Preview: Two more matches can end today with just a draw, Bareev-Polgar and Grischuk-Malakhov. If Aronian beats Carlsen that one is over, same goes if Adams beats Shirov or if Rublevsky takes out Ponomariov again. I'm on the verge of losing my bet with Kasparov that four matches would go to rapid playoffs. I'm happy about it though because I really thought they'd be playing much more conservative chess. (And Polgar-Bareev and Kamsky-Bacrot were two of my 3-3 picks. Oops.) With Brooklyn already through and France (family alliance with my bro-in-law. Sorry J-B!) eliminated, my cheering today is with Carlsen to equalize and set up a dramatic game six with Aronian. A crushing win by Polgar in an Advance Caro would also be nice. Get your live games while they're hot.
Secrets of Grandmaster Success! That's first round winner Gata Kamsky of Brooklyn, USA, in Elista taking it easy with some fine web literature before his second-round match against either Kasimjanov or Gelfand. Gelfand is trying to squeeze a win in a rook endgame but most bets, including that of GM Speelman, say draw. [Yep, drawn quickly, leaving their match at 2.5-2.5.]
Carlsen beat the unstable (!) Aronian easily to again equalize their match. It's winner take all tomorrow in game six, Aronian with white. GM Nielsen, a Carlsen coach, pointed out early on how odd it is that they are taking turns just crushing each other. All four wins have been very one-sided. Today Carlsen had a strong mating attack but decided to go into an endgame instead. A little strange perhaps, but he won it easily enough so no complaints! Grischuk is through to the next round after drawing with Malakhov today. Polgar smashed through against Bareev to win and stay alive. She'll have to win again tomorrow with black to force tiebreaks. Rublevsky held Ponomariov and Pono will have to win tomorrow with black or go home. Adams-Shirov was also a draw and Alexei with have white in game six in a must win.
I must say in addition to being positively surprised by the low number of draws; beeing able to call the live coverage "while they're hot" is a very nice experience. I've had no problems with viewing live games at all.
Q
yes, let's all take a minute to commend the fantastic live coverage that this event had. It's certainly the best live coverage I've ever encountered.
Old Caro setup by Judith. But Bareev seems to be confident.
Mig, what is on the line in your bet with Mr. Kasparov?
Looks like Carlsen can go for a kingside attack (after 17.e5). Looks very promising to me.
Polgar Beraev to go 3-3 ?
Oh come on, she is vastly over-rated and he kept stressing that all he does these days are coaching and training, which can mean only one thing – the guy was hungry!
Polgar Beraev to go 3-3 ?
Oh come on, she is vastly over-rated and he kept stressing that all he does these days are coaching and training, which can mean only one thing – the guy was hungry!
The vastly overrated Judit Polgar in her last performance defeated Topalov twice and finished tied for first place. But preparation does seem to be the vast difference in this match.
Judit is winning!
A very nice win by Magnus.
I'm a bit disappionted of Aronian. Instead of trying to draw he pushes himself pawns ...
Magnus "Absolute Seventh" Carlsen has some kind of killer endgame instinct. This second win is strangely similar to his first.
What a great match between two very likable players!
Magnus is very good in destroying his opponent's pawn structure to create himself a free pawn.
This is of course only possible when your position is already better.
Magnus "Absolute Seventh" Carlsen has some kind of killer endgame instinct. This second win is strangely similar to his first.
What a great match between two very likable players!
-- Posted by: r at June 1, 2007 10:52
Yes, that was my thought exactly. Once again Magnus beats Aronian with a rook controling the absolute 7th rank in conjunction with an advanced 6th-rank passed pawn. Carlsen's two wins are eerily similar.
If Aronian ever manages to get his king off of the back rank, he might be able to hold one of these endgames.
An advanced passed pawn is powerful. Control of the absolute 7th rank is powerful. Put them together and the opponent (Aronian) has no chance.
"Once again Magnus beats Aronian with a rook controling the absolute 7th rank in conjunction with an advanced 6th-rank passed pawn. Carlsen's two wins are eerily similar."
As are Aronian's two victories: Aronian gets a small edge, but Carlsen has a solid position, and looks like he can hold. Then Aronian unleashes a flashy shot (....Rf3; Bd6), and Carlsen's resistance collapses.
Black really ought to avoid letting Carlsen get in the e5 pawn push, since he seems to have developed a very strong stock attack
I don't know about proper WCh format or time controls, but hosting all the Candidates' matches at the same time, same venue has proven to be a terrific idea. The chess at this event is mega class, and we're not even halfway through.
I think a condensed event like this suits today's audience much better than the one-at-a-time dragged out candidates' matches they used to have 30 years ago.
Hey, can someone post a link to information about what happens _after_ the Mexico tournament is done? What are the plans for the next cycle?
