When Carlsen lost to Kramnik in round 9, I don't think anyone thought he would fold like a cheap Norwegian yurt, or whatever the Norwegian equivalent of a yurt is called, if Norwegians have indeed produced something akin to a yurt. He struck back immediately, playing the French, the French no less, for the first time in a professional game to beat Karjakin. Then he overpowered Dominguez, who defended well until a single slip put him into a lost endgame. That put Carlsen up to +4, good enough for a tie for first with Kramnik, who survived a fascinating endgame onslaught against Shirov in the 11th round. Shirov, who started the event with an incredible 5/5 score, was knocked off his pedestal by Nakamura in the 8th round. Two rounds later he had the misfortune of pushing Anand to the brink, which had the effect of rousing the world champion from his nine rounds of slumber.
Things got even more intriguing in the 12th round when we wondered if Vishy would again be up for a fight in a world championship rematch with Kramnik. In the previous round Anand had settled for a 15-move draw with black against Smeets, not exactly a sign of life. And when Anand played 1.e4, allowing Kramnik's Petroff, instead of the 1.d4 that brought him the title in 2008, a draw seemed almost preordained. But this same Petroff line, all the way to move 17, brought Kramnik his game one win in the 2004 world championship against Leko. Anand's new idea, 17.Qc1, began a strange queen zigzag: e3, c3, g3, in the next few moves. It netted a pawn, but Kramnik's typical defensive acumen guided him well under pressure until he first slipped with 26..Bc2 and then fell with 27..Nb3. It allowed Anand to sac the exchange for a wonderfully coordinated attack with the two bishops and a passed d-pawn. White's position doesn't look that menacing at first glance, and his knight hangs on h6 for an eternity. But after a long think and a few repetitions Anand went for it and converted confidently. (Apparently Kramnik actually thought it was a three-fold repetition after 33..Kh8, but Anand reminded him that the first time there had been a pawn on f7!)
So the sleeping Indian giant awoke to change the course of the tournament, taking out two leaders, Shirov and then Kramnik. The principal beneficiary of his revival was Carlsen, whose +4 was suddenly good enough for clear first if it held up in the final round. Before round 13 Garry Kasparov was a little nervous for his protege's chances. His own white against Caruana wasn't expected to be a roadblock and Kasparov didn't think Kramnik would do much with white against Karjakin. (For reasons of chess or inclination it wasn't clear, but he did turn out to be correct and the game was drawn in just 21 moves.) But Garry was concerned about Shirov beating Dominguez to get back to +4. In fact they played a fabulous tactical battle ending in a draw. Wonderful stuff from both players. Shirov sacrificed a rook and a piece but Dominguez fended off every threat. One cute detail: 29.Rd7 looks lethal but it loses to the pretty 29..Rf1+ 30.Ka2 Ra1+!! 31.Kxa1 Qxa3+ with mate.
As all the action was going on there, Carlsen managed to get himself into a spot of trouble with Caruana after an unnecessarily adventurous opening in a Spanish. The world #1's piece sac was turned back and he ended up down a pawn in a knight endgame. He narrowly saved the day and the tournament victory after nearly reaching the third time control. Kasparov was delighted, of course, although he said it was something of a shame that Shirov couldn't share the honors. "He played an amazing tournament with several great games," said Kasparov.
Only one game was decisive in the final round and leave it to US champion Hikaru Nakamura to grind out an 80-mover while the janitors are turning out the lights. After a hot start put him in reach of the lead the wind left Nakamura's sails with losses to Karjakin and Kramnik. +1 would have been a good result going in, but after tasting +3 it seemed a little bland. He made it back to +2 with a sitzfleisch endgame win against Tiviakov. An impressive display of technique and tenacity to end a very impressive supertournament debut. The final bishop sac to promote was a fitting finish to a tremendous fighting tournament. Nakamura is set to add a few dozen points on the next list and move into the top 20.
As mentioned, this year's Corus was notable for the amount of hard fighting at the top of the crosstable. Of the ten games between the top five finishers -- Carlsen, Kramnik, Shirov, Anand, Nakamura -- half were decisive. Anand was the only undefeated player. Short was the only player to go winless, an entirely unjust result considering how many interesting games he played and how he had big advantages against Ivanchuk and Kramnik. On the other hand, he should have paid the price for a bad case of Morphyitis in the final round against Smeets. He sacrificed two pieces in a wild romantic flurry and would have been dead lost had Smeets managed to see through the tactical fog and find 10..d6! The computer plays the steel king line 11.Ndf3+ Kg4 12.h3 Kg3 safe! Crazy. As much interest as you can squeeze into a 14-move repetition draw!
Giri won the B, locking it up with a quick draw, and will give the Dutch new hope in the A group next year. Strong play from the teenage Dutch champion. Naiditsch won in the final round to take clear second. In the C, early leader Robson faded badly in the second half and the way was clear for China's Li Chao, who won with an impressive 10/13 score.
I was sure Carlsen could still win the tournament after the Kramnik defeat. But these are great days for chess. We need a hero, and Carlsen has hit #1 at just the right time. The fact that old man Vlad has gone up a gear at the same time is just great (together with his recent interview style, and Magnus mucking about on Facebook). And with their last two meetings both being decisive at a win a piece...
That's the second Kasparov comment you have posted Mig which is fully appreciative of Shirov. Whether that's guilt, or just an attempt at healing an old wound, it's good to read.
Good summary of the end of the Corus tournament, but that was a week ago - and Mig's post is dated Jan 29th. Strange...
Just an observation, this article has a date of January 29. I only saw it today and I 'm sure I check this page every day...
Possibly the date stamp runs from when you first draft a document.
I am praying that Kramnik's loss and scares w. the Petroff will egg him on to adopt the Pirc!
I'm always astonished when I find out that so many people still don't know about rss feed.
I'm astonished when people are always astonished... ; )
Good to see you back Mig!
erevnitis: Same here. Mysterious stuff like that has been going on for years on this site.
Weird. Mig doesn't mention that Shirov (in time trouble) accepted a draw in his last round game even though he was completely winning against Dominguez.
Nakamura's Tournament could easily have been different. He could have repeated moves in his Karjakin game 20 Ba7 Rb8 draw three move repetition. His game against Caruana was winning 37...Kd7 instead of Nc7. So instead of 7.5 points he would have 9 points. Of course being the leader would have brought additional pressure. All in all a good result which should quiet the naysayers. Also Li Chao is the real deal. Expect this guy to be 2650 to 2700 very soon.
This thread is so refreshingly peaceful. I guess the usual suspects are still engaged in their useless one-upmanship parade on the last one.
And thankfully so. After 388 posts, perhaps even they become tired of their own foolishness.
spiffy and ciaj -- funny :-).
I don't mind spirited discussion, otherwise it's pretty boring. However, to drag it out on and on ...
My tournament could have been different for sure, but I would like to clarify one point. Fabiano actually defended correctly and if you let rybka sit for more than 5 minutes it will eventually reach the conclusion that Kd7 is =0.00 and prefer Nc7. Take that for you will...
