Re: Bilbao Masters 2015
Bilbao Masters 2015
November 1, 2015
Round Six
The last day. The two leaders, So and Giri, make a quick draw by repetition and will head to a playoff.
The regs say this: If two players tie for first, they will play a blitz match immediately after the last round finishes. They will play two games at the rate of all the moves in 4 minutes add-on 3 seconds for each move from the first, alternating colors, which shall be decided for the first game by draw. If this match is tied, they shall play a one game Armageddon (sudden death), White will have 5 minutes and Black 4, in the case of a draw Black wins first place. This game’s colors shall be decided by draw.
For a while, Jan Gustafsson is the sole commentator. Very lonely, being in Hamburg on a Sunday, with the only action coming from Bilbao, 1800 km away.
For two hours Jan goes through a monologue, which is interspersed with comments from the kibitzers online.
The phrase cogito ergo sum is used, which Jan attributes to Immanuel Kant but is soon corrected by readers as coming from Rene Descartes. “I think, therefore I am”.
He then talks pop culture – television programs worth watching with assistance from the kibitzers – Walking Dead, Mr. Robot, Vikings, Person of Interest, Blacklist, Fargo and Deutschland ’83.
The most intriguing comment comes from a writer who says, “My wife was really into Lightning Point – aliens, who pretend to be teenage girls in Australia to go surfing.”
Second best is about Turkisch fur Anfanger, a 2012 film – After a plane crash, Lena Schneider finds herself on a remote Andaman island with a teenage Turk Cem, full of hormones, his religious sister and Greek Costa.
The Golden State Warriors are discussed, especially the game against the New Orleans Pelicans that kept Jan up during the night.
Then Peter Svidler, also exhausted from lack of sleep, comes on. To toss him a sop, Jan asks him about cricket. The standard question is who are the top three players ever. Sobers and Bradman are mentioned but Peter says that he is not into cross-generation comparisons.
A kibitzer actually has an insightful comment:
The point of these list questions is not the question itself, but rather the series of further questions and answers that it generates.
An Indian viewer says that Bradman is the Morphy of cricket, Sobers the Botvinnik and Sachin, the Kasparov.
Peter says that you can argue about lists in other sports but in darts there is one obvious answer for the best and he shouts, “Feel the Power Taylor”. This is Phil Taylor, an Englishman born in 1960.
But to get back to our chessic muttons – the guys talk about the time controls. The one used at Bilbao is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move number 41.
Oleg Skvortsov and Christian Issler of the Zurich Chess Challenge have recently written to President Ilyumzhinov asking for a change in the rules allowing for 40 or 60 minutes for the entire game (with increments).The point being that that will increase the entertainment value of chess (presumably to the television viewer).
Peter says that Norway television had no problem with viewership when Carlsen was playing. He is rather old-fashioned when it comes to time controls and prefers 90 min with increments.
They talk about television programs again, Peter confessing he likes anything with James Spader in it, so Blacklist and then West Wing, Last Kingdom and, of course, Peaky Blinders.
Also, the philosophy of The Martian, movie and novel are discussed.
Peter leaves and promises to be back to analyze the blitz playoffs. But the Bilbao organizers are not publishing the digital moves online so everyone must go over to the official site and just watch the video feed of the games being played. Thus endeth the show.
- tedious tournament with so few games and drawmasters Giri and Anand participating, so yes, Jan provides the main relief
- boo Bilbao organizers
- The decision of the Bilbao organizers is totally absurd. To allow an event of this level to be broadcast by chess24 and then cutting them off from a tiebreak round to decide it. No class.
