Altibox Norway 2017

**Wayne Komer** · Thursday, 1st June, 2017, 02:39 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 1, 2017

Program

June 5 Blitz Chess
June 6 Round 1
June 7 Round 2
June 8 Round 3
June 9 Rest Day
June 10 Round 4
June 11 Round 5
June 12 Round 6
June 13 Rest Day
June 14 Round 7
June 15 Round 8
June 16 Round 9, Final Round
June 17 Prize Ceremony and closing gala

Games start at 5 p.m. local time or 11 a.m. Montreal/Toronto time.

Adult tickets per day at the door are 200 NOK, which I make to be $32 Canadian.

The Commentators

DIRK JAN TEN GEUZENDAM

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam is editor-in-chief of New In Chess, the international chess magazine with readers in 116 countries. He graduated from Groningen University, where he studied English Language and Literature and General Literature. He lives in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Dirk Jan is also a prolific writer, commentator and organizer. His best-known books are Linares! Linares!, a romantic account full of stories (but no games) of the legendary chess tournaments in Linares, Spain, Finding Bobby Fischer and The Day Kasparov Quit, the last two being collections of his interviews with the famous and fabled of chess.

Representing the Monaco-based Association Max Euwe of chess benefactor Joop van Oosterom, he was tournament director of the final four editions of the prestigious Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament in Monaco and Nice, and the final three editions of the NH Rising Stars vs. Experience tournaments in Amsterdam.

Dirk Jan made his debut as commentary host for the English live transmission at the 2012 World Championship match between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand in Moscow. Following this debut he was a commentator at top tournaments such as the Alekhine Memorial in Paris and St. Petersburg (2013), the Tromsø World Cup (2013), the Baku World Cup (2015), the Tal Memorial in Moscow (2016) and the first three editions of Norway Chess (2013-15).

His spare time is dedicated to art and music, collecting antiquarian chess literature and anything else that makes life fascinating.

NIGEL SHORT

Nigel Short is a chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and chess commentator.

After becoming the youngest International Master in chess history aged 14 (breaking Bobby Fischer’s 1958 record), he was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged nineteen – becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at that time. He is now regarded as the strongest and best known English player of the modern era, ranked third in the world for a period of 18 months from 1988 to 1989 (third to Kasparov and Karpov), and in the top ten for over a decade. Winning Candidates matches against Karpov and Speelman, he went on to challenge Garry Kasparov in the World Chess Championship in 1993.
Nigel has become known as one of the most extensively travelled grandmasters, visiting over 100 countries to date. A keen promoter of chess across the world, these visits have included lectures and simuls for federations such as Barbados, Trinidad, Malawi, Mozambique etc. in addition to being a patron for the UK charity program Chess in Schools.

In addition to playing, Short has written chess columns and book reviews for the British broadsheet newspapers The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Spectator, The Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian for over twenty years, and is now writing a regular column for New In Chess. He was a commentator at the 2012 London Chess Classic, the 2013 London Candidates tournament, the final rounds of the 2013 Tromsø World Cup and Norway Chess in 2014.

Still active as a competitive player, Nigel is easily the most successful pentagenarian on the planet, currently ranked 60th in the world rankings. His most recent win was at the Bangkok Open in April, which he won for the third time.

Outside of his chess career, Nigel is passionate about playing guitar, wine (drinking, and the finer points), international cricket, swimming and olive oil production at his home in Greece.

http://norwaychess.no/en/the-commentators/
________

From chess24.com

We're broadcasting all the games from both the opening blitz tournament (5 June) and the main tournament (6-17 June) live. Premium Members get exclusive live commentary of the main tournament from Grandmasters Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson.
________

I naively thought that Altibox might make very tall cardboard boxes but, in fact, it is a telecommunications company:

Altibox is a unified brand name for Broadband, IPTV and VoIP services distributed in Norway and Denmark with over 35 local Norwegian and 6 Danish FTTH networks.
_________

I am looking forward to jumping from the Short/Geuzendam to Svidler/Gustafsson coverage. Both sets of guys are my favorites – the former, because they talk about chess history and books and the later, for their discussions of pop culture.

The Carlsen encounters with Karjakin and So will be very interesting. Will Carlsen have the nerd glasses and the overwhelming hairdo?

Leonard Barden in his Guardian column suggested that since Mamedyarov has shot up to 2800 in the live ratings that one person be dropped from the Norway lineup for Shakhriyar:

“If the Azeri does win Moscow convincingly, and can close up on Nos 2-5 in the rankings, then organisers at Stavanger, which starts on 5 June, will face a dilemma. Should they stick to their chosen 10 and risk a surge of fan support for the absent Mamedyarov, or explore a late change? Anish Giri of the Netherlands is the player is on the Stavanger list who has dropped out of the top 10. Just excluding him is out of the question on both contractual and moral grounds, but it would not surprise if there were some secret feelers or negotiations between now and the start of the tournament.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...p-to-world-no5

That is not going to happen!

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 4th June, 2017, 07:26 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 4, 2017

Tomorrow, the blitz tournament takes place:

Tournament regulations: Blitz

Location: Clarion Hotel Air

Ten players are to take part in the Tournament.

The Tournament is a round-robin event.
The Tournament consists of 9 rounds.
Time control: 3 min + 2 sec increment for each move.
Tiebreak for Blitz tournament:
A: Sonnenborn Berger points
B: Most wins
C: Most wins with the black
D: Drawing of lots

The drawing of lots will be done at the Players meeting on the 5th of June.
The winner of the blitz tournament will choose his number in the main tournament.
Number 2 will get the highest available number, and number 3 the second highest, and so on.
There will be a minor prize fund for the blitz tournament of 11,600 euros.

The play starts at 6:30 pm local or 12:30 p.m. Toronto/Montreal time Monday.
________

Prize fund – main event

Place
€
1 70 000
2 40 000
3 25 000
4 20 000
5 17 500
6 16 000
7 15 500
8 15 250
9 15 000
10 14 750

Total 249 000 Euro

10,000 euros is about 15,205 Canadian dollars

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 5th June, 2017, 04:13 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 5, 2017

The Blitz Tournament

Only chess24.com seems to be broadcasting the blitz tournament today. Tomorrow it hides behind a paywall. The time is 3 min per game with 2 seconds increment per move. The commentators are Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson. The winners of the blitz will get five whites in the main tournament.

Magnus has had his hair cut but still has the nerd glasses. The suggestion is that Magnus is trolling Jon Ludvig Hammer.

Peter says that Sergei Karjakin’s picture is everywhere in Russia these days. On a walk with his wife, in St. Petersburg, he passed signs with Sergei’s picture touting financial services seven times.

They talk about the pecking order in blitz. At the moment it is Carlsen, Ding Liren, Nakamura, MVL, Andreikin, Grischuk and Karjakin. Peter explains that the Ukrainian Shkuro is third on the FIDE list because he is said to play only in weak blitz tournaments, winning all his games.

Peter said that he had lunch with an old school friend today and they did what older Russian men do when they meet. They compared ailments and complained about their trouble and strife. Jan says that he has read that middle-age begins at 45 years of age.

The guys talk a little about the Wonder Woman movie, Mordor, football and the literal meaning of the term “fianchetto”.

The final standings of the blitz tournament:

1. Carlsen 7.5
2. Nakamura 5.5
3. Aronian 5.5
4. MVL 5.0
5. Kramnik 4.5
6. Karjakin 4.5
7. Anand 4.0
8. So 4.0
9. Caruana 3.0
10. Giri 1.5

The top five players get five whites (and four blacks) in the classical tournament and the bottom five get five blacks (and four whites) in the coming nine rounds.
_______

In the blitz Carlsen beat Giri, Aronian, Karjakin, MVL, Caruana and So.

Nakamura beat Caruana, So and Giri.

Aronian beat So, Giri and Karjakin
________

A selection of games from the blitz tourney:

Altibox Norway Blitz 2017
Round 1, June 5, 2017
Aronian, Levon – So, Wesley
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 Ne4 8.Rc1 Nxc3 9.Rxc3 b6 10.c6 Nf6 11.a3 a5 12.Bd3 Ne4 13.Rc1 f6 14.Qc2 f5 15.Ne5 Ba6 16.Bxa6 Rxa6 17.Nd7 Re8 18.f3 Nf6 19.Ne5 Nh5 20.Bg3 Bd6 21.Bf2 Bxe5 22.dxe5 Qg5 23.Qe2 Raa8 24.g4 fxg4 25.fxg4 Rf8 26.gxh5 Qxe5 27.O-O Qe4 28.Bg3 e5 29.Rce1 h6 30.Qg2 Rxf1+ 31.Rxf1 Qxe3+ 32.Kh1 Qd4 33.Qf3 Kh8 34.Qf5 Re8 35.Qg6 Rg8 36.Kg2 Qxb2+ 37.Rf2 Qc3 38.Qe6 e4 39.Be5 Qxa3 40.Qxh6# 1-0

Round 3, June 5, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – Giri, Anish
A00 Proto-Sicilian

1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e4 g6 4.Bb5 Bg7 5.O-O d6 6.Re1 Bd7 7.a4 Rc8 8.d3 Nf6 9.Nd5 O-O 10.Bg5 a6 11.Bxf6 exf6 12.Bc4 f5 13.c3 fxe4 14.dxe4 Na5 15.Qd3 Re8 16.Ne3 Bc6 17.Bd5 Qb6 18.Qc2 Re7 19.Rad1 Rce8 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Rxd6 Rxe4 22.Red1 Bh6 23.Nd5 Qb3 24.Nf6+ Kg7 25.Nxe8+ Rxe8 26.Qxb3 Nxb3 27.Rxc6 Re2 28.g3 Rxb2 29.Rd7 1-0

Round 3, June 5, 2017
Karjakin, Sergei – Nakamura, Hikaru
D02 Queen’s Bishop game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 c5 4.c3 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 cxd4 7.exd4 Nh5 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 Bd6 10.Bb5 O-O 11.O-O a6 12.Ba4 Bd7 13.Ne1 Nf4 14.g3 Nh3+ 15.Kg2 e5 16.Bb3 Ne7 17.dxe5 fxe5 18.Ne4 Be6 19.Nd3 Bc7 20.Nec5 Bc8 21.Nb4 Kh8 22.Nxd5 Nf5 23.Ne4 b6 24.Nxc7 Qxc7 25.Bd5 Rb8 26.c4 Qe7 27.Qb3 Nd4 28.Bxd4 exd4 29.Qa3 Qd8 30.Rae1 Bf5 31.f4 b5 32.Qd3 bxc4 33.Qxd4 c3 34.bxc3 Rb2+ 35.Nd2 Qf6 36.Re2 Bg4 37.Qxf6 gxf6 38.Bf3 Bd7 39.Ne4 Rb6 40.Rd1 Rg8 41.Rxd7 Nxf4+ 42.Kf2 Nxe2 43.Bxe2 f5 44.Nc5 Rb2 45.a4 Rc8 46.Ne6 Ra2 47.c4 Rxa4 48.c5 Re4 49.Rd6 a5 50.c6 Kg8 51.c7 Kf7 52.Rd8 1-0

Round 6, June 5, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – MVL
A45 Queen’s Pawn game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 b6 3.c4 Bb7 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.Be2 d6 8.O-O Nbd7 9.h3 e6 10.b4 a5 11.a3 Ne4 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.Nd2 Bb7 14.Bf3 Bxf3 15.Nxf3 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Rc1 axb4 18.axb4 Qe7 19.Nd4 Ra2 20.b5 Rfa8 21.Bxe5 Bxe5 22.Nc6 Qe6 23.Nb4 R2a3 24.Nd5 R8a7 25.f4 Bb2 26.Rb1 Bg7 27.f5 gxf5 28.Rxf5 Ra1 29.Rf1 Qe4 30.Rxa1 Rxa1 31.Qg4 Qxg4 32.hxg4 Ra7 33.g5 Be5 34.Kf2 Kg7 35.Kf3 Kg6 36.Kg4 Ra4 37.Rc1 Ra2 38.Nxc7 Rxg2+ 39.Kf3 Rxg5 40.Nd5 h5 41.Nxb6 h4 42.Rh1 Rg3+ 43.Ke2 h3 44.Nd5 Rg2+ 45.Kf3 Rg3+ 46.Ke4 Rg4+ 47.Nf4+ Kg5 48.Rxh3 Bxf4 49.exf4+ Rxf4+ 50.Kd5 1-0

Round 7, June 5, 2017
So, Wesley – Nakamura, Hikaru
A64 Benoni, Fianchetto

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 O-O 5.Nc3 c5 6.d5 d6 7.Nf3 e6 8.O-O exd5 9.cxd5 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.Nd2 Nbd7 12.h3 Rb8 13.Nc4 Ne5 14.Na3 Nh5 15.e4 Bd7 16.g4 Nf6 17.g5 Nh5 18.f4 b5 19.fxe5 b4 20.Nc4 bxc3 21.bxc3 Bxe5 22.Qf3 f5 23.gxf6 Qxf6 24.Nxe5 Qxe5 25.Qf7+ Kh8 26.Qxd7 Re7 27.Qg4 Qxc3 28.Ra3 Qd4+ 29.Be3 Qb2 30.Bg5 Qd4+ 31.Kh1 Ree8 32.Qxh5 gxh5 33.Bf6+ Qxf6 34.Rxf6 Rg8 35.Ra2 Rg6 36.Rxg6 hxg6 37.a5 Rb1+ 38.Kh2 Kg7 39.Bf3 c4 40.Rc2 Rb3 41.Be2 c3 42.Bxa6 Kf6 43.Bc4 Ra3 44.a6 Ke5 45.Kg3 Kxe4 46.Kh4 Kd4 47.Bf1 Kxd5 48.Kg5 Ke4 49.Kxg6 d5 50.Kxh5 d4 51.Rg2 Ke3 52.Bc4 Ra4 53.Ra2 Rxc4 54.a7 Rc8 55.a8=Q Rxa8 56.Rxa8 c2 57.Rc8 d3 58.Kg5 Kd2 59.h4 c1=Q 60.Rxc1 Kxc1 0-1

