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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Yes good question. What was Magnus doing? Was that sac a world champion blunder or was he in a provacative mood?
Perhaps he just had a feeling that he could be that outrageous and not be taken to task for it (not arrogance, more like an experiment?)
Often you hear him describing a position as 'unclear' - meaning (I think) complex enough that I feel confident in my ability to find my way,
and just as confident my opponent is more likely to lose they way. I really think he occasionally thinks exactly along those lines and says
"what the hell? why not? I'm the world champion after all..."
Perhaps he just had a feeling that he could be that outrageous and not be taken to task for it (not arrogance, more like an experiment?)
Often you hear him describing a position as 'unclear' - meaning (I think) complex enough that I feel confident in my ability to find my way,
and just as confident my opponent is more likely to lose they way. I really think he occasionally thinks exactly along those lines and says
"what the hell? why not? I'm the world champion after all..."
Just saw a tweet that Carlsen has resigned against Naiditsch and 'looks quite cross with himself' (Mark Crowther from TWIC) ...
I guess Magnus knows now that he might have gone off on a tangent... c'est la vie.
- Another question that comes to mind is whether Magnus won some sort of bet by playing Bxg4
(Tarjei Svensen (tweet)) - Carlsen may be in trouble again now. What a roller-coaster of a game.
(Jan Gustafsson (tweet)) – “This seems as good a time as any to mention that
my score against Arkadij Naiditsch is 4/5”
- Ultimately, Magnus resigns. Great day for German chess; Naiditsch beating the World Champion. Congratulations!
- Naiditsch: "It's a nice feeling of course to beat the strongest chess player in the world"
________
(ChessBase) – “An exciting round in Baden-Baden, though one that was strange to say the least. The highlight is clearly Carlsen's loss against Naiditsch, which came with a number of surprises. First was the fact that the World Champion sacrificed a piece for no compensation, and that despite the fact that he outplayed Naiditsch after that he misplayed the endgame horribly. Only half a year after the Tromso Olympiad Arkadij Naiditsch is able to defeat the number one player in the World... again!
Carlsen looked fed up with himself at the end and didn't attend the press conference.
Meanwhile Aronian handled his position very strangely, allowing Caruana a win without the Italian doing anything special. Baramidze simply imploded by missing a cute trick.”
Headline in VG Sport (Norway) – Carlsen – Shocking Move – Lost Game
An extract of the account written in Norwegian-sports-speak:
And for a long time so it would appear that the 29-year-old German was supposed to check in to the victory, but at the time control at the 40. Naiditsch to fritter the advantage away.
Thus, Carlsen press German back and slowly, but surely, the 24-year-old managed to force Naiditsch into an ending that seemed to end in a draw.
But in the known Magnus Carlsen-style, the world champion was not content with sharing points. He went aggressively to force Naiditsch to his knees.
The game had been going on for over six hours as Carlsen stood up from the board, took a small walk and sat back down in front of Naiditsch. Carlsen stood ready for the loss.
After six hours and six minutes stretched Carlsen hand over the board and thanked him for the game. Then he threw his notebook over the pieces in front of them.
_______
Another account: Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen gave not a single comment after the loss of the German Arkady Naiditsch in the big tournament in Germany on Wednesday.
The Norwegian world champion was, according to TV-2 so mad at himself that he would not stand for any interview after the humiliating loss.
The 29-year-old German is ranked number 43 in the world, but with the white pieces, he was able to put the Norwegian world champion under hard pressure.
Magnus takes up the Dutch Stonewall. Move 31 was the critical point of the game. It was impossible to stop the a pawn, so White tried 32. Rd7, which loses by force.
(Nigel Short (tweet)) – Playing the Stonewall is an addiction. It’s like being on crack..”
(Jonathan Tisdall (tweet)) – I have a soft spot for the Stonewall. When it’s good, it’s great. But when it’s bad, it hurts for days.
(Daniel Gormally (tweet)) – Sad end for Vishy – Rd7?? Was very strange.
- He spent 52 seconds on Rd7
Carlsen – I think he had a way to draw but he didn’t see it. I guess the previous round just goes to show that when you play riskily – sacrifice material – you should follow it up by playing well. I have 2 out of 3 white’s left. I am positive about my chances.
