It ain't easy being right all the time, let me tell you. Which is why I don't try it myself. But it was nice to see Radjabov and Polgar win in round six of the Biel GM Group after I mentioned I expected to see them make a move. Motylev found out why it's probably not a good idea to play 1.e4 against Polgar. In a 6.Bg5 Najdorf, the Hungarian made him pay for his pawn-picking on the kingside. Her second win moved Polgar up to +1 and the pack at 3.5/6 a full point behind Magnus Carlsen. Radjabov is also in that group after scoring his first win of the tournament. He played a nice full-court press against Avrukh. The Azerbaijani top seed played with a lot of patience before finally finishing with a flourish. Onischuk played a long, tough draw against Bu Xiangzhi and is also on +1. The novelty 14.Na2 is worth a glance.
Sasha Grischuk took an extra pawn into a rook endgame against Magnus Carlsen but was never really in danger of winning it. Or at least it will take someone more Speelman than I to show that he was if he was. Black has been doing fine in the line of the Semi-Slav played in Pelletier-van Wely. That was again the case here after some transpositional devices and a swapfest. The local hope couldn't make anything of his 3 vs 2 on the queenside and the Dutchman held easily. He's still bringing up the rear on -3, however.
Today is the last off day of the event. ChessBase has some pics and links including some interview notes with Polgar and Karpov, who is on the scene in Biel. If anyone could make sense of blatant favoritism in a world championship cycle it would be Karpov, but even he seems baffled by the Topalov situation! Anyway, the way Ivanchuk is playing these days do we have any volunteers to go to Mexico City and steal Svidler's laptop?
Carlsen sacing a piece. Interesting endgame.
Difficult to see how Magnus can survive this. Yannick will move his knight to the center and with the black king defending on the kingside. What is white's plan?
Bxh7 looks like a blunder, isn't it?
And in the mean while, Raj is killing the old man brutaly.
And in the mean while, Raj is killing the old man brutaly.
"Bxh7 looks like a blunder, isn't it?"
I don't think so. I was sa sac. But don't ask me about the idea of this plan.
Many a sacrifice turns out to be a blunder that somebody just planned and misevaluated. Bxh7 definitely was one of this sort; surely ...f5 was not missed, but that does not mean that the move deserves less than "??", especially considering that it was made in a situation that was not volatile.
Hotep,
Maliq
Horrible game by Magnus today. Almost as bad as van Wely's play... :=//
About Van Wely-Rajabov game:
instead of 27.f5 it seems that Loek could simply go for Qd5+ which looks deadly to me due to a1-h8 diagonal weakness and the powerful d6 pawn and the g5 bishop. I'm not a good calculator and have not access to Fritz. Did I miss something or it is winning line?
sorry,
I mean 27. Qd4+ and the e6 pawn! :(
Artin,
I don't have access to Fritz either, but I don't see a great follow-up after 27.Qd4+ Kg8. 28.Bh6? Nf5 doesn't work, and 28.Nf6+ Rxf6 29.Qxf6 Qf8 looks strong to me (30.Qxe7 Qxe7 31.Bxe7 dxc4 32.B-moves Re8 33.e7 Kf7 and sacking on e7 gives black a winning endgame). Apologies if I'm missing something here -- just a first impression.
Carlsen's blunder is rather unfortunate, although one could say that it is sort of "balancing" after his win over Motylev.
Radjabov's KID games are masterpieces.
Bad ass chess by Carlsen. Incredible strong position for van Wely after move 17.
Well, it's finally over in VW-Carlsen 1-0.
VW's pawn roller is on the verge of producing atleast one queen so Magnus resigned on move 60.
Well, it's finally over in VW-Carlsen 1-0.
VW's pawn roller is on the verge of producing atleast one queen so Magnus resigned on move 60.
Great stalemate trap by Polgar, 61 ... Nf6-g4!. Black h3-king is STALEMATED after 62 Ne5xNg4.
And now Black is threatening a REPETITION by... Ng4-h2+, trying to REMOVE THE GUARD by DRIVING OFF the White f3-king from DEFENDING the White g3-pawn chain base: ... Ng4-h2+ Kf3-f2 Nh2-g4+ Kf2-f3 Ng4-h2+.
The blunder with his bishop yesterday against Pelleiter (who has come alive) has affected him. Imo most young players don't handle losses well, probably even more so when leading a tournament, and it seems to be par for the course with Carlsen. This will change; we think of him as an elite player, but he is still barely out of puberty.
Great save today by Judit Polgar, down by a pair of connected passed pawns(!) in a knight endgame!
Grischuk's technique sucks. No way Kramnik or Leko would have gotten only a draw from the N+2P vs N endgame.
Could Carlsen have saved the game? I thought it looked hopeless but he created counterplay on the queenside and at the very least things weren't always elementary. 45..Ra2 ?
gmnotyet I agree 100%
Although I like Grischuk :)
Grischuk had a simple win with 61 f5 it was a bit careless that he overlooked that 61 Nf3? allowed Ng4 after which the game was drawn
Has anyone seen what Grischuk has just missed in Grandmaster play, I mean, come on how can you not win a 2-pawn (connected) advantage at this level. Grischuk must be embarassed to death. I would credit Polgar's resilience to some extent but still white has to win this. Just a cursory look at the endgame, that 59.f4+ seems like a bad move that might have costed him the full point
I meant 61 Kf3?
