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The draw rate after 5 rounds is a rather odious 84% ):
Of the scant 4 decisive games, Topalov has been on the wrong end of 3 of them, and has dropped from number 2 in the world to number 8 in the world. There is, however, a mere 10 rating points between the 7 players clogging up those spots.
If anyone believes Carlsen can end his London 5 game draw streak tomorrow and also end his 9 game draw streak with Giri (losing the first encounter), he/she can get almost 4/1 (79/20) that he can't win with Black against Giri (:
Personally, I prefer the 63/10 odds on Aronian against Nakamura given his +11, -6, =12 score against Naka (:
Adams at 57/10 is also interesting given both the way Topalov has performed and the fact that Adams is +12, -7, =19 against Topalov (:
Nigel Short @nigelshortchess 2h2 hours ago
I would even have forgiven him for trading with Islamic State, if only he would have banned the Berlin... #LondonChess
Nigel Short continues in his wont facetious manner (:
Nigel Short @nigelshortchess 31m31 minutes ago
Nemesis. where have you been? Please punish @FabianoCaruana for his evil opening! #LondonChess #avengingGod
Nigel Short @nigelshortchess 21m21 minutes ago
@JazzCat44 Funny how Gods never listen to prayers, isn't it? There must be a reason for that, I guess...
They say the match of the day should be between the two youngsters – Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen. Anish has never lost to Magnus and takes every opportunity to playfully poke fun at him.
New in Chess brought out a slick 85-page booklet by Anish earlier this year entitled, “After Magnus – Who can dethrone the World Chess Champion?” It’s a nice little book, very collectible. The guys quote from the section about Maxime Vachier-Lagrave:
The nerdy mathematician is witty and a friendly guy too, so if you are thinking of a nice guy to root for, he would be a natural pick.
The others in the book are Caruana, So, Anand, Wei Yi, Ding Liren, Grischuk, Nakamura, Rapport and Yu Yangyi.
The guys can’t imagine either Karpov or Kasparov writing such a book about their nearest competitors.
______
The conversation drifts to Yates. Jan knows very little about him and Danny has prepped himself and says that Frederick Dewhurst Yates won the British Championship six times between 1913 and 1931.
He was always in straightened circumstances but he had the talent to be world class. He never beat Capablanca or Lasker; his victory against Alexander Alekhine at Karlsbad in 1923 won the brilliancy prize, while his win against Milan Vidmar at San Remo in 1930 was described by Alekhine as the finest game played since the war.
While the guys talk, Nigel Short keeps tweeting from Athens.
- Does playing the Berlin help you pick up girls or something? I mean, what’s the attraction?
- Nice to see Giri playing; this old line of the Spanish with an early d4. It was a favourite of Tseshkovsky’s.
- Vishy going for reversed Grand Prix Attack – warming the heart of many a club player.
______
In the last round I noticed a member of staff scanning the tables with a device that looked much like a camera. By the speed that he did it and the fact that he never focused on the players, I assumed that he was sweeping for illegal electronic devices.
He did Carlsen’s table for a few minutes this round.
_______
After three hours, MVL-Caruana is the only game finished, a draw.
Analyzing Grischuk-Anand, Jan says that Black is trying to imprison the white king with a bishop and a pawn then continues, “ but it’s not a very solid prison; you don’t have to be El Chapo to escape from this one”.
London Chess Classic
Round 6, Dec. 10, 2015
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime – Caruana, Fabiano
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, Open Variation
Anand is in trouble vs Grischuk. The guys say that there has been extensive flooding in Chennai and Anand’s wife has taken in a couple of dozen flood victims into their house. Danny says they are staying in the complex and it is incredibly generous of the Anands. Jan breaks this bubble by saying, “His computer is probably password protected in case one of the flood victims is interested in his analyses”
Mickey Adams doesn’t see that his two rooks will be forked with Topalov’s knight. Jan says that it is probably first win for Topalov and a loss for Adams.
At the postmortem Anish is asked about his Carlsen book (above). He said that the title was not his, it was part of an assignment.
He says that if you put Magnus in a title, the book sells ten times more than what it would without.
Nakamura draws with Aronian. Giri and Carlsen speak so long that the guys can’t drag in either Aronian or Nakamura, who are described as having “made a bolt for freedom”.
