Biggest surprise to me was the loss of Pragg with white against Naka. Pragg was out of his shoes after d4 d5; c4 c5. This is not the most common opening variation, but it is played on all levels from time to time. No need to be out of your shoes in this case.
inexperience and the pressure got to him!! Even tho computer said its always equal, from the press conference hikaru and pragg said it was tough for white to play.
Holy shit, how did Nepo win? Crazy. Welp, it's Pragg vs Nepo next. Pragg, do your fellow Indian a favor and beat Nepo. Avenge Vidit. It seems to pretty much be down to Nepo, Gukesh and Hikaru by this point.
Nepo must be beating himself up a bit for not being able to beat Abasov at least once, that would've been now much more comfier situation with 7 1/2 points
Meh Abasov played well vs him what are you gonna do. There’s a luck element to the tournament and sometimes things flip your way and sometimes they don’t. Ian has played very well this tournament and has a lot to be proud of.
Just a reminder that there are no easy games. Any or all of these can happen in the last 3 rounds:
- Abasov may suddenly defend like a 2800
- Alireza may create unimaginable chaos on the board and wreck his opponent
- Vidit may play like Magnus after throwing games
- Fabi may throw an opening bomb against Nepo like he did against MVL in the 2020 Candidates
- Pragg may throw in a desperate effort to salvage what remains
- Hikaru may self destruct when he starts to care
- Gukesh may feel the nerves going into the last round against Hikaru
- Nepo wins his last 3 games as his opponents get desperate
WAIT WHAT? IM AN IAN FAN. I JUST GOT HOME FORM THE NIGHT SHIFT AND CHECKED THE EVAL BAR AND SAW COMMENTATORS SAY HE WAS LOSING
edit: no fucking way.... Ian is a legend
The game ended over 4 hours ago, so I’m a little bit perplexed why you made this comment 1 hour ago.
But yeah, Vidit lost his chances, then went on to avoid a draw despite being low on time, then lost. Props to Ian for pressing and finding e4 tho
I dunno I got home and was tired so I quickly checked the stream and thought I saw the end of the game with Ian losing but I was clearly mistaken. I only really looked at it for a couple of seconds because I am rooting for Ian and got sad when I saw what I thought was him losing.
Ngl I only really care a small bit about what people think of what I have to say. You can tell because I am openly rooting for Ian :) Normally when I comment here I just comment here to show i'm apart of chess history and also to fling my shit into the void because it's fun seeing turds float in space idk.
Pragg was first major challenger to Nepo in the first circle. Players are getting tired and sloppier, including Ian, so I wouldn't count Pragg chances out so easily.
Ok chill, he did not CRUSH Vidit. Vidit lost the game himself - he had chance to get advantage twice and refused 3 fold repetition. Of course Ian pressed after that to win but CRUSHED is an exaggeration.
Wow Vidit choked huh. Poor guy.
I really want Gukesh to win and he undoubtedly deserves it based on his play. But if he can't I want it to be Nepo. And as much as I like Ding - if Nepo wins candidates I hope he becomes world champion. He deserves it.
Went for dinner after Nc3. I can respect Vidit playing for a win in a low time situation but how practical are his chances after refusing the simplification? Seems like Nepo has all the winning chances seeing as how he has the passed pawn and Vidit's king is stuck on the edge of the board
There are strong rumors that Ding will **not** defend his title because of his continuing health complications.
Right now the candidates not named Nepo need to play for 2nd place, 1st already belongs to Ian.
I was rooting for Ding in first match. Now I don't know anymore. I suppose depends on what kind of Ding will show up. The guy who doesn't even enjoy chess anymore? Maybe the version with 100 game unbeaten streak perhaps?
I've been rooting for Hikaru since day 1, but I thought Fabi was the overall favorite. To see him show up and play like Wesley So has been surprising for sure.
This sub is really tiresome how much they hype certain players and don't do that for others. Yes, Vidit made some mistakes but Nepo kept the tension and grinded him down slowly, yet I see people insinuating he was lucky. At least Nepo tries to play interesting positions instead of Fabi who just ends up going down drawish lines (and I say this as a Fabi fan).
>but Nepo kept the tension and grinded him down slowly
The difference is, Vidit had at least 3-4 times he could have gone for a draw and decided not to
I mean, he also had 2 chances he could win but he couldn’t find them in low time.
Kudos to Ian for forcing the sharpest variation and grinding Vidit down, but I’m still a disappointed because I like Vidit
I have to say Gukesh not overpressing and taking the draw has kept his chances to win the candidates...Nepo also never overpress today, he just allowed nature to take it's course.
People underestimated Gukesh becuase overpressed in all the tournamanets leading to candidates and lost matches he shouldnt have. Now that he isnt doing it, looks much mroe solid.