"Black really ought to avoid letting Carlsen get in the e5 pawn push, since he seems to have developed a very strong stock attack"
Aronian's problem in this position seemd to be that his kingside was unprotected. His pieces were jumping around the queenside - where it would have been better to secure the kingside. Easier said than done of course.
It's a shame that two of the strongest players in the event, Aronian and Carlsen, have to play each other in the first round.
I love the self-promotion: "some fine web literature"
I love the Daily Dirt blog so I guess this is a fair statement :)
Intesting comment by Short on playchess today. He said Polgar's 25.Rxg7 was "a combination for beginners" :D Surprisingly Bareev did not see this move ...
I agree with Linux fan, this even has been really exciting to watch. This is the most fun I've had watching chess is years.
I agree with Linux fan, this even has been really exciting to watch. This is the most fun I've had watching chess is years.
Good thing tomorrow is Saturday or I'd be taking the day off.
Kudos to the organizers for scheduling the final game and tiebreaks on the weekend! Unbelievable that they had the presence of mind to do that given FIDE's history.
And Linux is balls on with his comments about holding them all together simultaneously. Alot can be learned from this first round Candidates Matches.
And I am surprised that Gata was not sporting his N.Y. Mets or Boston Red Sox hat - we all know how the Yanks are faring!
:)
Game Six of Carlsen-Aronian will be like Game Seven in Hockey. I think the advantage lies with Aronian tomorrow, playing white. Too bad these two were paired so early in the process.
Geez. This "unstable" stuff about Aronian, again? Because he lost two games with Black against an almost-2700 teen genius? What is the standard of "stability", then? Capablanca? Among today's players all have had bad runs at some point.
Of course, you can question Aronian's moves and stategy (e.g. risky queenside expansion), but that doesn't mean his play is "unstable", just that he makes mistakes like even Super-GMs do!
The big question in the Aronian-Carlsen match is: who will be crushed tomorrow? These two guys can seem to play only routs.
Aronian is simply as good as Anand-Topa-Kramnik Trio whereas Carlsen still has to mature to that level. So may Aronian is playing risky Chess as Black when he could have layed safe and closed the match.
-Amit
I´m impressed by Carlsen´s universality. No success with Ruy Lopez at round one? No problem, let´s switch to 1.Nf3 and 1.d4. Darn, this match is too short.
"What is the standard of "stability", then? Capablanca? Among today's players all have had bad runs at some point."
Maybe 1.- d5 would be a good strategy to draw. Both players don't have experience in match play. This is the interesting part for the audience, but I'm sure their coaches are close to have a heart attack.
Aronian is simply as good as Anand-Topa-Kramnik Trio whereas Carlsen still has to mature to that level........... You are funny Amit... ha ha ha.. what a nerd!!
My impression is that Carlsen has problems with more positional play. So players that has a more tactical style is quite okay with him. If he met for example Leko (the Kramnik style) he would have a really difficult match. Aronian doesn't have that problem which is why he is stronger. But in a match between the two of them they will appear very level. Looking forward to the last round. Will be really exciting! Anyway, Great that Kamsky went through! Really cheering for Polgar and Carlsen too.
I don't agree, Amit, that Aronian went for 'risky chess' today. The way I saw it, he misjudged the position, and having won both his 'won' games by pushing Q side pawns and seeing Carlsen react like a deer in the headlights, he gave the same strategy a shot almost instinctively.
I think he overlooked the e5 response to Ba6, and its implications to his K-side, because his vision and calculations were focused on the a/b/c files and the permutations of the pawn exchanges and control of these files. It wasn't 'risky play', just a mistake of judgement.
Both are amazing players - and I hope they will play it out to armageddon - though I suspect the value of Aronian's experience increases the longer the match goes on.
I don't agree, Amit, that Aronian went for 'risky chess' today. The way I saw it, he misjudged the position, and having won both his 'won' games by pushing Q side pawns and seeing Carlsen react like a deer in the headlights, he gave the same strategy a shot almost instinctively.
I think he overlooked the e5 response to Ba6, and its implications to his K-side, because his vision and calculations were focused on the a/b/c files and the permutations of the pawn exchanges and control of these files. It wasn't 'risky play', just a mistake of judgement.
Both are amazing players - and I hope they will play it out to armageddon - though I suspect the value of Aronian's experience increases the longer the match goes on.
Polgar "...is vastly over-rated"
Thankyou, Harry Hyperbole.
Polgar earned her rating by winning games against strong opposition and was in the top 10 for many years and is currently 13th.
Against this you offer "Oh come on.."
Classy.
The play at these games has been very high quality overall, and just great to watch. The mini-match format creates a lot of tension. It's higher quality chess than that of the kramnik-topalov match, at least from a blunder perspective (I'm not qualified to say more than that). From the pictures of the event, it looks like the players are having fun too! ... This has been a total plus for fide and chess !
It makes me think that it wasn't a bad idea at all to have a tournament to decide the next world champion, even if it's non-traditional! Hopefully that tournament will be as great as this one.
