Sons of Arthur Bisguier -- The Chess Thread

[zenax]

Slightly off the topic but the Corning Glass Museum has a chess set made by an Italian Jew with Hasidim and Roman Catholic pieces. A phot from the Corning website may be seen here:
https://www.cmog.org/artwork/chess-set?image=0&search=collection:5a93dd1326f42c8e0945149ff1670d70&page=1

Slightly below the image are thumbnails for four other views and if you scroll down a bit, you will find information about the artist and when it was created and below that is a description of what the various shapes are based on. I saw it about twenty years ago and today happened to stumble across a snapshot I took of it back then.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Slightly off the topic but the Corning Glass Museum has a chess set made by an Italian Jew with Hasidim and Roman Catholic pieces. A phot from the Corning website may be seen here:
https://www.cmog.org/artwork/chess-set?image=0&search=collection:5a93dd1326f42c8e0945149ff1670d70&page=1

Slightly below the image are thumbnails for four other views and if you scroll down a bit, you will find information about the artist and when it was created and below that is a description of what the various shapes are based on. I saw it about twenty years ago and today happened to stumble across a snapshot I took of it back then.

Awesome, thanks for posting. Corning Musuem is an incredible place, well worth anyone's visit. They had a glass baseball bat that (if memory serves) had been owned or given to Babe Ruth

 

[zenax]

Awesome, thanks for posting. Corning Musuem is an incredible place, well worth anyone's visit. They had a glass baseball bat that (if memory serves) had been owned or given to Babe Ruth

It definitely is worth visiting. They do have the glass bat you mentioned and many other fascinating things to see.

 

[Jnai]

Anyone else following the wild end of the year scramble for rating, with Alireza organizing a tournament of weaker grandmasters to farm rating?

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Anyone else following the wild end of the year scramble for rating, with Alireza organizing a tournament of weaker grandmasters to farm rating?

Sounds like its within the rules so others could have done it. Fabi has been so en fuego lately that I hope he holds his form to and through the candidates and becomes the challenger again.

 

[Jnai]

Ha, nevermind. Drew the last game.

 

[Jnai]

Candidates 2024 has started.

 

[SumnerH]

Candidates 2024 has started.

And appropriately for the thread title, Nepo is currently at the top of the standings, 1/2 point ahead of Gukesh and Fabiano.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Anya Taylor-Joy is in a Mad Max Movie now. The pandemic is over. Carlsen plays poker now and still dominates chess but doesn't care about the world championship, making people wonder "why should we?" Casual fans like myself are wondering whether cheating is solvable. I'd say that for those who love the game, it's alive and well, but nobody really seems to care about the Candidates this time.

And, fuck, Nepo is just going to get the championship again, and he may very well win it this time, and many fewer will care. Watching the kids is great, and this may be Fabi's last chance. I don't know what to think of Nakamura. But it has a feeling like it's Nepo's to lose.

 

[SumnerH]

Anya Taylor-Joy is in a Mad Max Movie now. The pandemic is over. Carlsen plays poker now and still dominates chess but doesn't care about the world championship, making people wonder "why should we?" Casual fans like myself are wondering whether cheating is solvable. I'd say that for those who love the game, it's alive and well, but nobody really seems to care about the Candidates this time.

Yep. There aren't many people who seriously believe that Khalifman or Ponomariov were the best in the world despite winning FIDE crowns when FIDE showed a similar inability to engage Kasparov.

Prior to FIDE's involvement, the world champion negotiated with challengers to the title on a pretty ad hoc basis; the whole reason FIDE got involved to help negotiate an orderly process to play challenge matches against the world champion.

If they can't manage to do that (with both Kasparov and Carlson)—especially when they continually completely reject the reigning champion's suggestions—then they've failed at their job as negotiator for championship challenges. And it's silly to pay too much respect to the title their tournament attempts to ordain.

 

[Jnai]

It's somewhat ironic because the Candidates tournament somehow suffers the most from Carlsen not playing because the prize is meaningless (the best player does not hold the title because he finds it boring to crush Nepo again or whatever, so who cares) but also, simultaneously, the tournament in terms of skill and talent suffers almost not at all. This tournament features some really great players, many of whom would make fun world champions, if only that title could ever be cleanly held while Magnus was still undoubtedly the best player in the world.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Major drama (for chess anyway) as the authorities kicked Alireza's father out of the hall shortly after the games started. He gave a rambling interview but it was hard for me to get the gist of what happened

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Turns out that FIDE excludes family members from the hall 15 minutes after games start. The father was still upset about shoe gate the day before, and also about the rule (saying that he didnt even know how to set up the board so he couldn't possibly assist Alireza). Every emotional guy, and it cant help the son having him in that state during the tournament

 

[Jnai]

Hikaru still gets to play Alireza with white. Gukesh gets to play Alireza and Abasov before end of tournament. Remaining games against those two seem really important.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Hikaru with a slight advantage with the black pieces against Alireza in round 12 with a time advantage. If he can find a way to take the full point, I think he has a chance to make this interesting.