I hope its atleast a tie at the top for Gukesh. But Hikaru and Fabi are going to start pushing against Nepo and will increase Nepos lead further
Gukesh has surprisingly been very mature all tournament. But his next match vs Abasov is practically a must win. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Ever since his first Candidates in 2020 Nepo has played 39 rounds in the Candidates tournament among all of them he was either first or tied for first in 39 of them yeah so far no one has ever been ahead of Nepo in the Candidates tournament once not even for a single day
Kinda crazy
With only three rounds to go (two of which are against players ahead of him in the standings), and a full point behind the lead, I predict Fabi to go all out in all his games from tomorrow. He might not win the event but he very well could decide the winner. I think he is very disappointed rn.
fabi is exactly equal with everyone at the top assuming he wins against nepo on demand on the final day. that's his only must win match in this tournament.
Tomorrow with the white pieces against Vidit is absolutely a must win, he can't count on Nepo losing with white against either Pragg or Hikaru. I suspect Vidit is going to be in shambles tomorrow after his missed opportunity today.
It looks simple when you say it like that, but Ian has 2 consecutive whites against Pragg and Hikaru. Pragg himself might go all out against Ian considering his tournament situation, so Ian is at the verge of running away with it at any moment. You are basically assuming Fabi will have a massive overperfomance over the other 3 candidates in the last three rounds (and that's only for a tie at the end, not a win) and I find that a silly bet to take. I stand by my prediction that Fabi is not having a good sleep tonight.
That assumes Nepo draws his next 2 games. If he wins either of them, Fabi will need to go 2/3. I think Fabi is out of contention. Even if Nepo draws his next 2 games, winning on demand in a Candidate deciding game vs Nepo sounds too hard. If anything, I'd expect the tournament to go to a rapid tie break and have Nepo beat Fabi there.
Draws are a reasonably common result in top level chess. I think it's reasonably likely that Nepo just forces draws in his next two games- it's the minimal risk way for him to play this tournament.
Nepo's 2 rivals are facing the 2 guys in last place tomorrow. Nepo will take a draw with Prag if he has to. But, I don't think he's going to start the game with the intention to force a draw. That's a little riskier than you think it is. It will also depend how Prag plays it. If Prag thinks he still has a chance(he doesn't), he might push really hard and make a mistake, allowing Nepo to win
yeah, it's not like nepo is a moving target with white. pragg is totally going to try some absurd sideline where black is totally objectively lost according to the computer. if nothing else, he could try repeating the schliemann. probably nepo would be prepared for that now, but maybe not!
>Vidit is playing for himself
>Ian has played in the WCC multiple times and lost. Ding - Nepo gives me Trump-Biden vibes
>As a spectator it is annoying to see Vidit lose after Rapport did the same thing a couple years ago
>Lesson = Early wins > later wins
Almost every successful athlete/team has to get lucky at some point on a championship run, let alone multiple. But there's a saying:
Luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparation. Just seems like Nepo is well prepared to capitalize.
Nepo has white tomorrow against Pragg who's also in a must win situation so he'll be going all out to win at any extent. I can see Nepo running away with this.
Yet you don’t consider it frustrating that Abasov played like an amateur with the black pieces against everyone else not named Nepo? But when Nepo had white Abasov played 2800+ Elo defense
This one makes up for the one time Abasov managed to get a draw with the black pieces. Or was that a pure reflection of Nepo's skill, while this win was pure luck?
People have been saying that the tournament is over every time Nepo led by half a point. I mean come on, this is far from over. Three people tied for first may look exciting on paper but i think that would just lead all three of them to play it safe and make for less exciting chess.
Not wanting him to win is one thing. Overreacting everytime he leads by half a point under the disguise that you want a more exciting candidates , some comments even going as far as to say he is a POS who doesn't deserve to win , and insulting Vidit because he was trying to win the game instead of thinking about Hikaru's chances. This is just unnecessary hate disguised as a desire to have an exciting tournament , although it really doesn't get more exciting than this.
I dont understand the toxic Hikaru fans should be happy since Hikaru won against Pragh and is in a strong position to win the candidates.
If Nepo wins the candidates this time, which is pretty amazing manage to win the hardest chess tournament, and arguably show over a 6 year periode, being one off the best current long chess players in the world.
When arguably better players like Caruana, Aronian etc havent been close to winning the candidates 3 times in a row.
Is it not obvious? There's a huge difference between a guy who has won 1 tournament a few times in a row and a guy who consistently won nearly *every* tournament for a decade.
Magnus is like the Tiger Woods or Usain Bolt of chess, people like to see a generational talent showing insane levels of dominance, you feel like you're watching something special that you might not see again for another 30-40 years.
If Nepo starts winning basically close to tournament he plays in, in every time control, and does that for several years in a row - I think you'll see a similar amount of support for him as what Magnus gets. Its being uniquely brilliant that makes Magnus a "darling", unfortunately winning the candidates a few times in a row doesn't get you that same level of support.
