The Nepo Shuffle -- The 2021 World Chess Championship

[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.