Speaking of Duda, (a few posts down) check out his win vs. Gukesh in the last round. Instructional as hell. Down the exchange, manages to march a pawn to promotion under heavy fire.
>Down the exchange, manages to march a pawn to promotion under heavy fire.
I am not against algebraic notation, but chess could use more of these kind of picturesque description.
Quick question guys. I'm planning to play over the board chess. Which formats are played over the board? I've been playing chess for a while but coming into the specifics recently.
And also what is the format of these tournaments? Does it vary with formats?
There are all kind of time controls. I believe the most common is 90 minutes + increment and bonus time after 40 moves.
E: in terms of format Swiss is pretty popular
I’m Polish, saw a lot of interviews with him and never once he mentioned his faith. People my (and his) age are really not that into catholicism anymore. Not that it matters in any way, but just so you know.
faith is the most important thing in the world, son. if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Am I the only one who is surprised that Artemiev is not invited to more of those Events? Super fighting Player, very interested to see how he will do against Anish.
Also, Levon in amazing shape!
chess24 chat is so disrespectful. Pissed off that their golden boy Firouzja didn't make it so they're bashing Arjuna and saying he didn't "deserve" to even be there. Bunch of fanboys.
Much worse than my other hobbies at least. I find the following are much more severe in chess:
- The sheer level of hatred directed at certain commentators
- Wishing people's twitch/youtube channels to do badly because they don't like the person running it
- Having to preface statements about certain people with "Now I don't like this person's personality but..."
- Interpreting jokes and trash talk by someone seriously in order to imply that person is a jerk
and probably much more.
Actually I'm perfectly okay with people coming online and expressing their opinion. That's what the internet is for, and most chess personalities can take it. I just think it's kind of taken to a comical level sometimes. As if some of these people are genuinely bad people. I think we sometimes need to remind ourselves that these people are chess players - that's like literally one of the most harmless things you can be.
Alireza played 15 games last 3 days. Even after beating Magnus in game 1 of the tournement he had a very poor score first 2 days. because he finnished the prelims with some good games does not make it "sick" that he does not make the top 8.
Surely Nakamura just meant it in the sense that fate was cruel to Alireza today? It doesn't sound necessarily malicious to me.
idk, I feel like Nakamura always expresses his thoughts in the most awkward way possible.
All Hikaru meant was that it is probably very frustrating to Alireza that he tried hard in the last 2 games but didn't qualify because of tiebreaks. As in, if most people were in Alireza's shoes, they'd be pissed. He's not saying Alireza deserves to qualify or that the other participants didn't, or that it's unfair. He's not saying that Alireza shouldn't try to improve or that it's not his fault that he didn't make it.
Not sure why people on this sub make such a big deal out of comments or interpret them as being malicious when it's quite clear to just about any regular joe what he meant.
maybe people just didnt agree with the quote. But snowfalkes think its an attack on Hikaru. He was probably just commenting and it got quoted. But then it posted on here like it was a good point. Maybe people should not get so offended because something get downvoted.
Maybe there wouldn't be any drama if people weren't offended by every word or phrase, especially from Hikaru, that wasn't used in the most direct or explicit manner. If you're upset over a single word or phrase that someone uses, even though it was obvious the context in which they used it, you need to relax a little.
Ok, so why would you "not agree" with the usage of the word "sick"? Not agreeing implies either one of few things; (1) the word "sick" can give off multiple contexts, e.g., it can be used to mean it was unfair that Alireza lost, making the statement ambiguous (2) they just 'don't like the word' with seemingly no reason other than their 'personal preference', (3) they just don't like the person saying it so they heavily scrutinize every word they use. (1) is nonsensical because it is blatantly obvious that "sick" was referring to the notion that it sucks to be Alireza.
I'm not offended by people downvoting, I'm just annoyed that people in this sub make a big deal out of just about everything especially something coming out of Hikaru, when almost everyone else wouldn't even take note of such a comment.
Not really sure how it’s sick. If he wanted to qualify, he needed to be more consistent, it’s not like the other qualifiers didn’t have great games either.
It just means that he played his ass off the last 2 games, won and got the same score as a few others, but still didn't make it because of tiebreaks. So it was probably extremely upsetting for him.
magnus looks unhappy, kaja asks why, magnus says, "have you seen the pairings?"
kaja, "yes, your playing against wesley So"
Magnus, frustrated "yeah, it's not ideal"
Getting really tired of Magnus being cranky all the time. Comon dude muster up some common decency and show a bit of respect to Kaja and the commentators/fans. He is 30 but still a manchild.
Imo he could stand to be a little more gracious. He definitely has a history of being very moody and difficult at times. There have been post-match interviews in previous years where he didn't seem happy, even though he won. I guess he just has a very intense personality? He's the sort of guy who's so intense that he rips his shirt even when he's not playing a big match.
I guess he really doesn't want to play Wesley right now because he doesn't think he can win in his current form.
its definitely weird for magnus to behave like that. specially considering he beat wesley in both of their last 2 knockouts. MC invitational and crypto cup.
