The supertournament part of the Biel chess festival is underway with two rounds in the books. Two exciting rounds. 5/6 of the games have been decisive so far. Carlsen and Radjabov lead on 2/2. Morozevich, Bruzon, Volokitin, and Pelletier are the other participants. It's a double round-robin.
Kasparov sounded very impressed with Magnus Carlsen's "brilliant game" over Morozevich today. Especially since White played the opening a tempo down! White has often reached the same King's Indian position by playing the usual Bayonette 9.b4 instead of doing it in two moves like Carlsen did. It's supposed to be White to play on move 14 (usually 14.a5 or 14.Nd2). Either a bit cocky or, more likely, a bit of a whoops by the 15-year-old Norwegian. Moro is famously dangerous with black, so maybe this was some psychological warfare.
The ACCENTUS women's tournament runs alongside with Pia Cramling as the top seed.
Comments
It's simple: Magnus Carlsen is unbeatable. He is improving steadily and all his tournament performances are 2700+. Who can doubt that he will win this tournament?
It looks as though the hunters have become the prey.
Posted by: Chess Auditor at July 25, 2006 15:48
He is not unbeatable, but his hunger to win is extreme. That is why he didn't settle with a draw in the last game in the Norwegian Championship. He wanted to win with style (but as we know he lost). But I am very excited about Biel so far, two wins in a row for the teenagers.
Posted by: Xaurus at July 25, 2006 15:51
I don't know, Radjabov looked smooth today although Pelletier's opening seemed quite dubious and g4 is probably a lamentable(panicky) decision.
Posted by: DP at July 25, 2006 15:52
Pelletier's complete meltdown against Carlsen yesterday is also notable as is Radjabov's ultra sharp win against Volokitin. I have no idea what went on of course, but it looked like Radjabov was in control after the sacrifice despite the fact that Volokitin had some really scary counterplay. Apparently a really nice game. What was the theoretical contribution? In the game with Moro, Carlsen made that line look horrible even without the tempo although of course his move Bc3 reminds one of the famous game Kramnik-X (Gelfand??) Overall an interesting start.
Posted by: DP at July 25, 2006 16:04
I'm a huge Radjabov fan and I hope he continues his inspired play throughout this tournament. Carlsen is definitely the one to beat here, based on recent form.
The rest may be playing for third.
Posted by: Mark G at July 25, 2006 16:38
Garry's comment was that Rajdabov was a bit lucky in the first game (Volokitin missed a clear drawing line at the very end) and that today's game with Pelletier was "ridiculous." But he added that Radjabov has been working hard and is clearly making progress. Regarding today's Carlsen game again, since he retired I've only heard Garry be that enthusiastic about Topalov's games.
Posted by: Mig at July 25, 2006 17:35
"He is not unbeatable, but his hunger to win is extreme. That is why he didn't settle with a draw in the last game in the Norwegian Championship."
When could he have got a draw in that game? Was he offered one early on or what? To me it seems he was just outplayed.
Posted by: acirce at July 25, 2006 17:37
It seems that there is no limit how far Carlsen can reach in chess.
By the way, I hope for bad weather in Norway tomorrow so I can stay inside and watch the incredible interesting game between Radjabov and Carlsen instead of painting my garage. (Radjabov and Carlsen played a draw in the Olympics).
Today it was not so easy to paint and simultaneously follow the Carlsen-Morozevich game through the window. However, I was lucky and saw Carlsen's brilliant finish!
Posted by: Young Sun at July 25, 2006 17:53
In the last round of the Nor. Champ. it was hardly a matter of not settling for a draw, more a matter of playing poorly. Brilliant, but not entirely stable.
By the way, in the World Cup Carlsen lost several "must-draw" games (eg. in the mini-matches against Azmaiparashvili, Cheparinov, Kamsky, eventhough he beat the first 2 in rapids eventually). Maybe "must-draw" is a psychological barrier for him?
Posted by: Alex Shternshain at July 25, 2006 18:33
"By the way, in the World Cup Carlsen lost several "must-draw" games (eg. in the mini-matches against Azmaiparashvili, Cheparinov, Kamsky, eventhough he beat the first 2 in rapids eventually). Maybe "must-draw" is a psychological barrier for him?"
Do you have a psychological degree or is this just some miasma that you came up with on your very own?