(Fabiano Caruana) – Looking at the games from Bilbao, I seriously wonder if the 3 points for a win scoring system actually discourages draws
Round 6, Nov. 1, 2015
So, Wesley – Giri, Anish
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav (6.Qc2)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. e4 exd4 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 h6 13. b3 Nf6 14. Bc4 Qc7 15. Qd3 a6 16. a4 Bg4 17. h3 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. hxg4 bxc4 21. bxc4 Rc8 22. g5 hxg5 23. Bxg5 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Rxc4 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rd1 Rc5 27. Kf1 Be5 28. Ke2 Rxd5 29. Kd3 f5 30. Kc4 Ra5 31. Kb4 Rd5 32. Kc4 Ra5 33. Kb4 Rd5 34. Kc4 ½-½
Round 6, Nov. 1, 2015
Ding, Liren – Anand, Viswanathan
A20 English Opening
1. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. d4 e4 4. d5 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Qe7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 d6 9. Nh3 cxd5 10. cxd5 O-O 11. Bg2 Bf5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Nf4 h6 14. f3 Ne5 15. Qd4 Rfc8 16. Rad1 b5 17. Qe3 Nc4 18. Qf2 e3 19. Qe1 Nb6 20. g4 Bc2 21. Rc1 Bb3 22. Qh4 Nfxd5 23. Qxe7 Nxe7 24. Nh5 f6 25. Bd4 Nbd5 26. f4 Kf7 27. Ng3 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Rc8 29. Rxc8 Nxc8 30. Bxd5+ Bxd5 31. Bxe3 a6 32. Kf2 Ne7 33. Bd2 g5 34. Nh5 Ng6 35. e3 gxf4 36. exf4 f5 37. h3 Be6 38. Kf3 Ne7 39. g5 Nc6 40. gxh6 Kg6 41. Bc3 Kxh6 42. Nf6 a5 43. b4 axb4 44. Bxb4 d5 45. Ne8 d4 46. Nd6 Kh5 47. Be1 Na7 48. Bf2 Bd7 49. Bxd4 Nc8 50. Nf7 Be6 51. Ng5 Bd5+ 52. Ke3 Nd6 53. Bc5 Ne4 54. Kd4 Bc6 55. Ne6 Kh4 56. Ke5 Bd7 57. Be3 Kxh3 58. Kxf5 Nd6+ 59. Kf6 Kg4 60. Bc1 Nc4 61. Nf8 Bf5 62. Ng6 Bxg6 63. Kxg6 Nxa3 64. f5 Nc4 65. f6 Ne5+ 66. Kg7 Kf5 67. Bb2 Nd7 68. f7 b4 69. f8=Q+ ½-½
This game was still in progress when the organizers ran the playoffs through. Wesley So won and the prize-giving ceremony will take place shortly.
Very strange.
Bilbao Masters 2015
November 1, 2015
Round Six
The last day. The two leaders, So and Giri, make a quick draw by repetition and will head to a playoff.
The regs say this: If two players tie for first, they will play a blitz match immediately after the last round finishes. They will play two games at the rate of all the moves in 4 minutes add-on 3 seconds for each move from the first, alternating colors, which shall be decided for the first game by draw. If this match is tied, they shall play a one game Armageddon (sudden death), White will have 5 minutes and Black 4, in the case of a draw Black wins first place. This game’s colors shall be decided by draw.
For a while, Jan Gustafsson is the sole commentator. Very lonely, being in Hamburg on a Sunday, with the only action coming from Bilbao, 1800 km away.
For two hours Jan goes through a monologue, which is interspersed with comments from the kibitzers online.
The phrase cogito ergo sum is used, which Jan attributes to Immanuel Kant but is soon corrected by readers as coming from Rene Descartes. “I think, therefore I am”.
He then talks pop culture – television programs worth watching with assistance from the kibitzers – Walking Dead, Mr. Robot, Vikings, Person of Interest, Blacklist, Fargo and Deutschland ’83.
The most intriguing comment comes from a writer who says, “My wife was really into Lightning Point – aliens, who pretend to be teenage girls in Australia to go surfing.”
Second best is about Turkisch fur Anfanger, a 2012 film – After a plane crash, Lena Schneider finds herself on a remote Andaman island with a teenage Turk Cem, full of hormones, his religious sister and Greek Costa.
The Golden State Warriors are discussed, especially the game against the New Orleans Pelicans that kept Jan up during the night.
Then Peter Svidler, also exhausted from lack of sleep, comes on. To toss him a sop, Jan asks him about cricket. The standard question is who are the top three players ever. Sobers and Bradman are mentioned but Peter says that he is not into cross-generation comparisons.
A kibitzer actually has an insightful comment:
The point of these list questions is not the question itself, but rather the series of further questions and answers that it generates.
An Indian viewer says that Bradman is the Morphy of cricket, Sobers the Botvinnik and Sachin, the Kasparov.