Round 8, June 5, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – Caruana, Fabiano
A45 Queen’s Pawn game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nc3 a6 4.e3 e6 5.g4 c5 6.g5 Nfd7 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.a3 b5 9.h4 Bb7 10.h5 Nb6 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Nc4 13.Bxc4 dxc4 14.Rg1 f6 15.Bf4 Qd7 16.h6 O-O-O 17.Qe2 cxd4 18.exd4 Qxd4 19.Rd1 Qxf4 20.Qxe6+ Kc7 21.Qf7+ Be7 22.Qxe7+ Kc8 23.hxg7 Rxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Rg8 25.Qf8+ Kc7 26.Qxg8 1-0

Round 9, June 5, 2017
So, Wesley - Carlsen, Magnus
A81 Dutch (stonewall & Ilyin-Genevsky)

1.Nf3 e6 2.d4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.c4 Bd6 6.Nc3 c6 7.Bf4 Bxf4 8.gxf4 O-O 9.e3 Nbd7 10.Qb3 b6 11.Ng5 Nb8 12.O-O-O Kh8 13.Kb1 Qe7 14.Rc1 h6 15.Nf3 Nbd7 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.fxe5 Ne4 19.Rc2 Ba6 20.Bf1 Bxf1 21.Rxf1 Rac8 22.f4 Nxc3+ 23.Rxc3 Rxc3 24.Qxc3 Qh4 25.Qa3 Rc8 26.Qxa7 Qxh2 27.a3 Qg2 28.Re1 Qf2 29.Rh1 Qxe3 30.Ka2 Qxd4 31.Qd7 Qc4+ 32.Ka1 d4 33.Rg1 Rg8 34.Rd1 d3 35.Rxd3 Qxf4 36.Qd6 Qc1+ 37.Ka2 Qc4+ 38.Ka1 f4 39.Rc3 Qd5 40.Qxb6 Qxe5 41.a4 Rf8 42.Qb4 Kg8 43.Rf3 Qf5 44.Qc4 Kh7 0-1

________

After today’s action, the live blitz ratings of the top three are: Carlsen 2944, Nakamura 2878, MVL 2828.

**Wayne Komer** · Tuesday, 6th June, 2017, 12:06 AM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 5, 2017

Tournament Schedule

Round 1, June 6, 2017
Carlsen-So
Nakamura-Giri
Aronian-Caruana
MVL-Anand
Kramnik-Karjakin

Round 2, June 7, 2017
Nakamura-Aronian
Giri-Karjakin
Caruana-Carlsen
So-MVL
Anand-Kramnik

Round 3, June 8, 2017
Carlsen-Nakamura
Kramnik-So
Aronian-Giri
MVL-Caruana
Karjakin-Anand

Day Off June 9, 2017

Round 4, June 10, 2017
Aronian-Carlsen
Nakamura-MVL
Giri-Anand
Caruana-Kramnik
So-Karjakin

Round 5, June 11, 2017
Carlsen-Giri
Kramnik-Nakamura
MVL-Aronian
Karjakin-Caruana
Anand-So

Round 6, June 12, 2017
Carlsen-MVL
Aronian-Kramnik
Nakamura-Karjakin
Giri-So
Caruana-Anand

Day Off June 13, 2017

Round 7, June 14, 2017
Kramnik-Carlsen
MVL-Giri
Karjakin-Aronian
So-Caruana
Anand-Nakamura

Round 8, June 15, 2017
Carlsen-Karjakin
Aronian-Anand
MVL-Kramnik
Nakamura-So
Giri-Caruana

Round 9, June 16, 2017
Kramnik-Giri
Karjakin-MVL
Caruana-Nakamura
So-Aronian
Anand-Carlsen

Note: It looks like the organizers have moved up the starting time to 4 p.m. local. That means the broadcast will be at 10 a.m. Montreal/Toronto time.
________

Peter Svidler won’t be with Jan Gustafsson during the last three rounds of the tournament because he is playing on the Russian team in the World Team Championship June 17-26 in Khanty-Mansiyk.

On June 21-25, the Paris Grand Chess Tour is on with Carlsen, MVL, So, Nakamura, Caruana, Karjakin, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Topalov and Bacrot.

**Wayne Komer** · Tuesday, 6th June, 2017, 04:50 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 6, 2017

Round One

The two competing teams commentating are Svidler/Gustafsson on Premium chess24:

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...ess-2017/1/1/1

and ten Geuzendam/Short on the official site:

http://live.norwaychess.com

It is more difficult than I thought to watch two monitors at the same time. One has to turn the sound off on one or you miss everything in the resulting babble.

Commenting on Nakamura-Giri Nigel says that Giri’s position is more rickety than the Trump administration.

The players are very uniform in strength. If one shows weakness, by an unexpected loss, then the others will circle him like sharks sensing blood in the water.

In the blitz tournament, Giri had a completely won game against Aronian and then played 25…Re4 and his game sank. Blood in the water (see comment just above). Perhaps this carried over to the classical tournament because Nakamura ground Giri down for the only win of the round.

Norway Blitz 2017
Round 5, June 5, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Giri, Anish
A48 King’s Indian, East Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.Nb5 Na6 6.e3 c6 7.Nc3 Nb8 8.h3 O-O 9.Be2 Bf5 10.O-O Nbd7 11.Qc1 Re8 12.Bh2 Ne4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Ng5 Bf5 15.g4 e5 16.Nxf7 Kxf7 17.gxf5 exd4 18.Kh1 Qh4 19.Bg4 Nf6 20.Bg3 Qh6 21.fxg6+ Qxg6 22.exd4 Nxg4 23.hxg4 Qxg4 24.c3 Qh3+ 25.Kg1 Re4 26.Re1 Rae8 27.Rxe4 Rxe4 28.Qd1 h5 29.Qf3+ Bf6 30.Qh1 Qf5 31.Kf1 h4 32.Be5 Bxe5 33.dxe5 h3 34.Rd1 Rf4 35.Qh2 Rg4 36.e6+ Qxe6 37.Rd3 Re4 38.Qc7+ Kg6 39.Rg3+ Rg4 40.Rxh3 d4 41.Qh7+ Kg5 42.Qg7+ Kf5 43.Rh5+ Kf4 44.Qxd4+ Qe4 45.Qf6+ 1-0

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 1, June 6, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Giri, Anish
D80 Grunfeld, Stockholm variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.e3 Be6 8.Qb1 b6 9.Nh3 Bh6 10.Bg5 Bxg5 11.Nxg5 Qd5 12.Nxe6 Qxe6 13.Qb4 Qd5 14.Qxc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4 e6 16.Be2 Nd7 17.a4 Ke7 18.a5 c6 19.Kd2 b5 20.Rab1 Rab8 21.Rb2 f5 22.Rhb1 Kd6 23.f3 e5 24.c4 exd4 25.cxb5 cxb5 26.Bxb5 dxe3+ 27.Kxe3 Nf6 28.Bc4 Rxb2 29.Rxb2 Re8+ 30.Kd4 Re7 31.Rb8 Rd7 32.Rc8 Rb7 33.a6 Rb4 34.Kc3 Ra4 35.Kb3 Nd7 36.Bb5 Ra5 37.Kb4 Ra1 38.Rd8 Rb1+ 39.Ka5 Ra1+ 40.Kb4 Rb1+ 41.Ka4 Ra1+ 42.Kb3 Rb1+ 43.Kc4 Rc1+ 44.Kd3 Rc7 45.Kd4 Ke7 46.Ra8 Kd6 47.h4 Ke7 48.Bxd7 Rxd7+ 49.Ke5 Kf7 50.Rb8 Re7+ 51.Kd5 Kf6 52.Rb7 Re5+ 53.Kd4 Ra5 54.Rxa7 f4 55.Kc4 Ra2 56.Kc5 h5 57.Ra8 Rc2+ 58.Kb6 Rb2+ 59.Kc5 Rc2+ 60.Kb6 Rb2+ 61.Ka7 Rxg2 62.Rb8 Rf2 63.Rb6+ Kg7 64.Kb7 Rxf3 65.a7 Ra3 66.Ra6 Rb3+ 67.Kc6 1-0

Nigel and Dirk are asked if there can be short draws agreed. Dirk answers that the “Sofia” rule applies. No talking between the players, so no offers of draw. Ref article 9.1 of Fide rules.

At the players’ meeting earlier, Karjakin pounced on the language of this regulation and said it only applied to Wesley So because it reads:

“So, no offers of draw”.

Both commentators have copies of Garry Kasparov’s new book Deep Thinking and commented on what he says about the strength of great players of the past compared to those of the present.

Dirk offers a year’s subscription to New In Chess magazine, both the paper and digital versions to the first person to correctly answer this question:

Yesterday Magnus Carlsen won the 2017 Altibox Blitz Chess tournament in great style. The World Champion also won last year’s blitz and main tourney as well. There has been another player in the short but rich history of Norway who won both the blitz and the main. Who was he?
________

Jan and Peter talk about television series, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, the English language, whether Bobby Fischer was happily married near the end of his life and a myriad of other topics, as well as commentating on the chess.

Jan – I have yet to watch a lot of episodes of Suits or Friends. I really don’t like Rachel/Jennifer Aniston. I have seen Cake and We’re the Millers and didn’t like them.

Peter – I have never even heard of Cake or We’re the Millers. You seem to go a long way just to see films starring someone that you don’t like.

Jan – If Jennifer Aniston is watching, it is nothing personal.

The idea that Jennifer Aniston would pay $99 for a year’s Premium Membership for chess24 and at that moment be following what Jan had to say was delicious.

Because the studio is in Hamburg, Lawrence Trent pops in to comment now and then. (For example, the first time, he had been lying on the bean-bag furniture in the studio, thinking about games from the blitz tournament and came in to see the guys) I must say that there is a very relaxed atmosphere to the broadcast. But I had better give the games before I run out of space:

Round 1, June 6, 2017
MVL – Anand, Vishy
B12 Caro-Kann Defence

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Ne2 Nc6 5.c3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxe2 7.Bxe2 e6 8.O-O Qb6 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.b4 Be7 11.Be3 Qc7 12.f4 Nh6 13.Na3 a6 14.Bd3 O-O 15.Nc2 f6 16.Nd4 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 fxe5 18.Bxe5 Bd6 19.Bxd6 Qxd6 20.Qd2 Nf5 21.Rae1 Rac8 22.Re5 Rf6 23.Rfe1 g6 24.Bxf5 gxf5 25.Qe3 Rc6 26.a4 Qc7 27.c4 Rxc4 28.Rxe6 Re4 29.Qg3+ Qg7 30.Re8+ Rf8 31.Qxg7+ Kxg7 32.R1xe4 fxe4 33.Rxf8 Kxf8 34.Kf2 d4 35.g4 Kf7 36.h4 h5 37.gxh5 Kf6 38.h6 Kg6 39.f5+ Kxh6 40.a5 Kh5 41.Ke2 Kh6 42.Kf2 Kh5 43.Ke2 Kh6 44.Kf2 1/2-1/2

Round 1, June 6, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Karjakin, Sergey
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.a4 a6 7.c3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nbd2 Kh8 10.Re1 f6 11.d4 Ba7 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 fxe5 14.Nf3 c6 15.Bg5 Qb6 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Be3 Qxb2 18.Bxa7 Rxa7 19.Qxd5 b6 20.Rab1 Qxc3 21.Rxb6 Raf7 22.Qxe5 Qxe5 23.Rxe5 Bg4 24.Re3 Kg8 25.Ne5 Rxf2 26.h3 Bc8 27.Nc6 Rf1+ 28.Kh2 R1f6 29.a5 h6 30.Ne7+ Kf7 31.Nc6 Kg8 32.Rc3 Kh7 33.Ne7 Bd7 34.Nd5 Rf5 35.Rd6 Bb5 36.Nc7 Bf1 37.Rd7 Rf2 38.Rg3 R8f7 39.Rxf7 Rxf7 40.Rc3 Rf5 41.Rc1 Bd3 42.Rc3 Bf1 43.Rc1 Bd3 44.Rc3 Bf1 1/2-1/2

Round 1, June 6, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – So, Wesley
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.h3 d6 7.c3 a6 8.a4 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.b4 Ba7 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.fxe3 Ne7 13.Nbd2 Ng6 14.d4 Qe7 15.Qb3 Kh8 16.b5 axb5 17.axb5 exd4 18.cxd4 e5 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Rc1 exd4 21.exd4 Nxe4 22.Nxe4 Qxe4 23.Rxc7 Rf8 24.Qc2 Qd5 25.Qc4 Qxc4 26.Rxc4 Kg8 27.b6 h6 28.Nd2 Nf4 29.Rc7 Rf7 30.Nc4 Nd5 31.Rc8+ Rf8 32.Rxf8+ Kxf8 33.Nxd6 Nxb6 34.Nxb7 Ke7 35.Kf2 Ke6 36.Ke3 Kd5 37.Na5 Na4 38.Nb3 Nb2 39.Nd2 Nd1+ 40.Ke2 Nb2 41.Nb3 Kc4 42.Nc5 Kxd4 43.Ne6+ Ke4 44.Nxg7 Nc4 45.Kf2 Kf4 46.g3+ Ke4 47.g4 Kf4 48.Nh5+ Kg5 49.Kg3 Ne5 50.Nf4 Kf6 51.Kh4 Ng6+ 52.Kg3 Nxf4 53.Kxf4 Kg6 54.h4 Kf6 55.Kf3 Kf7 56.Ke3 Ke7 57.Kd3 Kd7 58.Kc4 Ke6 59.Kd4 Kd6 60.Ke4 Ke6 61.Kf4 Kf6 62.Ke4 Ke6 63.Kf4 Kf6 1/2-1/2

Round 1, June 6, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Caruana, Fabiano
D27 QGA, Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.O-O a6 7.b3 Nbd7 8.Bb2 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.a4 b4 11.Nbd2 Be7 12.Rc1 O-O 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Ne5 Rc8 15.Bf3 Nd5 16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.Nc4 Qe7 18.Qe2 Ba7 19.g3 Bb8 20.Rfd1 Rfd8 21.Bg2 Bc7 22.Qg4 f6 23.h4 a5 24.Rd2 Ba6 25.Rdc2 Rb8 26.h5 Rd7 27.Qh4 Rf8 28.Bh3 Bb7 29.Bd4 Qf7 30.Rd2 h6 31.Qg4 Re8 32.Qg6 Red8 33.Bg2 Ba6 34.Be4 Qxg6 35.hxg6 Ne7 36.Bc5 f5 37.Bxe7 Rxe7 38.Bf3 Rxd2 39.Nxd2 Kf8 40.Rc5 Rd7 41.Nc4 Bxc4 42.Rxc4 Ke7 43.Rc6 Bd8 44.Be2 Rd6 45.Rxd6 Kxd6 46.Bc4 e5 47.f4 Bb6 48.Kf2 exf4 49.gxf4 h5 50.Kf3 h4 51.Bf1 Ke6 52.e4 fxe4+ 53.Kxe4 Kf6 54.f5 Bd8 55.Bh3 Bb6 56.Bf1 Bd8 57.Bh3 Bb6 58.Bf1 1/2-1/2

Standings

1 Nakamura 1.0
2-9 Carlsen, So, Caruana, Kramnik, MVL, Aronian, Anand, Karjakin all with 0.5
10 Giri 0

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 7th June, 2017, 05:23 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 7, 2017

Round Two

Dirk says that after the games were over yesterday, he was going into the hotel elevator and there was Nakamura coming out holding his laptop. He was going to play in the Titled Tuesday chess.com blitz tournament. He won it with 9/10 and with it a cash prize of $500 and paid airfare and entry to the Isle of Man International at the end of September.