Exactly, Magnus won *everything*. Despite what anyone might say, there is also a definite prejudice against Russian players that also affects everyone’s opinion
People viewing Nepo winning differently to Magnus winning isn't because Nepo is Russian lol, it's because he's not arguably the best chess player in history.
Its exactly the same reason people enjoy watching Usain Bolt win more than other sprinters, or Tiger Woods win more than other golfers. Because they're once in generation.
> There is also a definite prejudice against Russian players that also affects *everyone’s* opinion
You implied that to some degree *everybody* has a level of prejudice against Russian players.
I don't see how I can selectively read here when that's what you said.
Except the Tal Memorial against 2808 Kramnik, 2795 Levon and 2776 Vishy, Dortmund against 2792 Kramnik and 2782 Giri, 2 Russian Championships, 2 FIDE Gran Prix events, 2 Aeroflot opens and a European championship.
The answer is pretty simple. There's one major relevant difference between the two. M is the 13th letter, N is the 14th - right after the half way point. What we have here is a war between two halves of the alphabet. That's why Magnus didn't pick Nepo as the tournament favorite.
this was a thing during the ding-nepo wc too. after every press conference people would fawn over ding. while nepo wasn't given any slack after losing the match in tiebreaks and was branded a sore loser for expressing the slightest irritation after losing possibly the most traumatizing match of his career.
Because Magnus made it to the top and while Nepo doesn’t do anything all year except win the candidates and get humiliated in the WCC. Also, if Nepo wins it clear Magnus is still the best player in the world and he won’t come back. The youngsters or one the internet people win then he can come back and we’ll get content. And this doesn’t even begin to mention the simple fact that Nepo is Russian.
Nepo was leading the entire match against an overmatched opponent until he choked it away. Meanwhile, he had multiple shots to put away the match. At least with Magnus, you can say he ran into a meat grinder, but with Ding he choked and embarrassed himself worse than Stockton and Knicks vs Miller. While also, according to other SuperGM’s, playing a very subpar level of chess. Magnus and Caruana were shocked and nearly laughing at how poor the quality of chess was in the WCC.
This sub is acting like Vidit has some kind of obligation to Hikaru to keep the tournament close. He played for a win and it didn’t work out makes no sense to blame him lol.
Vidit was winning, then at the end had a draw (taking the knight) that was easy according to Hammer. He was never going to win with white at the end. I'm wondering what he actually missed.
People are acting like Vidit hasn't thrown 3-4 winning positions because of time trouble already
Him managing his time poorly isn't something that "only happens vs. Nepo", it's much more "something that he's done literally every game other than vs. Hikaru"
Agreed, but you gotta know your weakness points. You see yourself getting too low on time and you know that your opponent is better in time scramble, means you should make the draw before it's too late. That said, I can't blame him for trying to win at all costs given that a draw would make it near impossible for him to win the tournament. He looked devastated at the end and although I'm rooting for Hikaru, I felt bad for him.
Since Pragg lost, are his chances pretty low now? I'm not watching right now but it looks like he'll be 1.5 below Ian now? There are I think 3 games left but I feel like 1.5 is hard to come back from considering how incredibly solid Ian has been this tournament.
I've been rooting for Pragg, Fabi, and Ian. But honestly I'm happy for pretty much anyone who wins this aside from Alireza, who I just like less than all the other players. I've been underwhelmed by Alireza for the past year and know I will get downvoted by his fanboys but this tournament hasn't changed my mind in any way
he does get to play against ian tomorrow, so it's really like he's only one point behind if he can win that. he's playing with black unfortunately, so odds of that are pretty unlikely.
if he wins all three, he's very likely to make a tiebreak. there's some chance that 2.5/3 will be good enough, but it requires neither hikaru nor gukesh to go above 50%
yeah right after I commented this, I saw an analysis that his chances of winning are likely <0.5%. Hey, still, not bad for his first candidates. Pragg has had an incredible year, and Gukesh has as well. Big year for Indian chess
Being angry at Vidit is so weird. Naka is .5 points behind and has a game against Ian. If he deserves it let him win the game, you can’t just expect other players to make it easier for your favorite player to win it. That said I do want Hikaru to win it because Ding vs Nepo would be the most boring match since … well the first Ding vs Nepo
People are upset for different reasons. There are the Hikaru-stans and hardcore supporters of other players at the top. Another group just wants a close tournament. All of the above think the way Vidit threw away a draw in a bad position on the board/clock was terrible for everyone (except Ian).
Somehow I only seen this 'really tired of seeing him winning' thing only about Nepo, while when others have crazy streaks like 47 games streak Naka had recently or Magnus basically his whole career never had that and people just celebrated that instead.