Name: David Baramidze
Age: 26
Nationality: German
World ranking: No. 236
David Baramidze is Germany’s youngest national team player and belongs to the ranks of those who will shape the future of German chess. David grew up in Tbilisi (Georgia) and learned to play chess from his father. His silver medal at the U16 World Championship in Heraklion in 2004 stands out. In the same year FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title at the age of 16.
David’s family emigrated to Dortmund when he was ten. He received support, including the chance to play a match against experienced Women’s Grandmaster Alisa Maric during the 2002 Dortmund Chess Days. Despite being only 13 years old he won 4.5:3.5.
In 2007 he shared third place in the formidable European Championship in order to qualify for the World Cup. In the first round of that event he was paired against none other than Nigel Short. After two classical games the score was 1:1, so they played rapid tiebreakers on the following day. David managed to sleep through the beginning of the first 25-minute game and made it to the board only two minutes before his time ran out. Nevertheless, he beat his much higher-rated opponent in blitz mode. In Round 2, however, he lost 1:5-0:5 to Cuban star Leinier Dominguez.
In the following years Baramidze stalled somewhat, but once again he’s on the rise and in May 2014 he reached a new peak rating of 2619. His reward was an invitation to the 2014 Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, although he suffered in a world-class field. Things went better in the 2014 GRENKE Chess Classic, where second place behind Arkadij Naiditsch qualified him for a place in the 2015 edition.
Edward Winter recently said this about live chess broadcasts on the Internet:
“Technical, logistical and analytical mishaps will always occur, but a nimble, unflappable commentator takes them in his stride and may even exploit them for additional entertainment. A key reason why the broadcasts are enjoyable is that the broadcasters so obviously enjoy them. The whole genre of live commentary is ideally suited to the Internet and, by some miracle, it is provided free of charge. Having mentioned at the start of these observations that five hosts stand out, we name them, in alphabetical order: Jan Gustafsson, Daniel King, Yannick Pelletier, Yasser Seirawan and Nigel Short.”
And we have Jan and Nigel as our commentators today. The players get along with them quite easily and the after-game analyses go smoothly.
This was a line that Aronian lost from Carlsen (playing White) at Wijk aan Zee a few weeks ago. It is said that 24. e4! was a bolt from the blue, winning the game.
Aronian is in the top ten again.
Jan says that Nigel said the other day that they should get rid of the grandmaster title. Levon affirms that he was the youngest Armenian ever to get the grandmaster title when he won it at 17. Nigel says there should be other qualifications for becoming a GM, like showing that you can knot a tie!
Baden-Baden
Round 5, Feb. 7, 2015
Carlsen, Magnus – Baramidze, David
C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer, Borisenko Variation
The sponsor of this tournament is Wolfgang Grenke, born in 1951, Chairman of the Board of the GRENKELEASING AG and lives in Baden-Baden. He is not only the successful businessman with approximately 900 employees in 27 countries, he is also a promoter, sponsor, and philanthropist in the fields of chess, music, school, art and culture in appearance.
Other Tweets
Natalia Pogonina – Happy 89th birthday to GM and acclaimed concert pianist Mark Taimanov.
Natalia Pogonina – The oldest living GMs in the world – 1. Averbakh (1922); Taimanov (1926); 3. Benko (1928); 4. Bisguier (1929); 5-6 Matanovic, Krogius (1930)
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Sunday, 8th February, 2015, 02:12 AM.
Magnus Carlsen and Jan Gustafsson are the commentators.
Caruana-Carlsen is a Berlin. The guys talk about the Berlin for drawing and then, the Petroff. Jan then makes the statement about the Petroff not being all that great for Vladimir Kramnik, even at the heat of his powers. There would be 90% draws and 10% losses. This makes Nigel stop and repeat Jan’s statement, “ Kramnik at the heat of his powers” rather than height of his powers.
Jan says, “I do know the difference. The Miami Height is a horrible basketball team.” Groans from the spectators.
A tweet asked if there are chess groupies? Nigel says they do exist but that is all he wants to say about that.
Later they discussed places to emigrate if they wanted to – Switzerland and Norway were the two most expensive places. Nigel says that Syria was affordable and India. He is playing in a tournament in India next month, in Calcutta.