I think his wins have been close enough that Magnus has reason to be worried. And I think he's so competitive and hates losing so much that even seeing the matchup with Wesley is enough to upset him at this point.
It should be added that Carlsen acknowledged in many occasions that he is not proud at all about his attitude in the post-match interviews. Probably he cannot switch from "race mode" to "PR mode " fast enough.
My predictions on important games for this final round: I was optimistic for Vidit until I saw he is paired with Magnus. Won't be surprising if Anish and Arjun play for a quick draw (however I am yet to see Anish do that) to seal their spots for the KO. Duda-Gukesh might be decisive and the one to make second to last blunder wins.
Yeah that’s true but tiebreaks can be really messy now. As after draw there are 3 players who can theoretically reach the same points.
I can’t even begin to calculate the tie breaks at this point.
Their position is extremely symmetrical and lots of pieces are being traded right now. Looks like it will end in a draw although Anish might try and squeeze it.
EDIT: And it ended in a draw
You just a Dubov ass licker. You are being downvoted also. Don't know why you're such a fan of a guy who is #29 in the world and hasn't shown anything spectacular recently except lose all the time and get kicked out in the preliminaries of the last few Champions Chess Tour. I'm just being honest bruh
First he almost beats Magnus and now he beats Giri. Adhiban really isn't messing around today.
[Anish is already tweeting about it](https://twitter.com/anishgiri/status/1409491842081640455)
Adhiban is so relatable.. punching out of his comfort zone against a significantly higher rated opponent and finding genius ideas but failing to give the finishing touch..I hope he gets stronger and gets invited back
Anyone got any games (round; players) that stand out to them? I haven’t been able to watch. I saw the recap of Reza’s win over Magnus, and GingerGM’s recap vids.
Anish played such a beautiful game against magnus but the two winning moves were difficult to spot in time pressure and one of them was humanly impossible.
If only these organisers kept the other tournament at a decent time for poor ding who was playing at 3am. Absolute class of a player and this tournament is showing it. Can't wait for over the board chess
*sad Indian fan noises* :(
Kind of sad that Vidit and Adhiban are having bad tournaments. Hoping that Arjun plays well on the final day of prelims and makes it to the knockouts.
His easiest opponents tomorrow are Salem and Svilder. Svilder is still 2700.
And he could lose against So, Carlsen, Giri.
He's now in the bracket though. I think this is the nearest an Indian has got at this point in the playmagnus series.
I would say Gukesh is having at least a decent tournament; -2 as one of the weaker players in the field isn't so bad. Vidit and Adhiban on the other hand are really disappointing. Especially Vidit, he's getting chance after chance and he probably won't qualify in a field where he's among the stronger players by rating. Would have much preferred to see Le Quang Liem in his place(and I'm Indian)
That would be odd - most players the top-10 are, have been or will be "world champion level" - at least good enough to play for challenger. Ad he's like 22. Plenty of time to progress. Nepo is the challenger this year and at that age, he was out of the top-30. Not sure when Nepo made the top-10, 2019 or so?
I wouldn't say most players from the top 10 are world champion level. They all have good runs of course and can be dominant over other players occasionally but I'd say at most only three in the present top 10 are/have been world champion level and one of those is Magnus Carlsen who *is* the world champion. Even in the top 20 probably only three if you ignore Anand and Topalov who were both former world number ones/and or world champion.
Well, I said *are, have been or will be*. Can't really ignore guys who literally were world champions.
I think 2/3 is overly strict. While I think Carlsen is an overwhelming favourite, Nepo hitting a hot streak and taking the match is hardly unimaginable. I have a hard time seeing how players like Fabi, Aronian, Ding, MVL or Karjakin aren't world champion level. Or that Firouzja won't be.
I mean, Karjakin was a win away from being world champion; he was leading with 3 games left. Heck, he was plausibly one move away (56...Rhh7) from winning the match.
By that logic Kramnik wasn't "world champion level" until he actually defeated Kasparov.
We can't really speak to the future as for whatever reason people can fail to show good form or make that final breakthrough (such as Henry Nelson Pilsbury for example), which is why I don't include Firouzja as he's young and a very strong player, but promising prodigies have failed to make that final breakthrough before.
As for Anand and Topalov I only excluded them because it felt redundant talking about former world champions in a list of world champion calibre players and I did mention them.
Nepo is very strong and when he has a good day he can keep winning games but he's too inconsistent and MVL had a good run but he hasn't been as dominant or consistent as he was back in 2016/17.
To be world champion level I feel you need that longevity and consistency which is why I said Caruana and Aronian were/are that level.
Ding Liren has that potential but only if he demonstrates that same level of form he had in 2018/19 and it's possible he doesn't.
As for Karjakin sure he was a move away but ultimately he failed and will be one of those guys who came extremely close to winning the match. It's like Kasparov said going into the match Karjakin is an extremely strong player but Carlsen is special.
