FC Chess Tournament 5 (Completed)

[politicus]

Parody of how Magnus Carlsen plays chess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rldaF4w0o4

LMAO

[Franzl]

Unsurprisingly, gmantis has defeated me...

[GMantis]

Unsurprisingly, gmantis has defeated me...

Thanks for an interesting game. But "unsurprisingly" is perhaps is a bit too strong. You did find in the end a defense which prevented a direct mating attack (excluding the last move, of course) and would have forced me into a slower endgame. And I have some unpleasant memories from end-games that were supposed to be won, but didn't quite end up this way...

[windjammer]

Chess is a such wonderful game

[anvi]

I wonder, Franzl, if you might have had a chance to have a strong endgame yourself on move 17.  Instead of 17. Qa5, where the threat on c7 is easy for Black to parry, maybe 17. Qb4 is better, as now if Black plays 17...Rc8 then 18. Rxc8+ Qc8 19. Bb2 and it looks to me like Black's isolated d-pawn is lost.  If Black doesn't go in for that line, then he is just passive and still has to defend the weak pawns on d4 and b7.  They both make for nice targets.

[GMantis]

I wonder, Franzl, if you might have had a chance to have a strong endgame yourself on move 17.  Instead of 17. Qa5, where the threat on c7 is easy for Black to parry, maybe 17. Qb4 is better, as now if Black plays 17...Rc8 then 18. Rxc8+ Qc8 19. Bb2 and it looks to me like Black's isolated d-pawn is lost.  If Black doesn't go in for that line, then he is just passive and still has to defend the weak pawns on d4 and b7.  They both make for nice targets.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but it seems to me that 19...Qc2 refutes this line, since it threatens both bishops with a similar attack as the one that happened in the game.

[anvi]

Good call, GMantis.  Looks like White has to better coordinate his pieces before building up on targets.

[SPC]

Sorry for the much-delayed start to SPC vs homely

[SPC]

Congratulations, homecooking!

[bore]

I've resigned against Mr X. Well played to him

It just goes to show, always check to make sure you're not going to get forked

[bore]

The new table is

Gmantis 3
homelycooking 2
SPC 2
franzl 1
Mr X 1
bore 0

The new games are:
bore (W) vs gmantis (B)
franzl (W) vs SPC (B)
Mr X (W) vs homely (B)

[bore]

My game versus gmantis

[SPC]

Franzl vs SPC

[anvi]

Bumping this thread just because, but also to remind all you folks who can't take your eyes off a live-streamed chess event that the Carlsen-Anand rematch for the world championship begins in two weeks!  Expect a closer match this year.

[bore]

I'm not able to work out how to link to it, but homely and X's game has started.

[homelycooking]

homely vs Mr X

[anvi]

For those interested, the first game of the world chess championship match of 2014 took place today in Socihi, Russia--the awaited 12 game rematch between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand.  This first game was a real fighting draw.  Anand rightly played sharply in the opening and middlegame.  But he lost the initiative and faltered close to the first time control when he failed to trade off the Rooks.  Carlsen was suddenly the player with the active position and the winning chances.  But then, Anand found a beautiful save.  The 47-move draw has the players tied, 1/2-1/2.  Game two tomorrow.

Analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tX7G4mJjpY&list=UUMBATpFb--uLNAODOVWvCTA

For those of you who just can't take your eyes off of live-streamed six hour chess games, the live feeds can be found here.  Games start at 3pm Russia time, 7am eastern standard time in the U.S.
http://www.sochi2014.fide.com/live-video

Expecting a close match.

[bore]

I didn't get the chance to say this earlier but congratulations to gmantis for a great game against me

The new table is

Gmantis 4
homelycooking 3
franzl 2
SPC 2
Mr X 1
bore 0

The new and final games are:
homely (W) vs bore (B)
SPC (W) vs gmantis(B)
Mr X (W) vs franzl (B)

[homelycooking]

bore vs homely

[SPC]

SPC vs gmantis

[GMantis]

I didn't get the chance to say this earlier but congratulations to gmantis for a great game against me

I should thank you for being a worthy opponent in arguably my best game in this tournament

[anvi]

Game 2 sees Carlsen drum up an attack against Anand's Berlin Defense. A few small inaccuracies by Anand allow Carlsen to ramp up the pressure, and in time trouble, Anand cracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYtIcVY7mLc

Anyway, Carlsen leads 1.5-.5 after two games, with the first player to score 6.5 winning.  Tomorrow is a rest day; next game on Tuesday morning.  Anand, at least, will have the White pieces.

[muon2]

Game 2 sees Carlsen drum up an attack against Anand's Berlin Defense. A few small inaccuracies by Anand allow Carlsen to ramp up the pressure, and in time trouble, Anand cracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYtIcVY7mLc

Anyway, Carlsen leads 1.5-.5 after two games, with the first player to score 6.5 winning.  Tomorrow is a rest day; next game on Tuesday morning.  Anand, at least, will have the White pieces.

I saw a board-level analysis earlier this afternoon. It was impressive how from moves 16 to 20 the position went from a rather normal looking opening to a huge attack on the black king.

[anvi]

I saw a board-level analysis earlier this afternoon. It was impressive how from moves 16 to 20 the position went from a rather normal looking opening to a huge attack on the black king.

Anand's position was perfectly solid.  When he played 19...Ng6, though, I started to worry.  It's not a losing move, but it enabled Carlsen to continue ramping up the pressure and creating weaknesses in Anand's position.  I thought Anand could just play 19...Rd7, and White's attack would have gone nowhere.  But, for as desperate as things got as the first time control approached, Anand could have continued to fight on with something like 34...Qd2, where he will drop the f4 pawn but maintain enough activity to keep fighting and maybe hold.

I think Anand is playing Carlsen too much, and sort of psyching himself out in the process.  He doesn't commit these little inaccuracies or big blunders against any other top players.  He just needs to play the position on the board instead of trying to figure out some hidden key to breaking his opponent down.

[muon2]

I saw a board-level analysis earlier this afternoon. It was impressive how from moves 16 to 20 the position went from a rather normal looking opening to a huge attack on the black king.

Anand's position was perfectly solid.  When he played 19...Ng6, though, I started to worry.  It's not a losing move, but it enabled Carlsen to continue ramping up the pressure and creating weaknesses in Anand's position.  I thought Anand could just play 19...Rd7, and White's attack would have gone nowhere.  But, for as desperate as things got as the first time control approached, Anand could have continued to fight on with something like 34...Qd2, where he will drop the f4 pawn but maintain enough activity to keep fighting and maybe hold.

I think Anand is playing Carlsen too much, and sort of psyching himself out in the process.  He doesn't commit these little inaccuracies or big blunders against any other top players.  He just needs to play the position on the board instead of trying to figure out some hidden key to breaking his opponent down.

The analysis I saw put quite a bit of the blame on 18...Be6. He thought the move was careless and didn't recognize how quickly the attack could develop, and thought that 18...Qf7 would have defused a lot of the attack.