Nigel said that Botvinnik was against playing blitz and what Nakamura did would have him turning in his grave.

Dirk: If he were alive
Nigel: If he were alive.

The answer to yesterday’s quiz is Sergei Karjakin. In 2013 he won the Norway Blitz and went on to win his first four games in the classical and then, the tournament.

The winner was Wolf Schmidt from Switzerland.

Today’s question, the first correct answer of which will garner a year’s subscription to NIC (both digital and paper editions): Top chess players are globetrotters, who spend a lot of time away from home. But, how many of the participants in Altibox Norway Chess 2017 have lived in three countries or more? (According to the current geographical borders). Answer tomorrow.

They mentioned that Vlad is living in Switzerland. Anish has lived all over the place. Did Nakamura and Caruana both live in Italy at one time? Anyway, answer tomorrow.
_______

One viewer tweets that he just saw Kramnik go off to the washroom (presumably) and Anand made his move while he was away. Is that ethical or should Vishy have waited until Vlad got back?

Nigel says that Vladimir tends to go to the washroom a lot. Perhaps not actually to the washroom but to the area near it where one can smoke. He has taken up smoking again. Anand has every right to play his move when his opponent is away. There is a monitor near the washroom which shows all the boards, so someone there can see what his position is.

Nigel lives in Greece now. He says that his son has been drafted into the Greek Army, a tank division. But he has got a deferment until 2025.

He no longer has a vote for the British elections. He says that David Cameron’s referendum on leaving the European Union (Brexit) was a blunder of the highest order. If he had a vote it would be for the liberal democrats (whoever they are).

A viewer sends through a photo of himself watching the broadcast. His leg is in a cast because of an Achilles heel injury and he is watching on three large flat screens. Oh, the joy of having three screens! I have only two going.

Evidently the digital edition of NIC is out today and Nigel says he has a column about meeting with Euwe and Botvinnik. He says that he would have liked to meet Bobby Fischer and play him, but never did. Dirk says that he would like to have met Paul Morphy.

They ask if this is the strongest ten-player tournament ever (in terms of rating) and Dirk falls into reminiscences about Linares and Rentero. Remember that Luis Rentero Suarez was a rich chain store magnate who abhorred draws. He financed the Linares tournaments from 1998 to 2010.
_______

As usual, Peter and Jan, when not analyzing, are talking about every subject under the sun. A viewer in the chat room asks Jan:

Did you ever watch POC?

Jan: What is POC? The Pouse of Cards?

Peter: Pouse of Cards?

The viewer clarifies that he means Pirates of the Caribbean. Jan doesn’t like Johnny Depp dressed up, so no. Yesterday it was Jennifer Aniston. What star film will be left uncriticized at the end of the tournament? He admits to being tearful at the end of three movies – Kung Fu Panda, Dodgeball and the new Logan movie. Logan is a 2017 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine.

Here are the first two sentences of the Wikipedia description of the plot:

In the year 2029, mutants are on the brink of extinction, with no new mutants having been born in 25 years. James “Logan” Howlett, formerly known as Wolverine, spends his days working as an Uber driver in Texas.

Peter said that he teared up while watching a movie about the English bowler Harold Harwood.

Jan is looking forward to watching a movie called Green Room, which focuses on a punk band who find themselves attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at a remote club in the Pacific Northwest. He still hasn’t seen Wonder Woman, although he has heard good things.

He wishes that POC stood for Penguins of the Caribbean. He would watch that.

A viewer in the chat asks if he still intends to go through with his scheme to become World Chess Champion. Jan is in the affirmative and explains it once more:

He will play 300 games against Simon Meyer, who has an ELO of 1600. He will win all the games and end up with a rating around 2940. He will then challenge Magnus and draw every game in the match for the WCC and become co-champion.

It is hard to see why this won’t work. There doesn’t appear to be any flaw in his reasoning.

Peter says he orders all his books from the German Amazon and has them delivered to Jan’s flat. It is easier than having them sent to Petersburg.

Kibitzer - that concludes a day full of exorcisms, netflix talk and people who have three times my rating arguing about the best moves. Good night everybody
________

In June of 2014, in the seventh round of the Norway Chess tournament there was just one decisive game: Anish Giri was an exchange up for a long time against Sergey Karjakin but blundered terribly on move 131 (!) and had to resign immediately. The two played the longest game of today.

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 2, June 7, 2017
Giri, Anish – Karjakin, Sergei
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 Nc6 12.O-O Be7 13.a3 Bf6 14.Nf3 Qe7 15.h3 g6 16.Qd2 Be6 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.b4 a6 19.Rc2 Qd7 20.Rfc1 Bf5 21.Bxf5 Qxf5 22.Bc7 Rd7 23.Bb6 Qe4 24.Rd1 Bd8 25.Bc5 Bc7 26.Qd3 Rad8 27.Rcd2 Qxd3 28.Rxd3 f6 29.b5 axb5 30.Rb3 b6 31.Bd4 Nxd4 32.Nxd4 Bd6 33.Rxb5 Bxa3 34.Rxb6 Kf7 35.Rb5 h5 36.g4 hxg4 37.hxg4 Rc8 38.Kg2 Bf8 39.Kf3 Rcc7 40.Ne2 Rc5 41.Rb6 Rc8 42.Nf4 Rcd8 43.g5 Rd6 44.Rb7+ R8d7 45.Rxd7+ Rxd7 46.gxf6 Kxf6 47.Kg4 d4 48.exd4 Bc5 49.Ne2 Rd5 50.Kf3 Rf5+ 51.Ke3 Bf8 52.Ng3 Ra5 53.Kf3 Ra3+ 54.Kg4 Ra4 55.Ne4+ Kf7 56.f3 Be7 57.d5 Bf6 58.Rb1 Rd4 59.Rb7+ Kf8 60.Rb5 Be7 61.Kf4 Rd3 62.Nc5 Bd6+ 63.Ke4 Rd1 64.Nd7+ Ke7 65.Rb7 Re1+ 66.Kd3 Bh2 67.Nb6+ Kf6 68.Rh7 Bf4 69.Nc4 Kg5 70.Rf7 Rd1+ 71.Ke4 Re1+ 72.Kd4 Rd1+ 73.Kc5 Rc1 74.Kd4 Rd1+ 75.Kc5 Rc1 76.Kd4 1/2-1/2

Round 2, June 7, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Aronian, Levon
D38 QGD, Ragozin variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 O-O 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qb3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Bd3 c6 12.Bxf5 Qxf5 13.Qb3 Qc8 14.O-O Nd7 15.Rfe1 Qc7 16.Rac1 Qb6 17.Qc2 Rfe8 18.a3 a5 19.b3 Qc7 20.Nd2 Qd6 21.Qb2 Re6 22.f3 f5 23.Re2 Rae8 24.Rce1 Nf6 25.b4 axb4 26.axb4 Nh5 27.Qc3 Nf4 28.Rf2 h5 29.Nf1 h4 30.Rc1 Nh5 31.b5 f4 32.e4 dxe4 33.fxe4 Rxe4 34.bxc6 bxc6 35.Qxc6 Qxd4 36.Qc5 Nf6 37.Qxd4 Rxd4 38.g3 hxg3 39.hxg3 Nh5 40.Rc3 Re1 41.Kg2 Kh7 42.gxf4 Nxf4+ 43.Kh2 Re6 44.Kh1 g5 45.Rc7+ Kg6 46.Rfc2 Kh5 47.Rh7+ Kg4 48.Rc1 Rd3 49.Ra1 Nh3 50.Ra4+ Kf5 51.Rf7+ Kg6 52.Rfa7 Nf2+ 53.Kg2 Ne4 54.R7a6 Nd6 55.Ra3 Re2+ 56.Kg1 Rd1 57.Ra1 Rxa1 58.Rxa1 Ne4 59.Ra3 Rb2 60.Ng3 1/2-1/2

Round 2, June 7, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Kramnik, Vladimir
C78 Ruy Lopez, Moeller Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Bc5 6.Nc3 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.Nd5 Nxe4 9.d3 Nf6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Nxe7+ Qxe7 12.Re1 h6 13.Bh4 Bb7 14.c3 Rfe8 15.d4 e4 16.Nd2 Na5 17.Bc2 g5 18.Bg3 Nc4 19.Nxc4 bxc4 20.b3 Bd5 21.Be5 d6 22.Bxf6 Qxf6 23.bxc4 Bxc4 24.Rxe4 Rxe4 25.Bxe4 Re8 26.Bd3 Qe6 27.Bxc4 Qxc4 28.Qb3 Qd3 29.h3 Kg7 30.Rd1 Qe2 31.Rf1 Re6 32.Qd5 Qd2 33.Qc4 a5 34.Qxc7 Qxa2 35.c4 Qd2 36.Qb6 a4 37.Qa7 Qb4 38.f4 Re1 39.fxg5 Rxf1+ 40.Kxf1 hxg5 41.Kg1 Qxc4 42.Kh2 Qb4 43.Qe7 Qd2 44.Qa7 Qf4+ 45.Kh1 Qc1+ 46.Kh2 a3 47.Qa5 Qf4+ 48.Kh1 Qc1+ 49.Kh2 Qe3 50.Kh1 f6 51.Qa4 Qc1+ 52.Kh2 Qf4+ 53.Kh1 Qe3 54.Kh2 Kf7 55.Kh1 Kg6 56.Qa8 Kg7 57.Qb7+ Kg6 58.Qa8 Qb3 59.Qe4+ Kg7 60.Qe7+ Qf7 0-1

Round 2, June 7, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Carlsen, Magnus
C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed, anti-Marshall

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nbd2 f6 12.c3 Kh8 13.axb5 axb5 14.Rxa8 Bxa8 15.Ne4 b4 16.d4 bxc3 17.bxc3 exd4 18.Nxd4 Nxd4 19.cxd4 Bb4 20.Bd2 Bxd2 21.Qxd2 Re8 22.h3 Nb6 23.Nc5 Bd5 24.Bxd5 Nxd5 25.Ne6 Qd7 26.Nc5 Qf7 27.Re2 Rb8 28.Re1 Re8 29.Re4 Rxe4 30.Nxe4 h6 31.Nc3 Qe6 32.Nxd5 Qxd5 33.Qe3 Kg8 34.Qe8+ Kh7 35.Qe3 c6 36.h4 Kg6 37.Qe8+ Kh7 38.h5 Qxd4 39.Qg6+ Kg8 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.Qg6+ Kg8 42.Qe8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

Round 2, June 7, 2017
So, Wesley – MVL
E60 King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg2 d5 6.b3 O-O 7.Bb2 c5 8.dxc5 dxc4 9.O-O Qc7 10.Qc1 Qxc5 11.Na3 Qh5 12.Nxc4 Nc6 13.Qg5 Qxg5 14.Nxg5 Bd7 15.Rfd1 Rfd8 16.Nf3 Be6 17.Nfe5 Rxd1+ 18.Rxd1 Rd8 19.Rxd8+ Nxd8 20.Nd3 Nd5 21.Ba3 Kf8 22.Nc5 Nc3 23.Nxe6+ fxe6 24.Kf1 Nxa2 25.Na5 b6 26.Nc6 Nxc6 27.Bxc6 Be5 28.e3 Bd6 29.Bb2 Nb4 30.Be4 Kf7 31.Ke2 Nd5 32.Bd3 e5 33.h4 Nf6 34.Bb5 e6 35.Bc6 Nd5 36.Kf3 h5 37.Ke4 Nf6+ 38.Kd3 Ng4 39.Ke2 Nf6 40.Kd3 Ng4 41.Ke2 Nf6 42.Kd3 Ng4 43.Ke2 1/2-1/2

Standings

1-2 Kramnik, Nakamura 1.5
3-8 Aronian, Carlsen, So, Caruana, Karjakin, MVL 1.0
9-10 Anand, Giri 0.5

**Wayne Komer** · Thursday, 8th June, 2017, 04:41 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 8, 2017

Round Three

Nigel expands on a previous tweet: “Homo sapiens is apparently 100,000 years older than we previously thought. Isn't that exciting? Science is wonderful!”

He speculates that cavemen played the King’s Gambit – probably the Allgaier variation.
_________

Dirk gives the answers to yesterdays NIC puzzle:

What Norway tournament players have lived in three or more countries?