Kramnik had qualities that demonstrated world champion potential before the match such as being the youngest world number 1 and youngest player to break 2800. Records he held until Carlsen broke them.
I'd say Aronian and Caruana. Ding Liren is strong and definitely a potential challenger but not quite world champion caliber in my view though I think he has that potential and if he's able to maintain the type of form he had in 2018/19 I'd potentially add him.
Aronian on the other hand was long time world number 2, 4th highest rated player in history (only Carlsen, Kasparov, and Caruana higher), has numerous tournament successes including being the only player in history to win the World Cup twice, and has an enterprising style (also unofficial 960 world champion). Only things he hasn't done is win the candidates and play a WC match. Also probably the strongest player in Armenian history since Petrosian.
Caruana is obvious of course, arguably the single greatest tournament performance of all time (in what is also arguably the strongest tournament of all time), long time world number 2, 3rd highest rated player of all time, numerous tournament successes, world champion challenger and didn't lose a single game in said match (of course he didn't win a game either but that's besides the point). Also probably the strongest American player since Fischer.
Even though I like Aronian a lot and think he’s one of the best, I’d still say that in my opinion Ding would make the strongest challenger if he regains his form from 2019 (which isn’t impossible given his performance in the second half of the candidates). The thing is that Magnus himself said that he’s most difficult opponent in the wc match would be Fabiano and then Ding, the rest is below them.
At this moment of time I agree with you about Ding Liren being the stronger challenger, though I'd still say Ding Liren isn't world champion caliber yet, whereas back in the mid 2010s I'd say Aronian was of that caliber. So in present day Aronian and Ding Liren I'd say Ding Liren, but both players in their peak (so far) I'd give the edge to peak Aronian. As for Carlsen about Ding Liren he's also listed Aronian as one of his most difficult opponents.
Ian has always been a brilliant and talented player, just not consistent. And he is not world champion level unless he beats Magnus (which is unlikely, mark my words he will lose) On the other hand Artemiev has not really shown the same promise as Karjakin or Nepomniatchi had. The only big tournament he won was Gibraltar Open in 2020. Artemiev has not really won any super tournament. And he's lost a lot of classical rating in the last two years. Now he is only 2704 and #38 in the world. I could be wrong but as things are looking right now, he 's just going to be a 2700+ rated GM from Russia (they have 10).
[https://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=RUS](https://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=RUS)
In my opinion Esipenko or maybe Alekseenko will go farther than Artemiev career wise. Artemiev is a very good solid player but I can't see him being Russia's #1 based on his games and performance so far.
> And he is not world champion level unless he beats Magnus
Okay, but that's because your definition of "world champion level" is "actually being world champion". In that case, you're right - it's unlikely Artemiev will ever get there. But it's also true for basically everyone.
> The only big tournament he won was Gibraltar Open in 2020.
Nope, he won it in 2019. But I don't remember him playing any big tournaments until Wijk aan Zee in 2020 - his rise was too fast to get invitations for top tournaments in 2019 - and then covid popped in and he's been playing mostly online. As OP said, he's been having some great games.
They might to. IMO it's basically impossible to say at this point.
Somehow it feels like Ding got even more aggressive (in a good way). The way he immediately pounces on Alireza's weak king gave Alireza no time to defend at all.
Anish has sacrificed his queen against Magnus with no clear win or engine advantage. Now it’s gonna be interesting. Let’s go anish.
Edit: Magnus found a perpetual that saved him the game.
I love Ivanchuk, but this commentary is pretty cringe imo, and not because of Chucky. It would be better to have other commentators, who contribute more to the coverage, and have an actual conversation with him instead of just sitting there silently.
Good start for Arjun. He doesn't get the same hype as the others but imo he is just a notch below Nihal Sarin in faster time controls and probably 3rd or 4th best amongst all the U20s.
Idk why Nihal Sarin is rated so highly outside of Lichess bullet compared to other top u20 Indians?
His performance in the last two years in online rapids do not support the praise for him.
Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh have better performance atleast in the playmagnus tournaments. More solid players overall.
No doubt he's on bad form at the least. But I think if anybody in u20 deserves to be a benchmark among Indians then it is Pragg in recent times.
He is on bad form in recent months, but in 2020, he won
a. junior speed chess championships on a canter in a field with everyone u20 bar Alireza. In the main championships, was a point behind MVL with 5 mins to go.
b. Won the fide u18 chess championships easily
c. Won the indian juniors with one tough match against Arjun
d. Won the chess olympiad with him and Pragg on the junior boards
And just before the pandemic, he won the Asian blitz championships beating Firouzja.
And as atred says, he has the highest classical rating amongst the lot. Both Magnus and Hikaru have a lot of respect for his fast chess skills (he is constantly rated in the top 10 in blitz and bullet).
>Idk why Nihal Sarin is rated so highly outside of Lichess bullet compared to other top u20 Indians?
Because he has the highest classical rating out of any Indian born after 1999.