He's 2675 and the strongest player for this age this planet has ever seen. He just beat one of the strongest players in the world. What advice can you possibly have to offer him?
Posted by: Chess Auditor at July 25, 2006 18:48
I am sure if Magnus had made a few safe moves and then offered his hand(for a draw) there would have been a hand to meet it... To lose such a game is a rare sign of him being 15.
Posted by: DP at July 25, 2006 20:18
He is still 15 years old. allow him to develop his style and experiment around to find out what works best for him.
I believe his playing strength is definitely over 2700 at the present time. The game tomorrow with radjabov will be intense. they will not be looking for a draw. they will be looking to establish dominance.
Young people play to win. older people play to draw.
Posted by: Frank H at July 25, 2006 22:46
LOL Chess Auditor I totally agree.
Someone beating Morozevich at age 15...
I hope Morozevich gets angry, then we will see a different tournament from now on :)
Posted by: Ando at July 26, 2006 00:25
"strongest player for this age this planet has ever seen"?? Carlsen is exceptional, no doubt, and he may spend a very long time as champion, starting in a few years. However, let us remember that one Robert James Fischer finished in a tie for 5th place in the Candidates Tournament (in other words, top 6 in the world) at the ripe old age of 15 in 1959. (Or maybe he had just turned 16, someone correct me if I missed by one.)
Posted by: Chris Falter at July 26, 2006 00:31
There is no doubt that Fischer was the best of his time for his age: If you were to calculate the difference in strength between him and others his age, then he has a much larger advantage than Carlsen. But I doubt that Fischer reached Carlsen's 2900+ performance levels back then.
Posted by: Chess Auditor at July 26, 2006 01:41
Carlsen beat Fischer to become the youngest person ever to qualify for the candidate-matches.
Posted by: Xaurus at July 26, 2006 01:44
You cannot compare the two types of candidates matches! One was through a rigorous and grueling cycle of zonals and interzonals, while the FIDE 'cycle' is a joke with quick chess and two game mini matches.
Posted by: knight_tour at July 26, 2006 02:23
If there was a match between 15 year old Fischer and Carlsen, I think Carlsen would win.
Though, if Fischer had a computer back in the times, I guess he would just walk over Carlsen.
Posted by: Ando at July 26, 2006 02:40
Being stronger (as a teen) relative to the field than the obsessed kid Bobby Fischer is probably not compatible with a normal life outside of chess.
Posted by: zakki at July 26, 2006 03:04
With his win yesterday Magnus is at 2693.
He is 15 years and 8 months old.
According to this list :
http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/AgeLists.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S000000000000111000000000000015100
no one has had a higher score than Magnus at 15y/8m.
However, Kasparaov had 2695 at 15y,5m so it may be safe to rank Magnus 2. of all time for 15 years old chessplayers.
That is, yet.....
Posted by: hansolo at July 26, 2006 04:49
With his win yesterday Magnus is at 2693.
He is 15 years and 8 months old.
According to this list :
http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/AgeLists.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S000000000000111000000000000015100
no one has had a higher score than Magnus at 15y/8m.
However, Kasparaov had 2695 at 15y,5m so it may be safe to rank Magnus 2. of all time for 15 years old chessplayers.
That is, yet.....
Posted by: hansolo at July 26, 2006 04:50
-Maybe "must-draw" is a psychological barrier for him?
From where I stand ( which is quite far away ) Magnus only psychological barrier is with his mentor/teacher Simen Agdestein who he met in the last game in the Norwegian championchip.
Let not forget that Simen is a very good player ( He was rank in the top 20's some years ago ) and knows Magnus better than anybody, as a chessplayer that is.
Posted by: hansolo at July 26, 2006 05:05
"....Magnus only psychological barrier is with his mentor/teacher Simen Agdestein who he met in the last game in the Norwegian championship".
It's not right he met Simen in his last game in the Championship and lost. He met Berge Ostenstad and lost. He WON against Simen in an earlier round and everybody believed he would now become the Norwegian champion.
I agree that Magnus has some problems playing against Simen because Simen knows better than anyone how he thinks. But the Simen complex for Magnus is not so bad now as it used to be. Simen won the 2005 Norwegian Championship in a long tie-break against Magnus. I think they had to play about 8 games before the winner was declared. So they score equally now against each other.