Well done Hikaru!!
The three players whose games I always follow are Topalov, Kamsky and yourself....three players who fight out interesting tense and and complex positions.
http://www.hikarunakamura.com/main/Blog.aspx
Nakamura just posted interesting Corus game comments on his blog.
I think Caruana made a quite respectable debut in top tournaments , i have tremendous faith in his play .
It would be nice to see him again in Mtel or Dortmud this year.
I like Li Chao too, but Wang Hao will also do big things if he stablizes his play. China has more talent coming.
Interesting comment by Hikaru (from his blog):
"I decided to deviate early and play the exchange Ruy Lopez. I felt this was simply a practical choice as I avoided any deep analysis by Magnus or Garry."
I think this says a lot about how things have changed concerning the way people prepare for Magnus. One wonders how much is bark, and how much is bite.
CO
"if you let rybka sit for more than 5 minutes it will eventually reach the conclusion that Kd7 is =0.00"
I must have a different version of Rybka.
@chess observer
I think this says a lot about how things have changed concerning the way people prepare for Magnus. One wonders how much is bark, and how much is bite.
The bite is so painful that the bark evokes a painful collective memory. Think how many GMs have suffered that bark? It's like a lion's roar- you don't have to see the lion's teeth before taking cover.
After reading Nakamura's blog, all I can say is WOW! He is a changed man. His writing actually has... humble... yes, definitely humble moments. And somehow his overall seriousness shines through as well.
Great, I really hope this new approach brings joy to his life and elevates his game to the heights of his potential.
TEAM NAKAMURA - BEHIND THE SCENE
It’s appropriate how Nakamura, in his Corus blog recap, share the credits with his second. US Master Kris Littlejohn follows him around the world, in most of the tournaments where Naka participates.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=4211
This interesting link explains how Kris has build a special computer, running 24/7, weeks and months in advance of important tournaments. It provides Naka with opening novelties, tailored for each opponent. Kris accesses his computer through remote desktop/internet, enabling analyzes from his hotel room, simultaneously with Naka playing downstairs.
Kris himself is a chess teacher and seems to be a product of his mother, who is a high grade computer specialist. Read her interesting story here: http://www.debshinder.com/
Hikaru is obviously not a lone wolf. He credits his recent success to Team Nakamura, which seems to be on pair, or betters, the other Super GM’s he’s competing with.
Thanks Hikaru. I will check it again.
Another refreshing thing about his blog is that you really have the feeling that Naka was the author , as opposed to Magnus´s blog where the comments seems to be writted or corrected by some assistant.
Just an opinion .
Response to Hikaru and also Lwolf. I have Rybka 3 running on a Core 2 Duo and Deep Fritz 11 (Deep Fritz 12 will release in about 10 days according to email from Chessbase people)and they both have been running at least 5 minutes. While i make bkfast. The evaluation has not changed. However I must add I am running them in Chessbase 10. Perhaps I should just run them in the dedicated program. Deep Fritz 11 has an evaluation of -4.41 and Deep Rybka3 has evaluation of -4.41.. This is after 37.Be3 Kd7 Rybka3 says 38 Qc3 or Qd1 are losing, so does Fritz 11 by the above evaluations.
Time for some controversy (or at least critical remarks) - I think there are three flaws in your analysis:
1) most obviously: Nakamura would have gained 1 extra point, not 1.5 if his games against Karjakin and Caruana had taken a different path. Do you confuse him with Shirov, who "lost" 1.5 points against Anand and Dominguez through hasty time-trouble decisions?
2) Against Karjakin: Hmmm, other people actually praise Nakamura for his fighting spirit and "there's no point in taking draws" attitude. Another story is whether that is still (always) true now that he's competing at the highest level. In the given situation, it may have been wiser - in hindsight - to take a draw in order to recover from his previous loss against Kramnik. Just like Kramnik played it safe in the final round (also against Karjakin) after losing against Anand the day before.
3) Against Caruana: Whatever the objective evaluation of the position really is and how the two candidate moves compare to each other, methinks it goes to far to claim that Naka was "winning" (no questions asked, no remaining doubts) after -Kd7. It may have been a better _practical_ try, testing the opponent and making him suffer a bit longer. While it could lead to a win in the end - as in his final round game against Tiviakov - there's no guarantee.
As far as "Nakamura's tournament could have been different" is concerned [Robert Beatty and Hikaru Nakamura], doesn't this apply to everyone? Even to the winner Carlsen, his own words: "In the end, I won the tournament with a lot of luck."
Interesting stuff, indeed. Nakamura's blog would kick Carlsen's blog's ass.
“Off topic: I've been taken off antidepressants this week and will seem more rational and relaxed than I have in the past.”
LOL
Welcome back to the real world. Please don't leave it again.
;-)
I find the Nakamura blog very interesting, both chess wise and his personal entertaining style*. If you want to know his opinion about Lufthansa stewardess and other small talk, you can bookmark his Twitter account: http://twitter.com/GMHIkaru
*Although it’s somewhat inconsistent.
"Another refreshing thing about his blog is that you really have the feeling that Naka was the author , as opposed to Magnus´s blog where the comments seems to be writted or corrected by some assistant."
Oh, I think those are the words of Magnus Carlsen, all right. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he delivers it orally. Nothing wrong with letting someone tidying up the language, is there?
Certainly no worse than leaving someone else’s computer on 24/7, so it can feed you with "your" opening novelties. ;)
I agree. I don't get the feeling that Carlsen's blogs are composed by somebody else. His spoken English is pretty darn good, and it would not surprise me if his written English is more exacting than his spoken English. Maybe they are delivered in Norwegian and translated. Maybe they are in part or whole the work of someone else, but 10 Euros (or $10, if you're not feeling so confident) says that he can write just as well if he wanted to. I enjoy the Naka/Carlsen rivalry in terms of chess, but petty comments to disparage the players such as these really show the personal disdain that some hold for Carlsen.
Regarding the Caruana-Nakamura game, it should be remembered that TWIC and other sources have a version of the game which did not happen. (It was originally a transmission error, although corrected in the live commentary.)
Caruana actually played 36.Qc1! and not 37.Qd2, so 37...Kd7 would have allowed 38.Qxc4 and 39.d5.
So Nakamura did not miss a win in this game.
Thanks to Tassie Devil for rendering my argument moot. Thanks to Thomas for correcting my arithmetic. Engaging in wishful thinking serves no purpose except a purely pleaurable one. What happened can not be changed. However we as humans do it anyway. Why if Shirov had more time he would have found b4 and tied for first. :)
Lest I forget my manners; apologies to GM Hikaru Nakamura.
What Manu may have meant - if so, I agree with him: Carlsen's current blog is factual to the point of being boring. This differs not only from Nakamura's blog, but also from the previous Carlsen blog written mostly by his father Henrik Carlsen - that one became first sporadic and then was altogether stopped, as far as I remember stating that "it contained too much information for Carlsen's future opponents".