Answer- There are six:

Carlsen – Norway, Finland, Belgium
Kramnik – Russia, France, Switzerland
Caruana – USA, Spain, Hungary, Switzerland
Aronian – Armenia, Germany, Spain
Anand – India, Philippines, Spain
Giri – Russia, Japan, Netherlands

No viewer gave the answer “six”. One gave all possibilities with ten submissions. He was disqualified. The winner Subhashish Nardi won the prize with the answer “seven”. He got all the above correctly but added that Wesley So had lived in the USA, Canada and Philippines.

Dirk says that Wesley’s parents moved to Canada but he didn’t live here.

I would have bet the house on Caruana having lived for some time in Italy but that wasn’t a correct answer.

Today’s NIC Question – New In Chess magazine claims that all the world’s best players contribute to its pages. How many of the ten playing in Altibox Norway have written for New In Chess?
________

A viewer says that he is watching the commentary from the Isle of Wight and asks Nigel if he has ever been there?

Nigel was born in 1965, and so was 7 when his family were on a vacation on the Isle of Wight in 1972. Nigel said that newspapers were all full of Spassky-Fischer and he was following the games as a young boy then.

He is seriously thinking of writing a chess book with a difference. He gave no other details.
_______

Svidler comments on Giri, sitting at the table after making a move in a worrisome position.

Peter – Ideas travel across the board. If you have a dubious position, you might give away your feelings through body language. Better to stand up and get away from the board.

Birdman is a 2014 American black comedy film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. He also has the film The Revenant. The latter won three Academy Awards. Jan thought Birdman better than Revenant. Viewers in the chat room chimed in on these two movies and others of a similar type.

The guys talk about birthdays and use Wikipedia to check their facts. There are three coming up soon:

Jan Gustafsson – June 25, 1979; Vladimir Kramnik – June 25, 1975; and Peter Svidler – June 17, 1976

Jan – (reads) “Gustafsson is involved in the Chess24.com project, in which he makes video analyses of notable chess games, and has been named by the chess historian Edward Winter as one of the top five Internet chess broadcasters.”

There are many things I don’t like in my Wikipedia article but I don’t know how to change them. Do you Peter?

Peter – In my Wikipedia bio, I was upset that the chess coach with the most influence on my play was not mentioned. I found that the best way to get Andrei Mikhailovich’s name in was to give an interview where I mentioned his name. This resulted in this:

“In 1993 he started work with coach and International Master Andrei Lukin. In a 2011 question and answer session, Svidler said of Lukin, "The real breakthrough, however, coincided very closely with the moment I started to work with Andrey Mikhailovich Lukin – without him I really might have come to nothing." “

I must say that when I read Winter’s article, I was upset that I wasn’t even mentioned as a chess broadcaster.

Jan – I will see if I can get you into the top five broadcasters list, as long as they don’t toss me out as a result. You are third in my list of broadcasting Peters – after Peter Leko and Peter Griffin. The latter is a Family Guy reference.

Jan knocks Ben Stiller as a superhero. So add him to the list of Johnny Depp and Jennifer Aniston.

(Note: Winter’s best broadcaster list includes Gustafsson, King, Pelletier, Seirawan and Short)
_______

The big basketball final comes up. Golden State is winning the series 3-0. Jan thinks that the Cav’s tossed everything at the Warriors in last night's game and couldn’t win, so Golden State will sweep and be a perfect 16-0 in the playoffs.
________

The games: Karjakin-Anand was exciting for a while. It appeared that Sergei was using analysis prepared for Magnus but which he had not got a chance to use. Vishy countered it though. The longest game was Kramnik-So. As a result, Vlad is now World’s No. 2 on the Live Ratings with a good chance to get into the Candidates.

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 3, June 8, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – Nakamura, Hikaru
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Adams Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 g6 7.g3 Nc6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.Bg2 O-O 10.O-O Nd7 11.b3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 b6 14.Nd5 Bb7 15.c4 e5 16.Qe3 b5 17.Rac1 bxc4 18.Rxc4 Bxd5 19.exd5 a5 20.Rfc1 Nc5 21.a3 f5 22.b4 axb4 23.axb4 Nd7 24.Rc6 f4 25.gxf4 exf4 26.Qe6+ Rf7 27.Qxd6 Qg5 28.Kh1 f3 29.Bf1 Nf6 30.Qe6 Kg7 31.Rc7 Rxc7 32.Rxc7+ Kh6 33.Qe1 Ra2 34.Re7 Ng4 35.hxg4 Qh4+ 36.Kg1 Qxg4+ 37.Kh1 Qh4+ 38.Kg1 Qg4+ 39.Kh1 Qh4+ 40.Kg1 Qg4+ 1/2-1/2

Round 3, June 8, 2017
MVL – Caruana, Fabiano
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack, Marshall variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 c6 9.Re1 Bf5 10.Qb3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.Bxf5 Qxf5 13.bxc3 b6 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.Qb5 Qd7 16.Rb1 Rc8 17.g3 Bf8 18.Bd2 Nc6 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.Rxe5 Rd8 21.Qxd7 Rxd7 22.Rb5 Rad8 23.a4 Be7 24.a5 bxa5 25.Rxa5 f6 26.Re6 Rb8 27.Rea6 Rbb7 28.Kf1 Kf7 29.Ke2 Bd8 30.Ra2 Bb6 31.Bc1 Rbc7 32.Kd3 Re7 33.Bf4 Rc8 34.Bd6 Re1 35.Bc5 Bxc5 36.dxc5 Rxc5 37.Rxa7+ Kg6 38.R7a5 Rxa5 39.Rxa5 Rf1 40.f4 Rd1+ 41.Kc2 Rh1 42.Rxd5 Rxh2+ 43.Rd2 Rxd2+ 44.Kxd2 Kf5 45.Ke3 h5 46.Kf3 g5 47.fxg5 fxg5 48.g4+ hxg4+ 49.Kg3 Ke4 50.Kxg4 Kd3 51.Kxg5 Kxc3 1/2-1/2

Round 3, June 8, 2017
Karjakin, Sergei – Anand, Vishy
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.Bf4 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.Nc3 Bxd4 14.Nd5 d6 15.Bg5 f6 16.Bh4 Bxb2 17.Rb1 Be5 18.f4 c6 19.fxe5 cxd5 20.exf6 Nxf6 21.Bd3 Bd7 22.h3 b5 23.Bxb5 Qe8 24.Qxe8+ Bxe8 25.Ba6 Bg6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Bb7 Re8 28.Bxd5+ Bf7 29.Bxf7+ Kxf7 30.Rb7+ Kg6 31.Rxa7 Rc8 32.Rd7 Rxc2 33.Rxd6 Rxa2 1/2-1/2

Round 3, June 8, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – So, Wesley
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.h3 d6 7.c3 a6 8.Re1 Ba7 9.Bb3 h6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nf1 Be6 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.Nxe3 Qd7 14.Bxe6 Qxe6 15.c4 Ne7 16.Nd5 Nexd5 17.cxd5 Qd7 18.d4 c6 19.dxc6 Qxc6 20.Rc1 Qb6 21.Re3 exd4 22.Rb3 Qa5 23.Rxb7 Qxa2 24.Rcc7 Rab8 25.Rxf7 Rxb7 26.Rxb7 Rxe4 27.Rb8+ Kf7 28.Rb6 a5 29.Qd3 d5 30.Rb7+ Kg8 31.Rb8+ Re8 32.Rb7 Re4 33.Nxd4 Qc4 34.Qxc4 dxc4 35.Nf5 Re5 36.g4 Ne8 37.Kg2 Rc5 38.Ra7 Nc7 39.f3 Ne6 40.Re7 Re5 41.Re8+ Kh7 42.Kf1 Kg6 43.Nd6 Kf6 44.Ne4+ Kf7 45.Nd6+ Kf6 46.Nxc4 Rc5 47.Ne3 Rb5 48.Nc4 Rc5 49.Ne3 Rb5 50.Nd1 Rb3 51.Kf2 Kf7 52.Ra8 Ng5 53.Rxa5 Rxf3+ 54.Kg2 Rd3 55.Nf2 Rd2 56.Rf5+ Ke6 57.b4 Rb2 58.Rf4 Ke5 59.Rf8 Kd6 60.Rf4 Ne6 61.Re4 Kd5 62.Re3 Rxb4 63.Kg3 Rd4 64.h4 Rc4 65.Nd3 Re4 66.Rxe4 Kxe4 67.Nf2+ Ke3 68.Nd1+ Ke4 69.Nf2+ Ke3 70.Nd1+ Ke4 71.Nf2+ 1/2-1/2

Round 3, June 8, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Giri, Anish
D38 QGD, Ragozin variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 O-O 7.Qc2 Re8 8.Bd2 a6 9.h3 Bd6 10.a3 Bd7 11.Be2 dxc4 12.Bxc4 h6 13.O-O e5 14.Rae1 Qe7 15.Nh4 Qd8 16.Qb3 Rf8 17.Qd1 b5 18.Ba2 Kh8 19.Bc1 g5 20.dxe5 Nxe5 21.f4 gxh4 22.fxe5 Bxe5 23.e4 Rg8 24.Bxf7 Rg7 25.Bf4 Bxf4 26.Rxf4 Bxh3 27.Kh2 Bd7 28.Be6 Ng4+ 29.Rxg4 Bxe6 30.Qxd8+ Rxd8 31.Rxh4 Kh7 32.Re2 Rd4 33.Rf2 Rf7 34.Rxf7+ Bxf7 35.Rf4 Kg7 36.Rf5 Rc4 37.Kg3 c5 38.Kf3 b4 39.axb4 cxb4 40.Nd5 b3 41.Ne3 Rd4 42.Ra5 Bg6 43.Nf5+ Bxf5 44.exf5 Rd2 45.Rxa6 Rxb2 46.Rg6+ Kh7 47.Rb6 Rb1 48.Rb7+ Kg8 49.g3 b2 50.Kg2 Kf8 51.Kh2 Kg8 52.Kg2 Kf8 53.Kh2 Kg8 1/2-1/2

At the postmortem:

Giri – I am just trying to make a draw here
Aronian – Isn’t that always the case? (everyone laughs)
Giri – If you try to make a draw, you lose; If you try to win, you draw

Tomorrow is a Rest Day

Standings

1-2 Kramnik, Nakamura 2.0
3-8 Carlsen, So, Caruana, Aronian, MVL, Karjakin 1.5
9-10 Anand, Giri 1.0

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 11th June, 2017, 12:31 AM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 10, 2017

Round Four

ChessBase’s summary of the day’s action – "Out of this world" - These were the words of GM Ramirez to describe round four, and he was not guilty of hyperbole either. Let's just start with Aronian, who delivered a classic Bxh7+ followed by Ng5 and Qh5 to beat Carlsen. Granted it went a little longer than that, but that was the beginning of the end. Then Giri beat Anand in a strong game, while Nakamura scored his second win, against MVL, to take sole first. Caruana almost had Kramnik, who survived, and Karjakin escaped So in a finale Houdini, had he been a chess player, would have been proud of.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/altibox...-of-this-world

- What a wonderful artwork by Karjakin! Exciting draw!

- Round to remember. Classy victory for Levon and confortable ones for Giri and Naka. 2 Ks are as always very hard to beat which they proved again today. It is pleasure to watch Aronian in top form and if he can continue like this he might add Norway chess title to Grenke where he crushed the field. In the end at one point engines showed almost +4 evaluation in So's favor hence it was not all about Karjakin's defending skills but So's mistake. We could not ask for more - eventful round with Levon's victory standing out from the rest.

- Absolutely superb game by Aronian. It is not like Carlsen falls for Bh7. The real beauty was the exchange sac, and the moves leading up to Bh7. That was the real work, and where the game was setup to be won.

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 4, June 10, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Kramnik, Vladimir
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d5 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Bc4 Qd6 8.Qe2 O-O 9.Bg5 Be6 10.Nbd2 Bxc4 11.Nxc4 Qe6 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Nfd2 b5 14.Ne3 f5 15.a4 f4 16.Qg4+ Qg6 17.Qxg6+ hxg6 18.Nd5 Rad8 19.Nf6+ Kg7 20.Nfe4 Bb6 21.axb5 Ne7 22.Ke2 Nd5 23.g3 f5 24.Ng5 Rfe8 25.Nc4 e4 26.d4 f3+ 27.Kd2 Nf6 28.Ne3 Rd7 29.h4 Kh6 30.Rhd1 Nd5 31.Ra4 Kh5 32.Nh3 Nxe3 33.Kxe3 Kg4 34.Nf4 Rd6 35.Rc4 Re5 36.Rb4 Re8 37.Ra1 Re5 38.Ra6 Re8 39.Raa4 Rh8 40.Ra1 Re8 41.Ra3 Rh8 42.Rba4 a5 43.Ra1 c5 44.bxc6 Rxc6 45.Rxa5 Bxa5 46.Rxa5 g5 47.hxg5 Rh1 48.d5 Rc8 49.g6 Re1+ 50.Kd2 Rf1 51.Ke3 Re1+ 52.Kd2 Rf1 53.Ke3 1/2-1/2

Round 4, June 10, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Carlsen, Magnus
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav, Accelerated Meran

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 a6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bd2 Nbd7 8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Qe7 10.Bc2 Rd8 11.a3 Bxa3 12.Rxa3 Qxa3 13.c5 b6 14.b4 Ne4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Rb8 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Ng5+ Kg8 19.Qh5 Nf6 20.Qxf7+ Kh8 21.Qc7 Bd7 22.Nf7+ Kh7 23.Nxd8 Rc8 24.Qxb6 Nd5 25.Qa7 Rxd8 26.e4 Qd3 27.exd5 Qxd2 28.Qc7 Qg5 29.dxc6 Bc8 30.h3 Qd5 31.Rd1 e5 32.Rd3 exd4 33.Qe7 Bf5 34.Rg3 Bg6 35.Qh4+ 1-0

