken. Hard to imagine unless the players are trying to construct a novel game starting a three fold repetition with a pawn move from the 2d/7th rank.Castling isn’t the only exception. It isn’t a threefold repetition draw if en passant capturing was possible in the first occurrence of the three.
The flip side is that he's talked throughout the Grand Prix about how he's playing much looser now than when he was dedicating his life to winning classical chess, which is letting him flow more and stress less. It's possible that getting away from single-minded focus has helped his game.Hikaru Nakamura, after taking two years off classical chess, breezes through and wins first leg of the Grand Prix. Its both a testament to his genius as a chess player, to be able to do this while not in over-the-board-form, but also an equal measure of what he has squandered: Naka was up to No. 4 in the world at one point if memory serves, but chose to pursue online streaming. Far more lucrative, but I will always wonder what he could have accomplished if he had the single minded focus of a Carlsen, Kasparov or Karpov.
True. Also, before his streaming time, I seem to remember Naka playing very loosely in the opening, refusing to follow best lines, then getting blown out as a result or struggling to salvage draws. But his opening play this event has been sure and solid, with no offbeat diversions to get himself in trouble.The flip side is that he's talked throughout the Grand Prix about how he's playing much looser now than when he was dedicating his life to winning classical chess, which is letting him flow more and stress less. It's possible that getting away from single-minded focus has helped his game.
He certainly has a reputation as being an asshat with an explosive anger problem (there's YouTube footage of him getting in an actual physical fight with fellow hothead Eric Hansen while they're both wasted).I don't remember where I saw it -- it may have been his own stream -- but that he takes losing pretty hard and just had enough of it. I get the sense he's a bit of a piece of work, but that he's softened just a little bit and has really grown into his role as sort of the standard bearer for the Queens Gambit inspired chess streaming renaissance.
I don't remember where I saw it -- it may have been his own stream -- but that he takes losing pretty hard and just had enough of it. I get the sense he's a bit of a piece of work, but that he's softened just a little bit and has really grown into his role as sort of the standard bearer for the Queens Gambit inspired chess streaming renaissance.
Nakamura's second leg in the Grand Prix is the third round. There will be some tough players in the third round. Anish, Ding Liren, MDL, etc. Aronian plays his second leg in the second round, so we'll have a fair amount of information about how well Nakamura will need to do to get one of the last candidates spots. It's still a tough ask and he's not going to take anyone by surprise now but he has a real chance. I think it would be fun to have him in the candidates.
Four of the top 5 in Berlin round 1 were Americans, interestingly.
Though Aronian and Dominguez are Sinquefield Citizens, they may be naturalized but money lured them.
Carlsen has been battling COVID.I think I posted about it back in the early days of this thread when I was talking about the world cup, but Praggu was one of the players that I was watching in that tournament and just generally speaking he seems like a really neat kid. Most of the up and coming prodigies hailed as the next big thing obviously don't make the leap to super gm. He seems like he may have a chance. The funny part is that Praggnanandhaa is not even that highly rated in rapid. Not really mentioned in much of the press is that he won with the black pieces too. Carlsen pretty clearly is not himself, though. I watched the recap of the game and while he didn't blunder, he did allow some uncharacteristic openings. And he seems pretty focused right now on trying to get to 2900 in classical so may not be really taking rapid all that seriously. Still, you know, 16 year old beats the world number 1 rapid player with the black pieces and it's a pretty big day.
While not quite a true ban (it seems more equivalent to the IOC ban, where athletes can compete without the flag), this is pretty shocking. Much (most?) of FIDE's money comes from Russia. Not to mention the national pride angle: this is somewhere in the ballpark of a hypothetical rogue, militant Canada being banned from international hockey events, or US from international American football events.Russia, the biggest superpower in chess, has been effectively banned from the game it considers its own, alongside its neighbour Belarus.
FIDE, the world governing body of chess, took the momentous step to take action against both countries at an emergency meeting of its FIDE Council held today. It follows the international outcry over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The key measures FIDE agreed were:
FIDE also said it condemns "any public statement from any member of the chess community which supports unjustified military action". It said two Russian grandmasters, Sergey Karjakin and Sergey Shipov, will have to face its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission following controversial comments online.