This doesn't necessarily mean that Magnus doesn't write himself, but could indicate that he gets some instructions (call it censorship if you want to) on what to include and what to omit from the blog. I would say probably from his trainer rather than his sponsor!?
@regondi: As far as I am concerned, this is just factual observation and not personal disdain for Carlsen (and certainly not fanboyism for Nakamura).
Regarding blog diferences:
I prefer Naka's postings and style! Who doesn't?
But, heeey, we are comparing apples and oranges here. Carlsen actually delivers a (short) post after each game in every tournament he plays. This has been constant since he moved the blog to sponsor's homepage.
In comparison, Nakamura, only posts occationally. From London we got "1st half" and nothing else.
From Corus we got nothing. But yesterday we got the post analyzes which was very good. Hopefully the remaining games will follow later on. Clever analyzes takes time, not to be done between games.
Maybe Mig's not Mig and Garry's not Garry and this whole thing is a hoax.
(Robert Beatty) I don't particularly care whether you got the position right or wrong, you clearly found some art and excitement in my games which is what I strive for when I play! No need to apologize at all, I will apologize when I forget some prep and lose in 10 moves (hopefully never again)!
In terms of my blog, I try to maintain a normal life outside of chess which leads to my sporadic posting. Nevertheless, I much prefer well thought out blogs as opposed to hastily posting random "blah blah." Any chess commentator can give a good summary of games to the average chess fan. I, however, strongly feel that as a professional it is my duty to go beyond simply the games and explain the tournaments as a story. Promoting the game as a story and world rather than 64 squares seems much more logical.
[Mmm , se te olvidó el lunfardo tambien ? , o tengo que pensar que sos otro?...]
There was no disdain imtended in my post , just a stylish observation.
(Nakamura):
¨Promoting the game as a story and world rather than 64 squares seems much more logical. ¨
That should be the axiom behind every serious broadcast of our beloved game , congrats.
Apologies, Manu. I was having a knee jerk reaction to a similar post from the "Shirov Unstoppable" thread that was by a different and somewhat notorious Dirt poster. "Disdain" is a complete understatement in that case.
Coruschess.com has the corrected 36.Qc1(!) in Caruana-Nakamura, but Chessgames.com, Chessbase, and TWIC all still have the wrong 36.Qd2, at least where I looked.
Is there any organized effort to correct historical game scores? If you look for comments by me (KWRegan) at Chessgames.com, you'll find that I've offered fixes for over a dozen. All of them are cases where a computer running over the game finds weird jumps in eval, and when I humanly look at the score it strikes me as a typo---often simply "e" versus "c".
Anyway, I would be grateful to see the drawing line. I spent quite a long time to refute 37.Kd7 with my engine but couldn't find it.
[Event "Corus A"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2010.01.30"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B67"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "124"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 Be7 10. Be3 h5 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Ne2 d5 13. e5 Nd7 14. f4 Bb5
15. Nd4 Bxf1 16. Rhxf1 g6 17. g3 Qc7 18. h3 O-O-O 19. g4 hxg4 20. hxg4 Rh3 21.
Rh1 Rdh8 22. Qg2 Rxh1 23. Rxh1 Rxh1+ 24. Qxh1 Qc4 25. Kb1 Bc5 26. Qd1 g5 27. c3
gxf4 28. Bxf4 b5 29. a3 a5 30. g5 b4 31. axb4 axb4 32. g6 fxg6 33. Nxe6 b3 34.
Nd4 Bxd4 35. cxd4 Nf8 36. Qd2 Ne6 37. Be3 Nc7 (37... Kd7 38. Qc3 (38. Qd1 Kd8 (
38... Ke7 39. Bf2 (39. Bg1 Qa4) 39... Qa4 40. Bh4+ g5 41. Be1) 39. Bf2 (39. Qg1
Qd3+ 40. Ka1 Kd7 41. Bf2 Qa6+ 42. Kb1 Qa2+ 43. Kc1 Qa1+ 44. Kd2 Qxb2+) (39. Bg1
Qa4 40. Be3 Qa2+ 41. Kc1 Qa1+ 42. Kd2) (39. Bh6) (39. Ka1 Qa6+ 40. Kb1 Qa2+ 41.
Kc1 Qa1+ 42. Kd2 Qxb2+ 43. Kd3) 39... Qa4 40. Bh4+ Kd7 41. Be1 Qa2+ 42. Kc1
Qa1+ 43. Kd2 Qxb2+) (38. Qf2 Ke8 39. Qg2 Qd3+ 40. Kc1 Qxe3+) 38... Qf1+ 39. Bc1
Qd1 40. Ka1 (40. Qd2 Qxd2 41. Bxd2 Nxd4 42. Kc1 Ke6 43. Bh6 Nf3 44. Kd1 Nxe5)
40... g5 41. Kb1 g4 42. Qd2 Qxd2 43. Bxd2 Nxd4 44. Kc1 g3 45. Be3 Nf3 46. Kd1
d4) 38. Qc3 Kd7 39. Kc1 Kc6 40. Kd2 Kb5 41. Qd3 Qxd3+ 42. Kxd3 Ne6 43. Kc3 Ka4
44. Bf2 g5 45. Be1 g4 46. Bh4 Ng7 47. Bf2 Nf5 48. e6 Kb5 49. Kxb3 Kc6 50. Kb4
Kd6 51. Kb5 g3 52. Bg1 Nh4 53. e7 Kxe7 54. Kc6 Nf3 55. Be3 g2 56. Kxd5 Kd7 57.
b4 g1=B 58. Bxg1 Nxg1 59. b5 Ne2 60. b6 Nxd4 61. Kxd4 Kc6 62. Ke4 Kxb6 1/2-1/2
Zombre,
Read KWRegan's post that precedes yours. Your 36th move is wrong (should be Qc1).
"Carlsen's current blog is factual to the point of being boring."
While I agree with that, I think it's worth remembering that it's updated on a daily basis during tournaments, possibly as part of a sponsor agreement. If Magnus actually writes it himself, I hope he'll keep it dull - he should save his creativity for the chess board.
Also keep in mind that Carlsen's blog is now on a website of his corporate sponsors, so maybe it's not too surprising that his blog is more bland and, perhaps, more corporate-sounding, than it could be were it on his personal website like his old blog.
"If Magnus actually writes it himself, I hope he'll keep it dull - he should save his creativity for the chess board."
So why bother?
Nakamura is developing into an interesting player and personality. Keep it up!
I love the Carlsen phenomenon. But I just have to admit to myself, that he is kind of boring... So boring in fact, that he might just write his own blog. (Although I hope he doesn't.) No problem with "being boring" of course, since in reality nothing's more interesting than an other person, but hell... where are the Tals, Taimanovs, Fischers from the past?
Kramnik's a genuinely interesting intellectual it seems and Nakamura always has a strong, individual opinion.
I'd love to see a WC match between them.
Zombre - Don't feel bad, I fell into the same trap!
Nakamura vs Lwolf 1 0
Per Tassie Devil:
>>> Regarding the Caruana-Nakamura game, it should be remembered that TWIC and other sources have a version of the game which did not happen. (It was originally a transmission error, although corrected in the live commentary.)