But Magnus has a little complex against Berge Ostenstad. A few years ago he lost the Norwegian championship in a tie break against him. Well, they scored an equal 1,0-1,0, but the rules at that time was that if the tie-break was equal then the player with the highest quality score won the title. They changed the rules after this event so now you have to WIN in the tie-break to become champion. Quality doesn't matter anymore.
Magnus seems to struggle more against Norwegian players than foreign players. I think the reason for this is that most elite Norwegian players analyze Magnus' games and playing style. So they know more to expect from him. It's a BIG BIG inspiration for them to win or draw against the best Norwegian player. It's similar to an English football team playing against the best (Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool). They always fight harder because they have nothing to lose and it would feel so good to beat the best ones.
I know Magnus struggles against other good Norwegian players too like Kjetil Lie and Leif Erlend Johannesen.
So I always feel calmer when Magnus is playing abroad. Then it's not expected that he MUST because he is the highest ranked. Abroad he is often the outsider and can play more freely. In Norway everybody has talked about him beating Simen's record as the youngest Norwegian champion. Everybody has expected Magnus to win the championship for 3 years and he has failed every time. I think a young player like Magnus is not too comfortable with a lot of national pressure. When he went to Khanty-Mansiysk nobody expected him to qualify for the candidate matches. We were only happy with his results and when he occasionally lost we weren't too disappointed.
But when he plays in Norway people expect him to dominate and win every time. It's not easy for a young boy like him having to deal with such pressure. So I believe his not excellent performance in the last Norwegian championship is due to the big pressure to win here. But anyway, he didn't score poorly. He scored 7/9 and won together with Simen. Later this year they will meet in a tie-break to decide who is the champion. His rating performance in the championship was 2669. Only 6 less than his current FIDE rating (2675).
Posted by: Norwegian at July 26, 2006 05:59
Many players who are far the strongest in their own country have problems dominating at home as you'd expect. Tony Miles, for one.
Was Simen Agdestein really in the world's top 20?? I'd be surprised. But a cunning old fox certainly: I played him in a junior tournament once when the world was young and he was a cunning young fox back then.
Since we have a Norwegian here, I take it the story that SA also played football for Norway is not true? He might have won some U-16 cap, but he surely never played for the full international side, did he? I thought he played part-time for a team in the Norwegian third division.
It's a mug's game comparing today's prodigies with the past. There's a reason there are more prodigies today - the modern game with its Mickey Mouse time limits, rapid play-offs and emphasis on information retention and homework strongly favours the young as compared to the game as it was when Fischer or even Kasparov was young.
Posted by: rdh at July 26, 2006 06:13
Simen Agdestein played for the full international side indeed. Check out Tim Krabbés site for an interesting articles on Agdestein two careers: http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/agd_eng.htm
Posted by: IronAgeMan at July 26, 2006 06:24
Agdestein definitely played a few games for the national team, but he was never a regular.
Posted by: kallemann at July 26, 2006 06:25
Simen Agdestein played 8 full international matches for Norway, and even scored a goal in one of them. His Norwegian team, Lyn, was at the time playing in Norways first division (the highest level). Unfortunately, his football career was prematurely brougth to an end by injuries. Interestingly, I believe his chess career also suffered from this, at least he has never since reached the rating he had at the peak of his footballing career.
Posted by: Tommy at July 26, 2006 06:29
Thanks, rdh, for correcting me on the Agdestein-Carlsen record. It was of course last year Simen beat Magnus.
When it comes to Simens soccer record I can confirm that he indeed had 8 caps for Norway. He was at that time concidered to be the best striker in norwegian football, with a touch on the ball which was seldom for norwegians at that time ( and still is, one might say ).
Simen has claimed that the injury that made him quit football also made his chess game suffer because he needed to be fit to keep his head clear when playing chess.
Posted by: hansolo at July 26, 2006 07:19
Well I never. Thanks, everyone. And Krabbe reckons he was the world number eleven, too. Guess I wasn't paying attention.
Posted by: rdh at July 26, 2006 08:07
Com'on Moro! Give all these pretenders their comeuppance!! Show us some of that mesmerising play!
Posted by: d at July 26, 2006 08:48
Magnus Carlsen also play soccer. I have seen him play in the minor league and he's got talent though I don't think he will be of Agdesteins class. Not surprisingly he was his teammates and oponents superier when it came to positioning him self on the field and finding his teammates with a passes.In other words, he is good at "reading the game"
Posted by: hansolo at July 26, 2006 09:06