- Russia and Belarus banned from holding official FIDE chess competitions and events
- Russian and Belarusian players banned from displaying national flags at FIDE-rated events and nationals anthem will not be played
- FIDE will terminate all sponsorship agreements with Russian or Belarusian sanctioned and/or state-controlled companies
The first one is very significant, because the upcoming Olympiad and FIDE congress are to be moved away from Moscow.https://chess24.com/en/read/news/fide-bans-russia-from-holding-chess-events
While not quite a true ban (it seems more equivalent to the IOC ban, where athletes can compete without the flag),
It’s shocking, especially since FIDE president, Arkady Dvorkovich, is Russian. I don’t know about the money, but chess wasn’t invented in Russia or any part of the former Soviet Union, they haven’t won a men’s Olympiad since 2002 (and guess which country won twice since), and haven’t had a men’s world champion since 2007/2008.this is pretty shocking. Much (most?) of FIDE's money comes from Russia. Not to mention the national pride angle: this is somewhere in the ballpark of a hypothetical rogue, militant Canada being banned from international hockey events, or US from international American football events.
And now the Belgrade tournament started. Russian players playing under the FIDE flag. Live broadcast in the above channels. The moves and machine evaluation only are in the chesss24 site.The FIDE Grand Prix series is underway in Berlin, with two more tournaments (Belgrade and Berlin again) to follow. The top two finishers will join Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, Duda, Karjakin, Firouzja, and Caruana in the Madrid candidates tournament. More information about the Grand Prix series here. Live streaming and commentary can be found in the “World Chess” (with live video), "ChesscomLive" , “chess24” YouTube channels.
Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin, well known Russian stooge who played Carlsen for the title a few years ago, has been tweeting up a storm supporting the invasion, attacking Ukraine, pushing wacky views about the conflict etc. He's likely played his last major chess tournament for a long time. There was a mention on Hikaru's stream that he's already been excluded from the Norway Chess eventAnd now the Belgrade tournament started. Russian players playing under the FIDE flag. Live broadcast in the above channels. The moves and machine evaluation only are in the chesss24 site.
Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin, well known Russian stooge who played Carlsen for the title a few years ago, has been tweeting up a storm supporting the invasion, attacking Ukraine, pushing wacky views about the conflict etc. He's likely played his last major chess tournament for a long time. There was a mention on Hikaru's stream that he's already been excluded from the Norway Chess event
It's really interesting how united the Russian chess contingent has been in trying to promote a peaceful solution. All of the big names have gone out of their way to sign on to a letter to Putin asking for an end to the conflict. It looks like the actual place they posted it may be blocked but the text is in this article. https://chess24.com/en/read/news/russian-chess-players-tell-putin-to-stop-the-warNow officially out or Norway and also London, and probably more to follow. F him and the horse he road in on.
Sergey Karjakin shunned by top chess events | chess24.com
I'll say. A lot of interesting questions to be answered:Gonna be a great candidates.
Ding is in. Would love to see him take on Carlsen.I'll say. A lot of interesting questions to be answered:
- Does Nepo recovered from his collapse in the WCC? I bet not
- Can Fabi lift himself out of his long funk? Love the guy but seems doubtful?
- Can Naka continue his excellent form that he's displayed in the Grand Prix?
- Will Firouza take the next leap? Possible, would be exciting
- If Ding qualifies as highest rated I put my money there
Yep. Ding or Firouza would be very interesting.Ding is in. Would love to see him take on Carlsen.
And now the candidates tournament itself started. Online YouTube coverage in the above channels. A quick evaluation of all games in chess24 site.The FIDE Grand Prix series is underway in Berlin, with two more tournaments (Belgrade and Berlin again) to follow. The top two finishers will join Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, Duda, Karjakin, Firouzja, and Caruana in the Madrid candidates tournament. More information about the Grand Prix series here. Live streaming and commentary can be found in the “World Chess” (with live video), "ChesscomLive" , “chess24” YouTube channels.
There have been other famous king walks -- but I don't remember one like Caruana's yesterday where the king when to the middle of the board in an open position with queens and rooks on the board. Sublime.What a brutal day today. I like Rapport a lot - he's basically a pirate - but letting Nepo convert a draw into a win so effortlessly was clownish in the extreme. Fabi's win over Radjabov, though...*that* was worth watching, even if it only serves to cement the fact that this is a two-horse race already at the halfway point.