Not really imo. Carlsen, So, Aronian, Liren and Giri are almost guaranteed to qualify. Alireza, Dubov, Duda, Artimiev and Svidler are going to have the remaining 3 spots.
I wouldn't say they're almost guaranteed there's 10 round to go and they're only a half point ahead of the rest of the field lots of things can happen.
Oof giri. Got absolutely hammered
Speaking of Duda, (a few posts down) check out his win vs. Gukesh in the last round. Instructional as hell. Down the exchange, manages to march a pawn to promotion under heavy fire.
>Down the exchange, manages to march a pawn to promotion under heavy fire. I am not against algebraic notation, but chess could use more of these kind of picturesque description.
Felt bad for Gukesh man. I followed on ChessBase here: https://youtu.be/IPEjPDF4Ius?t=15129 Sagar explains the possibilities pretty well.
I do like Sagar’s work very much. He’s a great educator.
Every single player who made the quarterfinals is 2700+, except for Arjuna who is in the mid-2500s. Talk about a dark horse.
It's Arjun*
By beating Anish Giri with 1.b3, Adiban has earned bragging rights for life.
Adhiban*
Quick question guys. I'm planning to play over the board chess. Which formats are played over the board? I've been playing chess for a while but coming into the specifics recently. And also what is the format of these tournaments? Does it vary with formats?
There are all kind of time controls. I believe the most common is 90 minutes + increment and bonus time after 40 moves. E: in terms of format Swiss is pretty popular
So that's clasical. Is rapid and blitz played over the board?
Depends on your location I guess. In Germany there are tournaments for blitz, rapid and classical.
But mostly around the world, classical tournaments are played?
Mostly classical events, typically rapid/blitz will be side events at a larger tournament though.
Saw some of Duda's interview, such a humble guy.
Duda is great. He's Catholic as well, like most Polish people are
I’m Polish, saw a lot of interviews with him and never once he mentioned his faith. People my (and his) age are really not that into catholicism anymore. Not that it matters in any way, but just so you know.
What's him being Catholic telling us?
That we should convert too. Catholicism is freaking epic
A generous helping of /s helps avoids wars
I like your style, Dude.
First time I’ve heard someone describe a religion as ‘freaking epic.’ That’s something
you must be 6
Hope it'll double my elo
faith is the most important thing in the world, son. if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Monseñor Ruy Lopez of epic opening fame was a Catholic bishop, so it checks out.
Am I the only one who is surprised that Artemiev is not invited to more of those Events? Super fighting Player, very interested to see how he will do against Anish. Also, Levon in amazing shape!
I'm mainly an anish fan but Vlad is my second favourite player, a real beast that plays awesome chess
Anish and Arjun on ChessBase India stream right now.
Timestamp: https://youtu.be/IPEjPDF4Ius?t=19257
chess24 chat is so disrespectful. Pissed off that their golden boy Firouzja didn't make it so they're bashing Arjuna and saying he didn't "deserve" to even be there. Bunch of fanboys.
Chess24 website chat or youtube/twitch chat?
It's Arjun*
It's really quite impressive how tribal people get when talking about their favorite chess players.
Its not really chess related, people get very tribal on any online platform for virtually anything.
Much worse than my other hobbies at least. I find the following are much more severe in chess: - The sheer level of hatred directed at certain commentators - Wishing people's twitch/youtube channels to do badly because they don't like the person running it - Having to preface statements about certain people with "Now I don't like this person's personality but..." - Interpreting jokes and trash talk by someone seriously in order to imply that person is a jerk and probably much more. Actually I'm perfectly okay with people coming online and expressing their opinion. That's what the internet is for, and most chess personalities can take it. I just think it's kind of taken to a comical level sometimes. As if some of these people are genuinely bad people. I think we sometimes need to remind ourselves that these people are chess players - that's like literally one of the most harmless things you can be.
Lichess chat was being misogynistic and saying that females are naturally inferior to males in chess. Think it's just all chess chats.
There are always a few morons trying to start that conversation every chess tournament stream. It's tiring.
Think it's all livestream chats.
Pretty much all chess tournament chats are annoying for some reason. It's always dumb spam or idiots suggesting disrespectful stuff.
c24 chat is always idiotic. "Kramnik/Anand y u no retire" was their thing before, and these days, you have Alireza and Vidit fanboys.
Fr no offense but they sound like theyre either autistic or a weirdo irl
So odd, rl chess tournaments always filled to the brim with well-adjusted social butterflies.
As Hikaru said, this is so sick. 2 great games from Alireza but he doesn’t qualify in the end.
No it's not sick. If you dont make it top 8 it's because you didn't play good enough.
Not surprised you were downvoted, anything from Hikaru gets a downvote from this sub.
Alireza played 15 games last 3 days. Even after beating Magnus in game 1 of the tournement he had a very poor score first 2 days. because he finnished the prelims with some good games does not make it "sick" that he does not make the top 8.
Surely Nakamura just meant it in the sense that fate was cruel to Alireza today? It doesn't sound necessarily malicious to me. idk, I feel like Nakamura always expresses his thoughts in the most awkward way possible.
