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While I'm not the least bit surprised to see 2/7 (i.e. a $7 bet would return $9, a win of $2) draw odds on the Anand - Kramnik R1 match today given they've drawn 70 of 87 classical encounters (with Anand winning 10 of the 17 decisive games), I do note that Caruana - Nakamura have actually put up nearly identical draw numbers, 16 of 20 (with Nakamura winning 3 of the 4 decisive games) yet offer 59/100 draw odds. Moreover, given Caruana has only beaten Nakamura once in 20 opportunities, the 85/40 win odds seem rather absurd. If forced to make a win bet, I'd certainly take the 9/4 win odds on Aronian well before I'd bet Caruana at very similar odds. While Aronian has been out of form for nearly a year now, he does have a very attractive plus 9, minus 3, equal 13 record against Karjakin. I'm always going to bet the guy who's won 9/25 rather than the guy who's won 1/20 if I'm being offered tantamount odds (:
The commentators for chess24 are Jan Gustafsson and Ilja Zaragatski. The latter, born in 1985 in Leningrad, started to learn chess from his father at the age of only four. Three years later he emigrated to West Germany with his family. In his youth he played very successfully for the German team SG Bochum 31 and won the German Junior Team Championship four times. His greatest individual achievement was winning the German U18 Championship – at the age of 16.
On leaving school Ilja focused on studying Economics and Sociology at the University of Cologne, though at the same time he matured as a chess player. He gained the International Master title in 2007, and then, in the following years, successfully notched up the three Grandmaster norms required so that when his rating climbed above 2500 in 2013 he was finally awarded the Grandmaster title and, the same year, graduated from university.
The guys talk about drink companies sponsoring chess (potentially) – Red Bull, Evian Water, Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola – they are not picky, as long as it brings money to chess.
A tweet “Why don’t we ever see Grischuk at these super tournaments. He’s been in the Top 10 for years. Doesn’t he travel outside Russia?”
Ilja thinks he wasn’t at Wijk because of the cold weather. Jan says there was a rumour that he turned down Wijk because he wasn’t able to smoke during the games. He will be playing at the Grand Prix in Tbilisi. One way to keep your elo up is not to play and let the other guys lose rating points. Jan says that if he were 2810, he would never play a game again and hope for deflation in the world rankings.
Do you think Nakamura is the favorite in this tournament after winning Gibraltar?
Ilja - All the players are at the same level. Nakamura might have motivation here to breach the 2800 level. He didn’t leave a good impression in yesterday’s blitz. Anand did well in the blitz and he might be the winner.
The guys are asked why they are Germans commentating in English. They say that they are not on the scene, they are in the studios in Hamburg. Another team, Swiss-speaking Germans, is commentating in German in Zurich – Yannick Pelletier and Werner Hug.
Ilja says his favorite player from the past is Tigran V. Petrosian. When he was twelve he played against Tigran L. Petrosian, the young Armenian, born in 1984.
Two draws in the games Aronian – Karjakin and Anand-Kramnik.
Game summaries by Ramirez from the Official Site:
Aronian, Levon ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
A game that could have been so much more! On move 22 Aronian sacrificed a bishop on the kingside, ripping apart his opponent's structure and exposing the enemy king - a common motif for this line of the Meran. Things were heating up and Aronian had a key decision: continue the attack with unclear consequences or take the immediate draw by perpetual. Unfortunately for spectators he took the perpetual in what was arguably a very, very strong attack. Karjakin would have been hard pressed to fend off the threats.
Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 Nakamura, Hikaru
It is clear that in such a top level tournament a few Najdorfs will be seen, and that is something that is quite welcome! The sharp nature of this opening adds interest to any game. The h3 variation chosen by Caruana is the result of a fashionable trend from a few years back, and although it has relatively died down it is still a very positionally sound idea.
For the majority of the game, up to about move 35, Caruana held a small advantage. His pieces were just a little better placed, and it was awkward for Black to regain a pawn he had sacrificed to weaken his opponent's structure. However things started to go wrong. Almost out of nowhere Nakamura obtained strong initiative against his opponent's f2 pawn. Things were already going wrong for the Italian player when f2 dropped, but he made things even worse by running into a sudden mating attack. Nakamura is not the type of player to forgive such a situation: his rooks swiftly came down to the second rank and checkmated his opponent.