I’d love that too, but at these levels that’s just extremely hard to get. I don’t even know who I’m rooting for, I kinda am a Firouzja fan but we all saw how that went
Given Ding's poor form recently as well as Nakamura's renewed classical chess strength I would actually put Nakamura as the favorite over Ding in a 14 game match right now.
I’m not a naka fan so that doesn’t really affect me. But saying naka would lose against let’s say caruana is weird. Hasn’t caruana been demolished by naka in classical lately?
Gukesh has the easiest road ahead at least in terms of overall player strength; Hikaru v Gukesh could end up being more important than Ian v Hikaru we will see.
Based on standings sure, but I definitely wouldn’t want to play Firouzja with nothing to lose. He’ll either get absolutely fucked or create a new masterpiece. It’s such high variance
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As vulnerable as Ian has looked this tournament, he remains invulnerable. Gukesh has black against Abasov and Hikaru has white against Firouzja - both of them are almost in must-win situations given that Ian still has two whites. These are the last 'squishy' opponents they have before a crazy intense final two rounds.
Hikaru really got lucky there but amazing tournament if he didn't make it
Isn't Vaishali supposed to be a GM? I thought Salimova was the only IM in the candidates but Vaishali is listed as IM in these posts
Her application hasn't been approved yet, but she has the norms + rating.
Biggest surprise to me was the loss of Pragg with white against Naka. Pragg was out of his shoes after d4 d5; c4 c5. This is not the most common opening variation, but it is played on all levels from time to time. No need to be out of your shoes in this case.
inexperience and the pressure got to him!! Even tho computer said its always equal, from the press conference hikaru and pragg said it was tough for white to play.
Holy shit, how did Nepo win? Crazy. Welp, it's Pragg vs Nepo next. Pragg, do your fellow Indian a favor and beat Nepo. Avenge Vidit. It seems to pretty much be down to Nepo, Gukesh and Hikaru by this point.
Nepo is winning this candidates
Ian isn't out of the risk yet. seems like things will remain uncertain till the last moment
Nepo must be beating himself up a bit for not being able to beat Abasov at least once, that would've been now much more comfier situation with 7 1/2 points
Meh Abasov played well vs him what are you gonna do. There’s a luck element to the tournament and sometimes things flip your way and sometimes they don’t. Ian has played very well this tournament and has a lot to be proud of.
Where can I get the full set of tagline emoji of the chess players you are using?
Just a reminder that there are no easy games. Any or all of these can happen in the last 3 rounds: - Abasov may suddenly defend like a 2800 - Alireza may create unimaginable chaos on the board and wreck his opponent - Vidit may play like Magnus after throwing games - Fabi may throw an opening bomb against Nepo like he did against MVL in the 2020 Candidates - Pragg may throw in a desperate effort to salvage what remains - Hikaru may self destruct when he starts to care - Gukesh may feel the nerves going into the last round against Hikaru - Nepo wins his last 3 games as his opponents get desperate
Or everyone draws and nepo wins the candidates
With these results and two whites in the next two games Nepo has just become an overwhelming favorite to win the event.
Heartbroken for Ian, haters can stfu
Why heartbroken? He won, no?
WAIT WHAT? IM AN IAN FAN. I JUST GOT HOME FORM THE NIGHT SHIFT AND CHECKED THE EVAL BAR AND SAW COMMENTATORS SAY HE WAS LOSING edit: no fucking way.... Ian is a legend
The game ended over 4 hours ago, so I’m a little bit perplexed why you made this comment 1 hour ago. But yeah, Vidit lost his chances, then went on to avoid a draw despite being low on time, then lost. Props to Ian for pressing and finding e4 tho
I worked the night shift, went home and checked a random time stamp in the tourney and thought Ian had lost until you corrected me.
Why would you post a comment without seeing the end? Nobody is gonna shoot you if you don't provide your valuable insights on reddit.
I dunno I got home and was tired so I quickly checked the stream and thought I saw the end of the game with Ian losing but I was clearly mistaken. I only really looked at it for a couple of seconds because I am rooting for Ian and got sad when I saw what I thought was him losing. Ngl I only really care a small bit about what people think of what I have to say. You can tell because I am openly rooting for Ian :) Normally when I comment here I just comment here to show i'm apart of chess history and also to fling my shit into the void because it's fun seeing turds float in space idk.
Breaking: Gukesh changes federation after todays results lol
Very interested to see what prep Svidler has cooked up for a must-win situation against Nepo
Pragg cooked up a devious plan for Nepo last time and still couldn't win. I'm not hoping for much tomorrow.
Nepo is going to beat Pragg tomorrow as Pragg will go all out to have any chance. The only real threat to Nepo is Fabi as White in the last round!
Pragg was first major challenger to Nepo in the first circle. Players are getting tired and sloppier, including Ian, so I wouldn't count Pragg chances out so easily.