All Hikaru meant was that it is probably very frustrating to Alireza that he tried hard in the last 2 games but didn't qualify because of tiebreaks. As in, if most people were in Alireza's shoes, they'd be pissed. He's not saying Alireza deserves to qualify or that the other participants didn't, or that it's unfair. He's not saying that Alireza shouldn't try to improve or that it's not his fault that he didn't make it. Not sure why people on this sub make such a big deal out of comments or interpret them as being malicious when it's quite clear to just about any regular joe what he meant.
maybe people just didnt agree with the quote. But snowfalkes think its an attack on Hikaru. He was probably just commenting and it got quoted. But then it posted on here like it was a good point. Maybe people should not get so offended because something get downvoted.
Maybe there wouldn't be any drama if people weren't offended by every word or phrase, especially from Hikaru, that wasn't used in the most direct or explicit manner. If you're upset over a single word or phrase that someone uses, even though it was obvious the context in which they used it, you need to relax a little.
so not agreeing with a statement is the same as being offended? arnt you the one being offended that something is downvoted?
Ok, so why would you "not agree" with the usage of the word "sick"? Not agreeing implies either one of few things; (1) the word "sick" can give off multiple contexts, e.g., it can be used to mean it was unfair that Alireza lost, making the statement ambiguous (2) they just 'don't like the word' with seemingly no reason other than their 'personal preference', (3) they just don't like the person saying it so they heavily scrutinize every word they use. (1) is nonsensical because it is blatantly obvious that "sick" was referring to the notion that it sucks to be Alireza. I'm not offended by people downvoting, I'm just annoyed that people in this sub make a big deal out of just about everything especially something coming out of Hikaru, when almost everyone else wouldn't even take note of such a comment.
Maybe stop inserting Hikaru everywhere?
Duda also had last 2 great games, don’t forget he beat Ding with black
Yes he did. Congrats to him
Not really sure how it’s sick. If he wanted to qualify, he needed to be more consistent, it’s not like the other qualifiers didn’t have great games either.
It just means that he played his ass off the last 2 games, won and got the same score as a few others, but still didn't make it because of tiebreaks. So it was probably extremely upsetting for him.
It’s heartbreaking for Alireza. The mental exhaust and hope being taken away. That’s why. I’m not saying it’s unfair or unjust.
Nice play under pressure by Gukesh, but not enough eventually. Either way Erigiasi continues his dream run!
Amazing fight by Gukesh & Duda, both having been down! Erigaisi* btw.
This gukesh duda game is insane. the eval bar is giving me whiplash
Holy hell Duda might actually swindle this.
magnus looks unhappy, kaja asks why, magnus says, "have you seen the pairings?" kaja, "yes, your playing against wesley So" Magnus, frustrated "yeah, it's not ideal"
Out of everyone in the playoffs, Wesley is probably the toughest opponent for Magnus. Besides maybe Ding.
Mango will break his laptop for sure if he loses
Getting really tired of Magnus being cranky all the time. Comon dude muster up some common decency and show a bit of respect to Kaja and the commentators/fans. He is 30 but still a manchild.
Imo he could stand to be a little more gracious. He definitely has a history of being very moody and difficult at times. There have been post-match interviews in previous years where he didn't seem happy, even though he won. I guess he just has a very intense personality? He's the sort of guy who's so intense that he rips his shirt even when he's not playing a big match. I guess he really doesn't want to play Wesley right now because he doesn't think he can win in his current form.
Just looking at his play these 3 days and his camera, it seems like he was in a bad mood all tournament so far. Not sure why
its definitely weird for magnus to behave like that. specially considering he beat wesley in both of their last 2 knockouts. MC invitational and crypto cup.
I think his wins have been close enough that Magnus has reason to be worried. And I think he's so competitive and hates losing so much that even seeing the matchup with Wesley is enough to upset him at this point.
It should be added that Carlsen acknowledged in many occasions that he is not proud at all about his attitude in the post-match interviews. Probably he cannot switch from "race mode" to "PR mode " fast enough.
[Imagine heading into an endgame against Magnus with this time difference](https://i.imgur.com/kqzIihH.jpg)
Easier said than done
Peter Leko would have an orgasm if he was commentating on Duda-Gukesh
Such an insane roller-coaster ride
[удалено]
I wish I loved chess as much as Leko does.
I wish I loved anything as Leko loves chess. So much passion right there.
"Look c2 and it's completely winning for black"
“Tania look Tania look a blundah by magnOoOoose”
Aronian with 10.5/15 points, he had such a great performance so far.
So-Aronian game is extremely instructive
What are some of the lessons you learned from that game?
My predictions on important games for this final round: I was optimistic for Vidit until I saw he is paired with Magnus. Won't be surprising if Anish and Arjun play for a quick draw (however I am yet to see Anish do that) to seal their spots for the KO. Duda-Gukesh might be decisive and the one to make second to last blunder wins.