He may well look back at the two losses to Vidit with some serious regret when this is over.

Edit -- White pieces

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Hikaru with a slight advantage with the black pieces against Alireza in round 12 with a time advantage. If he can find a way to take the full point, I think he has a chance to make this interesting.

He may well look back at the two losses to Vidit with some serious regret when this is over.

Game has gotten crazy, Naka with a large advantage according to the computer

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Looks like Nakamura may have made a mini-blunder to give away his edge during the middle game.

 

[Jnai]

Looks like Nakamura may have made a mini-blunder to give away his edge during the middle game.

Alireza: hold my beer

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Alireza: hold my beer

No kidding.

Three on the trot for Nakamura.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

This is turning out pretty fascinating. Looks like three will end the day on 7.5 and Gukesh might be in the best position of the top guys, because he gets Alireza still.

Nakamura goes through if he wins his last 2 -- but that is a really tall order. I think if he draws Nepo and beats Gukesh, he actually would end up catching Nepo on tiebreakers. But it's not entirely clear. It's going to be two crazy days with the guys leading the tournament playing each other. Nepo needed a win today but a draw keeps everyone in it.

Edit -- duh, it is the candidates so tie breakers will not matter for the only place that matters.

 

[Jnai]

Really sucks for Chess that Magnus is not waiting at the end of this tournament.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Looks like Gukesh. Fabi had a lead against Ian but it was very tough to convert with time pressure.

 

[Jnai]

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Fabi blew an advantage twice because of time.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

There is a reason Ian doesn’t lose. So resourceful.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

There is a reason Ian doesn’t lose. So resourceful.

Fabi had a huge edge, stumbled in moves 37-39 and let Nepo back in.

Time to change the thread title? The Gukesh Sploogefest?

 

[Jnai]

Fabiano should just try to out awake him

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Fabiano should just try to out awake him

Unbelievably tense, creative, and fascinating game between Fabi and Nepo. Its too bad one of them couldn't win it but they both had multiple chances. Time marches on however and the nerves in the 30s aren't what they used to be. A new generation with icewater in the veins is taking over.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Just watching the game, it seemed like Fabi understood the lines and was on top of what was happening around move 30 but just couldn't make himself move. I think at that level, the prevailing wisdom is to not get too worried about preserving time until you have to. But I just don't think that served Fabi well. He was just taking way too long. And he was on a mini-tilt when time started getting low. He just needed to move but couldn't.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Just watching the game, it seemed like Fabi understood the lines and was on top of what was happening around move 30 but just couldn't make himself move. I think at that level, the prevailing wisdom is to not get too worried about preserving time until you have to. But I just don't think that served Fabi well. He was just taking way too long. And he was on a mini-tilt when time started getting low. He just needed to move but couldn't.

Spot on. The adage that "your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness" holds true here. Fabi is a calculating machine, and but couldn't at the critical moment turn the machine off and play the moves and it cost him dearly. Nepo, by contrast, is an incredibly intuitive player but his speed of playing has let him down in key moments. The post-game press conference was one of the most painful things that I've ever seen.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Gukesh comes back to a hero's welcome, police escort and TV coverage at the Chennai airport at 3:00AM. The pressure on him is gonna be immense.

 

[Ed Hillel]

Hans vs. Magnus set for the semis of the Speed Chess Championships next month in Paris…

 

[SumnerH]

Hans vs. Magnus set for the semis of the Speed Chess Championships next month in Paris…

Love that Magnus has gone DGAF about ingrained problems in the chess world and I hope he continues to refuse to play Hans. It's completely insane that Hans has managed to divert the conversation into hair-splitting about exactly which kinds of games he cheated in, and used that minimize the consequences and recognition of his actual, admitted, documented cheating. To say nothing of trashing hotel rooms.

 

[Ed Hillel]

Hans currently getting massacred by Magnus

 

[Ed Hillel]

And…game, blouses. Total domination.

Hans might cry.

 

[Ed Hillel]

Andddd Hans get obliterated by Hikaru today lol.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Andddd Hans get obliterated by Hikaru today lol.

But then sat for a 20 minute interview where the fire and brimstone was gone, and he was contrite and reflective, and was appreciative of the skills of Carlsen and Naka. So perhaps the act is gone now and some maturity is creeping in.

Though Bobby Fisher never managed to get things under control his whole life, so who knows.

 

[Ed Hillel]

But then sat for a 20 minute interview where the fire and brimstone was gone, and he was contrite and reflective, and was appreciative of the skills of Carlsen and Naka. So perhaps the act is gone now and some maturity is creeping in.