You have to pay for seats to watch and the hall is much less than half full of spectators. Someone says that they are all coaches and players’ families.
It looked like Topalov had Adams over a barrel but Mickey fought back to the draw. Veselin said that he made a mistake around move 40 and after that it was a draw.
The last game still going after five hours is Grischuk-Anand. The computer evaluation is that Grischuk has the better position with the connected passed pawns. The commentators are not sure if Anand can draw at move 50. A couple of weak moves by Anand and Grischuk wins the game.
In an interview after, Grischuk is asked whose computer he would like to peek at to see the analyses on it. Others have answered the question with Carlsen’s and Giri’s but Alexander thinks that Kramnik’s analyses would be the most interesting!
Round 6, Dec. 10, 2015
Grischuk, Alexander – Anand, Vishy
A20 English Opening
The online tweets are anticipating the Carlsen-Nakamura matchup tomorrow. Someone quotes Yeats: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" I take this to mean that bearded Hikaru will win but I suspect that is not the interpretation others would make!
Jan Gustafsson starts off in the chair with David Howell but says that he has to go off to play for Baden Baden tomorrow.
When you hear Baden Baden you think of the Gambit Tournament of 1914 and the International of 1925.
The Queen’s Gambit was disallowed in the former but there are lots of King’s and Evans Gambits. This ‘diluted’ tournament was won by Spielmann ahead of Tartakower and Schlechter.
Alekhine won the 1925 tournament ahead of Rubinstein, Saemisch, Bogoljubow, Tartakower, Marshall and fourteen players, including Yates.
There is a book “Alles über Schach in Baden Erinnerungen zum Jubiläum 1910 – 1985”, which will tell you probably more than you want to know about chess in Baden.
The transmission today was halted by technical problems and much of the dialogue between the commentators was initially lost.
For example, Danny King was going to show the game Yates-Reti, New York 1924 to educate Jan about the English Grandmaster, when the sound and picture disappeared and couldn’t be played back.
There was the alternative of watching the American coverage but I passed on that. It is probably best to just give the games and leave it at that.
(Tarjei Svensen) - Great commentary by Jan, and good luck reaching that 7:30 flight!
The first game to finish is Aronian over Topalov.
London Chess Classic
Round 7, Dec. 11, 2015
Aronian, Levon – Topalov, Veselin
A34 English, Symmetrical, Three Knights System
After five and a half hours Carlsen with pawns and two bishops is playing against Nakamura’s two knights and pawns. There is a Brains Trust of Malcolm Pein, Danny King and David Howell explaining the variations. It is nice to have the World No. 1 playing the World No. 2 in your tournament!
(Tarjei Svensen) - Carlsen showed up 6 mins late for his game vs Naka. As far as I know he's the only one not staying at the official hotel nearby
(Tarjei Svensen) - 10 moves, and Carlsen - Nakamura still follows the rapid game Tregubov - Anand (Corsica '14) in which Anand won.
- Carlsen's dismantling of Nakamura utilizing the two bishops vs the two knights is a work of beauty!
I'm also really happy for MVL, I hope he wins this!
- Mr. Carlsen is back
- Carlsen-Nakamura was an all-time great game.
- Carlsen continues to show that he, much more than anyone else, can create problems for his opponents in positions where the defense is difficult (if not nigh impossible for mere humans).
- Kxf6 was indeed the star move by Carlsen, though I have to think he had planned it when he repeated Bb1/Be4 (and Nakamura practically provoked the whole thing by playing f6 in the first place). He slipped up with 69. f6? (wrong pawn to the sixth rank), but Nakamura returned the favor by 71... Kf8? He must have missed the idea of forking the mutually-defending knights by the king retreat Ke5-e4-e3 and thus freezing them, very nice from Carlsen! - else Kg6 would be tried, which keeps contact on the f6 pawn and White is almost in zugzwang since the Bd5 can't keep controlling both f7 and c6 (else Nd4-c6-b4). So 72. f7 Kg7 and Black holds by the skin of his teeth
- I don´t think anyone can assure 71...Kg6 was a draw, that so complex position deserves a deep study, though of course it was a better move than Kf8, which lost on the spot.
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Friday, 11th December, 2015, 10:01 PM.
I think I prefer Nigel Short's description of Aronian's opening, Wayne (:
Nigel Short @nigelshortchess 9 h
Good to see @LevAronian playing the Drunken Evans Gambit. Actually, this line is pretty dangerous @LondonChess I have even played it myself.