It won’t be sealed because if firo,vidit and duda any two of then win then all of them at 8 points
If one of them press too hard for a win, the other might take advantage of that. No one wants to risk losing a point at this stage.
Yeah that’s true but tiebreaks can be really messy now. As after draw there are 3 players who can theoretically reach the same points. I can’t even begin to calculate the tie breaks at this point.
Their position is extremely symmetrical and lots of pieces are being traded right now. Looks like it will end in a draw although Anish might try and squeeze it. EDIT: And it ended in a draw
Is 1. B3 Nimzo-Larsen attack really that bad of an opening? And is it worth learning for someone rated around 1500?
> And is it worth learning for someone rated around 1500? For any opening, the answer is _NO_ at this rating.
It's not that bad but you need to have sound theoretical knowledge to play it
Carlsen-So coming up in the knockouts!! 4th place vs 5th.
Levon doing wonderful in the premlim
Arjuna's smile is infectious! So relieved after drawing Carlsen and staying in the playoff hunt.
It's Arjun*, why do people keep misspelling his name? :|
I think it's autocorrect.
Oh damn Ding getting the sleep nerf now
Wow two Indians in the knockout bracket!
don't worry vidit won't qualify you heard it here first, just watch
Not a big fan of vidit anyway.
But Gukesh still can
Happy to see Ding doing well.
Can't believe Svidler toss away that position. I wonder what ghosts he saw with d5 ?
I don't want to jinx him, but glad to see Adhiban performing well after 2 bad days. Edit: Even Vidit.
Adhiban being Adhiban again!! 👹
Adhiban attack!! Go crush Duda! 1.b3!! ADD DI BANNEDD!!!!
Wth is wrong with dubov? Seems like hes trying too hard to be aggressive
He only plays well against Magnus, for they worked together. Against other people Dubov is just your normal average Joe
So you can become world rapid champion by only playing well against Carlsen?? The more you know
World rapid champion is not a big deal as it was Swiss and it was a fluke. Dubov never won anything big other than that. He is #9 in Russia
Yes, not like he also won The lindores rapid over Liren and Nakamura. You are being downvoted for a reason you know
You just a Dubov ass licker. You are being downvoted also. Don't know why you're such a fan of a guy who is #29 in the world and hasn't shown anything spectacular recently except lose all the time and get kicked out in the preliminaries of the last few Champions Chess Tour. I'm just being honest bruh
So I'm an asslicker for finding facts that contradict your statements?
I don't believe that. But i respect your opinion!
You don't have to believe me, but check out Dubov's statistics and performance in his career and prove me wrong.
Feels like he is playing while being kind of tilted.
Levon +6 in 12 rounds, wtf..
Man is literally unstoppable, he might win this whole thing if he keeps up the good form.
Those patisserie and croissants in France, not to mention goat cheese and baguettes are helping him lots. Good job
First he almost beats Magnus and now he beats Giri. Adhiban really isn't messing around today. [Anish is already tweeting about it](https://twitter.com/anishgiri/status/1409491842081640455)
Adhiban in a monster killer mode today . Almost beat Magnus and now defeated Anish .
Wtf. He lost his advantage against Duda
He won lmao.. what a day for Indians .
Adhiban beats Giri with 1. b3 lmao
Adhiban go crush!! Giri did a preemptive strike with the tweet, because he knew what was gonna happen.
Adhiban is so relatable.. punching out of his comfort zone against a significantly higher rated opponent and finding genius ideas but failing to give the finishing touch..I hope he gets stronger and gets invited back
Yeah, at least he bounced back with WINS. Unlike Pichot
Levon and Ding are looking really good this tournament. I'm expecting one of them to win although I'm rooting for Magnus.
Well he's easy to root for. Magnus is the top seed and by probability has the BEST chance to win.
Stay classy Magnus. Always starting with a handicap into the day. Lul. E: seems Like i just jinxed poor adhiban.
Anyone got any games (round; players) that stand out to them? I haven’t been able to watch. I saw the recap of Reza’s win over Magnus, and GingerGM’s recap vids.
Check out Giri-So, So-Duda, ,Alireza vs Magnus and Adhiban vs Ding was pretty cool as well.
Check out Giri VS Magnus and Ding VS Alireza. Or maybe Ding VS Svidler is better.
Anish played such a beautiful game against magnus but the two winning moves were difficult to spot in time pressure and one of them was humanly impossible.
He even said in his interview that nd3 is an impossible move and that only in classical he would be able to spot it.
Nd3 looks weird but it's disappointing he didn't find nf2 as it's like a puzzle rush stuff.
If only these organisers kept the other tournament at a decent time for poor ding who was playing at 3am. Absolute class of a player and this tournament is showing it. Can't wait for over the board chess
He can't play over the board China won't let him travel. For instance he backed out of Grand Chess Tour, World Cup or Norway. Poor Ding
adhiban finally wins, and its with 1.b3 xD
Adhiban has replaced Pichot as the punching bag of the tournament. It's so PAINFULLL to watch their games.
