If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
An interesting chessgames.com stat is that Natalija Pogonina has neither beaten nor lost to a Muzychuk in 6 career opportunities, 5 draws with Anna (including a 154-mover!) and 1 with Mariya. Being strictly a 1.e4 player, at least Natalija won't have to contend with Mariya's wont Dutch Defence. Harika Dronavalli opened with 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 today but Mariya replied in both cases with 1. ...f5, heading to her beloved Dutch Defence (with a win and a draw).
Nalalija has White in game 1 of 4 (on Thursday) and is the slight betting favourite for the opening game at 9/4. Mariya is 4/1 with Black, with 5/6 draw odds. No match odds as yet but Mariya will clearly be the betting favourite.
Last edited by Jack Maguire; Tuesday, 31st March, 2015, 03:38 PM.
An interesting chessgames.com stat is that Natalija Pogonina has neither beaten nor lost to a Muzychuk in 6 career opportunities, 5 draws with Anna (including a 154-mover!) and 1 with Mariya. Being strictly a 1.e4 player, at least Natalija won't have to contend with Mariya's wont Dutch Defence. Harika Dronavalli opened with 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 today but Mariya replied in both cases with 1. ...f5, heading to her beloved Dutch Defence (with a win and a draw).
Nalalija has White in game 1 of 4 (on Thursday) and is the slight betting favourite for the opening game at 9/4. Mariya is 4/1 with Black, with 5/6 draw odds. No match odds as yet but Mariya will clearly be the betting favourite.
In an article on Susan Polgar's blog, http://www.susanpolgar.blogspot.ca/2...r-spot-in.html
there is this statement:
"In the recent years, Natalia Pogonina plays 1.d4 more frequently, however,
today she needed to win on demand, and went for the more aggressive 1.е4."
so perhaps only Natalia knows what she will play in the final round...
She seems to have better control over her nerves and has demonstrated tremendous tenacity so
I would have to think she is the favourite over Muzychuk. I'm afraid neither player stands much
of a chance against Hou Yifan. [all of this my opinion of course]
Funny, 2 players I played in Gibraltar 2 months ago, lost in semi-finals (Harika and Cramling).
For some reason, players from Russia and Ukraine do very well in this kind of tournament (Open and Women). I remember finals Kramnik-Andreikin, Svidler-Grischuk last 2 World Cups. It was Ivanchuk-Ponomarev final 15 years ago. Uchenina won the previous women event.
There have been some instructive endgames in the event. I will list a couple of them here.
One is the Rook and pawn endgame played by the Swedish GM Pia Cramling, in a winning effort against WGM Natalija Pogonina. GM Cramling eventually lost the match but was smiling even in defeat. Good on her.
On the first day of the Semifinals we saw one of the best games of the championship. The level of play demonstrated by Cramling in a rook ending with Pogonina meets the highest standards. This game can easily be included into endgame manuals, and studying it will benefit chess players of any level.
Pia followed the "don't rush!" principle rigorously. Natalia did not commit any major mistakes, she just made a couple of inaccurate moves after the opening. She thought passive defense can bring her the desired draw, but underestimated the resources and craftiness of her skilled opponent. Pia's victory was absolutely logical.
78.Qg6+ [Better is 78.h6 which is just winning outright. 78...Qd1+ 79.Kh2 Qf3 80.h7 Qxf2+ 81.Kh3 Qf1+ 82.Kh4 Qh1+ 83.Kg5 Qc1+ 84.Kg6 Qc6+ 85.Qf6 ... and no more checks.]
The game continued: 78...Ke7 79.Qg5+ Kf7 80.h6 Qd1+ 81.Kg2 Qd5+ 82.Kh2 Qf3
83.Qe3?? White has the win in her back pocket to this point. Now Black miraculously saves the draw. [Better by far was 83.Qg7+ Ke6 84.h7 Qxf2+ 85.Kh3 Qe1 86.Qg6+ Ke7 87.Qxf5; Even 83.Qd2 Kg6 84.Qd6+ Kh7 85.Kg1 Qg4 86.Qf6 looks winning]
Despite the fact that Nalalija is the slight betting favourite with White in game one tomorrow, Mariya is a rather solid favourite to win the match, 63/100 vs 6/5.
Looks like Natalija Pogonina (the comeback kid) vs Marija Muzychuk (the little sister) in the finals!
It appears Pogonina has lost the final match with the black pieces. She played a Ruy Lopez Breyer and was defeated by her opponent whose name escapes me at the moment. I don't really follow women's chess all that much.
The R.L. Breyer is probably not the best variation to use for such an important game. Readers are probably rolling their eyes and thinking: There he goes again. I found some info on a weakness on the net and have some information around here somewhere. Anyhow here's the link to what's on the net.
Can the comeback kid do it again when she absolutely has to?!!
While it certainly is still within the realm of possibility, Hans, only an idiot would bet Natalija to win the World Championship. I say that only because Marathon is currently offering 7/2 odds on Natalija becoming World Champion (vs 9/50 on Mariya) while giving 49/10 odds on her winning the game 4 tomorrow. Given she absolutely MUST win tomorrow's game to get to the playoffs on Monday and have any kind of chance of becoming World Champion, one should of course take the 49/10 odds and pass on those 7/2 odds (:
Kudos to Mariya for playing a piece down both yesterday (early) and today (late) and ultimately having the only winning chances in both games. Imho, we now have the 2nd best possible matchup against Yifan Hou - the only better matchup being Mariya's sister, Anna (who's dead even with Yifan in their lifetime score). Mariya couldn't have a better 2nd in her corner than Anna (:
Comment