Caruana actually played 36.Qc1! and not 37.Qd2, so 37...Kd7 would have allowed 38.Qxc4 and 39.d5.
So Nakamura did not miss a win in this game.
Ya me parecia , abrazo.
Hold your horses , i just came back from my vacations to find that Magnus erased me from his facebook list as a consequence of posting his intentions to crush Kramnik like a book @here , or maybe because of the little feud with his handsome assistant , who knows.
I feel devastated , i'll need a couple of days to recover from this tragedy, and
i realize now how much i hate his writing.
;)
hmmm...well, then looks like I was prescient after all. Have fun with that hating thing!
Mig wrote:
{
... this year's Corus was notable for the amount of hard fighting at the top of the crosstable. Of the ten games between the top five finishers -- Carlsen, Kramnik, Shirov, Anand, Nakamura -- half were decisive.
}
True, a 50% draw rate among the games between the top five finishers. Other draw rates were:
In this Corus A, among only the players rated >2700, the draw rate was 72%.
In Corus B the draw rate was 58%.
In Corus C the draw rate was 31%.
No, actually you're just trying to stir up the same fanboy frenzy that plagues almost every other thread. Have fun with that.
Topalov wont have Cheparinov during the first half of Linares , Dominguez will be his second instead , my question is : What happens when Cheparinov arrives? What's the point on having 2 seconds if you are supposed to hide your repertoire ?
http://www.chessdom.com/news-2010/linares-chess-tournament
as long as he doesn't take a witch hunter or a shaman to protect in the sleep it's ok.
Speaking about quality and contents of blogs:
I took a quick chess look into cyberspace today. The result is very disappointing.
Surprisingly few top GMs are present. Some have a fanclub page on Facebook, but quite poorly administrated. (Aronian and Carlsen’s are OK).
Some have a homepage, but mostly are amateurish made and seldom updated.
World Champion Anand doesn't have ANYTHING! No homepage, no twitter, no blog, nothing on Facebook.
The only player I find who actually posts on his blog from every game in every tournament, is Magnus Carlsen. I reread his 13 round comments from Corus, and while they are short, you do find some nuggets in-between: References to Kasparov, opening novelties, where he blundered and comments on his opponents. In a field of 1 (one) the Carlsen blog is clearly best!
Something else: Chess players complaining about lack of sponsors and media support should maybe start with them self and create a media profile...
I'll stick to Hikaru's concept of posting, IMHO it feels a lot more personal and valuable .
The problem with Carlsen's blog is that it is like it is trying to be boring. And it seems very close to what it would have been had it been ghost written by a stooge. If some of us had to pretend they were Magnus Carlsen and were to do a fake Calrsen blog based on publicly available information- that would probably be quite close to what his blog actually is.
On the other hand spontaneous blogging could be dangerous for some sponsors , imagine if the Raid brand were sponsoring Carlsen in this tournament...
"The problem with Carlsen's blog is that it is like it is trying to be boring. And it seems very close to what it would have been had it been ghost written by a stooge. If some of us had to pretend they were Magnus Carlsen and were to do a fake Calrsen blog based on publicly available information- that would probably be quite close to what his blog actually is."
The problem with Russianbear's posting is that it is like it is trying to be overly negative. And it seems very close to what it would have been had it been ghost written by a stooge. If some of us had to pretend they were Russianbear and were to do a fake Russianbear post based on publicly available information- that would probably be quite close to what Russianbear actually is.
:-)
Haha - Raid :)
In Soviet Russia, bugs use Raid to crush you!
As I wrote earlier here, I absolutely like Naka’s game analyzes. When and if they appear. The “problem” is that his 1st round game in Corus the 16th January, was commented 3 weeks later, on the 6th February.
On Carlsen’s blog there was *something* to read each day during the tournament. Something is better than nothing! (Anybody remember Something or Nothing by Uriah Heep?)
This is not a choice between 2 alternatives, because we can have both. Carlsen’s live blog during the games, and Naka’s analyzes a couple of weeks after the tournament.
Carlsen should be credited for actually doing something. He is the only one doing it, at the moment. Concerning the language, Mig already pointed out that it probably is penned by someone else, based on keywords from Carlsen. If you look at the hours of each blog post, you see they are written around midnight. Obviously a GM cannot sit up all night during a tournament writing entertaining game analyzes, even if Russianbear and Manu wish so. Some chessfans are hard to satiesfy ;-)
"The 9th Aeroflot Open takes place 8th February - 19th February 2010. This is the strongest open of the year. Players include: Bacrot, Bu Xiangzhi, Cheparinov, Motylev, Khalifman, Niaditsch, Nepomniatchi, Sargissian, Sasikiran, Smirin, Timofeev, Vachier-Lagrave, Van Wely and Zvjaginsev."
I think also Wesley So is eager to prove his stuff in Moscow.
Master Slam Final will be played in Shangai and Bilbao this year , cool.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/grand-slam-dates-announced-masters-final-in-shanghai-and-bilbao/
What is the Shanghai connection? Anybody knows?
-I never saw an international chess tournament in Shanghai before.
"On Carlsen’s blog there was *something* to read each day during the tournament. "
If I wanted to read *something*, there are a lot of options on the internet besides Carlsen's blog :) The idea of having a top player blog is to have something that would be interesting to the fans. Carlsen's blog is just a robotic rehash of facts that the fans already know if they follow the games. While some (perhaps people who don't follow the games or do not even play chess) may appreciate it, I want quality chess content, or at least some "dirt", not just "something". It is like the autographs: some people care a great deal about them, because it is *something* their idol has written; and others don't give a damn.
"Some chessfans are hard to satiesfy ;-)"
And I am not saying that Carlsen should try to pander to my tastes or whatever. It is just that after reading a fair amount of his blog entries, I had no desire to come back. Clearly, Carlsen can write (or have other people write) whatever he wants on his blog. I am just saying I find his blog boring, and as such, I don't see a big difference between blogging like that and not blogging at all. I am just expressing my opinion - since this blog thing was brought up.
I am aware of the "boundary conditions" for Carlsen's blog: daily updates, constraints imposed by his sponsor and/or his coach. I just think - and I am not the only one here - that in its current form it doesn't have much added value with respect to other sources. And I dare to disagree with Henrik Carlsen's closing statement on the previous blog: "Magnus soon got his own blog making the continuation of this blog less meaningful." But of course it would be odd to have two blogs competing with each other ... .
Ironically (with respect to always being up-to-date), the current Carlsen blog may rather have some long-term value: For Carlsen fans, TIME journalists, ... this is the place to check today how he did at Tal Memorial and London - it is more time-consuming to find back the same information (and more) here or at Chessvibes, Chessbase, .... .
I mean, come on! Carlsen's blog makes him seem like a very dull person (I am not saying he is). I've seen versions of Fritz software with more personality than that.