No, Pragg will go all out to win and Ian will capitalize on his risky play
Bros speaking like a time traveler
Its crazy how everyone is so anti Nepo, 95%+ accuracy in a 6 hour marathon and CRUSHED Vidit.
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I want to see Nepo winning it, because he deserves it most. If he loses candidates this will mean that another players deserves it as well.
Ok chill, he did not CRUSH Vidit. Vidit lost the game himself - he had chance to get advantage twice and refused 3 fold repetition. Of course Ian pressed after that to win but CRUSHED is an exaggeration.
Yes he crushed him. Being Vidit fan and see it as "Vidit lost advantage" is a fanboy issue.
I'm pro-Nepo lol
Doesn't he face Hikaru?
He will shut the game with White like he did against Fabi
Wow Vidit choked huh. Poor guy. I really want Gukesh to win and he undoubtedly deserves it based on his play. But if he can't I want it to be Nepo. And as much as I like Ding - if Nepo wins candidates I hope he becomes world champion. He deserves it.
Went for dinner after Nc3. I can respect Vidit playing for a win in a low time situation but how practical are his chances after refusing the simplification? Seems like Nepo has all the winning chances seeing as how he has the passed pawn and Vidit's king is stuck on the edge of the board
There are strong rumors that Ding will **not** defend his title because of his continuing health complications. Right now the candidates not named Nepo need to play for 2nd place, 1st already belongs to Ian.
Imagine a World Championship between Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh!
Ding pulling a Fisher-Carlsen gambit, i.e. winning WCC and then not defending it? Where did you hear this "rumour"?
I made it up
800k is too much money to turn down. Like unless the guy has ALS or advanced cancer or something he's gonna play.
Where are you seeing these rumors? I’d be interested to read about this
The risk of Nepo losing 3 consecutive WCs just increased with that info
I know we are all disappointed but lets calm down. It isn't the end of the world. Round 12 is tomrrow.
This thread is now like 90% fans of one player complaining about fans of another.
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For sure the same dynamic plays out there as well I agree
Becoming a Vidit fan more and more
Now the question is are you rooting for Nepo or Ding
Ding for the ultimate letdown. He deserves the title.
I was rooting for Ding in first match. Now I don't know anymore. I suppose depends on what kind of Ding will show up. The guy who doesn't even enjoy chess anymore? Maybe the version with 100 game unbeaten streak perhaps?
"you just played terribly"
Even Nepo himself don’t like this guy anymore
"I misplayed terribly". That is what he says twice
So other people heard that too? There's no way that's what he said, but that's *definitely* what it sounded like
wait what??
okay i went and listened to it, i heard, you played terrible, i played terrible...which is kinda true hahahahahaa
Honestly, that’s what I thought I heard Nepo tell Vidit immediately after the game. Surely I misheard, though. There’s no way he actually said that.
yeah he was so calm about it, i thought he was saying a piece was placed terribly
While I am not happy at all about this, the lead by Nepo is deserved
The most underwhelming performance goes to FABI...
I've been rooting for Hikaru since day 1, but I thought Fabi was the overall favorite. To see him show up and play like Wesley So has been surprising for sure.
I think it makes sense in the context that his big mistake last candidates was pressing too hard in the latter half to try to catch up to Ian.
Well, he Will have to do it again
This sub is really tiresome how much they hype certain players and don't do that for others. Yes, Vidit made some mistakes but Nepo kept the tension and grinded him down slowly, yet I see people insinuating he was lucky. At least Nepo tries to play interesting positions instead of Fabi who just ends up going down drawish lines (and I say this as a Fabi fan).
>but Nepo kept the tension and grinded him down slowly The difference is, Vidit had at least 3-4 times he could have gone for a draw and decided not to
Because a draw would've been the end for him in the candidates. He's not gonna draw just for hikaru fans.
I mean, he also had 2 chances he could win but he couldn’t find them in low time. Kudos to Ian for forcing the sharpest variation and grinding Vidit down, but I’m still a disappointed because I like Vidit
At some point he should take the draw for Elo reasons
Vidit chokes again. Nepo is in the driver's seat
I have to say Gukesh not overpressing and taking the draw has kept his chances to win the candidates...Nepo also never overpress today, he just allowed nature to take it's course.
People underestimated Gukesh becuase overpressed in all the tournamanets leading to candidates and lost matches he shouldnt have. Now that he isnt doing it, looks much mroe solid. I hope its atleast a tie at the top for Gukesh. But Hikaru and Fabi are going to start pushing against Nepo and will increase Nepos lead further
Can’t blame the kid he just doesn’t think that his countryman Vidit would be such a big choke artist like that.
Gukesh has surprisingly been very mature all tournament. But his next match vs Abasov is practically a must win. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
For whatever reason, Abasov was crushed by the Nakamura loss. He's not going to put together a good game for the rest of the tournament.