All this shows that the chess is not too exciting and so the guys are more or less just filling in broadcast time.
After the break they talk about Baramidze’s woes in this tournament and the book Grandmaster Chess Strategy: What Amateurs Can Learn from Ulf Andersson's Positional Masterpieces, (2011) by Jurgen Kaufeld and Guido Kern. With an ice storm going on outside and chess on my computer screen inside, it seems like just the book I would like to have at the moment!
Nigel says he has read the above book and thinks that Carlsen has too. And with not too much going on they discuss the chessbooks of Jacob Aagaard and John Watson. Nigel opines that Quality is a quality chess publisher. That is where the titles in Aagaard’s Grandmaster Preparation are coming from. Jacob is a pretty decent writer.
Other than John Watson’s opening books, Jan likes the two on chess strategy (Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy and Chess Strategy in Action). He thinks very deeply about what he is writing. He gives a lot of thought to his ideas. Nigel doesn’t often agree with him but he is worth listening to before rejecting his theses!
Caruana comes in to describe his draw with Carlsen. Magnus comes in a few minutes later and Nigel says that he knows his place and will b****r off! The guys have a very friendly analysis with Jan looking on. It appears to have been equal all the way.
Baden-Baden
Round 6, Feb. 8, 2015
Caruana, Fabiano – Carlsen, Magnus
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin, Open Variation
There are tripled pawns in Bacrot-Naiditsch and Nigel calls it the Irish pawn centre. He says that he is going to play at the famous drinking tournament, the Bunratty – a damn good weekend in the west of Ireland. Wesley So is going to be introduced to Guinness there. The tourney is not FIDE rated – some players knock back a pint or two while playing!
(Bunratty Chess Festival – February 20 to 22, 2015 with Wesley So, Gawain Jones, Nigel Short etc)
Baden-Baden
Round 6, Feb. 8, 2015
Aronian, Levon – Adams, Michael
A29 English, Bremen, Smyslov System
Nigel quotes some comments to the players made by Caruana and Carlsen when they looked at Bacrot-Naiditsch at the end of their press conference. Rather intimidating I would have thought. Etienne has Magnus as his opponent in the final round.
Jan and Nigel talk about good vacation weekend tournaments and mention the Thailand Open, the Bunratty and falter trying to give a third, mentioning Hawaii this year as a possibility.
(WWCC Hou Yifan, Gareev, Shankland at Hawaii Chess Festival, March 12-22, 2015 centred at the Hilton Waikiki Beach)
Lovely, seemingly naïve quote from Jan today: "It's hard to keep track of everything that's happening on the internet - it's a big place - but it is all true.”
Adams-Anand, Naiditsch-Aronian, Carlsen-Bacrot and Baramidze-Caruana.
Some On-line Comments
- There is a good chance of having 6 players tied with 4 points after the last round. In this case, how the matches among them would be organized?
- I find the tiebreak rules both strange and unclearly written, i.e. first tiebreak is number of wins ... if the top players can't be separated there's a playoff match. To begin with it could be interpreted as if it's only a match if the top players can't be separated by the tiebreak. And how do they play a match if for example Carlsen and Naiditsch draw while Caruana beats Baramidze (not too unlikely) and three players share first? Given the time controls one tiebreak match could take 1.5 hour, and what if for example Caruana beats Carlsen who beats Naiditsch who beats Caruana? Considering that the last round starts as late as the other rounds and the tiebreak might start first around 9 in the evening or something like that, these rules seem both quite tough and unclear for the players.
- It just goes to show that there are number of players like Naiditsch who would make the grade if they had the self-belief and the determination and resources that Carlsen has. Carlsen has not shown himself to be head and shoulders above everybody as his rating would suggest although he could well win the tournament.
- His performance rating is only about 7 points under his rating, so I don't see how he's not doing his rating justice here...
- How did Baramidze get into this tournament? Doesn't Germany have stronger players?"
Yes, it does, but Adolf Anderssen couldn´t play this tournament
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Monday, 9th February, 2015, 12:09 AM.
