Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:46PM It's all attacking chess, all of the time on this week's show. Usually the games exhibit a good deal of variety in terms of their character, but not this time! No endgames, no deep positional concepts, just one tactical hackfest after another.
Have a look, and enjoy. The show is free (free registration is required) and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 3:31PM In the leaders' game, Vladimir Kramnik maintained but did not extend his lead over Viswanathan Anand. as their game was drawn. Kramnik had White and may obtained a very small edge with White in a sideline of the Vienna QGD, but if he did it evaporated quickly. By move 25 Kramnik clearly felt that there was nothing to be had, and he found an interesting way to more or less force a draw. Before his 25th move, only one piece had been traded, and when they agreed to a draw after White's 37th move only a pair of opposite-colored bishops remained (plus some pawns).
The other game was less important to the standings but far more entertaining. Magnus Carlsen found a very interesting and picturesque idea against Shirov's favorite Neo-Archangelsk (or Tkachiev) Variation involving the unusual idea of moving his knight - a White knight - to a7! It's surrounded by Black pieces, but was as safe there as it would be on d2. Shirov burned lots of time, but when the opening had finished Carlsen enjoyed a pleasant edge with good kingside attacking prospects. Shirov's 25th move made things even worse, and Carlsen's advantage grew decisive.
He made things needlessly difficult for himself with his 40th move (Carlsen, like most people, committed the well-known sin of blitzing in the opponent's time trouble), but even so he brought in the full point. Shirov had some hopes of a blockade, but Carlsen had one f-pawn too many, and the blockade didn't hold.
So with one round to go, the standings (based on 3-1-0 scoring) look like this:
1. Kramnik 9
2. Anand 7
3. Carlsen 5
4. Shirov 3
The last round pairings are Shirov-Kramnik and Anand-Carlsen. If Kramnik wins, he wins clear first; if he draws, he wins unless Anand beats Carlsen (then there's a playoff?); if he loses, he still wins the tournament unless Anand beats Carlsen.
The tournament site is here; the games (with my comments) are here.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 1:39PM Carlsen's last victory over Kramnik came in last year's London tournament, and he later opined that his choice of the English Opening was a premeditated part of his success. He didn't obtain an advantage, but felt that the sort of position he was aiming for (and achieved) would be one where Kramnik wouldn't feel as comfortable or understand as well as in other parts of his repertoire. So Carlsen tried it again today, and this time achieved neither a theoretical nor a practical advantage. Indeed, Kramnik had an edge through most of the game, but it wasn't enough to win.
Anand-Shirov was the game of the day for excitement. Shirov trotted out the McCutcheon French, but it wasn't going well. Anand's kingside play was faster than Black's counterplay on the queenside, but it seems like he let Black off the hook with inaccuracies on moves 28 and 29. The position was extremely complicated, and it was difficult not only to calculate everything there, but to properly assess the positions as well. Anyway, after White's 29th move the play went in a very forcing direction and resulted in a perpetual.
After four of the six rounds, the standings (based on 3-1-0 scoring) look like this:
1. Kramnik 8
2. Anand 6
3. Shirov 3
4. Carlsen 2
The round 5 pairings are Kramnik - Anand and Carlsen - Shirov. A Kramnik win would clinch clear first, but even a draw would leave him in excellent shape.
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 12:06PM The Anand-Kramnik clash was a typical "professional" draw. White played solidly, enjoyed a small edge, but Black successfully defended and drew. The battleground was a Catalan and I'm sure both players were in their home preparation to at least move 18. On move 19 Anand eschewed the option chosen in three 2010 OTB games for one chosen in a 2006 email game, and it looked like the right choice. Still, Kramnik found (or knew) the elegant defensive idea Black chose in that game, and they continued in the earlier game's footsteps until move 24. The difference wasn't enough to change the basic evaluation, and after long thought on move 25 Anand decided to call it a day - not that they drew on that move, but he chose a continuation which allowed the game to be drawn even under Sofia rules as quickly as possible.
Shirov-Carlsen was a completely different story. The players whipped out 15 and a half moves of Breyer Ruy Lopez theory, and then Carlsen surprised Shirov by playing 15...cxb5 rather than 15...axb5. Carlsen had played the latter move against Anand earlier this year, but 15...cxb5 wasn't unknown: Shirov faced it earlier this year against Baramidze. Nevertheless, Shirov thought for more than half an hour after this move, and varied from the Baramidze game on move 18. The game soon became a tactical morass, but somehow the players negotiated their way through with remarkable (but not quite perfect) accuracy. The complications came to a conclusion when Carlsen chose 40...Qxa8, resulting in a queen vs. three minor piece ending where neither side could undertake anything constructive.
Unfortunately, this didn't dissuade Carlsen in any way, as he spent the next 134 moves trying to draw blood from a stone - or perhaps trying to flag. Charming. Happily, Shirov won the last two psychological battles of the game. First, Carlsen missed an opportunity to play ...e3, which would have continued the idiocy for another 50 moves. Second, Shirov made the perfect final move to accompany his successful 50-move draw claim: he deliberately allowed his queen to be forked on the final move. [DM: According to Shirov himself, this did not happen. Shirov went to get the arbiter after his 174th move, and Carlsen agreed to the draw without forcing Shirov to go through the whole business of proving the 50-move claim. Relayers should not make stupid jokes like this.]