Round 4, June 10, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – MVL
B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Kristiansen Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nde2 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Ng3 Be6 10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 g6 12.c4 Ne8 13.Bh6 Ng7 14.b4 Nd7 15.Rc1 a5 16.a3 axb4 17.axb4 Ra3 18.Ne4 f5 19.Nc3 e4 20.Be2 Bg5 21.Bxg5 Qxg5 22.c5 Ne5 23.c6 Nh5 24.Bxh5 gxh5 25.Kh1 Qh4 26.Qd4 Ng4 27.h3 f4 28.Kg1 e3 29.hxg4 hxg4 30.cxb7 exf2+ 31.Rxf2 g3 32.Rxf4 Qh2+ 33.Kf1 1-0

Round 4, June 10, 2017
Giri, Anish – Anand, Vishy
A21 English, Kramnik-Shirov Counter Attack

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Bc5 4.e3 Nf6 5.b4 Nxd5 6.bxc5 Nf6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Be2 O-O 9.Bb2 d6 10.cxd6 cxd6 11.O-O Re8 12.a4 b6 13.d3 Bg4 14.h3 Bh5 15.g4 Bg6 16.Nh4 Rc8 17.Nxg6 hxg6 18.Bf3 g5 19.Bg2 Nd7 20.f4 gxf4 21.exf4 Nc5 22.fxe5 dxe5 23.Bd5 Rf8 24.Qf3 Qd7 25.Bc3 Ne6 26.Rae1 Ne7 27.Rxe5 Nxd5 28.Rxd5 Qxa4 29.g5 Rc5 30.h4 Rxd5 31.cxd5 Nc5 32.g6 Qd7 33.Bb4 1-0

Round 4, June 10, 2017
So, Wesley – Karjakin, Sergei
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.a4 a6 7.c3 d6 8.Re1 Ba7 9.h3 Ne7 10.d4 Ng6 11.Nbd2 c6 12.Bf1 Re8 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Qc2 b5 15.b4 Be6 16.Nb3 Qe7 17.Bd2 h6 18.c4 Rac8 19.c5 Bb8 20.axb5 axb5 21.Ra6 Red8 22.Na5 Qe8 23.Bc3 Nh7 24.g3 Nhf8 25.Rb6 Kh7 26.Rxb8 Rxb8 27.Nxe5 Nxe5 28.Bxe5 Ra8 29.Bd6 Ra6 30.f4 Rda8 31.f5 Bc4 32.Bxc4 bxc4 33.e5 Nd7 34.Qxc4 Nf6 35.e6 Nd5 36.Qe4 f6 37.e7 Nxb4 38.Qxb4 Rxa5 39.Qg4 Kg8 40.Qg6 Ra2 41.g4 Rc2 42.Kf1 Rb2 43.h4 Rb4 44.h5 Rb2 45.Bc7 Rd2 46.Bf4 Rd4 47.Bd6 Rb4 48.Re2 Rb1+ 49.Kf2 Rb3 50.Bc7 Rd3 51.Bf4 Rd4 52.Bd6 Rb4 53.Kg3 Rb3+ 54.Kh4 Rba3 55.Re6 R3a7 56.Re3 Ra4 57.Kg3 Rb4 58.Bc7 Rd4 59.Bf4 Rd7 60.Bd6 Rb7 61.g5 hxg5 62.h6 Qxg6 63.fxg6 Re8 64.h7+ Kh8 65.Kg4 f5+ 66.Kxg5 Rb1 67.Ra3 Rg1+ 68.Kxf5 Re1 69.Ra2 R8xe7 70.Bxe7 Re5+ 71.Kxe5 1/2-1/2

- How did Sergey manage to draw this? He was 2 pieces down!

- Stalemate
_______

NIC Quiz Question

How many of the participants in Norway 2017 have written for New In Chess?

Answer: All of them

Winner: Pelee Weber from the USA.

Round Four Question:

As Norway Chess would not have existed without Magnus Carlsen, it’s not a big surprise that the World Champion has played in all five editions. Is there someone else who has also played in all the tournaments so far?
________

The Altibox Norway Chess participants had one of the strangest rest days ever. They were brought to a farm (Felleskjøpet Agri, one of the tournament's sponsors) half an hour away from Stavanger, and then they... turned into farmers. They had to cut trees, drive tractors and milk cows!

The uniforms were a green and yellow baseball cap, rubberized green and yellow jacket and long pants with rubber boots and gloves. Safety glasses also were supplied. It is said that when Vassily Ivanchuk sees photos of the baseball cap, he will want to get one! Kramnik and So won the event.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/aron...way-chess-4033

Evidently Anish gave Wesley some advice on how to purchase a cow. Nigel says that he prefers his olive farming to dairy farming.
________

Jan hints at shenanigans in the Cavs-Warriors Game Four, which Cleveland won. Peter is staying with Jan this week and he is starting to watch NBA games and is afraid that he is developing another hobby.

We have spoken before about watching the tourneys on more than one flat screen. Peter has investigated adding two smaller screens to the left and right of this main laptop screen using a USB connection but he found it expensive and untested and has shelved it for the moment. He felt the addition would allow him to utilize his time more effectively.

Standings after Round Four

1 Nakamura 3.0
2-3 Aronian, Kramnik 2.5
4-7 Caruana, So, Karjakin, Giri 2.0
8-9 Carlsen, MVL 1.5
10 Anand 1.0

**Wayne Komer** · Sunday, 11th June, 2017, 04:31 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 11, 2017

Round Five

Short-Geuzendam

While discussing the Marshall Counter Gambit in MVL-Aronian the guys talked about the Milner-Barry Counter-Gambit in the French and Nigel said that Sir Stuart Milner Barry was one of the code breakers at Bletchley Park in the Second World War. His role is partly shown in the film The Imitation Game. When they needed someone to take a request for more resources to Churchill at 10 Downing Street, it was Milner-Barry who went.

Milner-Barry was recruited by mathematician Gordon Welchman, who had been his contemporary at Trinity College; in turn, Milner-Barry recruited Hugh Alexander. Arriving in early 1940, he joined Welchman's "Hut 6" section, whose task was to solve the Enigma cipher machine as used by the German Army and Air Force.

Both Milner-Barry and Alexander are not well-known by contemporary players. The first I heard of the latter was through his volume, which covered the last third of Alekhine’s Best Games (1935-1945).

Nigel thought it was a very good chess film and another of the same quality was the Queen of Katwe.

While they are talking about the Marshall, the name of Gajewski comes up. He has a variation named after him. Grzegorz Gajewski has been a second for Vishy Anand.

On Kramnik playing Nakamura – this game is important because it could switch the lead in this tournament. Vlad has several goals in Norway – to improve his qualification for the Candidates. Two players get in on rating. It would save Kramnik the trouble of playing in the World Cup.

Dirk says that Magnus finally beat Giri at Bilbao last year. Everyone thought he was going to do it again at Wijk this year when both he and Giri missed a mate in three. The endgame was Q for Giri and R, B and two pawns (g+h) for Carlsen and the game went long into the night, with a draw after 123 moves.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1859555
________

NIC Quiz

From Round Four – What other player besides Magnus Carlsen has played in all five editions of Norway Chess?

Answer – Levon Aronian

Winner Babette Berhaus from Gottingen.

Dirk says that Gottingen University holds a manuscript, which is the first devoted entirely to modern chess. The manuscript is generally assumed to be older than Lucena’s work of 1497.

Round Five Quiz

Yesterday we saw the exciting round of Altibox Norway Chess with great fights in all five games. The motto seemed to be “Playing for blood, as grandmasters should”, which is actually a quote from a song of an English pop band, popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The song was about Bobby Fischer and we’d like to know the name of the band.
_________

Svidler-Gustafsson
Jan’s suggestion to viewers at the first – If you are a spectator you should immediately approach the players at the first and take photos with them, get autographs and sit down and discuss with them their favorite TV shows.

Peter – Perhaps there are some out there who are not familiar with Jan’s dry humour. Do not, I repeat, do not follow those suggestions!

The guys say that there is no zero tolerance at this tourney. Kramnik makes his move 1.e4 and Nakamura still has not arrived at the board. Seconds later Nakamura arrives, sits down, makes his move, then writes on his score sheet, puts down his can of Red Bull and his pens.

In response to a chat question, Jan says he feels that Peter is a half-empty glass person (i.e. slightly pessimistic). Peter is a bit hurt, he has always regarded himself as a half-glass fuller.

Jan adds that Pat Riley said, “Who cares if it is half-full or half-empty, just drink the effing glass”.

To the question “Who would be the most recognizable in Moscow – Karjakin, Kramnik or Carlsen?”

The answer is that Karjakin gets a lot of media coverage and is very popular in Russia. He attends events, posts his selfies etc – so, Karjakin.

Eric Hansen as chessbrah appears on the chat board for a while. Peter and Jan talk at length about Blood Sport, the 1988 martial arts movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

A viewer says that at the 18th European Individual Championship, the Howell-Duda encounter was drawn in three moves. (1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 ½-½) Round 11.

Some one asks what is the best place in Hamburg to dispose of a dead body.

Jan says, putting it into the Elbe, is the usual method. Peter says that in corpse disposal, you really want to have running water so the body is taken away quickly.

Jan has played one classical game against Peter, one Sunday morning in the Bundesliga in 2007. It was a draw. A very short draw.

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round Five, June 11, 2017
Karjakin, Sergei – Caruana, Fabiano
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack, Marshall variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 c6 9.Re1 Bf5 10.Qb3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Nxc3 12.Bxf5 Qxf5 13.Qxb7 Ne4 14.Qxa8 Qd7 15.cxd5 Nf6 16.Re3 Nxd5 17.Rb3 Nb4 18.Rxb4 Bxb4 19.Be3 Bd6 20.d5 c5 21.b4 cxb4 22.Rc1 Rd8 23.Qxa7 Qxa7 24.Bxa7 Nd7 25.Bd4 Ra8 26.Kf1 Ra5 27.Rc8+ Bf8 28.d6 Rd5 29.Ne5 Nxe5 30.Bxe5 f6 31.Bg3 Kf7 32.Rb8 Bxd6 33.Bxd6 Rxd6 34.Rxb4 Rd2 35.a4 Ra2 36.h4 h5 37.g3 Kg6 38.Rf4 Kf7 39.Ke1 Ke6 40.Rb4 Kf5 41.Kd1 Ke5 42.Ke1 Kf5 43.Kf1 Kg6 44.Rc4 Kh6 45.Rf4 Kg6 46.Ke1 Kf7 47.Kf1 Kg6 48.Kg2 Ra3 49.Kh3 Ra2 50.g4 Ra3+ 51.f3 hxg4+ 52.Kxg4 Ra1 53.Rc4 Ra2 54.h5+ Kh6 55.f4 Rg2+ 56.Kf5 Rh2 57.Ke6 Rxh5 58.f5 Rh1 59.Rc5 Kg5 60.Kf7 Rh7 61.a5 g6+ 62.Ke6 Rh1 63.a6 Ra1 64.fxg6+ Kxg6 65.Rc6 f5 66.Kd6 Kg5 67.Kc7 f4 68.Kb7 f3 69.Rc2 Kf4 70.a7 Kg3 71.a8=Q Rxa8 72.Kxa8 f2 73.Rxf2 Kxf2 1/2-1/2

Round 5, June 11, 2017
Anand, Vishy – So, Wesley
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.a4 a6 7.c3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Nbd2 Nb6 12.Ba2 Qxd3 13.a5 Bxf3 14.Nxf3 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 Nc8 16.b4 Ba7 17.Re1 Nd6 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Rxe5 Rfe8 20.Rxe8+ Rxe8 21.Kf1 Ne4 22.Bd5 c6 23.Bxe4 Rxe4 24.Bd2 Kf8 25.Re1 Rxe1+ 26.Bxe1 Ke7 27.Ke2 c5 28.Kd3 cxb4 29.cxb4 Kd6 30.Kc4 b5+ 31.axb6 Bxb6 32.b5 axb5+ 33.Kxb5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, June 11, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – Giri, Anish
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.h3 d6 7.c3 a6 8.a4 Ba7 9.Re1 h6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.b4 Nh5 12.Nf1 Qf6 13.Ne3 Bxc4 14.Nxc4 Nf4 15.Be3 Bxe3 16.fxe3 Ng6 17.b5 axb5 18.axb5 Nce7 19.Qb3 d5 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Ncd2 c6 22.d4 Qd6 23.Qb2 dxe4 24.Nxe4 Qd5 25.Ned2 cxb5 26.e4 Qc6 27.Kh1 Rc8 28.d5 Qxc3 29.Qxb5 Qc7 30.Rb1 f5 31.Qb4 fxe4 32.d6 Nd5 33.dxc7 Nxb4 34.Rxb4 exf3 35.Rxb7 f2 36.g3 Kh7 37.Kg2 Ne7 38.Kxf2 Nd5 39.Nc4 Rxc7 40.Rxc7 Nxc7 41.Nxe5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, June 11, 2017
MVL – Aronian, Levon
C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counter-Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Be3 Bxd3 17.Nd2 Qf5 18.Bd4 Rfe8 19.a4 h6 20.h4 Rxe1+ 21.Rxe1 Qxf3 22.Nxf3 Bg6 23.Be5 Bc5 24.Nd4 Nb6 25.Nxc6 bxa4 26.Ba2 Re8 27.Ra1 Be4 28.Bd4 Bxc6 29.Bxc5 Nd7 30.Bd4 Ne5 31.Bxe5 Rxe5 32.Bc4 Bb5 33.Bf1 Kf8 34.f3 Re8 35.Bxb5 axb5 36.c4 bxc4 37.Rxa4 Rb8 38.Rxc4 Rxb2 1/2-1/2

Round 5, June 11, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Nakamura, Hikaru
B50 Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen/Najdorf/dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.e5 Nc6 7.Qa4 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Bd7 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Bd2 g6 11.O-O-O Bg7 12.Bg5 Qg4 13.Bxf6 Qxa4 14.Nxa4 Bxf6 15.c3 e6 16.g3 Rc8 17.Bg2 Be7 18.Rd2 h5 19.Rhd1 h4 20.Nb6 Rc7 21.Na8 Rc8 22.Nb6 Rc7 23.f4 hxg3 24.hxg3 Rh5 25.Na8 Rc8 26.Rd7 Rh2 27.Be4 Re2 28.Bxc6 bxc6 29.Nc7+ Kf8 30.Rh1 Bf6 31.Nxa6 Ra8 32.Nb4 c5 33.Nd3 Rxa2 34.Kb1 Ra8 35.Nxc5 Rb8 36.Rb7 Rxb7 37.Nxb7 Rg2 38.Rh3 g5 39.fxg5 Bxg5 40.Nc5 Be7 41.Nd3 Bd6 42.Nf4 Rf2 43.Rh4 Ke7 44.Rg4 Rf1+ 45.Kc2 Rf2+ 46.Kb3 Rd2 47.Rg8 Rf2 48.Rg4 Rd2 49.Rg8 Rf2 1/2-1/2

Tomorrow is Peter Svidler’s last day commentating. He is going away to play for Russia in the World Team Championship in Khanty. Nepo is first board and Peter second.