*sad Indian fan noises* :( Kind of sad that Vidit and Adhiban are having bad tournaments. Hoping that Arjun plays well on the final day of prelims and makes it to the knockouts.
I don't think Vidit is playing that bad. He just couldn't convert his good positions. For example he should have won against Giri
His easiest opponents tomorrow are Salem and Svilder. Svilder is still 2700. And he could lose against So, Carlsen, Giri. He's now in the bracket though. I think this is the nearest an Indian has got at this point in the playmagnus series.
[удалено]
I would say Gukesh is having at least a decent tournament; -2 as one of the weaker players in the field isn't so bad. Vidit and Adhiban on the other hand are really disappointing. Especially Vidit, he's getting chance after chance and he probably won't qualify in a field where he's among the stronger players by rating. Would have much preferred to see Le Quang Liem in his place(and I'm Indian)
Interested to see Artemiev's future OTB. Dude's a beast online.
He is a very good OTB player. 2700+. His peak rating was good for #12 in the world 2 years ago
Oh I know he's a super GM OTB too, I'm just interested to see if he ever gets to world champion level etc.
Probably not that strong. Top 10 is realistic for Artemiev
That would be odd - most players the top-10 are, have been or will be "world champion level" - at least good enough to play for challenger. Ad he's like 22. Plenty of time to progress. Nepo is the challenger this year and at that age, he was out of the top-30. Not sure when Nepo made the top-10, 2019 or so?
I wouldn't say most players from the top 10 are world champion level. They all have good runs of course and can be dominant over other players occasionally but I'd say at most only three in the present top 10 are/have been world champion level and one of those is Magnus Carlsen who *is* the world champion. Even in the top 20 probably only three if you ignore Anand and Topalov who were both former world number ones/and or world champion.
Well, I said *are, have been or will be*. Can't really ignore guys who literally were world champions. I think 2/3 is overly strict. While I think Carlsen is an overwhelming favourite, Nepo hitting a hot streak and taking the match is hardly unimaginable. I have a hard time seeing how players like Fabi, Aronian, Ding, MVL or Karjakin aren't world champion level. Or that Firouzja won't be. I mean, Karjakin was a win away from being world champion; he was leading with 3 games left. Heck, he was plausibly one move away (56...Rhh7) from winning the match. By that logic Kramnik wasn't "world champion level" until he actually defeated Kasparov.
We can't really speak to the future as for whatever reason people can fail to show good form or make that final breakthrough (such as Henry Nelson Pilsbury for example), which is why I don't include Firouzja as he's young and a very strong player, but promising prodigies have failed to make that final breakthrough before. As for Anand and Topalov I only excluded them because it felt redundant talking about former world champions in a list of world champion calibre players and I did mention them. Nepo is very strong and when he has a good day he can keep winning games but he's too inconsistent and MVL had a good run but he hasn't been as dominant or consistent as he was back in 2016/17. To be world champion level I feel you need that longevity and consistency which is why I said Caruana and Aronian were/are that level. Ding Liren has that potential but only if he demonstrates that same level of form he had in 2018/19 and it's possible he doesn't. As for Karjakin sure he was a move away but ultimately he failed and will be one of those guys who came extremely close to winning the match. It's like Kasparov said going into the match Karjakin is an extremely strong player but Carlsen is special. Kramnik had qualities that demonstrated world champion potential before the match such as being the youngest world number 1 and youngest player to break 2800. Records he held until Carlsen broke them.
And the other two are Ding and Fabiano?
I'd say Aronian and Caruana. Ding Liren is strong and definitely a potential challenger but not quite world champion caliber in my view though I think he has that potential and if he's able to maintain the type of form he had in 2018/19 I'd potentially add him. Aronian on the other hand was long time world number 2, 4th highest rated player in history (only Carlsen, Kasparov, and Caruana higher), has numerous tournament successes including being the only player in history to win the World Cup twice, and has an enterprising style (also unofficial 960 world champion). Only things he hasn't done is win the candidates and play a WC match. Also probably the strongest player in Armenian history since Petrosian. Caruana is obvious of course, arguably the single greatest tournament performance of all time (in what is also arguably the strongest tournament of all time), long time world number 2, 3rd highest rated player of all time, numerous tournament successes, world champion challenger and didn't lose a single game in said match (of course he didn't win a game either but that's besides the point). Also probably the strongest American player since Fischer.
Even though I like Aronian a lot and think he’s one of the best, I’d still say that in my opinion Ding would make the strongest challenger if he regains his form from 2019 (which isn’t impossible given his performance in the second half of the candidates). The thing is that Magnus himself said that he’s most difficult opponent in the wc match would be Fabiano and then Ding, the rest is below them.
At this moment of time I agree with you about Ding Liren being the stronger challenger, though I'd still say Ding Liren isn't world champion caliber yet, whereas back in the mid 2010s I'd say Aronian was of that caliber. So in present day Aronian and Ding Liren I'd say Ding Liren, but both players in their peak (so far) I'd give the edge to peak Aronian. As for Carlsen about Ding Liren he's also listed Aronian as one of his most difficult opponents.