Russianbear, Carlsen is not writing for you. He's writing for Arctic Securities and a Norwegian audience who may not know a lot about the game but are keenly interested in watching Magnus' progress and exploits. He is courteous enough to write in English and thereby vastly expand the number of people who can read it. Your rude insults say more about you than about Carlsen.
And, Magnus, your work is much appreciated. Keep it up.
I don't have any problem with hating the writing on Carlsen's blog; yeah, it's pretty pedestrian, but seems to suit its purpose. Manu made it clear that his criticism wasn't a personal insult just an observation about the Carlsen blog. So, my accusation was unfounded. Consequently, Manu was making a kind of tongue-in-cheek remark to the FaceBook list removal thing and I was responding in like tone. If I had perceived any remarks about Naka's blog as some kind of effort to demean Naka (like there have been in the past), would have felt the same way. I'm a fan-man, by the way.
"Something is better than nothing!"
No it isn't. I routinely delete every corporate announcement that lands in my inbox.
Great chessplayer, but reading his blog is a waste of time.
"He's writing for Arctic Securities and a Norwegian audience who may not know a lot about the game but are keenly interested in watching Magnus' progress and exploits."
So why does he write in English?
Silence would be preferable.
Carlsen is three years younger than Nakamura. Nakamura himself has made a rather interesting journey during the last few years. Carlsen is now at the liftoff point of his own journey. Will he fly? Let's wait and see how Carlsen writes when he is 22.
I like Carlsen’s blog, and if you read it observantly there is quite a lot of content there. He is laid back and low key -- after all, he is Norwegian. And Carlsen doesn’t engage in the sort of arrogant self-promotion that we’ve previously seen from Nakamura. (Positive changes on that front, however!)
Moreover, there are about 4 times as many Carlsen blog posts as Twitters from Nakamura. And half of those seem to be of the form "Rock & Roll in Wijk an Zee!", "Rock&Roll against the 15th world champion!", "Round 1 of the London Chess Classic tomorrow! Rock&Roll in London!"
I’ll take the blog entries from Carlsen any day.
I think Carlsen's previous blog was extremely good. It was written by his father Henrik, it was very honest and simple. I wouldn't be too surprised if this one was written by him as well but Arctic Securities preferred a blog signed by Magnus himself. Anyway it's better than nothing.
"Your rude insults say more about you than about Carlsen."
My rude insults? For a second there I started thinking I said things about Carlsen's momma and didn't just say his stooges' writing style didn't appeal to me. But after I reread my posts I realized it wasn't the case. Thanks for not being offended easily, though.
"I'm a fan-man, by the way. "
There are fanboys of all ages - and sexes.
Anyway, the next time Carlsen plays in a tournament, I suggest we play a game called "Blog Like a (Super) Grandmaster". The idea is to predict what Carlsen's next blog entry will look like. They are so template and predictable that many would have a good chances of getting it right - perhaps not word-for-word - but still close enough.
and species, such as the "fan-bear"
But I think I've read about 10 posts from you now saying that you don't enjoy Carlsen's new blog. And then there are the other people that need to make that "observation" too (naming it an "observation", as if it was something new and original that nobody else had reported before - after the 20th report).
Where's the cry for brevity? I'm sure Henrik has picked up your comments already (if GM Carlsen isn't reading this blog himself) - and hence they will do something about it if they consider it necessary, or the blog-on-the-company-page-concept even allows it.
I agree that Henrik's blog brought more information and behind the scene info. I disagree that the current blog lacks exclusive information or original viewpoints. I'm not going to repeat that 10 times.
'a game called "Blog Like a (Super) Grandmaster"'
That's funny, though. :o)
I already want to subscribe to Russianbear's first four reports from Amber - and they must be posted here well before the "true" ones!
frogbert, just because you are known to have iron will to restraint yourself from making repetitive comments :) doesn't mean all of us are as strong as you are.
But then again, Carlsen recycles his blog entries, it is only fair if I recycle my comments about it.
When you are complaining (repeatedly) about this lack of restraint, you should try just a little to do as you preach, don't you think?
Typically, you are the one telling me what to do, not the other way around - so wiping that grin of your face would be kind of appropriate.
Looking forward to your Amber blog... :o)
Russianbear:
"Carlsen's blog makes him seem like a very dull person"
"I've seen versions of Fritz software with more personality than that."
It sounds more like: "Wah-wah-waaaahh! He's n-n-n-ot writing for meeeee!!! Wah-wah-waaaahh!" than your intended "[his] writing style didn't appeal to me."
Real chess fans (not to be confused with the fan-boys) don't really care about rapid or blindfold - just like they don't care about live -or even non-live- ratings. So I probably won't pay much attention to Amber. But the next time Carlsen plays in a classical tournament, I will try to follow up on this "Blog Like a Grandmaster" challenge - unless I am brought down into a comatose stupor by a double-pronged boredom attack by Carlsen's blog entries and his fan's comments.
What's really funny, is than Manu, Russianbear and the others here are gonna click this very link: http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog&main_image=35 EVERY single day to read Carlsens "short, dry and boring" blogging next tournament! LOL
"He's writing for Arctic Securities and a Norwegian audience who may not know a lot about the game but are keenly interested in watching Magnus' progress and exploits."
boz: So why does he write in English?
He is courteous enough to write in English to vastly expand the number of people who can read it. Most Norwegians can read English, but few non-Norwegians can read Norwegian.
boz: Silence would be preferable.
If you don't like the blog, don't read it! No one wants to hear about how much you don't like it. Silence would be preferable.
"If you don't like the blog, don't read it!"
Uff, I knew we could agree on something. I'll stick to the chess.
Don't lecture me on silence though. If cheerleading is aloud, so is criticism.
Yeah, yeah, I know, "allowed". That's what I get for being loud.
Criticism is allowed. But does it need to be so dull and repetitive?!? I think everyone has got it now: Some people - including the self-acclaimed "real chess fans" - find the new Carlsen blog boring. Russianbear is on that list, you are on that list... wait, you already were on that list!
Btw, see my comment to Russianbear for some more repetitions. ;o)
Not really , the only place that i check periodically is the dirt and i don't find Magnus's comments particularly entertaining wether they are written or not , i usually skip his video interviews in chessvibes .
Of course this is just a personal opinion , but i still feel that Magnus speech needs to emancipate from his tutors a little bit more to become interesting enough for me.
about Carlsen's blog .. yes, it is pretty dry ... however.
the kid is 19 year old. Give him a break. Give him time to develop his personality.
this is, btw, even though, Carlsen is, of course, belongs in world top chess cirlcle, I prefer Anand/Kramnik more, just because they have more colors (more for Kramnik than Anand lately)..
Despite its obvious limitations I quite like Magnus' blog. It's not actually "content-free".
For instance, the last entry on Corus is quite forthright - "calculated horribly wrong" and also has interesting details: "Instead of suffering without counterplay, I sacrificed a pawn to activate my pieces". That clears up something Maxim Notkin speculated on while doing the live coverage at Chesspro:
"It's pretty difficult to believe that the tournament leader missed 29...Rd3, but it's also hard to imagine that he considered his position so bad that he voluntarily went for this ending".