Tomorrow Kramnik-Nakamura, Karjakin-Caruana and Anand-Aronian
________
Comments Online
Jonathan Tisdall (tweet) - Congrats to Hikaru for a new personal rating record. Can’t help feeling So’s arrival has been a real spur for Naka.
- With a first round victory, this tournament will be won by Nakamura. He plays very good against the other's contestant in the lineup. However, as we all know Naka is a streaky type of player and could tighten up as he goes for 2 tournament wins in a row.
I did notice that it is the other player who is not making the best move against Naka at a critical time in the game. Topolov lost to him at the big rock in a similar manner that Caruana did in this game. It is that small difference in a game that makes the biggest difference!
- exquisitely complicated play from naka and a constant effort to keep it that way!
the najdorf was a surprise and caruana had serious time trouble moves 30-40 TC
- Nice day of chess. Caruana continues his march back to the mob and Nakamura continues his climb back to relevancy. No Carlsen here to stop him, perhaps Kramnik or Aronian can do the deed?
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Saturday, 14th February, 2015, 11:40 PM.
Caruana's draw today costs him another 0.7 FIDE points, leaving him just 0.5 points in front of Giri. Caruana has shed 48.0 FIDE points rather rapidly since his 2851.3 apex October 8, 2014.
Given the continued bad form of Aronian, and the fact that he's plus 3, minus 7, equal 23 in his career against Kramnik, I'm shocked that he's the 14/5 favourite tomorrow.
Given Caruana's less than stellar form the past 4 months, I wouldn't touch him at 85/40 either. Caruana has a plus 2, minus 1, equal 9 record against Anand.
Last edited by Jack Maguire; Sunday, 15th February, 2015, 10:18 PM.
Anand Outprepares Aronian to Join Nakamura in the Lead
by Marc Lang
Today's round saw Viswanathan Anand scoring a convincing win over Levon Aronian to become equal first together with Hikaru Nakamura. In a Grunfeld Defense, Anand played a new move including a piece sacrifice that, according to him, he prepared long time ago with an old version of the computer engine "Fritz". The Armenian was familiar with the variation, but a few moves later forgot parts of his own preparation and made an inaccuracy, after which Anand took over the initiative and left Aronian defenseless against the numerous threats.\
Kramnik vs Nakamura started as a difficult positional battle with Kramnik seemingly putting the American into a long and tough defense, but Nakamura found an imaginative queen sacrifice, after which he established a fortress with two rooks and a strong bishop preventing all white's tries to penetrate his position. Kramnik saw no better way than to enter an equal rook endgame that was drawn soon afterwards.
The last game of the day was Karjakin - Caruana, where the Italian grandmaster tried to come back into the tournament after his painful loss to Nakamura yesterday. It first appeared that he had good chances to succeed, when he forced his opponent into an ending with a strong knight and queen being a constant threat to the Russian king, but Karjakin set up a stubborn defense and after they both reached the time control, a draw was agreed.
Zurich 2015 Classical
Round 2, Feb. 15
Kramnik, Vladimir – Nakamura, Hikaru
A14 English, Neo-Catalan, with b3
There is nothing more uncomfortable in the game of chess than to be presented with a nasty surprise. Whether it is a move that you did not expect from you opponent, or a preparation that initially looks unsound, it is always difficult to know how to maneuver yourself in the resulting maze.
Anand came well prepared; a clever piece sacrifice improved on his game against the World Champion in their title match back in November. Aronian won a piece, or rather Anand sacrificed it, and the Indian obtained a dangerous initiative. Black's knight on a6 looked fragile and awkward, while White's passed pawn on d7 created immense pressure. Aronian had too many choices: even after thinking for 20+ minutes on each move starting with 19...Be4, he was unable to find a correct continuation.
When Anand recovered his piece by mounting pressure on the intrepid d7 bishop, which eliminated the passed pawn, it was clear that the game would end in a White victory. The much superior coordination and the Aronian's multiple hanging pieces gave him no chance to survive. Anand won another piece with a simple tactic and the Armenian resigned."