Peter says that you can argue about lists in other sports but in darts there is one obvious answer for the best and he shouts, “Feel the Power Taylor”. This is Phil Taylor, an Englishman born in 1960.
But to get back to our chessic muttons – the guys talk about the time controls. The one used at Bilbao is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move number 41.
Oleg Skvortsov and Christian Issler of the Zurich Chess Challenge have recently written to President Ilyumzhinov asking for a change in the rules allowing for 40 or 60 minutes for the entire game (with increments).The point being that that will increase the entertainment value of chess (presumably to the television viewer).
Peter says that Norway television had no problem with viewership when Carlsen was playing. He is rather old-fashioned when it comes to time controls and prefers 90 min with increments.
They talk about television programs again, Peter confessing he likes anything with James Spader in it, so Blacklist and then West Wing, Last Kingdom and, of course, Peaky Blinders.
Also, the philosophy of The Martian, movie and novel are discussed.
Peter leaves and promises to be back to analyze the blitz playoffs. But the Bilbao organizers are not publishing the digital moves online so everyone must go over to the official site and just watch the video feed of the games being played. Thus endeth the show.
- tedious tournament with so few games and drawmasters Giri and Anand participating, so yes, Jan provides the main relief
- boo Bilbao organizers
- The decision of the Bilbao organizers is totally absurd. To allow an event of this level to be broadcast by chess24 and then cutting them off from a tiebreak round to decide it. No class.
(Fabiano Caruana) – Looking at the games from Bilbao, I seriously wonder if the 3 points for a win scoring system actually discourages draws
Round 6, Nov. 1, 2015
So, Wesley – Giri, Anish
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav (6.Qc2)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O e5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. e4 exd4 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 h6 13. b3 Nf6 14. Bc4 Qc7 15. Qd3 a6 16. a4 Bg4 17. h3 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. hxg4 bxc4 21. bxc4 Rc8 22. g5 hxg5 23. Bxg5 Qxc4 24. Qxc4 Rxc4 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rd1 Rc5 27. Kf1 Be5 28. Ke2 Rxd5 29. Kd3 f5 30. Kc4 Ra5 31. Kb4 Rd5 32. Kc4 Ra5 33. Kb4 Rd5 34. Kc4 ½-½
Round 6, Nov. 1, 2015
Ding, Liren – Anand, Viswanathan
A20 English Opening
1. c4 e5 2. g3 c6 3. d4 e4 4. d5 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Qe7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 d6 9. Nh3 cxd5 10. cxd5 O-O 11. Bg2 Bf5 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Nf4 h6 14. f3 Ne5 15. Qd4 Rfc8 16. Rad1 b5 17. Qe3 Nc4 18. Qf2 e3 19. Qe1 Nb6 20. g4 Bc2 21. Rc1 Bb3 22. Qh4 Nfxd5 23. Qxe7 Nxe7 24. Nh5 f6 25. Bd4 Nbd5 26. f4 Kf7 27. Ng3 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Rc8 29. Rxc8 Nxc8 30. Bxd5+ Bxd5 31. Bxe3 a6 32. Kf2 Ne7 33. Bd2 g5 34. Nh5 Ng6 35. e3 gxf4 36. exf4 f5 37. h3 Be6 38. Kf3 Ne7 39. g5 Nc6 40. gxh6 Kg6 41. Bc3 Kxh6 42. Nf6 a5 43. b4 axb4 44. Bxb4 d5 45. Ne8 d4 46. Nd6 Kh5 47. Be1 Na7 48. Bf2 Bd7 49. Bxd4 Nc8 50. Nf7 Be6 51. Ng5 Bd5+ 52. Ke3 Nd6 53. Bc5 Ne4 54. Kd4 Bc6 55. Ne6 Kh4 56. Ke5 Bd7 57. Be3 Kxh3 58. Kxf5 Nd6+ 59. Kf6 Kg4 60. Bc1 Nc4 61. Nf8 Bf5 62. Ng6 Bxg6 63. Kxg6 Nxa3 64. f5 Nc4 65. f6 Ne5+ 66. Kg7 Kf5 67. Bb2 Nd7 68. f7 b4 69. f8=Q+ ½-½
This game was still in progress when the organizers ran the playoffs through. Wesley So won and the prize-giving ceremony will take place shortly.
Very strange.
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