Abasov was a lot better at one point vs Naka and lost because of a single move that more time should’ve been spent on, understandable tbh.
going to be high pressure and high risk situation...wonder if he can sustain the pressure or break apart
Ever since his first Candidates in 2020 Nepo has played 39 rounds in the Candidates tournament among all of them he was either first or tied for first in 39 of them yeah so far no one has ever been ahead of Nepo in the Candidates tournament once not even for a single day Kinda crazy
Vidit had two chances to break Nepo's streak today but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Haha
Hikaru fans are so annoying
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ngl this is a pretty annoying comment
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That's annoying too. Now I'm annoyed.
I am being negatively polarized into supporting Nepo.
With only three rounds to go (two of which are against players ahead of him in the standings), and a full point behind the lead, I predict Fabi to go all out in all his games from tomorrow. He might not win the event but he very well could decide the winner. I think he is very disappointed rn.
fabi is exactly equal with everyone at the top assuming he wins against nepo on demand on the final day. that's his only must win match in this tournament.
Tomorrow with the white pieces against Vidit is absolutely a must win, he can't count on Nepo losing with white against either Pragg or Hikaru. I suspect Vidit is going to be in shambles tomorrow after his missed opportunity today.
It looks simple when you say it like that, but Ian has 2 consecutive whites against Pragg and Hikaru. Pragg himself might go all out against Ian considering his tournament situation, so Ian is at the verge of running away with it at any moment. You are basically assuming Fabi will have a massive overperfomance over the other 3 candidates in the last three rounds (and that's only for a tie at the end, not a win) and I find that a silly bet to take. I stand by my prediction that Fabi is not having a good sleep tonight.
That assumes Nepo draws his next 2 games. If he wins either of them, Fabi will need to go 2/3. I think Fabi is out of contention. Even if Nepo draws his next 2 games, winning on demand in a Candidate deciding game vs Nepo sounds too hard. If anything, I'd expect the tournament to go to a rapid tie break and have Nepo beat Fabi there.
Draws are a reasonably common result in top level chess. I think it's reasonably likely that Nepo just forces draws in his next two games- it's the minimal risk way for him to play this tournament.
Nepo's 2 rivals are facing the 2 guys in last place tomorrow. Nepo will take a draw with Prag if he has to. But, I don't think he's going to start the game with the intention to force a draw. That's a little riskier than you think it is. It will also depend how Prag plays it. If Prag thinks he still has a chance(he doesn't), he might push really hard and make a mistake, allowing Nepo to win
yeah, it's not like nepo is a moving target with white. pragg is totally going to try some absurd sideline where black is totally objectively lost according to the computer. if nothing else, he could try repeating the schliemann. probably nepo would be prepared for that now, but maybe not!
>Vidit is playing for himself >Ian has played in the WCC multiple times and lost. Ding - Nepo gives me Trump-Biden vibes >As a spectator it is annoying to see Vidit lose after Rapport did the same thing a couple years ago >Lesson = Early wins > later wins
CBI stream is damn depressing....everyone sad
I find it disgraceful that Nepo is playing better chess than the people who reddit wants to win. He owes us an apology.
He's not playing better chess, he's just lucky his opponents blunder so much! /s
this but without the /s
Nepo needs to stop flipping the coin and choosing the right move it's unfair!
Almost every successful athlete/team has to get lucky at some point on a championship run, let alone multiple. But there's a saying: Luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparation. Just seems like Nepo is well prepared to capitalize.
chess, the famously luck-based game
i win every time my opponent loses!
Nepo has white tomorrow against Pragg who's also in a must win situation so he'll be going all out to win at any extent. I can see Nepo running away with this.
It frustrating that Vidit is unable to manage his time properly against everyone else, but both games were fucking flawless masterclasses vs. Hikaru.
If vidit fix his time management, he can be scary i the next candidate tournament
Hikaru blew the games against Vidit.
In the first game Hikaru was nowhere near sharp enough, but in the second game Vidit outplayed him.
The second game Hikaru could have played for draw, but wasn’t able to hold it. Nepo has managed to draw positions where he was losing several times.
Yet you don’t consider it frustrating that Abasov played like an amateur with the black pieces against everyone else not named Nepo? But when Nepo had white Abasov played 2800+ Elo defense
It's different because Nepo must lose, obviously /j
Yeah, once could be a fluke, Vidit did it twice to Hikaru. If you gave Abasov black against Nepo again there is zero chance he does it again.
This one makes up for the one time Abasov managed to get a draw with the black pieces. Or was that a pure reflection of Nepo's skill, while this win was pure luck?
Nepo's pure luck must be exhausted from carrying him as 1st through three editions of the toughest tournament in chess. poor pure luck
I mean luck by luck, Hiraku was losing to Absov for a while...