Standing after Round Five

1 Nakamura 3.5
2-3 Aronian, Kramnik 3.0
4-7 Caruana, Karjakin, So, Giri 2.5
8-9 Carlsen, MVL 2.0
10 Anand 1.5

**Wayne Komer** · Monday, 12th June, 2017, 05:37 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 12, 2017

Round Six

Short-Geuzendam
The guys talk about chess books. Dirk laments the fact that these days, tournament books are a rarity. His favorite of these is Karlsbad 1929. That tournament took place in Czechoslovakia and was a contest with 22 masters. Nimzowitsch won ahead of Capablanca, Spielmann, Rubinstein, Becker, Vidmar etc. Alekhine did not play but wrote six reports for the New York Times. The tournament book is by Nimzowitsch, Spielmann, Becker, Tartakower et al and is highly prized. Dirk has an original but Olms published a reprint in 1989 for those who want to own one.

Nigel said that his two favorite chess books when he was growing up were a collection of Karpov’s best games by O’Connell and Levy, Batsford (1976} and Karpov’s games as world champion 1975-1976 by O’Connell and Levy as well, Batsford (1978).

I recently won the second book in an eBay auction and it went for over $60, about five times the original price.

The guys are asked why, if there are the English Opening and the French Defence and the Dutch there is no American Opening. Nigel says that there is the Marshall Gambit the Pillsbury Attack and the Fischer Defense to the King’s Gambit. They wonder if they can call Steinitz an American because he lived in the States for a long time, but decide no, he was Austrian.

Dirk names the Sixth American Chess Congress 1889 tournament book, edited by Steinitz as another favorite of his because of the salty language he used.

Dirk said that his two favorite chess books when growing up were Kmoch’s Rubinstein Gewinnt (1933) and Golombek’s Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess, Bell (1947).

John Upper tweets a question and Nigel acknowledges him.

Round Five NIC Quiz

Name the English pop band that had a song about Bobby Fischer with the lyrics in it “Playing for blood, as grandmasters should”.

Answer: The band was Prefab Sprout, the song was Cue Fanfare from the album Swoon.

The winner was Bernard Joseph from Chicago

Round Six Quiz

Some grandmasters prefer to travel alone to a tournament, some bring a second to help them. How many of the participants in Altibox Norway 2017 brought seconds to Stavenger?
________

I downloaded the song Cue Fanfare from the iTunes Store at a cost of $1.29. It takes some getting used to.

Nigel had a fake question that he was nevertheless serious about, “How many of the 10 participants in Norway Chess can tie a tie?”

I can remember as a teenager not being able to tie a Windsor Knot and my father did it for me. Evidently the tie-tying art has not progressed very much since I was a boy.
________

Svidler-Gustafsson-Trent
It is Peter’s last day today. He flies out tomorrow to Moscow and from there to Khanty-Masiysk. After that competition is over he will spend six days with his family on vacation and then go to Geneva for the Grand Prix, which starts July 6.

Lawrence Trent replaces Jan for a while. He shall shortly be making an announcement about his career. He seemed to hint that he would be managing someone but perhaps I am wrong about that.

The guys are asked why a loss in chess hits us so hard. Peter says it is tied to our masculinity – like driving and playing billiards and a couple of other things he will not mention. Your sense of self-worth is tied to your chess play.

They both recommend Aagaard’s books for the advanced player (Grandmaster Preparation series). Trent and Caruana used them when they were preparing for Fabiano’s appearance in the Candidates.

Peter is asked his favourite non-chess English book and it is Money by Martin Amis. Lawrence immediately says that his is No Money by Lawrence Trent!

They are asked about time issues in chess – mainly playing slower than when they were young. Lawrence answered with a quotation from Goodfellas:

Henny Youngman at the Copacabana delivering one-liners:

“Wonderful doctor, gave a guy six months to live, he couldn’t pay his bills, so he gave him another six months.”
________

ChessBase - Though it was not the only result of the day, it was certainly the most significant one. The opening went well for Aronian, and very quickly things soured for Kramnik who was lost after just 22 moves. A huge win for the Armenian who also rejoins the 2800 club. Anand also broke out of his rut as he soundly defeated Caruana with black in a strong performance, while Giri will be kicking himself as he squandered a won game against So.

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 6, June 12, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – MVL
A48 King’s Indian, London System

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 O-O 5.Be2 d6 6.h3 c5 7.O-O Qb6 8.Nbd2 cxd4 9.Nc4 Qc7 10.exd4 Nd5 11.Bg3 b5 12.Ncd2 a6 13.c3 Nc6 14.a4 Rb8 15.axb5 axb5 16.Re1 Na5 17.Qb1 Nc4 18.Qa2 Ndb6 19.b3 Nxd2 20.Qxd2 Be6 21.Bxb5 Bxb3 22.Qe2 Bd5 23.Ra3 Bf6 24.Nd2 Rfc8 25.Rea1 Ra8 26.Ba6 Nc4 27.Bxc4 Rxa3 28.Rxa3 Bxc4 29.Qxc4 Qxc4 30.Nxc4 Rxc4 31.Kf1 e5 32.Ra6 exd4 33.cxd4 Rxd4 34.Rxd6 Rxd6 35.Bxd6 h5 36.g4 hxg4 37.hxg4 Bd8 38.Ke2 f5 39.Kf3 fxg4+ 40.Kxg4 Kf7 41.f4 Be7 42.Bxe7 Kxe7 43.f5 gxf5+ 44.Kxf5 1/2-1/2

Round 6, June 12, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Karjakin, Sergei
E34 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.e3 c5 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 cxd4 9.Bxd4 Nc6 10.Bc3 O-O 11.Nf3 Rd8 12.Be2 Qe4 13.Rc1 Qxc2 14.Rxc2 Ne4 15.Ne5 Bd7 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.Ba5 Rdc8 18.f3 Nf6 19.Kf2 Bd5 20.Rxc8+ Rxc8 21.b3 Rc2 22.Ra1 e5 23.e4 Be6 24.Rd1 Nd7 25.Rd2 Rxd2 26.Bxd2 f6 27.Bb4 Nb8 28.Bd6 Nc6 29.Ke3 Kf7 30.h4 Ke8 31.g3 Kd7 32.Bf8 g6 33.g4 h5 34.gxh5 gxh5 35.f4 Bf7 36.Bb5 a6 37.Bf1 Ke8 38.Bc5 Kd7 39.f5 Ne7 40.Be2 Nc8 41.Bf8 Nd6 42.Kd3 a5 43.Bd1 b6 44.a3 Be8 45.b4 axb4 46.axb4 Bf7 47.Bxd6 Kxd6 48.Kc3 b5 49.Bb3 Bxb3 50.Kxb3 Kc6 51.Kc3 Kd6 52.Kb3 Kc6 53.Kc3 Kd6 54.Kb3 1/2-1/2

Round 6, June 12, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Kramnik, Vladimir
D41 QGD, Semi-Tarrasch

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 O-O 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.O-O b6 13.Rac1 Bb7 14.d5 Nc5 15.Rfe1 Qf6 16.Qe3 Rac8 17.e5 Qg6 18.d6 f6 19.Nh4 Qg4 20.g3 fxe5 21.Qxe5 Rcd8 22.f4 Rf6 23.Rc3 Rh6 24.Be2 Qh3 25.Qg5 Qxh4 26.gxh4 Rg6 27.Rd1 Bd5 28.f5 Rxg5+ 29.hxg5 Kf8 30.fxe6 Bxe6 31.Bc4 Bf5 32.Re3 g6 33.Re7 Rd7 34.Rde1 1-0

Round 6, June 12, 2017
Giri, Anish – So, Wesley
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 e6 6.h4 Nf6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 O-O 9.O-O d5 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd2 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Ba6 15.Qc2 Qa5 16.Rfd1 Qc5 17.Rd7 Rad8 18.Rad1 Rxd7 19.Rxd7 Bc4 20.Qd2 a5 21.Bf3 Qa3 22.h5 Qxa2 23.Qd4 c5 24.Qe3 a4 25.Kg2 Qb1 26.h6 Qf5 27.g4 Qf6 28.Qxc5 Bd5 29.e4 Ba8 30.Ra7 e5 31.Rxa4 Qf4 32.Qe3 Qxe3 33.fxe3 Rc8 34.Ra5 Kf8 35.Kg3 Bc6 36.c4 Bd7 37.Be2 Be6 38.Rxe5 Bxc4 39.Bxc4 Rxc4 40.Kf4 Rc6 41.g5 Rc1 42.Ra5 Ke7 43.Ke5 Rc7 44.Rb5 Ra7 45.Rc5 Rb7 46.Ra5 Rc7 47.Ra8 Rc5+ 48.Kf4 Rc1 49.Ra7+ Ke6 50.Ra6+ Ke7 51.e5 Rf1+ 52.Ke4 Rg1 53.Ra8 Rxg5 54.Ra7+ Ke6 55.Ra6+ Ke7 56.Kd5 Rh5 57.Ra7+ Kf8 58.Ra8+ Ke7 59.Ra7+ Kf8 1/2-1/2

Round 6, June 12, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Anand, Vishy
A21 English, Kramnik-Shirov Counter-Attack

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Bc5 4.Nf3 c6 5.Nc3 d6 6.e3 Bb4 7.d4 Nd7 8.Qc2 Ngf6 9.a3 Bxc3+ 10.Qxc3 O-O 11.Be2 Re8 12.b4 e4 13.Nd2 d5 14.a4 dxc4 15.Nxc4 Nb6 16.Na5 Nbd5 17.Qd2 Qc7 18.h3 Re6 19.Ba3 a6 20.Nb3 Ne8 21.Nc5 Rg6 22.g3 Nd6 23.a5 Bf5 24.Qc2 Re8 25.O-O-O Qc8 26.g4 Bd7 27.Kb1 f5 28.gxf5 Rf6 29.Rdg1 Bxf5 30.h4 Ref8 31.Rh2 Kh8 32.Qd2 Rg6 33.Rxg6 hxg6 34.h5 g5 35.h6 g6 36.Bb2 Bg4 37.Bf1 Kh7 38.Ka1 Bf3 39.Rh3 g4 40.Rg3 Rf5 41.Na4 Qf8 42.Nb6 Qxh6 43.Nxd5 cxd5 44.Qc1 Qh1 45.Qc7+ Rf7 46.Qxd6 Qxf1+ 47.Ka2 Be2 0-1

Standings after Round Six

1-2 Nakamura, Aronian 4.0
3-6 Karjakin, Kramnik, Giri, So 3.0
7-10 Carlsen, Caruana, MVL, Anand 2.5

And in the Live Ratings there are six players with 2800 or over!

Tomorrow is a rest day. Round Seven resumes on Wednesday.

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 14th June, 2017, 04:06 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 14, 2017

Round Seven

Nigel Short and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam are the commentators.

They point out that three of the five games are Giuoco Pianos. That then is ten so far in the seven rounds.

Nigel has made up two polls on his website and he presented the results:

1) With four rounds to go (and no wins yet) how many games will Magnus win in Norway 2017?

3-4 15%
2 34%
1 33%
0 18%
(333 votes)

2) Which of the following will Magnus do first?

Get married 19%
Learn to drive 23%
Reach 2900 20%
Drop below 2800 38%
(1470 votes)

Nigel explains that Magnus owns a car but still does not have a driver’s license and his father is content to drive the car.

NIC Quiz

Round Six Quiz – How many of the participants brought seconds to Stavanger (mothers do not count)?

Answer – Five - Carlsen (Peter Heine Nielsen), Caruana (Rustam Kasimdzhanov), Anand (Grzegorz Gajewski), Nakamura (Kris Littlejohn) and Giri (Erwin L’Ami)

Dirk cautions that Grzegorz is not pronounced the way it looks.

The winner of the NIC year’s subscription is Fisayo Ogunsanwo from Birmingham. Nigel thinks that the origin of the name is Nigerian.

Round Seven Quiz

In Round Six Magnus Carlsen started his game with the moves 1 d4 and 2 Bf4. So far the World Champion’s score has been highly disappointing but he has not lost his sense of humour. In the confessional, he joked that he had forgotten his glasses and that in fact he had wanted to play another opening but failed miserably. What opening did he say he wanted to play?
_______

The first game to finish is Giri’s win over MVL. At the same time it looks like Carlsen is going to lose to big Vlad. That would mean that Giri has two wins and Carlsen none. What is wrong with these results?

Vlad comes in to explain the game he just won. Nigel asks him if this is one of the strongest tournaments ever. Vlad says that as a boy he read Bronstein’s book on Zurich 1953 all through and that was the tournament for him. In modern times he gave La Palmas 1996 and Dos Hermanas 1996. The former had the six best players possible Kasparov, Karpov, Topalov, Anand and Ivanchuk). In the latter there were Kasparov, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Kamsky, Anand, Topalov, Gelfand, Shirov, Polgar and Illescas-Cordoba.

Anand and Nakamura come in. Vishy says that the reason people are again playing the Giuoco Piano is that the computer revolutionized the way we looked at it. Players wrote it off as a draw way too early. They keep getting fresh positions now.