Or this: "The knight endgame a pawn down was difficult, but we both thought it should be possible to hold with precise defence." Shipov analysed 40...Nf4 to a win in his post-game roundup - in the Chesspro report on the round Caruana's coach Alexander Chernin agreed that his player had just played the wrong move on the time control (with a minute left): "If he'd chosen correctly he'd have found the win. He calculates such positions no worse than a computer".
Plus Magnus' blog mentions meeting Edgar Davids, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else :) So it's an interesting resource - even if just not always saying where each player is from would help reduce the dullness factor!
I guess some people find the Carlsen blog boring due to the rather "clinical"/dry homepage where it is published. Then they project that impression into the content of the blog. Mishamp have just demonstrated that the blog is far from "content-free".
From Nakamuras blog:
"In many ways, when I play against people such as Magnus, I try to play simple chess and just outplay them instead of playing a different game called memorization."
That's ludicrous...
To insiuate that Magnus plays the different game of memorization?
If anyone is known for playing bad theoretical openings, and then outplaying the opponent in the mid game, it's Magnus Carlsen.
I don't think Hikaru is known for the same, just yet.
There are different strategies for blogging chess . You can be a power blogger (shorter, frequent posts), or a more selective blogger (longer, quality posts). Both styles have application. Carlsen's blog is current bites of his tournament in progress which is good, but he doesn't have time to reflect much on his games. Nakamura's posts are a post-game wrap-up emphasis a perspective in hindsight. He includes diagrams and how he felt at certain points. Both have value. I prefer a mixture of both but that is far too much to ask for a player in action.
There is also blogging strategy when covering a tournament. Do you have one long thread or one for each round? I've used both methods. If you have a blog like Mig's then maybe one for each, but of course the threads can get crossed up very easily. One long thread may be a bit exhaustive, but at least the flow and context are linear.
I'm glad both of them are blogging. I scour the Internet and read blogs and all of them have some value, but there are so many different strategies for chess coverage. It's not easy to satisfy information-hungry chess players, but it's good we have many options!
"even if just not always saying where each player is from would help reduce the dullness factor"
Although a blog item that feels the need to say who Ivanchuk is and that he represents Ukraine could hardly be better evidence that the primary, intended audience is NOT "real chess fans".
It's pretty weird: in some threads here quite a few posters are sulking about Nakamura not being able to raise sponsorship in USA similar to what Carlsen does in Norway, while in other threads several of the same people are criticizing Carlsen for doing some of the things that are closely connected to receiving the same sponsorship - like his Arctic Securities blog, geared at "normal people" outside the chess world - and part of the agreement with his sponsor.
Imagine Tiger Woods saying that he wants his Accenture blog to contain lots of "dirt" and secrets from "behind the scene" from his tournaments abroad, and the PR Manager of Accenture going "Sure, no problem - that's exactly the image we want you to portray!" - do you really think that would... Eh, ok - wrong example.
While waiting for Carlsens next blog entry, here is some recomended reading: A very well written article about chess in Armenia and it's national superstar Levon Aronian : http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/11/the-lion-and-the-tiger/
Enjoy!
I'm personally grateful that ANY super GM, especially the world #1, would take the time to write anything for us patzers. And talking of patzers, that includes those here who strut about as self-anointed experts, and fill this blog with their mean, narcissistic drivel.
I can't think anything more pathetic than a person who claims to be chess fan and brags about top players blog-writing style?! Like, whaaat?! Go to cry with your nanny if you can't take it like it is. I'm completely satisfied with any great player who takes time to explain his views to the audience. It's a priviledge.
Magnus' blog is the second most boring chess-relating "thing". The first goes to those "chess explorations" series published by Chessbase. Thomas posting (spamming) this current blog gets the third honorable mention.
And here I was being worried that the niche of the militant fanboys that wouldn't stand any hint of criticism of their idol would be empty once Anand retires. But I see the Carlsen fanboys will probably fill those shoes just fine. What a relief.
You forgot one thing: if your idea is that I am too low rated in chess to judge Carlsen's writing, please post your own rating so that I know whether you are qualified to judge mine. Include w/e chess server accounts/handles you use. Wait, the whole idea is dumb: a guy can be a world number #1 and have a personality of a log - apparently. So, how is our patzerhood relevant, again?
You are right. Sorry, I was going about it all wrong. Clearly, this is a top player's blog, so we shouldn't concentrate on form, but on content. So let's look at an example of what this former prodigy and maybe the greatest talent the game has ever seen writes. I mean, let's step back and appreciate all the exciting insights and awe-inspiring analysis:
"I’ve played Peter Leko, Hungary in many tournaments over the last three years. After some initial losses I scored two wins last year. Anyhow, black against Leko is not an easy task. As in some previous rounds I played the same main opening against this opponent as in our previous encounter (in Tal Memorial). In a fairly sharp position he decided to trade off pieces to enter a slightly better endgame, and I had to find some precise moves to make a draw. This was a satisfactory result today as V.Anand outplayed and beat V.Kramnik in a great game, and Shirov drew with Karjakin. Going into the last round as white against F. Caruana, Italy, I’m sole leader half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov and a full point ahead of V.Anand. Magnus Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee "
I mean, there is so much here that only a top level player would write. Apparently Leko is tough to play against when he has white. I think we should probably all abandon Mig's blog for this revelation alone. And let's not forget the top-level analysis, especially this exciting line: "In a fairly sharp position he decided to trade off pieces to enter a slightly better endgame, and I had to find some precise moves to make a draw. " WOW! Great stuff. Not something a 1800 with Rybka and a Chessbase report would come up with - not at all! Also, we are made aware, that Carlsen is competing with such people as "V.Anand", "V.Kramnik", "F. Caruana" and "Shirov" (no first name initial provided). This is quality stuff. Awe-inspiring, really.
I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, just to read that is a privilege.
A certain Hemingwayesque brevity. What's wrong with it?
When you are funny , you are funny , but don´t worry, Magnus has eyes and hair invested on this blog , soon enough they will hire a more appropiate writer for his posts.
Why don't people who do not like Magnus Carlsen's blog stop reading it? Why don't people who like it continue enjoying it?
Russian Bear --
You miss the point entirely, as usual.
Carlsen is not blogging for hard-core chess fans, but for a general audience. That's why they seem so basic to a chess fanboy like yourself.
TOCA
I'd take a blog entry from a super gm over a post from russian bear any day of the week. no contest.
Speaking of boring, reading through all these posts about carlsen's vs nakamura's blog is really boring.
Interesting to reach behind the blogs ^^ , i dont believe in 500-1000 memorized moves :P .
Actually, YOU missed the point entirely, since you are repeating what I wrote earlier and presenting it as new infformation. Clearly whoever is blogging (I am not sure it is Carlsen) is not writing for me. That's my whole point.
And are you sure you are the Chess Auditor? For some reason I think there is sock-puppetry going on (thanks to whoever mentioned this term in the other entry).