Reason: added Hawaii Chess Festival
Nigel predicts that the irresistible force Carlsen will overcome the immovable object Bacrot today. Etienne has drawn all his games so far. Naiditsch has the white pieces against Aronian and he will want to push and impress in this game. Aronian has not looked in good form in this tournament. Caruana is half a point behind, against Baramidze and he may eviscerate him. Nigel says that he was once played GM Slavoljub Marjanovic in Belgrade in 1987. It was in the 11th round; Marjanovic had a score of 0.5 out of 10. Nigel had the white pieces and kept looking at him and saying to himself, why don’t you blunder like you have been against everyone else. And Nigel was outplayed and lost. It is not easy playing against a tail ender in the last round.
Mickey Adams is playing the Catalan today. Jan says that the English all play the same odd openings like the Sicilian Grand Prix Attack and the English Attack. Nigel says that people are always influenced by the people around them. In Georgia, for instance, everyone plays the Caro Kann. If you don’t play the Caro Kann, they will take away your passport!
Jan says that Magnus is in no mood to fool around today, he is playing the Torre Attack named after the Mexican GM.
If there is a tie for first place there will be playoffs later on. Nigel doesn’t mind, as long as he gets his dinner.
Peter Svidler comes on via Skype from St. Petersburg. He joins the analysis of the games. When there is a discussion about “h” pawns, Peter mentions a Fischer game where Bobby touched his h pawn to move it to h6, realized it could be taken, so moved to h5. A tweet informs the guys that the game was Unzicker-Fischer, Buenos Aires, 1960. Peter says that he remembers the diagram in the book, How to Beat Bobby Fischer by Edmar Mednis (in Russian). It was his first proper chess book and he tore it to shreds with multiple rereadings. This was awkward because the book belonged to a colleague of his father at work and was borrowed and couldn’t be returned.
Fischer wrote about this game in Chess Life, July 1963:
"In this position, at Buenos Aires, 1960, Unzicker played against me 12. Qg3. I hope that none of my readers will make the move that I did in reply: 12...h5 . I touched the pawn, intending 12...h6 – and noticed, just in time, that White could play Bxh6. So I had to play the meaningless ...h5, which weakened my king-side and I eventually lost."
Jan asks Peter how his tournament in Gibraltar went.
Peter says that the tourney was well-organized. He has a Grand Prix in less than a week in Tbilisi. The plan was to go to Gib, do well in the first half, then take a bye. He got 4/5, had the break and in Round Eight was totally winning against Hou Yifan and missed two wins in one move and drew. It was a crucial half point at the end of the tournament. After not winning that game, it all kind of wound down.
Tbilisi is on Feb. 14 to 28. It was scheduled for Tehran but passport issues etc made FIDE move it. The other players are: Grischuk, MVL, Giri, Dominguez, Mamedyarov, Jakovenko,(Svidler), Andreikin, Radjabov, Jobava, Kasimdzhanov and Tomashevsky so, none of the players from Baden-Baden.
Magnus’s trainer, the Danish GM Peter Heine Neilsen, comes in. He worked with Vishy Anand at one time and now with Magnus, a younger blond! Paco Vallejo tweets the guys asking, “Is there any rational explanation why Lev Aronian is not playing at his best lately?” Nigel says that when you are always number 2, it is the World Championship that is important. Aronian hasn’t managed it and maybe he is a bit of a choker in these big events and he is disappointed. Nigel says that Levon is not that young any more – early thirties. From his own career, Nigel said he was in the top ten for ten years and the last time was when he was 32. There is a slight decline and it is not always possible to arrest that decline. With a great work ethic you can stave this off – like Boris Gelfand and Vasily Ivanchuk. Nigel is not suggesting that this is the end of the road for Aronian but maybe this disappointment is starting to get to him.
The guys think that Carlsen and Naiditsch have lost their winning chances going on 4.5 hours. A punster tweets that “at least Carlsen will not be back row (Bacrot) mated”.
Jonathan Tisdall (tweet) – Carlsen seems to have gone from winning to the only one of the games that is clearly drawn.
Mark Crowther (tweet) - This might even be the most interesting round of Baden-Baden. All 4 games still going past move 40.
Aronian says that he has been lucky over the last three games. He says, “I think my opponent played well and I played badly. Let’s sum up with that”. Naiditsch is now excused from the analyses because he will have a playoff game. Aronian jokes with the guys about “h” pawns and rook and pawn endgames. There are a few words about the colour of shirt to wear when playing and then Levon leaves.