Though Bobby Fisher never managed to get things under control his whole life, so who knows.

Two days after acting like a totally unhinged jackass with Gotham, though. He got humbled and couldn’t say shit after Hikaru, but I’d be stunned if he is changed at all. His current mentor is Kramnik lol.

 

[Jnai]

Maybe this title should be updated to something else - Ding and Gukesh play for the title starting now (first game currently underway)

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Maybe this title should be updated to something else - Ding and Gukesh play for the title starting now (first game currently underway)

Ding with a French as black and Gukesh collapsed in middle game! No one had this prediction, that's for sure

 

[Marceline]

Defector had a nice preview of this -
(gifted link)

https://defector.com/the-clouds-have-gathered-over-the-world-chess-championship?giftLink=d1abe9b2b2f87f34cc2ca60447079096

 

[Jnai]

Gukesh thinking for like 40 minutes about QE2 was the real throw

 

[SumnerH]

Maybe this title should be updated to something else - Ding and Gukesh play for the title starting now (first game currently underway)

Title updated.

Love to see Ding come out swinging, I wouldn't mind a Gukesh or a Ding win but I don't want Ding to be in poor form.

 

[Jnai]

I think Ding has been a bad world champion. Sort of unbelievably bad almost. For over a year he has played poorly, been obviously depressed and unhappy and I think kind of a bad ambassador for the idea of there being a world champion and for the years long cycle of anointing the next one. It is all made worse by the fact that everyone knows that despite the title he is clearly not the best player. By all accounts he is a really wonderful person and so this all kind of sucks.

But I do think that there are aspects of this format which, if he looks at all like the player he was a few years ago, rather than the player he has been for the past year+, really favor him. Gukesh is just not an inhuman level rapid or blitz player and with no increments before move 40 he could easily play himself into time trouble, like he did today. Maybe he will come out and just crush Ding over the next 10 games or whatever. But today was not just a win, it felt like the blueprint for the way Ding wins. Leave all the pieces on the board, get Gukesh out of preparation, and crush him in what is effectively a shorter format game.

 

[Mr Jums]

Not the most exciting Italian game today, though also not the most surprising that both sides would be content with a fairly straightforward draw and were less interested in taking risks. Clock management is going to be a big part of this championship I think, since both of them struggle with it at times.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Kudos to Ding. He has not played error free but he has shown imagination in the openings (thanks to Richard Rapport), and he hasn't folded like a cheap suit as many predicted. Gukesh probably wins in the end but so far things have exceeded expectations

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Ding blundered on move 40 after playing middle game low on time and was close to losing, but kept his cool. Gukesh then made some minor inaccuracies and Ding found a very active plan to turn things around and secure the draw. Impressive stuff

 

[Mr Jums]

I've been reading some things about how this is one of the more accurate (most accurate?) chess championships ever played. I don't know if there's a typical convention to how it's reported, but I wrote out the accuracies below per chess.com. To try to make it easier, I always put Ding first and Gukesh second and indicated what color pieces Ding had and the result.

Game 1: 95.9 (B) / 87.1 (DL wins)
Game 2: 96.7 (W) / 96.1 (Draw)
Game 3: 89 (B) / 96.4. (GD wins)
Game 4: 98.8 (W) / 98.7 (Draw)
game 5: 98.1 (B) / 97.6 (Draw)
Game 6: 97.7 (W) / 97.6 (Draw)
Game 7: 94.3 (B) / 94.5 (Draw)

Each player won a game when their opponent unforgivably dipped to a mere high 80s in terms of accuracy, and otherwise its been mid 90s or higher, which is wildly impressive.

I feel like the conventional wisdom is Gukesh pulls it out. I could easily see any of the following happen:

1) Ding cracks under the pressure (or is just a human) and blunders in a way that is punished. He has had some rocky moves, including a blunder on move 40 in the most recent game and the evaluation got high as +1.66 but Gukesh couldn't covert.

2) Ding plays it safe, doesn't push advantages as white (which we've seen already) and tries to make it to tie breakers where he has an advantage in rapid.

3) Gukesh, clearly feeling very confident and willing to accept somewhat subpar positions/turning down draws in difficult situations, overextends and gets punished.

Its been an enjoyable match to follow thus far, with some really good chess being played.

 

[Bread of Yaz]

Very interesting game today with Ding having a rook in the middle of the board with a somewhat open king, and Gukesh threating to run passers down the queenside. Gukesh went astray with a couple imprecise moves in a row and seemed to show nerves (at least in his moves, not his impassive demeanor) for the first time in this one. Pressure's building.

 

[SumnerH]

Kudos to Ding. He has not played error free but he has shown imagination in the openings (thanks to Richard Rapport), and he hasn't folded like a cheap suit as many predicted. Gukesh probably wins in the end but so far things have exceeded expectations

Ding fighting hard again today against a great game by Gukesh.