@mrwizard:
Yes, I am as amazed as you are that a 2700+-rated super GM who will be playing for the World Championship (in one month no less!) could somehow fail to convert his enormous endgame advantage here.
Quite shocking, really. I would bet you $1000 that Leko or Kramnik could win from that position. Kramnik could probably win that position blindfolded.
I think he is deliberately playing badly so that his opponents in Mexico underestimate him.
Kramnik, Leko, Aronian would win that position blindfolded, 100 times out of 100, with 5-10 minutes on clock.
@playjunior:
Totally agree. Polgar is actually in position to win the tournament now because of the free 1/2-point that Grischuk gave her.
Judit will be psyched tomorrow, when she was White against Pelletier. Drawing a dead lost game feels like getting a win.
Obviously Grishuk would be expected to win such an endgame, but his particular oversight in this game is not so ridiculous. This knight move Ng4 is exactly the kind of thing that it's easy to just not consider at all, and the underlying stalemate idea seems unusual as well.
I don't mean to understate the size of the blunder, but for example Motylev's blunder against Carlsen, and Carlsen's own Bxh7 are much more surprising IMO.
And today, Magnus played even worse than van Wely!... ;-)
"Obviously Grishuk would be expected to win such an endgame, but his particular oversight in this game is not so ridiculous. This knight move Ng4 is exactly the kind of thing that it's easy to just not consider at all"
not considering it at all is precisely what's ridiculous for a 2700 player. all white has to look for are such shots, there's nothing else in the position.
How is it ridiculous for a 2700 player to overlook this shot... when a 2700 player did overlook this shot. Because you are 2700 doesnt mean you see all the ideas all the time.
What is even more ridiculous is the 10 move draw by Radjabov (with white again). Hopefully he gets a spanking by Carlsen in the last round, he deserves it.
If Carlsen earns a point against Raj today (after two terrible losses in a row), he deserves to be called a superhero chess master. I hope he does but I don't think so.
gmnotyet,playjunior,i've been very critical of grishchuk,still if you think that grish doesn't know how to win an elementary endgame like that you are deadwrong!he was probably very relaxed after the 2nd time control and he went for the natural and wrong 61kf3 instead of 61f5 winning.he should be embarassed big time,cause he didn't see a 1 move trap with 6 pieces left!but to say that his technique sucks..you should watch him winning even more difficult endgames on icc(3634 his rating for 3min game)when is down to 1min.plus many classical games where he won subtle endgames.as i said when is in bad mood(he dreams of mexico)he plays terible,cause he missed radja(big time) as well.nevertheless for a2726 super gm is not acceptable and he misses to often for i don't give him to many chances in mexic.he is like a talented centerforward in football,who plays brilliantly but misses to many chances to score.
I don't know what the grischuk bashing is about. Ng4 was an excellent move that 80 % of grandmasters would not have seen because you lose concentration in such a won position.
Kramnik being mated by Fritz in one move in a drawn position was much more shocking.
To me the most inexplicable of all these blunders is Carlsen's Bxh7. As to Kramnik, weird stuff happens when humans play computers. Gazza's worst two blunders ever and two of Kramnik's worst five all came against computers. Clearly there are pressures there we don't properly understand which cause this. As to Grischuk, we all know people foozle these trivial technical wins. Remember Gazza again cocking up R and 2 v R against Short, and Short not noticing. People are tired and they lose concentration because the game's 'over'. It's not like Moro simply not knowing how to win Q v R, or even more amazing Epishin failing to mate with B and N v K.
But Bxh7?? - what was he thinking? It's not even a natural move. You wouldn't play it through loss of concentration; if you just let your hand make a move it wouldn't be this. Yet it's very hard to imagine what he could have overlooked. Fischer's was even more curious, of course.
Fischer apparently told Fine that he has miscalculated and thought the bishop could avoid being captured: 30.g3 h5 31.Ke2 h4 32.Kf3 h3 but overlooking that 33.Kg4 Bg1 34.Kxh3 Bxf2 35.Bd2 traps the bishop and wins.
Still curious what Carlsen hallucinated.
Maybe Bxh7 was part of his training program - to get even harder. I don't know.
Strange things happen. Reminds me of Ivanchuk in this years Aeroflot. The first half of the tournament he did not use more than 30 minutes of the two hours he had for the games. In the second half he play slower. Okay, we all know Chuky is a bit strange -
By the way he won the Aeroflot.
Now Alexander Onischuk and our friendly little monster are going to play the tie-break, right?
First rapid game draw
rdh buddy,i think you are wrong saying that moro could't winn Q against R.first of all he cornered jakovenko's king(wich is the harder operation),then when the stalemate occured,moro was four moves away(according to fritz)to mate or win the rook.i don't recall if it was short of time or not,but i think time was a factor.
rdh buddy,i think you are wrong saying that moro could't winn Q against R.first of all he cornered jakovenko's king(wich is the harder operation),then when the stalemate occured,moro was four moves away(according to fritz)to mate or win the rook.i don't recall if it was short of time or not,but i think time was a factor.