And finally, "fanboy" - really? You are misusing the word. When someone like me pokes a little fun at a superGM's blog on another blog called "Daily Dirt" - what's fanboyish about it? Nothing. It is when there is this apparent outrage over my innocent comments that the fanboyism comes into play.
"I'd take a blog entry from a super gm over a post from russian bear any day of the week. no contest."
So would I :) but are you sure that is relevant to the discussion about the Carlsen blog? For all you know I maybe higher rated than whoever types up the Carlsen blog entries. Whatever the case may be, I'd rather read a Mig blog entry than a "Carlsen" one, because if I wasn't familiar with their two blogs, I would assume Mig's one was written by a chess pro, and assume "Carlsen'"s one was written by an amateur. And yet Carlsen is higher rated than Mig by hundreds of points. Besides, A SuperGM and I compete in different weight classes: I don't blog (at least not publicly), I just post comments, so it is not exactly fair to compare to the big guys. And as far as comments go, you chosen to respond to a couple of mine, FWIW.
Hell, had they hired ME to be the Carlsen stooge, I'd probably do a much better job than that. So I am really just campaigning for the stooge job, that's all :) Kind people of Arctic Securities, if you are lurking here and want to get in touch with me, contact Russianbear on CN forums or ICC. With me, get top quality "Carlsen" blog entries, and as a bonus, you get the Russian-language originals for free! :) Hurry up, as this is a limited-time offer, as I am about to offer the same to other superGMs.
Could you re-do the one that you posted earlier ?
So we (and them ) can taste the magic and compare your blogin with Carlsens on equal terms...
Good luck.
Only one way to settle this:
Carlsen vs. Nakamura in a new hybrid sport:
Chess + Blogging = CHOGGING
Opponents simultaneously play chess and blog.
May the best chogger win.
Let's see, what's new...
Hm, Russianbear _still_ finds Carlsen's blog uninspiring and boring. He still is aware that it's not written with him as the intended audience. But still he's so bored of whatever he might be doing that the most rewarding acitivity he can think of, is repeating how boring Carlsen's blog is.
Personally I think Mig's blog is getting fairly boring, despite a very late wrap-up of Corus (completely failing to mention that Shirov was winning in the last round). Oh, did someone already say that? Well, it was just an observation. Did I mention that I find this blog increasingly boring?
As a sample of my work, I could just point to Susan Polgar's blog for the whole of 2008(*), but it does indeed make sense for me to showcase my Carlsen-specific talents. So here is my audition for the Carlsen ghost writer/stooge job:
------------------------------------------
Corus Round 12: Petered Out.
My opponent today was Péter Lékó. He was the World Championship challenger in 2004 and he also holds the all-time record for the most times the word "OK" was used in a single post-game press-conference, with 83 (after game 10 of the aforementioned WCC match in 2004). He is a very nice and funny guy, who loves to play football. (For those of you wondering if he is any good, I'lljust say Peter better stick to chess :) )
Anyway, the opening for today was the Najdorf, as my coach feels Leko doesn't have a good feel for the dynamics in this opening. However, the game turned out to be one of those "analyzed to the end" deals. We repeated our game from last year's Tal Memorial (that I managed to win), and I deviated first with 12...0-0. That allows white's bishop to come to c4, the idea being that after 13. Bc4 Nc6 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Bb3 Be6, white wouldn't want to use the 3rd straight move with a bishop just to trade it, as that would also give black the d5 square. So, white's only serious try for advantage was 16. Nd5, and then 16...Bxd5 17. exd5 Qd7 18. h4 g4 19. Qe2 b5 20. Rd4 Rfc8 would give black sufficient counterplay. Leko opted for the endgame with 16. e5 instead, which forced the queen exchange and then I had to initiate more exchanges with 19...Nd5, and the game fizzled out to a drawn rook endgame.
Anand beat Kramnik in a Petroff today, which propelled me to the overall first place. Looked like Kramnik had forgotten his preparation or confused the move orders in that one.
------------------------------------------
* - Ok, ok, I admit it: I never did any ghost writing for the Susan Polgar's blog. Doesn't mean I don't have what it takes, though.
Actually , that´s a fantastic idea! Lets make the score sheets wider and give the guys pencils and crayons so they can describe their feelings and ideas while playing.
You give some concrete lines, but make it sound like it was all repetition leading straight into a dull endgame.
Carlsen's original text was:
> In a fairly sharp position he decided to trade
> off pieces to enter a slightly better endgame,
> and I had to find some precise moves to make a
> draw.
Does that mean you have another idea about what was going on in the opening and endgame?
Or is it just your way to make sound Carlsen's abstract evaluation more lively?
The equivalent of yurt would be lavvo.
"Plus Magnus' blog mentions meeting Edgar Davids, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else :) "
It was mentioned on Chessvibes:
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/r13-corus-live/
They have a picture of Carlsen and Davids ... and a funny comment by Harry van Oort:
"Does Edgar Davids play chess likes he plays soccer ? This would mean
1. e4
2 Qh5
3 a4
4 Ra3
5 Rf3
6 .Rxf7
without looking what the opponent is doing"
"Thomas posting (spamming) this current blog gets the third honorable mention."
Point taken - but you can also ignore my comments if you want to ... . And methinks others were far worse in this ongoing thread as well as another recent (sub-)thread on the relative merits and invitations of Carlsen and Karjakin ... .
Even better, they talk during the game into a camera and describe their thoughts and emotions after every move. Then a psychoanalyst analyses it all live.
That was good, Russianbear.
Why don't you offer to edit Carlsen's blog, pro bono? You'd simultaneously put something back into chess and erase any thoughts of you being anti-Carlsen.
Summing up:
Real chess fans do not care about:
-Ratings
-Live ratings
-Rapid chess
-Blindfold chess
There is only two things important enough to care about: Classical chess and... blogging style!
Well, if one assumes the Carlsen blog is indeed ghost-written, this could mean one of two things: either Carlsen does provide a sentence or two of general comments about the game, and that is what makes it to the blog. But it is just as likely, that the ghost writer just kinda makes stuff up in general enough phrases. I assumed the latter -that Carlsen was NOT invelved- and it is all the creative genius of his stooges- so I did a little analysis with Rybka to come up with my version of the story.
It seems logical: between Carlsen deviating from their earlier game to the exchanges only a few moves happened: and the actual idea behind 0-0 indeed appears to be what I mentioned. So, Leko had the option to go for complication With 16. Nd5 OR start massive exchanges - and he chose the latter. So I do honestly believe that the resulting rook endgame could have been analyzed by Carlsen beforehand - simply because 12...0-0 is Calrsen's new move, 13. Bc4 is the critical move, then Nc6 Nxc6 Qxc6 is the natural way of playing in this line (and is what normally happens on move 12 instead of 12...0-0). Then 15. Bb3 is forced and then Carlsen played 15...Be6 - which must have been his whole idea for deviating from their Tal Memorial game. And once that is played, Leko's 16.e5 is one of about 3 most natural continuations, so it is actually logical to assume that Carlsen would NOT surprise Leko with whole 12...0-0, 15...Be6 idea, - had he not examined the possible endgame that Leko could (and did) go for (let's face it, Leko going for the risk-free endgame should probably have been the expected course of events with Leko being surprised in the opening).