Despite being a perfect 2/2 against Carlsen this year (and +5, -8, =8 in 21 total encounters), Topalov is 41/5 to run that streak to 3 tomorrow with the White pieces (his Norway and Sinquefield wins were both with Black). While tempted, I can't quite bring myself to bet on someone in such wretched form in London ):
Anand, also in poor form, is an even bigger dog at 89/10 with Black against Caruana. Those odds don't tempt me in the least, however, given Anand's very uninspiring +1, -2, =13 lifetime score against Caruana ):
Adams, despite being in good form (7 draws against higher rated opponents), surprisingly is the biggest dog of all at 10/1 to beat the tournament leader, Lagrave, with Black. Adams is +2, -2, =5 in 9 previous encounters with Lagrave so 10/1 does seem somewhat excessive.
Levon Aronian is always a great interview. I love the two cited Tarrasch quotes but I think Levon trumped those with his own, "I have a Queen and he has something that used to be a Queen." (:
Anish Giri is favourite to win the 2015 Grand Chess Tour after a smoothly calculated win over Hikaru Nakamura in the penultimate round of both the London Chess Classic and the series. Magnus Carlsen was back playing with the precision that took him to the top, but the 50-move draw rule came to Veselin Topalov’s rescue, while Vishy Anand also had a narrow escape against Fabiano Caruana. The likes of Aronian, Carlsen and Grischuk all need to win in what should be a thrilling final round tomorrow.
For a long time in this game it seemed the old Magnus was very much back. The day before he’d ground down his “client” Nakamura in a brilliant endgame where he started with a clear advantage, while today he employed all his tricks to squeeze something out of very close to nothing – a rook and knight each and four pawns on the same side of the board, with just White’s over-extended e-pawn as a clear weakness. We’d been here before, though, so despite Topalov managing his time sensibly (at one stage after move 40 the players had over 3 hours between them left on their clocks!) and playing relatively well it was no surprise that his position gradually began to deteriorate…
He was saved by the bell, though, or rather the 50-move rule:
The last pawn move or capture was on move 39, so on move 89 Topalov would be able to claim a draw – not that he seemed to be aware of it after the game! That meant that here, on move 84, Carlsen felt obliged to take the pawn while allowing an exchange of knights: 84…Nxe5 85. Nxe5 Rxe5. Veselin could already breathe a sigh of relief, and after 86. Kd2 Kf6 87. Ra3 Kg6 88. Ra6! (pinning the e6-pawn) 88…f5 he was able to take on f5 safe in the knowledge that Magnus would have to spoil his pawn structure. The game was then soon drawn on move 97.
Afterwards Magnus called the 50-move draw rule in this case “just ridiculous, ” since it had interfered with the normal course of events.
Round 8, Dec 12, 2015
Caruana, Fabiano – Anand, Viswanathan
E05 Catalan, Open, Classical Line
1. Giri, Anish 5
2. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 5
3. Aronian, Levon 4.5
4. Carlsen, Magnus 4.5
5. Grischuk, Alexander 4.5
6. Caruana, Fabiano 4
7. Adams, Michael 4
8. Nakamura, Hikaru 3.5
9. Anand, Viswanathan 3
10. Topalov, Veselin 2
A tie for first will lead to a playoff, so the top five players all still have a real chance of winning the tournament and earning 12-13 Grand Chess Tour points
Adams has a nice plus score against Caruana, +6, -2, =4 so those 69/10 odds with White seem somewhat enticing (:
Ditto for Topalov against Nakamura, +5, -2, =5. And despite losing his last two games, Nakamura is the 73/50 favourite and Topalov the 99/10 dog with Black. Given both players have essentially nothing to play for, the 5/6 draw odds also strike me as perhaps attractive (:
Both Nigel Short and Anish Giri comment upon Kramnik moving up to #2 in the world.
Nigel Short @nigelshortchess 21 h
It is funny how Kramnik has risen from no.4 to no.2 in the world by sitting on his arse at home in Geneva #LondonChess
“There is no world number two right now, with all respect to Vladimir Kramnik. He might as well be number seven had other players played differently in the tournament. Caruana had a slump, Hikaru is unstable as well,” Giri told Chess.com.
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