I think Polgar saw her whole combination when she played 18.Qh3(instead of Qg4) because this is the move that allows her to play h5 directly instead of taking on e6. It was shocking to see Bareev miss ...Rf7. Age leads to fatigue and weak nerves.
I think that if Aronian-Carlsen goes to tiebreaks Aronian will crush his younger opponent in the rapid.
"My impression is that Carlsen has problems with more positional play." I Agree Muzzy. He has a good score against tactical top players like Morozevich, Shirov, Ivanchuk and even Topalov.
Aronian is one such player he has had problems with.
I like his attitude before the match, when asked about his +0=8-3 against Aronian: "I feel I didn't take advantage of my chances in those games."
I have the strange feeling that Carlsen will pull off the big upset. He is tough. And the psychological pressure is on Aronian.
After watching those two beautifully calculated endgames from Carlsen, Kramnik's comments in a recent interview at 64.ru might be apt (the interview was after receiving the Chess "Oscar" for 2006): http://64.ru/?/ru/magazine/year=2007&no=5&part=466&article=1694
- Kramnik's been playing top-level chess for 15 years: how's he changed in that time?
- I don't think I'm any different from any other chess player. At 18 my speed of calculating variations was absolutely fantastic. Now I can't get anywhere near those levels. But, of course, my chess understanding is better. It was the same with Kasparov and Anand. Vishy plays more slowly now. But you gain experience and your character gets stronger. I became more professional. And in this I'm nothing out of the ordinary. But there's one very important thing: the minuses, which whatever you do you can't escape, have to be nullified by pluses. You have to make advances in different areas: to be in good form - psychologically and physically, to submit what you do to a deeper analysis. Otherwise the physical minuses of ageing will get the upper hand and you'll be dragged down. Of course, life changes, you have new concerns. Nevertheless, it seems, I'm still finding ways to evolve which help me to maintain a high level. But nothing lasts for ever.
Thanks, mishanp
Great citation, mishanp. Thanks a lot!
Is Kramnik saying mental capacity starts to decline after 18?? Medically, grey matter is supposed to start decreasing only after maybe 30 odd years or so...
Also, even in early 90's Anand was already being asked the question of why he has started playing a lot slower... and he replied something to the effect that at this level you need to think a lot... i think he can probably still work out lines faster than the Carlsens, Karjakins and Radjabovs if he needs to..
After watching those two beautifully calculated endgames from Carlsen, Kramnik's comments in a recent interview at 64.ru might be apt (the interview was after receiving the Chess "Oscar" for 2006): http://64.ru/?/ru/magazine/year=2007&no=5∂=466&article=1694
Posted by: mishanp at June 2, 2007 07:53
Those were two unbelievably brilliant endgames by Carlsen.
That's the big difference I find between Carlsen and Kramnik: imagination. When was the last time you saw World Champion Kramnik come up with a stunning winning plan like Carlsen's 37 h4-h5! and 39 f4-f5! from Game 5? Kramnik tends to just grind people down in slightly better endgames, hoping that they play inaccurately.
That last post really has to be one of the most ridiculous yet, even in the crowded field presented by amateurs dissecting the play of world champions.
For what it's worth you might find Kramnik-Leko, Brissago, twelfth game, 2004, an instructive comparison.
"That last post really has to be one of the most ridiculous yet, even in the crowded field presented by amateurs dissecting the play of world champions."
One would think so, or at least hope, but alas, that is not even HIS most ridiculous. Btw, I take it you mean game 14.
Kramnik tends to just grind people down in slightly better endgames, hoping that they play inaccurately.
And the problem with that is? Someone plays to his strengths and his opponents weaknesses. I wish I could do that more.
Amateur definition of imagination- playing the spectacular (mainly tactical) moves that Fritz does.
Professional definition - playing the moves (and long term ideas)that Fritz isn't good enough to see.
...
One would think so, or at least hope, but alas, that is not even HIS most ridiculous. Btw, I take it you mean game 14.
--Posted by: acirce at June 5, 2007 21:08
Fine, 2004, you answered my question.
...
Amateur definition of imagination- playing the spectacular (mainly tactical) moves that Fritz does.
Professional definition - playing the moves (and long term ideas)that Fritz isn't good enough to see.
Posted by: al at June 6, 2007 07:16
If you are going to insult me, at least know what the hell you are talking about.
I singled out the two brilliant endgames won by Carlsen over Aronian -precisely- because of the imagination that Carlsen showed that Fritz/Rybka would probably not see even in a long think.
In Game 5 Carlsen gave Aronian a very dangerous-looking protected passed Black c4-pawn just so he could get at the f7-weakness by playing 37 h4-h5! and 39 f4-f5!.
So either you think this is a Fritz-like plan (which it is not), you had no idea what I wrote in my post, or you lack reading comprehension skills.