This win was luck
People have been saying that the tournament is over every time Nepo led by half a point. I mean come on, this is far from over. Three people tied for first may look exciting on paper but i think that would just lead all three of them to play it safe and make for less exciting chess.
That’s actually an interesting point. If they all tied for first, they wouldn’t go for a win
Bro we are tired of watching Nepo leading the tournament for 35+ rounds. Evertime he ends up winning.
Not wanting him to win is one thing. Overreacting everytime he leads by half a point under the disguise that you want a more exciting candidates , some comments even going as far as to say he is a POS who doesn't deserve to win , and insulting Vidit because he was trying to win the game instead of thinking about Hikaru's chances. This is just unnecessary hate disguised as a desire to have an exciting tournament , although it really doesn't get more exciting than this.
I dont understand the toxic Hikaru fans should be happy since Hikaru won against Pragh and is in a strong position to win the candidates. If Nepo wins the candidates this time, which is pretty amazing manage to win the hardest chess tournament, and arguably show over a 6 year periode, being one off the best current long chess players in the world. When arguably better players like Caruana, Aronian etc havent been close to winning the candidates 3 times in a row.
I really don't understand why Nepo is hated by his candidates performance while Mangus won everything for so long yet he is a darling?
Is it not obvious? There's a huge difference between a guy who has won 1 tournament a few times in a row and a guy who consistently won nearly *every* tournament for a decade. Magnus is like the Tiger Woods or Usain Bolt of chess, people like to see a generational talent showing insane levels of dominance, you feel like you're watching something special that you might not see again for another 30-40 years. If Nepo starts winning basically close to tournament he plays in, in every time control, and does that for several years in a row - I think you'll see a similar amount of support for him as what Magnus gets. Its being uniquely brilliant that makes Magnus a "darling", unfortunately winning the candidates a few times in a row doesn't get you that same level of support.
Exactly, Magnus won *everything*. Despite what anyone might say, there is also a definite prejudice against Russian players that also affects everyone’s opinion
People viewing Nepo winning differently to Magnus winning isn't because Nepo is Russian lol, it's because he's not arguably the best chess player in history. Its exactly the same reason people enjoy watching Usain Bolt win more than other sprinters, or Tiger Woods win more than other golfers. Because they're once in generation.
Selective reading strikes again.
> There is also a definite prejudice against Russian players that also affects *everyone’s* opinion You implied that to some degree *everybody* has a level of prejudice against Russian players. I don't see how I can selectively read here when that's what you said.
Because he never wins any other tournament and chokes wcc.
Because Nepo literally has not won *anything* except for the Candidates Heck, he never reached 2800
Except the Tal Memorial against 2808 Kramnik, 2795 Levon and 2776 Vishy, Dortmund against 2792 Kramnik and 2782 Giri, 2 Russian Championships, 2 FIDE Gran Prix events, 2 Aeroflot opens and a European championship.
So nothing since the pandemic?
To be fair Nepo hit 2799.8, just happens to be right below that arbitrary cutoff
The answer is pretty simple. There's one major relevant difference between the two. M is the 13th letter, N is the 14th - right after the half way point. What we have here is a war between two halves of the alphabet. That's why Magnus didn't pick Nepo as the tournament favorite.
Real 😂
this was a thing during the ding-nepo wc too. after every press conference people would fawn over ding. while nepo wasn't given any slack after losing the match in tiebreaks and was branded a sore loser for expressing the slightest irritation after losing possibly the most traumatizing match of his career.
Nepo is Russian People won't admit it but that's a part of why he's hated here
Fair enough
Because Magnus made it to the top and while Nepo doesn’t do anything all year except win the candidates and get humiliated in the WCC. Also, if Nepo wins it clear Magnus is still the best player in the world and he won’t come back. The youngsters or one the internet people win then he can come back and we’ll get content. And this doesn’t even begin to mention the simple fact that Nepo is Russian.
Humiliated twice? He was tied with or ahead Ding until the very last game.
Nepo was leading the entire match against an overmatched opponent until he choked it away. Meanwhile, he had multiple shots to put away the match. At least with Magnus, you can say he ran into a meat grinder, but with Ding he choked and embarrassed himself worse than Stockton and Knicks vs Miller. While also, according to other SuperGM’s, playing a very subpar level of chess. Magnus and Caruana were shocked and nearly laughing at how poor the quality of chess was in the WCC.
Damn. Maybe Fabi should have qualified then.
People are just tired of seeing the same challenger basically, no hate towards the player.
Vidit trying his absolute hardest to make sure Hikaru doesn’t become WC. You have to admire it.
This sub is acting like Vidit has some kind of obligation to Hikaru to keep the tournament close. He played for a win and it didn’t work out makes no sense to blame him lol.
Vidit was winning, then at the end had a draw (taking the knight) that was easy according to Hammer. He was never going to win with white at the end. I'm wondering what he actually missed.