So, if one assumes Carlsen doesn't even provide that tiny bit of (very) general comments on the game itself, like the comments you cite, - and it is indeed very possible given the very general notion of their comments- then my version of the game seems logical and is probably closer to what actually happened.
Oh god. One of the most enjoyable knock-on effects of Kramnik losing to Anand was that Russianbear was mercifully silenced, and his fawning adulation of Kramnik and endless tirades against everybody else were oh so blissfully absent from the pages of this blog. Looks like he's recovered enough to ensure he posts at least 200 times to every thread. Oh well, all good things come to and end.
Russianbear is actually a grateful fan of Magnus Carlsen Blog, as long as it is penned by his father. As expressed recently by Russianbear here: http://blog.magnuschess.com/1262373392_january_1_2010_rating.html#comment
:-)
Fawning adulation, huh? Making stuff up now, I see. Fawning adulation is what you feel towards Kasparov. I don't particularly care about Kramnik. The only player I really spoken out against other than Kasparov was Topalov - but every did the same back in 2006 and after that match. Where are my tirades agains Leko, Aronian, Nakamura, etc? And wouldn't Anand's latest win over Kramnik in Wijk shut me up again for a while, according to your logic?
It has been 10 years since the London match. Perhaps it is time you stopped being bitter towards those of us who felt Kasparov had it coming for what he has done to the chess world since 1993. Disliking Kasparov does not a Kramnik fan make. I cheered after every one of his losses - Kramnik or not.
CHOGGING Championship (Chess + Blogging)
Game 1
Carlsen vs. Nakamura
1. d4
"I played d4 against my opponent, H.Nakamura. He wore a very bright tie. I drank orange juice. I have been training of late with G.Kasparov whom, when we are together, I address affectionately as 'G.Kasparov.'"
1. . . f5
"I have developed a grudging respect for Magnus, Vlad, and Vishy. Many chess pundits consider them to be my equal. Nevertheless, I like to 'go Dutch' to signal my fearlessness and ability to outplay anyone, even with a dumbass pawn on f5."
2. g4
"Although G.Kasparov has counseled me strongly against playing g4 under any circumstances, I wanted to move the game more into the realm of soccer, where I felt I would have a significant advantage over H.Nakamura."
2. . . c5
"This ain't soccer, bro, this is hockey! Game on."
3. d5
"I do not feel that F.Caruana and A.Giri are a threat to my dominance of the chess world. It's just that they keep hanging around my sister an awful lot."
3. . . Nf6
"I am playing the Twitter Counter Gambit, in which Black makes very short moves."
4. g5
"I miss the carefree days, before I was the world's number 1, when I could wear a hoodie."
4. . . Ne4
"I miss the carefree days, before I was the world's number 1, when I never played a game that lasted more than 2 minutes."
5. Bg2
"At this point I offered a draw, because my father kept looking at me and pointing at his watch, indicating that the lutefisk was ready."
5. . . DRAW
"I accepted Magnus's draw offer, to help the kid a little with his self-esteem."
Chogging is a great idea. After every move the players have to type a minimum of 200 characters that immediately gets posted together with the moves. After the game, the (paying) online audience votes whose insights were more interesting, and the players share 70%-30% a dedicated purse (e.g. from the payments of spectators).
There are many nice recent tries to make chess broadcast a marketable product, like advanced chess or television-style commentary, but this would beat them all. So far I've never paid for online chess broadcast/commentary, but I would sure spend 5-10 EUR for this one.
Lol , now guess who this random comments refer to :
22.Ne6
Great ,now every time i close my eyes , i see his tie .
37.Bxh6
If this guy touches another hair from his nose again , im calling the arbiter.
33.Rb4
Next time you leave the board , i'll have a sip from your coffee.
36.axb4!
This kid could use a real trainer.
You are probably joking, but something similar (without the psychoanalyst) was actually tried in Germany at least once and sent out on TV - one of the third (regional) public channels. Players commented on their thought process and choice of moves during the game. It was at least ten years ago (when I was still living there), and I don't remember how they made sure that the opponent doesn't hear anything - players on different boards in different rooms?
One sample from memory:
After move 25: "OK, now I have a healthy extra pawn, the rest should be a matter of technique. I just have to pay attention that he can't sac an exchange on c3 for perpetual check."
After 32.-RxNc3+: "Oh my God I forgot about this one! Do I still have something? No, now it is a draw - stupid me!"
I've done that with "annotation clashes". Two players annotate a game and the fans choose which set they like best. People can get real serious about their annotation skills. There may be some interesting chess content platforms that have yet to be created!
I think the BBC once had a programme called "The Master Game" which had the players thoughts as a voice-over. I'm fairly sure Fry and Laurie did a send up of it, which I couldn't find, but here's another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu3OG9qhvhM
Also some interesting thought processes here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f64qJorLrY
:)
Did I read somewhere that Garry kept a diary when he was young where he wrote his thoughts during the game?
i think it would be beneficial for many people here to keep a diary for their inner thoughts. A very private diary. One which no-one else had to read.
@r
Ha ha! You made it worth reading 140+ comments! Thanks.
In Tal's book about Tal-Botvinnik I he claims that just before putting the dangerous 12.f4 on the board in game 15, his thoughts were on his wife: "Should we go to a restaurant or a club tonight?" Maybe the tweets would have little to do with chess. Shabalov has said he believes GMs think about sex on average of a few times per minute of a long think. Get two young guys together like the ones in r's simulated game and there just might be crude surprises.
Yes, brilliant contribution, r.
Yes, this is the best fun I have had reading about chess for a long time. Thank you "r" and others. No personal attacks. What more can one ask for?
Thanks, tjallen, Theorist, Simple Pole, et al. That makes my day!
Oh dear! Was Shabalov speaking for himself or several others? Does that apply to female GMs as well? Wouldn't thinking about sex during a game impair your concentration significantly?
It could give a new potency to the cleavage gambit a friend told me about last year.
"the cleavage gambit"
Sacrificing some temporary "insights" to create some confusion and mess up the opponent's "plans"?
It's more like the cleavage attack. In a gambit you actually have to make an offer of material sacrifice.
Sacrifices are not necessarily material: they can be positional or involve concepts like space, time etc. The cleavage gambit involves a sacrifice of chastity.
Yes, I liked Henrik Carlsen's blog. I am sure I am not the only one who liked Henrik's blog and who doesn't quite enjoy Magnus' blog.
Oh rumor has it Henrik is planning to rename his blog to Antartica blog! I'm sure his fans would like it even better then. :) Btw, except may be for once I haven't really read both these blogs so far.
Corus interview with Magnus Carlsen:
http://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/Video-detail.628.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=14684&tx_ttnews[backPid]=626&tx_ttnews[cat]=146&kalender=1264516620&cHash=fbef28e072
FYI: http://tr.im
Thanks!
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