There is a lot of laughter at the post mortem. Nigel is looked upon as a friend and colleague and that is important in these interviews. At the recent Moscow Grand Prix tourney Anastasiya would always ask what the turning point of the game was for each player and then say, “We will end there, you both must be tired. Good luck.”

So has a slightly better game against Caruana, makes an inaccurate move 51 and the game ends in a draw.

There seems to be champagne on ice for after the round and Dirk and Nigel head off to it.
______

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 7, June 14, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Nakamura, Hikaru
C54 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.c3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.a4 O-O 8.Re1 Ba7 9.h3 Ne7 10.Nbd2 Ng6 11.Bb3 Be6 12.d4 Bxb3 13.Qxb3 Qd7 14.Nf1 exd4 15.cxd4 d5 16.e5 Ne4 17.N1d2 c5 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.Rxe4 cxd4 20.e6 fxe6 21.Rxe6 Kh8 22.Bg5 Qf7 23.Qd5 Rae8 24.Rae1 h6 25.Bd2 d3 26.Rd6 Qxd5 27.Rxd5 Re2 28.Rxd3 Bxf2+ 29.Kf1 Rxe1+ 30.Nxe1 Ne5 31.Rb3 Be3+ 32.Ke2 Bxd2 33.Kxd2 Rf2+ 34.Kc3 Re2 35.Nd3 Nxd3 36.Kxd3 Rxg2 37.Rxb7 Rg3+ 38.Kc4 Rxh3 39.Ra7 Rh4+ 40.Kb3 g5 41.a5 Rf4 42.Rxa6 Kg7 43.Ra7+ Kg6 44.Ra8 Kg7 45.Ra7+ Kg6 46.Ra8 Kg7 1/2-1/2

Round 7, June 14, 2017
MVL – Giri, Anish
B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Bd7 10.Qd2 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.a4 b4 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.exd5 Qb6 16.h4 h5 17.O-O-O Qa5 18.g4 Bxa4 19.Kb1 Bxb3 20.cxb3 Rh8 21.Rc1 Rae8 22.Rc6 Qb5 23.Rc7 a5 24.g5 a4 25.Qd4+ Kh7 26.bxa4 Qxa4 27.Re1 Rhf8 28.Ra7 Qb5 29.f4 Kg8 30.f5 gxf5 31.Kc2 b3+ 32.Kd1 Rc8 33.g6 Rc5 0-1

Round 7, June 14, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Carlsen, Magnus
C54 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.Re1 Ba7 8.a4 O-O 9.h3 Ne7 10.d4 Ng6 11.Nbd2 c6 12.Bd3 Re8 13.Bc2 h6 14.Nf1 exd4 15.cxd4 c5 16.d5 b5 17.axb5 axb5 18.Ng3 Bd7 19.Be3 Bb6 20.Rxa8 Qxa8 21.b4 Qa7 22.Qa1 Qc7 23.Bxh6 cxb4 24.Bxg7 Qxc2 25.Qxf6 Qxf2+ 26.Kh2 Bd8 27.Qxd6 Nh4 28.Nxh4 Bxh4 29.Nh5 Bxh3 30.Rg1 Bg5 31.Bf6 Bg4 32.Bxg5 Bxh5 33.Qh6 Rxe4 34.Qxh5 Qf5 35.Qh6 b3 36.Bf6 Qf4+ 37.Qxf4 Rxf4 38.d6 Rxf6 39.Rd1 Rh6+ 40.Kg1 1-0

Round 7, June 14, 2017
So, Wesley – Caruana, Fabiano
D27 QGA, Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.O-O a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Be2 Ke7 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.Nd3 Bd6 12.Nd2 b5 13.Nb3 Bb7 14.Na5 Bd5 15.Bd2 Rhc8 16.Rfc1 Ne5 17.Nb4 Nc4 18.Nxc4 bxc4 19.Nxd5+ exd5 20.Bc3 Rab8 21.Rc2 Bb4 22.Be5 Bd6 23.Bd4 Bc5 24.Bxf6+ Kxf6 25.Rd1 Rd8 26.Rcd2 Be7 27.Bf3 d4 28.exd4 Rb4 29.Rc2 Rdb8 30.Rdd2 Kg6 31.a3 R4b6 32.g3 Bg5 33.Re2 Bf6 34.Be4+ Kh6 35.Red2 Re8 36.Bd5 Rxb2 37.Bxf7 c3 38.Rxb2 Rd8 39.Rdc2 cxb2 40.Rxb2 Bxd4 41.Rb4 g6 42.Ra4 Rd6 43.Kf1 Bb2 44.Ra5 Rc6 45.a4 Kg7 46.Bd5 Rc1+ 47.Kg2 Rc2 48.Be4 Rd2 49.Rxa6 Bd4 50.Rd6 Rxf2+ 51.Kh3 Be3 52.a5 Ra2 53.a6 Bg1 54.Kg4 Ra3 55.Rd1 Bc5 56.Rd7+ Kf6 57.Bd3 Bg1 58.h3 Ke6 59.Bb5 h5+ 60.Kf4 h4 61.gxh4 Rxa6 62.Rg7 Kf6 63.Rxg6+ Kxg6 64.h5+ Kxh5 65.Be2+ Kh4 66.Bxa6 Kxh3 1/2-1/2

Round 7, June 14, 2017
Karjakin, Sergei – Aronian, Levon
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.a4 a5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Be7 9.Bg3 d6 10.h3 Kh8 11.c3 Nh7 12.Qb3 f5 13.exf5 Bf6 14.Be6 Ne7 15.Nh4 Qe8 16.Bxc8 Rxc8 17.Ng6+ Nxg6 18.fxg6 Qxg6 19.Qxb7 Ng5 20.h4 Ne6 21.Qe4 Qh5 22.Nd2 Nf4 23.Bxf4 exf4 24.Qf3 Qxh4 25.Rfe1 Rb8 26.Nc4 g5 27.Re6 Bg7 28.Rg6 Rbe8 29.d4 Kh7 30.Qd3 Kg8 31.d5 f3 32.gxf3 Rf4 33.Kg2 Ref8 34.Nd2 g4 35.Kg1 R8f5 36.Ne4 Rxf3 37.Qd4 Re5 38.Ng3 Rxg3+ 39.fxg3 Qxg3+ 40.Kf1 Kh7 41.Rxg7+ Kxg7 0-1

Standings after Round Seven

1 Aronian 5.0
2 Nakamura 4.5
3-4 Kramnik, Giri 4.0
5 So 3.5
6-8 Karjakin, Caruana, Anand 3.0
9-10 Carlsen, MVL 2.5

Tomorrow's match-ups: Carlsen-Karjakin and Nakamura-So

________

It is instructive to look at the Live Ratings after today’s games:

1. Carlsen 2818.6
2. Kramnik 2812.2
3. So 2810.5
4. Aronian 2808.3
5. Caruana 2802.3
6. Mamedyarov 2800.0
7. Nakamura 2796.0
8. MVL 2786.3
9. Ding Liren 2783.0
10. Anand 2781.8
11. Giri 2778.5
12. Karjakin 2777.5

**Wayne Komer** · Thursday, 15th June, 2017, 04:08 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 15, 2017

Round Eight

Nakamura-So ends in a draw rather quickly. Wesley comes in to talk to Nigel and then Hikaru joins them and there is lots of analysis and kibitzing on the unfinished games.

Question - You have had such a good run in the past year, you were winning everything. Wesley, now eight draws. Doesn’t this feel weird?

Wesley - I’d prefer that they would remove the draw result in chess. After all, you are playing chess for the spectators. You would have a shorter time control and then if the game ends in a draw, then the players switch colours and play with a shorter time control and finally Armageddon.

You could have 60 minutes for the first game and 25 minutes for the second and so on.

Nigel – Is this the death of classical chess?

Dirk – Are you being a more cautious with the strength of the field here?

Wesley – It is hard to win against well-prepared strong players. Even Magnus hasn’t won a game here yet.
I had chances against Sergei and Fabiano and I wasn’t able to convert them. I was also losing against Anish but I drew that game. Things have a way of evening out. I prefer to draw my games than to lose them.

Nigel – This is like the saying, “It is better to be rich and healthy than to be poor and sick”.
_______

Readers might remember that Rustam Kazimdzhanov made the original proposal on eliminating draws:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/kasimd...ith-a-proposal

"Here is how it works. We play classical chess, say with a time control of four to five hours. Draw? No problem – change the colours, give us 20 minutes each and replay. Draw again? Ten minutes each, change the colours and replay. Until there is a winner of that day. And the winner wins the game and gets one point and the loser gets zero; and the game is rated accordingly, irrelevant of whether it came in a classical game, rapid or blitz.

This way the expectations of the crowd will never be deceived. There will always be a winner, there will always be blood."

Dirk says that something like this was tested in London 1883.
________

NIC Quiz

Round Seven Question – Nigel said that he did not have his glasses on in Rd 6 and played the moves 1 d4 2 Bf4 by mistake. He had wanted to play another opening but failed miserably. What opening did he want to play?

Answer – An Italian Opening

The winner was Alon Efrati from Israel

Round Eight Quiz – The Italian Opening is the most popular opening in Altibox Norway Chess so far. New in Chess published a book called Winning with the slow (but venomous) Italian.
Which of the participants in Stavanger wrote the preface for the book?

Dirk says that they still sell an enormous number of chess books at NIC. Nigel questions the fact that the older player would still be buying opening books and asks Dirk point-blank what the last time was that he bought an opening book. Dirk replies that Steinitz was still alive then!
_______

One of Dirk’s great strengths is a thorough knowledge of the history and literature of chess. He is an excellent sidekick to the analyst at one of these broadcasts.

When the Berlin was mentioned earlier in the program in the game MVL-Kramnik, Dirk said that it was written up a long time ago by Emanuel Lasker in Commonsense in Chess. This is out of copyright and is downloadable on the Internet. I looked at the first part of the book.

From the Preface:

The following is an abstract of Twelve Lectures given before an audience of London chess players during the spring of 1895. It may be regarded as an attempt to deal with all parts of a game of chess by the aid of general principles.

Under General Principles of Opening play, he first deals with the French Defence and then the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez.
_______

Nils Grandelius is sitting with Jan Gustafsson in the other transmission. The book Pump Up Your Rating by Axl Smith is cited. It is by a young Swedish IM about training methods he uses on himself and in his coaching of other players (most notably GM Nils Grandelius and IM Aryan Tari). This was when he was 15, he says that he has changed most of him training methods since.

Aronian-Anand ended in a draw and there were three active games with MVL better off than Kramnik, Giri ahead on Caruana and Carlsen-Karjakin in a deadlocked position.

Later: Kramnik loses to MVL, Karjakin blunders and Carlsen wins and Giri has two pawns (g+h) and bishop vs knight, which is ensconced on h8 and it is finally a draw.

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 8, June 15, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – So, Wesley
D56 QGD, Lasker Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Bd3 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Rxc4 Nd7 13.Bc2 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Qd4 b6 16.b4 Rd8 17.Qc3 Nd7 18.Be4 Ba6 19.Bxa8 Bxc4 20.Qxc4 Rxa8 21.O-O Qd6 22.Rc1 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Qxe5 24.Rd1 Qf6 25.Qc7 Qb2 26.Qb7 Rf8 27.Qxa7 Qxb4 28.g3 g6 29.h4 Qb2 30.Kg2 Qc2 31.Rd7 Qc6+ 32.Kg1 Qc1+ 33.Kg2 Qc6+ 34.Kg1 Qc1+ 35.Kg2 Qc6+ 1/2-1/2

Round 8, June 15, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus – Karjakin, Sergei
E48 Nimzo-Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Ne2 Re8 8.Bd2 Bf8 9.O-O b6 10.Rc1 c5 11.Nf4 Bb7 12.Qf3 Na6 13.Rfd1 cxd4 14.exd4 Nc7 15.Bc2 Bd6 16.Be3 Ne4 17.Ba4 Re7 18.Bb3 Qd7 19.h3 Nxc3 20.bxc3 Bc6 21.Nh5 Re6 22.Bc2 Ba4 23.c4 dxc4 24.d5 Rg6 25.Bd4 Bxc2 26.Rxc2 Qa4 27.Rcc1 Qxa2 28.Nxg7 Rxg7 29.Bxg7 Kxg7 30.Qg4+ Kf8 31.Qh4 Qb2 32.Rxc4 Ne8 33.Re1 Qf6 34.Qxh7 Qg7 35.Qc2 Qf6 36.Rg4 Bc5 37.Re2 Qh6 38.g3 Nf6 39.Rh4 Qg7 40.Kg2 Qg5 41.Qc3 Bd6 42.Rh8+ Ng8 43.Re4 Qg7 44.Rxg8+ 1-0

Round 8, June 15, 2017
MVL – Kramnik, Vladimir
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d5 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Bc4 Qd6 8.b4 Bb6 9.a4 e4 10.dxe4 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Nxe4 12.Kc2 Bf5 13.Nh4 Bd7 14.Re1 f5 15.Nxf5 Bxf5 16.f3 Ne5 17.fxe4 Bg4 18.h3 Nxc4 19.hxg4 O-O 20.Re2 a5 21.Nd2 Ne3+ 22.Kb3 axb4 23.cxb4 Rfd8 24.Bb2 Rd3+ 25.Bc3 Bd4 26.Rc1 Nd1 27.Nb1 Nxc3 28.Nxc3 Be5 29.a5 Rg3 30.Rf2 c6 31.Rf3 Rxg4 32.Na4 Rxg2 33.Nc5 Rb2+ 34.Kc4 Bd6 35.Rd1 Bxc5 36.Kxc5 Re8 37.Rd7 Re5+ 38.Kc4 h5 39.Rxb7 Rxe4+ 40.Kc5 Rc2+ 41.Kd6 Rd4+ 42.Kc7 Ra2 43.Kxc6 h4 44.Rb6 Rg4 45.a6 Kh7 46.Rf5 Ra4 47.Rh5+ Kg6 48.Rxh4 1-0