So at the end of the first cycle, going into the one and only rest day, the standings look like this:
1. Kramnik 7 (+2 =1)
2. Anand 5 (+1 =2)
3. Shirov 2 (=2 -1)
4. Carlsen 1 (=1 -2)
The pairings for Wednesday's round 4 are Carlsen-Kramnik and Anand-Shirov; obviously this round is pregnant with possibilities: Carlsen will have White in a game that's crucial for his tournament success; for Kramnik, this is probably the last game where losing is a very real possibility. Likewise, Anand will have what is on paper his best hope for a win in the second cycle, with White against the tournament's lowest-rated player.
Meanwhile, the tournament website is here, and the games (with my comments) are here.
[UPDATE: As noted in the next above, Shirov's alleged 175th move wasn't actually played. The game file will be fixed presently.]
Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 2:21PM Of course Viswanathan Anand is already the world's top player in the only sense that really matters: he's the world champion. But now he also has the second best title too, that of world's highest-rated player. Magnus Carlsen had White against him and an equal position, but the "Jedi mind tricks" that worked against other strong GMs before Carlsen became a fashion model aren't working now, at least not on the world champions. Carlsen tried desperately to make something happen in an equal ending, and he succeeded. He temporarily sacrificed a piece, hoping to tie Anand's pieces down in the short term and regain the piece later. It was a clever idea, but unfortunately for him it only gave him losing chances. Anand handled it very well, Carlsen didn't, and Anand won.
Now Anand is #1 on the Live Top List at 2804.7; Carlsen is #2 and below 2800 at 2799.7. There is one place that Anand isn't yet #1, however, and that's in this tournament. Vladimir Kramnik won again, this time defeating Alexei Shirov, and his perfect 6-0 score (2-0 on 3-1-0 scoring) keeps him in front. As a fringe benefit, it also puts him ahead of Veselin Topalov on the rating list. (Rumor has it that Topalov won't issue a press releases congratulating Kramnik on his success.) Shirov tried a new idea in the Slav/QGD hybrid, but it was a bad one. I don't know if Kramnik found the refutation over the board or in his preparation, but his 14.d5! spells the end forever to Shirov's 12...Na5 + 13...Nb4 idea.
Tomorrow is the big showdown between Anand and Kramnik, and Anand has White, while Shirov has White against Carlsen in the other game.
Standings After Round 2:
1. Kramnik 6
2. Anand 4
3. Shirov 1
4. Carlsen 0
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 6:58PM More info and replayable games here.
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 6:54PM It's bad that we even let them get that close, but it's another step in the right direction.
Next week's victim: Western Michigan.
All together now:
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 2:25PM In the early days of the Live Top List, Hans Arild Runde would update it daily. For a while now that hasn't been the case, but it's great to see that today's Bilbao games have already been factored in for a very timely update. Here's the news:
Carlsen is still #1, but he's down from 2810 to 2805.1. Anand's draw has pushed him below 2800 for the moment, to 2799.3, and Kramnik is on the verge of overtaking Topalov for fourth place. (Aronian is #3 at 2793.8, Topalov is 2785.5, and Kramnik 2785.2.) Shirov gained .7 and is still #11 with a 2751.5 rating.
If Anand beats Carlsen tomorrow, he's the new #1! It's not so likely to happen with Anand having the black pieces, but who knows? Mr. G-Star has not looked terribly impressive since becoming one of the beautiful people, and if he overpresses against Anand (trying to make up for today's loss) it could cost him.
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 2:20PM On NBC at 3:30 ET, for those of you fortunate enough to have coverage of Notre Dame football. Those of you deprived of this great privilege, or for anyone just curious to read more about today's game, have a look here.
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 1:56PM Vladimir Kramnik jumped to the early lead in Bilbao with a positional masterpiece against Magnus Carlsen. With White in a Queen's Indian (no Catalan for a change, thank goodness), Kramnik obtained a space advantage and some prospects based on a knight vs. bad bishop imbalance. Carlsen's position was unpleasant but tenable, but the young fashion model didn't want to sit passively and lashed out with the mistaken 29...d5? He was in real trouble after that, and after 35...Ra5 the game could no longer be saved. Kramnik's final move, 45.Rd1!, practically stalemated Carlsen's entire army, and the youngster picked the right moment to resign.
Alexei Shirov achieved nothing with White against World Champion Viswanathan Anand's Berlin Defense. Early on it was clear that a draw was the only possible result, and then it was just a matter of engineering a position that could be drawn under the Sofia Rules. Needless to say, they coped with the task without too much difficulty, although Anand's approach seemed a little more complicated than necessary.
After one round, Kramnik leads with 3 points (Bilbao scoring!), Anand and Shirov have 1, and Carlsen has 0. Tomorrow's pairings are Carlsen-Anand and Kramnik-Shirov. The tournament site is here, and the games, with my comments, are here.