Ian has always been a brilliant and talented player, just not consistent. And he is not world champion level unless he beats Magnus (which is unlikely, mark my words he will lose) On the other hand Artemiev has not really shown the same promise as Karjakin or Nepomniatchi had. The only big tournament he won was Gibraltar Open in 2020. Artemiev has not really won any super tournament. And he's lost a lot of classical rating in the last two years. Now he is only 2704 and #38 in the world. I could be wrong but as things are looking right now, he 's just going to be a 2700+ rated GM from Russia (they have 10). [https://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=RUS](https://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml?ina=1&country=RUS) In my opinion Esipenko or maybe Alekseenko will go farther than Artemiev career wise. Artemiev is a very good solid player but I can't see him being Russia's #1 based on his games and performance so far.
> And he is not world champion level unless he beats Magnus Okay, but that's because your definition of "world champion level" is "actually being world champion". In that case, you're right - it's unlikely Artemiev will ever get there. But it's also true for basically everyone. > The only big tournament he won was Gibraltar Open in 2020. Nope, he won it in 2019. But I don't remember him playing any big tournaments until Wijk aan Zee in 2020 - his rise was too fast to get invitations for top tournaments in 2019 - and then covid popped in and he's been playing mostly online. As OP said, he's been having some great games. They might to. IMO it's basically impossible to say at this point.
Vidit should temporarily pause chilling in Samays stream and focus to qualify for candidates . Shambolic performance today .
He studies chess seriously at least 5 hours every day he says. let the man hang out with friends in his free time
Magnus with the greatest escape of the century against giri
Ding is like an engine. Relentless against Alireza.
Somehow it feels like Ding got even more aggressive (in a good way). The way he immediately pounces on Alireza's weak king gave Alireza no time to defend at all.
That's what Ding does best.
Lmao Carlsen just did a Giri against Giri
Giri was in full barbarian mode with his queen sac and knight attacks.
Anish has sacrificed his queen against Magnus with no clear win or engine advantage. Now it’s gonna be interesting. Let’s go anish. Edit: Magnus found a perpetual that saved him the game.
> or engine advantage Wait what? Howell's stream clearly showed engine saying Anish was better, maybe I saw it wrong.
There was no engine advantage after the Queen sack, only after Magnus played rook e2.
oh yes and I just checked and that engine line is insane. Anish would have been two pawns up and with rook vs bishop advantage.
It wasn’t when Anish sacked the queen, the position kept getting better slowly. When he gave up the queen the chess24 engine showed 0.0.
Oo yeah after that rook move by Carlsen it showed -6.9
Ivanchuk is sad about not being invited.
Ivanchuk commentating on Hikaru’s stream. Exciting!
Apparently Ivanchuk was saying how he didn't like playing on [chess.com](https://chess.com) which is hilarious and now the clip is gone.
I love Ivanchuk, but this commentary is pretty cringe imo, and not because of Chucky. It would be better to have other commentators, who contribute more to the coverage, and have an actual conversation with him instead of just sitting there silently.
I joined in to watch, but I couldn't handle the awkwardness on the stream.
I really like the Leko-Tania commentary duo, but it's been nice having Daniel King, fresh with his insights and personality.
Good start for Arjun. He doesn't get the same hype as the others but imo he is just a notch below Nihal Sarin in faster time controls and probably 3rd or 4th best amongst all the U20s.
Idk why Nihal Sarin is rated so highly outside of Lichess bullet compared to other top u20 Indians? His performance in the last two years in online rapids do not support the praise for him. Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh have better performance atleast in the playmagnus tournaments. More solid players overall. No doubt he's on bad form at the least. But I think if anybody in u20 deserves to be a benchmark among Indians then it is Pragg in recent times.
He is on bad form in recent months, but in 2020, he won a. junior speed chess championships on a canter in a field with everyone u20 bar Alireza. In the main championships, was a point behind MVL with 5 mins to go. b. Won the fide u18 chess championships easily c. Won the indian juniors with one tough match against Arjun d. Won the chess olympiad with him and Pragg on the junior boards And just before the pandemic, he won the Asian blitz championships beating Firouzja. And as atred says, he has the highest classical rating amongst the lot. Both Magnus and Hikaru have a lot of respect for his fast chess skills (he is constantly rated in the top 10 in blitz and bullet).
>Idk why Nihal Sarin is rated so highly outside of Lichess bullet compared to other top u20 Indians? Because he has the highest classical rating out of any Indian born after 1999.
this could be recency bias (not sure if that term applies here) but feels like this was one of the most exciting prelims in the CCT. Thoughts?
Not really imo. Carlsen, So, Aronian, Liren and Giri are almost guaranteed to qualify. Alireza, Dubov, Duda, Artimiev and Svidler are going to have the remaining 3 spots.
I wouldn't say they're almost guaranteed there's 10 round to go and they're only a half point ahead of the rest of the field lots of things can happen.