So, did I miss anything? I took a much-needed break to see some music yesterday. (Interpol sucked, New York Dolls were amazing for being ancient, and The Killers were good but need to fire their sound guys. Covering a Bowie tune always earns bonus points.) Going to see Beck tonight and, more importantly, the Raveonettes.
Yow, this tournament is wild and crazy. No short draws yesterday; no draws at all! Fighting spirit combined with some uneven play has resulted in an entertaining high-tension bloodbath. Only an unheard of 37% of the games have been drawn after four rounds and there hasn't been a draw in the past two rounds. In the last world championship tournament comparable to this one, in 1948, after 16 games 44% had been drawn. This pace won't be maintained, but it's indicative of how all the players are taking each game seriously.
Topalov won yet again, playing an impressive game against Adams. The Bulgarian's handling of initiative is truly fearsome these days, absolutely relentless. His h5-Bf5-Bc2-Qe4 maneuver will bring cheer to the hearts of weekend hackers everywhere. Play for mate!
Leko finally put someone away with white in the Sicilian, combining a strong opening initiative with a little taste of Polgar's own medicine, a piece sac on b5. 18..Nh5 looks very un-Judit-like; the f4 pawn isn't consequent. This may have been a case of the old saying, the hardest moves to visualize are diagonal retreats. If White doesn't have 25.Bg1! Black holds on with pressure against c2, although the position is still terrible. The hole on d6 is fatal in the final position, quite instructive to have it last that long.
Kasimdzhanov passed his opening test and then some. He innovated against Anand in the Najdorf and went on to win a very nice attacking game. Anand played riskily, giving the white queen a dominating presence in the center with 20..Nc4?! and relied on tactical tricks (26..Rxf2). Kasim remained cool and held Black off until he could counterattack against Black's wide-open king. The white queen on e5 and the black queen on b4 tell the story. Kasimdzhanov played Bh5 twice. The first time it was a novelty that prevented the maneuver ..Ng6-..Nf4. The second time it was a pretty winning blow, offering the g2 pawn with check.
Morozevich held a strong initiative against Svidler for most of the game but was outplayed in the heavy-piece ending. Moro employed one of his favorite tricks with 30.Rhc2, a quick switch to the other side. It might have been worth staying on the kingside with 30.h5 g5 31.Qg4, although that f4 knight is a monster. Nice technical finish by Svidler and Moro's play continues to look tired. This unusual line of the Saemisch KID has a WCh pedigree. Both Smyslov (58) and Tal (61) tried 6..a6 against Botvinnik.
See round 4 preview for links to other coverage.
10 out of 16 are 75% ?
Yah, was looking at my analysis file which had duplicates of some of the games. Fixed it.
too bad Interpol sucked. "Evil" is such a friggin good song.
evil fluffy
I like their music, but their performance was entirely perfunctory. It was like, "we're not headlining, so piss off." They just stood there and played through the album as if paralyzed. Yawn. On the other hand, Beck was fantastic last night. Really puts on a show, lots of variety and depth. Some acoustic stuff, some DJ action, bizarre skits, very cool. At one point, while he's playing acoustic and singing some slow stuff on his own, his band was served a meal at a fully set table behind him. Then they slowly start playing all the glassware and plates as instruments with a mic on the table until it turns into a total rhythm jam while Beck is still playing guitar. Frickin' hilarious. Great set. Belle and Sebastian put me to sleep, as usual. Pretty music. Polyphonic Spree are a blast live. 22 people with every instrument you can name, an eight-person chorus, and a theremin. All wearing flowing blue robes with a jagged red line. That's entertainment. The Raveonettes ROCK, period.
Some pics from a blogger who was there:
http://www.deathofaparty.com/blog/archives/2005/10/across_the_narr_2.html
Beck indeed rules. maybe I'll have to move to NY.
"Chess has become a pretty rockin' deal"
Rolling Stone interviews Ryan Adams:
Have you ever played board games with your musical heroes?
It's not like I sit down and play Scrabble with Keith Richards. Chess has become a pretty rockin' deal for the Cardinals. I think Nikolai [Fraitur] from the Strokes is pretty damn good. I actually asked him for some tips the other day.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7605374/ryanadams?pageid=rs.NewsArchive&pageregion=mainRegion&rnd=1128441151655&has-player=false