Round 8, June 15, 2017
Aronian, Levon – Anand, Vishy
E00 Catalan Opening

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O Nbd7 8.a4 a5 9.Qc2 c6 10.Rc1 Ne4 11.Ne1 Nd6 12.Na3 b6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Qb3 Ba6 15.Nb5 Rc8 16.Bf4 Bxb5 17.axb5 Nf5 18.Nf3 Bd6 19.Bxd6 Nxd6 20.e3 Rc7 21.Bf1 Qc8 22.Qd1 Rd8 23.Bd3 h6 24.Rxc7 Qxc7 25.Rc1 Qb7 26.Qa4 Rc8 27.Rc6 Ne8 28.Bh7+ Kh8 29.Bb1 Kg8 30.Bh7+ Kh8 31.Bb1 Kg8 32.Bh7+ 1/2-1/2

Round 8, June 15, 2017
Giri, Anish – Caruana, Fabiano
D27 QGA, Classical

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Be2 Ke7 10.b3 b6 11.Nbd2 Nbd7 12.Ne1 a5 13.Bb2 Rd8 14.Rc1 Kf8 15.Nc4 Ba6 16.Nc2 Nd5 17.Rfd1 Nb4 18.a3 Nxc2 19.Rxc2 Nf6 20.Rdc1 Bxc4 21.Rxc4 Rd2 22.R1c2 Rad8 23.Kf1 Ne4 24.Ke1 f6 25.Rxd2 Nxd2 26.Rc3 Ne4 27.Rd3 Nd6 28.Rd1 Ke7 29.Bd3 h6 30.Rb1 Rc8 31.Ke2 Rc7 32.f4 Nb7 33.b4 axb4 34.axb4 Bxb4 35.Bxf6+ Kxf6 36.Rxb4 Nc5 37.Rxb6 Rb7 38.Rxb7 Nxb7 39.Kf3 Nd6 40.Kg4 e5 41.h4 exf4 42.exf4 g6 43.h5 g5 44.fxg5+ hxg5 45.h6 Nf7 46.Kh5 Ne5 47.Bb5 Nf7 48.Bc4 Ne5 49.Bd5 Nd7 50.Be4 Ne5 51.h7 Kg7 52.Kxg5 Nf7+ 53.Kf4 Nh8 54.Bd3 Nf7 55.Bc2 Nh8 56.Ke5 Nf7+ 57.Kf4 Nh8 58.Bb1 Nf7 59.Bf5 Nh8 60.Kg4 Nf7 61.Kg3 Nh8 62.Bc2 Nf7 63.Kf4 Nh8 64.Bd1 Ng6+ 65.Kg5 Ne5 66.Bc2 Nf7+ 67.Kf4 1/2-1/2

Standings after Round Eight

1 Aronian 5.5
2 Nakamura 5.0
3 Giri 4.5
4-5 So, Kramnik 4.0
6-9 Anand, MVL, Caruana, Carlsen 3.5
10 Karjakin 3.0

Final Round Pairings

Kramnik-Giri
Karjakin-MVL
Caruana-Nakamura
So-Aronian
Anand-Carlsen

**Paul Bonham** · Friday, 16th June, 2017, 05:34 AM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Originally posted by Wayne Komer View Post

Altibox Norway 2017

Wesley - I’d prefer that they would remove the draw result in chess. After all, you are playing chess for the spectators. You would have a shorter time control and then if the game ends in a draw, then the players switch colours and play with a shorter time control and finally Armageddon.

You could have 60 minutes for the first game and 25 minutes for the second and so on

....

Readers might remember that Rustam Kazimdzhanov made the original proposal on eliminating draws:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/kasimd...ith-a-proposal

"Here is how it works. We play classical chess, say with a time control of four to five hours. Draw? No problem – change the colours, give us 20 minutes each and replay. Draw again? Ten minutes each, change the colours and replay. Until there is a winner of that day. And the winner wins the game and gets one point and the loser gets zero; and the game is rated accordingly, irrelevant of whether it came in a classical game, rapid or blitz.

This way the expectations of the crowd will never be deceived. There will always be a winner, there will always be blood."

I bolded and underlined Wesley's comment about playing chess for the spectators. It isn't really the case, but it is a nice thought from Wesley So. Perhaps the younger generation of elite players is at last leading the charge for change in chess.

Kazimdzhanov's proposal is a silly way to try and solve the draw problem. It does nothing for the chess spectator. Additionally, it is skewed in favor of the players who do well in very fast time controls (cheapos will become the deciding factor in chess results). What would likely happen is that top-level players would specialize in fast play, and all matches would end up resorting to the very fastest time controls. All the 4 - 5 hour games would become drawn with no risks taken, wasting everybody's time.

It is amazing to realize that no one wants to consider classical chess as needing to be changed. In past centuries, rule changes (castling, en passant) came about because of that realization. But today, everybody is up against the brick wall of no change to classical chess.

**Wayne Komer** · Friday, 16th June, 2017, 02:57 PM

Re: Altibox Norway 2017

Altibox Norway 2017

June 16, 2017

Round Nine

The first game to finish is MVL-Karjakin. They are glad the tournament is over because neither was playing his best. MVL says that he will be playing at Paris next and then Dortmund. Evidently his home is 10 km from the tournament site in Paris.

The game garnering the most attention is Caruana-Nakamura because of the precariousness of the position.

NIC Quiz

From Round 8: One of the most popular openings at Norway Chess is the Giuoco Piano. There is a recent book called Winning with the Slow (but Venomous) Italian. What Norway 2017 player wrote the foreword?

The answer is Anish Giri

The winner of the sub is Jari Pietila from Finland.

Because this is the last round, there are no more quiz questions.

The book, by the way is by Georgios Souleidis and Karsten Muller.
________

A viewer asks Nigel, “If you had two games left to play in your life, what openings as black and white would you like to play?”

Nigel picks the Evans Gambit as white and assuming his opponent plays 1.d4 as white, Nigel would like to play the NimzoIndian against him.
_______

Magnus comes in for the post mortem with Dirk. He says that it was when he was playing Nakamura that he wasn’t thinking well. Then, in Rounds 5 and 6 he seemed to have lost confidence. He is still trying to get it back.

He is happy to be going to play blitz in Paris.

Anish and Nigel talk about his defeat by Kramnik. They are then joined by Big Vlad who, with his deep baritone voice and accent, reminded me of Dracula speaking.

Kramnik, still thinking of his game with MVL in the previous round, said that, getting older, he has the occasional mental blackout. Anish interjects that young people get mental blackouts too!

Levon has drawn his game with Wesley but even though it looks like Nakamura is going to lose his game, no one wants to compliment Levon for fear of jinxing him. So, Nigel says, "Congratulations on your great performance in this tournament and your equal first”.

Levon is quite happy. He has had a good run recently and says that he never stops thinking of the World Championship. He is asked if he is writing a book of his best games but he says that he has lots of good games to play yet. But if he does write a book he will include the game in which he beat Nigel at the London Classic (2011?). Nigel says then that he will publish the rapid game he won against Levon at Reykjavik in 2004. He was black. Levon disagrees and says that Nigel was white.

The database says that it was Aronian vs Short, Reykjavik Rapid, Rd 2, March 19, 2004, a Trompowsky Attack and Short won.

Caruana has totally won his game against Nakamura but Hikaru has not resigned. Naka was the early leader in the event and doing quite well and to finish with a defeat is painful, so he is just looking at the position on the board and not resigning. Nigel thinks that he is just fuming!

The guys take some questions while they are waiting for the last game to finish. Some of the viewers are watching from the beach, one from a Jacuzzi – really chess has become a real spectator sport all over the world.

Nigel says that he is seriously considering writing a book of his games. They talk about whether chessplayers in general are religious or not. Dirk can cite Wesley So, Smyslov and Lajos Portisch for whom religion is important but he agrees that now there are far more players who are not religious.

A viewer asks what happened to Salov? He was as high as fifth in the world rankings and then disappeared.

Kevin Spraggett wrote this in 2010:

Not many talk about Valeri Salov these days. He has completely stopped playing competitive chess. And I think it is a great tragedy for modern chess-not just because Valeri Salov was, in my opinion, the strongest player in the world in the mid-90’s-but because he was pushed out of chess. He was a stronger player than both Kasparov and Karpov in the mid-90’s. In 1994 Valeri won, back to back, both Tilburg and the Najdorf Memorial. In the latter, a double round tournament, he defeated Karpov with both colours!

But he started to criticize the chess world, spoke too freely and made too many enemies. Gradually, Salov’s tournament invitations disappeared.

His website has anti-Semitic ravings and one is cautioned against going there.

The guys compare him to Bobby Fischer, who, as long as he was playing chess, could keep his demons under control, but when he stopped chess, the demons ruled his life.

The news comes in that Nakamura has resigned; Aronian wins the tournament in clear first.
Nakamura is second on tie-break.

You are invited to play over Caruana-Nakamura and savor the complications!

The final standings

1 Aronian 6.0
2-3 Nakamura, Kramnik 5.0
4-6 Caruana, So, Giri 4.5
7-9 MVL, Anand, Carlsen 4.0
10 Karjakin 3.5

The games:

Altibox Norway 2017
Round 9, June 16, 2017
Karjakin, Sergei – MVL
B91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.g3 e5 7.Nde2 Be7 8.Bg2 b5 9.Nd5 Nbd7 10.Nec3 Nb6 11.Nxe7 Qxe7 12.Bg5 O-O 13.Qf3 Be6 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.Qxf6 gxf6 16.O-O-O b4 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bf5 19.f4 Rfc8 20.Rd2 Rc5 21.Re1 a5 22.Rf2 Rac8 23.Be4 Bxe4 24.Rxe4 Rxd5 25.fxe5 fxe5 26.Rg4+ Kf8 27.Rh4 Kg7 28.Rg4+ Kf8 29.Rh4 Kg7 30.Rg4+ Kf8 1/2-1/2

Round 9, June 16, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Nakamura, Hikaru
B97 Sicilian, Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd3 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Be7 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.Be2 Qa5 13.Bd2 Qc7 14.g4 h6 15.Rg1 Bd7 16.g5 hxg5 17.Rxg5 Nc6 18.Rxg7 O-O-O 19.Ncb5 axb5 20.Nxb5 Ne5 21.Nxc7 Nxd3+ 22.cxd3 Ng8 23.Na8 Kb8 24.Nb6 Bc6 25.Bf4 e5 26.Bg3 Bf6 27.Rf7 Be8 28.Rf8 Bg7 29.Rf2 Ne7 30.Bg4 Nc6 31.Rfb2 Nd4 32.Nd5 b5 33.a4 Bh6 34.axb5 Rg8 35.h3 Kb7 36.Ne7 Rf8 37.Nc6 Bxc6 38.bxc6+ Kxc6 39.Bf2 Rxf2 40.Kxf2 Rf8+ 41.Kg2 Be3 42.Rb8 Rxb8 43.Rxb8 d5 44.Rc8+ Kd6 45.Rd8+ Ke7 46.Rd7+ Kf6 47.exd5 e4 48.dxe4 Bf4 49.h4 Nb5 50.h5 Be5 51.Bf5 Kg5 52.Bg6 Nd6 53.Re7 Nc4 54.Re6 Bf6 55.d6 Ne5 56.Bf5 Nd3 57.Rxf6 Kxf6 58.d7 Ke7 59.h6 1-0

Round 9, June 16, 2017
So, Wesley – Aronian, Levon
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Qd4 Qe7 14.Rd1 Rd8 15.Be2 Bf5 16.Qb4 a5 17.Qc3 Ne4 18.Qd4 Nc5 19.Qc3 Ne4 20.Qe5 Qxe5 21.Nxe5 Rac8 22.Nf3 Nc5 23.Nd4 Bd7 24.f3 Ba4 25.Rd2 Nb3 26.Nxb3 Bxb3 27.Kf2 Rd6 28.f4 g6 29.e4 Rf6 30.exd5 Rxf4+ 31.Bf3 Rd8 32.Kg3 Rf6 33.Rc1 Rfd6 34.Rd4 a4 35.h4 Kg7 36.Rc3 h6 37.Rc7 Bxd5 38.Rxa4 Bxf3 39.gxf3 b5 40.Rf4 R8d7 41.Rxd7 Rxd7 42.Rb4 Rd5 43.Kf4 f5 44.Ke3 Kf6 45.Rd4 Rxd4 46.Kxd4 g5 47.hxg5+ hxg5 48.b3 Ke6 49.a4 bxa4 50.bxa4 Kd6 51.a5 g4 52.fxg4 fxg4 53.a6 Kc7 54.a7 Kb7 55.a8=Q+ Kxa8 56.Kd3 g3 57.Ke2 g2 58.Kf2 g1=Q+ 59.Kxg1 1/2-1/2

Round 9, June 16, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir – Giri, Anish
D05 Queen’s Pawn game

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.O-O c4 6.Be2 b5 7.b3 Bb7 8.Nc3 b4 9.Na4 c3 10.Ne5 Bd6 11.a3 a5 12.Bb5+ Kf8 13.Nc5 Qb6 14.Nxb7 Qxb7 15.Qe2 g6 16.e4 Nxe4 17.Bh6+ Ke7 18.f3 Nd2 19.Rfe1 Kd8 20.Bf4 1-0

Round 9, June 16, 2017
Anand, Vishy – Carlsen, Magnus
C54 Giuoco Piano, d3 variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Re1 O-O 9.h3 h6 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.b4 Nh5 13.Ra2 Qf6 14.Nc4 b5 15.Ne3 Bb6 16.Ng4 Qe7 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.fxe3 Rab8 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ra6 Nd8 21.d4 exd4 22.cxd4 Nf7 23.Qc2 Nf6 24.Nxf6+ Qxf6 25.Rc6 Ng5 26.Nxg5 Qxg5 27.Rxc7 Qg3 28.Qe2 Ra8 29.Rcc1 Ra3 30.Ra1 Rb3 31.Rab1 Ra3 32.Ra1 Rb3 33.Rab1 Ra3 34.Ra1 1/2-1/2