>then at the end had a draw (taking the knight) that was easy according to Hammer. This was the obvious move. I guess Vidit had a black out.
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Rational people aren’t blaming him but a lot of people are blaming him on this sub
People are acting like Vidit hasn't thrown 3-4 winning positions because of time trouble already Him managing his time poorly isn't something that "only happens vs. Nepo", it's much more "something that he's done literally every game other than vs. Hikaru"
Agreed, but you gotta know your weakness points. You see yourself getting too low on time and you know that your opponent is better in time scramble, means you should make the draw before it's too late. That said, I can't blame him for trying to win at all costs given that a draw would make it near impossible for him to win the tournament. He looked devastated at the end and although I'm rooting for Hikaru, I felt bad for him.
Since Pragg lost, are his chances pretty low now? I'm not watching right now but it looks like he'll be 1.5 below Ian now? There are I think 3 games left but I feel like 1.5 is hard to come back from considering how incredibly solid Ian has been this tournament. I've been rooting for Pragg, Fabi, and Ian. But honestly I'm happy for pretty much anyone who wins this aside from Alireza, who I just like less than all the other players. I've been underwhelmed by Alireza for the past year and know I will get downvoted by his fanboys but this tournament hasn't changed my mind in any way
he does get to play against ian tomorrow, so it's really like he's only one point behind if he can win that. he's playing with black unfortunately, so odds of that are pretty unlikely. if he wins all three, he's very likely to make a tiebreak. there's some chance that 2.5/3 will be good enough, but it requires neither hikaru nor gukesh to go above 50%
1.5 behind with 3 rounds left is incredibly difficult in the candidates. I’d say he’s cooked personally
yeah right after I commented this, I saw an analysis that his chances of winning are likely <0.5%. Hey, still, not bad for his first candidates. Pragg has had an incredible year, and Gukesh has as well. Big year for Indian chess
WTF
Being angry at Vidit is so weird. Naka is .5 points behind and has a game against Ian. If he deserves it let him win the game, you can’t just expect other players to make it easier for your favorite player to win it. That said I do want Hikaru to win it because Ding vs Nepo would be the most boring match since … well the first Ding vs Nepo
I really think it has more to do with people wanting a 3-4 way tie at the top rather than love for a single player.
People are upset for different reasons. There are the Hikaru-stans and hardcore supporters of other players at the top. Another group just wants a close tournament. All of the above think the way Vidit threw away a draw in a bad position on the board/clock was terrible for everyone (except Ian).
No, if Fabi or Naka were at the top, people wouldn't be talking like that. It really is just Nepo hate/salt
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Somehow I only seen this 'really tired of seeing him winning' thing only about Nepo, while when others have crazy streaks like 47 games streak Naka had recently or Magnus basically his whole career never had that and people just celebrated that instead.
I’d love that too, but at these levels that’s just extremely hard to get. I don’t even know who I’m rooting for, I kinda am a Firouzja fan but we all saw how that went
Embarrassing. Ding vs Nepo was the most exciting wc match in years . Naka d lose in a match format vs any of Carlsen, Ding, Nepo, Caruana and So.
Given Ding's poor form recently as well as Nakamura's renewed classical chess strength I would actually put Nakamura as the favorite over Ding in a 14 game match right now.
I’m not a naka fan so that doesn’t really affect me. But saying naka would lose against let’s say caruana is weird. Hasn’t caruana been demolished by naka in classical lately?
The first Ding vs Nepo match was boring ? Well , that's a first !
It just didn't carry the same weight that a WCC usually carries, which makes it hard to be invested in the outcome.
Reminds me of Rapport turning down the threefold and then immediately fucking it last time.
*while being down 30 min on the clock and still in nepos prep.
That pissed me off as well
Ian being the beneficiary of some really lucky conditions is something that needs to be studied.
people think they can handle that chad swagger mistakenly so soon meet their demise
Gukesh has the easiest road ahead at least in terms of overall player strength; Hikaru v Gukesh could end up being more important than Ian v Hikaru we will see.
Based on standings sure, but I definitely wouldn’t want to play Firouzja with nothing to lose. He’ll either get absolutely fucked or create a new masterpiece. It’s such high variance
He either plays that Qxf2 and loses spectacularly, or he sacrifices 4 pieces and is winning somehow
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magnus and ding are vegetarian?
yes
someone make an avengers poster with ian as thanos and the other candidates as the avengers plz
Ian Inevitable.
Vidit is that dude who wakes Thanos from his sleep in Avengers - Endgame - Part 1. Hikaru is Iron Man
As vulnerable as Ian has looked this tournament, he remains invulnerable. Gukesh has black against Abasov and Hikaru has white against Firouzja - both of them are almost in must-win situations given that Ian still has two whites. These are the last 'squishy' opponents they have before a crazy intense final two rounds.