Baden-Baden
Round 7, Feb. 9, 2015
Adams, Michael – Anand, Vishy
E05 Catalan, Open, Classical Line
They talk about Grischuk, where he is playing next. A tweet comes through saying that Grischuk passed up Wijk aan Zee allegedly because it was difficult for him to smoke between the rounds. They had a tent there and the arbiter would accompany you.
Baden-Baden
Round 7, Feb. 9, 2015
Baramidze, David – Caruana, Fabiano
A39 Reti/English, Symmetrical, Main Line Knight Exchange
At move 70 White has N and h pawn and Black has four pawns. After 71. Nd2 Black has a stellar move if only he can find it – 71…Kd4. He doesn’t and the position goes to equality. Stockfish found (71... Kd4 72. Kc6 Kd3 73. Nf3 Ke3 74. Ne5 f3 75. Nc4+ Ke2 76. Nd6 Kd3 77. Nf7 f2 78. Ne5+ Ke3 79. Kd6 f1=Q 80. Ke7 Qf5 81. Nc4+ Ke2 82. Nd6 Qc5 83. Kd7 Qd4 84. Ke7 e5 85. Nf7 Qxh4+ 86. Kf8 e4 87. Kg7 Qg3).
This message is put up on the website:
A playoff match will be played to determine first place. The games will begin 15 minutes AFTER the END of Round 7, and will be live here.
Short and Gustafsson are the commentators with Lev Aronian adding remarks off-camera.
There are two rapid games and two blitz games, if necessary.
(The Reg. - In case of a tie for first place: 2 games with 10 min + 2 sec a move; then if needed 2 games with 5 min + 2 sec a move; finally a game with 6 min for White and 5 min for Black + 2 sec a move (in case of a draw Black wins))
Baden-Baden
Play Off Game 1
February 9, 2015
Carlsen, Magnus – Naiditsch, Arkadij
E11 Bogo-Indian Defence, Grunfeld Variation
Fabiano Caruana comes in to help with the analyses. He mentions his endgame just finished and Nigel asks, “Would you have won it on a cylindrical chessboard?”
The guys joke around and suddenly look at the board and find that Naiditsch has beaten Carlsen, they having played their last two-dozen moves at lightning speed.
Baden-Baden
Play Off Game 2
February 9, 2015
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Carlsen, Magnus
C49 Four Knights, Symmetrical, Pillsbury Variation
It is 11:30 at night and the guys say they are hungry. Unfortunately they talk about a rock band from England called Humble Pie. Peter Svidler tweets that they are giving some of the most brilliant commentary ever.
Baden-Baden
Play Off Game 4
February 9, 2015
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Carlsen, Magnus
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, Open Variation
Since the match is still undecided, a final Armageddon game will be played. Carlsen has six minutes and Naiditsch, five minutes. If Carlsen wins, he wins the tournament, if he draws or loses, he loses.
Baden-Baden
Play Off Game 5
February 9, 2015
Carlsen, Magnus – Naiditsch, Arkadij
B91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb (Fianchetto) Variation
Jonathan Tisdall (tweet) – Finally! Congrats to the champ and maybe even bigger applause to Naiditsch. Fantastic drama and a knack for plaguing MC.
Natalia Pogonina (tweet) – Very impressed with my friend Arkadij’s performance: beats the World Champion, ties in rapid and blitz, loses only on Armageddon!
Peter Svidler (tweet) - Horribly sad to be missing out on some of the most brilliant chess commentary in ages. Well done - wish I was there
Peter Svidler (tweet) - For what it's worth, Grischuk, who knows a thing or two about blitz, always picks White in Armaggedon games
- This tournament was really exciting, these playoffs with all GMs commentating was fantastic!!! Thanks baden baden for making that happen!
And who is this Naiditsch guy?! Excellent, made Carlsen really suffer to get the win. At one time seemed to me that Carlsen was more nervous than him!
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 10th February, 2015, 01:36 AM.
The 4 top seeds at Baden-Baden all lost rating points. Carlsen shed 2.1, Caruana 1.5 (which also gives Grischuk the #2 ranking), Anand a whopping 15.0, and Aronian 2.8 (which drops him to #11).
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