Anand spoke in excellent German for most of the press conference with commentators GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Werner Hug.
Everybody is playing the German commentary story up. Here from chess-news.ru:
“Then the happy winner came to the press center and commented on the game... in fluent German! Apart from English, Anand is also known to be fluent in Spanish, and now we know of one more language he possesses. Who knows, maybe once we will see him giving live commentary in Russian? Extremely talented people are usually gifted in many respects.”
Nakamura has joined Giri in the 2800 domain. They both now sport identical 2802.5 FIDE ratings. The battle for those two Candidates spots based upon rating promises to be a very exciting one.
Giri missed an opportunity in the endgame against Maxim VL when he played the naïve Kh4 and Kxh5. Ill bet he wishes he had those moves back and I expect GM Karsten Mueller to comment in his next endgame article on chessbase. Naka had a nice win against Karjakhin today (ok his opponent blundered) but stlll a nice win.
For two days there has been a rapid match between Viktor Korchnoi and Wolfgang Uhlmann. It ended today drawn at 2-2.
Chris Rice, writing in the English Chess Forum, says:
From the photos Korchnoi looks very frail indeed but even so can still do the business! Talking of playing too many games, an interesting ChessBase stat reveals that Korchnoi has played more recorded games of chess than anyone in history. Born in 1931, he has played a staggering 5106 recorded games.
One of those games where you check and if you find the right path, you draw, otherwise you lose. Karjakin remembered analysis: 15... Ne3 +? 15. correctly.. Qd2 + 16. Kb3 Qxb2 + 17. Kxc4. the position is equal, but Black then went the other way and lost.
Karjakin (tweet, after the game) - The worst way to lose a game is, when you know the line until a draw, but, can not remember how it goes and get a losing position immediately..
Jan and Lawrence are amazed that Karjakin lost in theory in 15 moves. They also say that Nakamura is the tenth person to cross the 2800 elo level.
At the press conference Hikaru is talking to Ljubomir Ljubojevic, who excitedly overtalks him. The correct line is a draw but it is hard to find the right way during the game. In any case, everyone agrees that it is quite an entertaining game for everyone but Karjakin.
The players go through a long, friendly analysis after the game. There is a lot of noise in the background, which may be comments by Ljubojevic. He is the Serbian Grandmaster, who won the Canadian Open in 1974 (Montreal).
Zurich 2015 Classical
Round 3, Feb. 16
Aronian, Levon – Kramnik, Vladimir
E06 Catalan, Open, Classical Line
The two great experts on the Catalan play. Vlad should have equalized from the opening and blamed his reply to 19. Bh3. He thought after exd5 there would be no problem but then everywhere there were difficulties and he had a long period of suffering.
At move 34. Nh4, Aronian didn’t find the best square for his knight and Kramnik escaped.
(Stronger was 34. Nh2! and White has good winning chances, e.g. 34... Qd1+ 35. Kg2 Qd4 36. Qc6 Bxe5 37. Rb5)
Eventually there was a draw and Vlad said, “It was an interesting game. I cannot say I played badly but 19…exd5 gave me nothing.”
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Monday, 16th February, 2015, 11:14 PM.
Marathon has made Anand the betting favourite (at 31/10) tomorrow against the tournament leader, Nakamura, despite the fact that he's never beaten Hikaru in 13 opportunities (4 losses and 9 draws) at classical time controls. And oddly enough, all 4 of those losses were with the White pieces which Anand will have tomorrow (:
We would have to be a little more specific about "more recorded games of chess than anyone in history". There are 204,201,058 games in the FICS database, and I'm sure that there are players with a lot more than 5,000 "recorded games" there! :-)
My initial thought was that “most recorded chess games” were tournament games by masters.
Then, I thought that the best way to classify them would be “over-the-board or correspondence games played under tournament control”.
This doesn’t specify the skill level of the players.
I don’t think that this definition would include numbers by someone who, say, played 10,000 blitz games over the Internet! Obviously I need some help here!
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