The Chess World Cup 2017

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 19, 2017

Round Six
Semi-finals
Game One

The commentators are Evgeniy Miroshnichenko and Keti Tsatsalashvili on the official channel and Eric Hansen and Yasser Seirawan on the chessbrah. Robin van Kampen will co-host the latter for the finals.

Aronian-MVL is a quick draw and So-Ding Liren looks like it is going to be a long battle.

With air time to fill, and a pesky fly in his room buzzing about, Yasser tells a joke about three samurai, who are sitting around the campfire.

To show his prowess with his sword, the first samurai draws his as a fly goes by, snip snip snip and he puts the sword back in the scabbard and the fly, cut in half, falls to the ground.

The second samurai stands as another fly goes by, and snip snip snip, sword back in the scabbard, and the fly, cut in quarters, falls to the ground.

The third stands, another fly goes by and snip snip snip and the insect flies away.

The third says, “He lives, but he will not breed!”

Yasser says that his friend, Norman Weinstein, is following their commentary.

That is a name from the past. He was on the cover of Chess Life and Review, October 1973. A kibitzer on chessgames.com gives his history over the period of a year:

1) Weinstein gave up competitive chess (OTB chess anyway) in order to become an investment banker, where he was quite successful. In fact, there is a story (on http://www.hhgross.net/chessintro.h...) about how, in 1990, Weinstein convinced his firm (Banker's Trust) to put an ad in Chess Life inviting strong chess players to apply for commercial banking positions. Supposedly they wound up hiring two GMs and three IMs as a result. If true, it would be very interesting to know if any of the people who were hired in fact had successful careers.

2) It appears that the two GMs that Bankers Trust hired from the ad were Maxim Dlugy (who seems to have done well as a financier before running afoul of the Russian authorities) and the Briton David Norwood (who has been very successful and is now CEO of the "IP2IPO Group plc"). Since neither one of them appears to have had any significant financial background before they were hired, it would seem that Norman was onto something. Still no information on any of the IMs, however.

3) IM Weinstein posted the following reply when I asked about this topic at http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/
(See September 02, 2006)
In terms of chess players who worked at Bankers Trust, the list includes Girome Bono, Max Dlugy, Anna Gulko, Sal Matera, David Norwood, in addition to myself.

There are some interesting posts about strong players who have given up the game at:

http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/...r-the-game.htm
_______

Eric said that when he was a younger player and wanted to achieve some understanding of strategy – he downloaded 500 games of Karpov between 1965 and 1980 (say), and then printed them out and went through them one by one, playing the moves on an actual board.

Yasser said that when he was training the American prodigy Akshat Chandra in St. Louis, they went through the games in his book Five Crowns on an actual board and Akshat had to predict the moves. In fact, Akshat said that he had played them on a computer screen before but with board and men now, it was like seeing them for the first time.

Five Crowns has all the Karpov-Kasparov games played from 1984-1990 and analyzes the NYC/Lyon WC Match 1990 in detail.
_______

Round 6, Game 1, Sept. 19
Aronian, Levon – MVL
D85 Grunfeld, Modern Exchange variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 O-O 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.O-O Bg4 13.Be3 Nc6 14.d5 Na5 15.Bg5 b6 16.Bxe7 Rfe8 17.d6 Nc6 18.Bb5 Nxe7 19.h3 Bxf3 20.Qxf3 Qe6 21.Bxe8 Rxe8 22.dxe7 Qxe7 23.Rfd1 Bf8 24.Rbc1 Qxe4 25.Qc3 Qb4 26.Qa1 Bc5 27.Qxa7 Qb2 28.Kh1 Bxf2 29.Qb7 Qe2 30.Rf1 Rf8 31.Qc6 Bc5 32.Rce1 1/2-1/2

Yasser thinks that Wesley had a winning position at move 40 but let Ding off the hook by playing 41.Kc3 instead of 41.Rxb3.

Perpetual for a draw.

Round 6, Game 1, Sept. 19
So, Wesley – Ding Liren
C54 Giuoco Piano, d3 variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 a5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Bb5 Qb8 10.Nf1 Qa7 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.Nxe3 Ne7 13.a4 Ng6 14.Bc4 Bxc4 15.Nxc4 Qa6 16.g3 Rfe8 17.Qb3 Nf8 18.Qb5 Qxb5 19.axb5 b6 20.Ra3 Ne6 21.Ne3 Nc5 22.c4 a4 23.Rea1 Nb3 24.Rd1 Rec8 25.Nd2 Nxd2 26.Rxd2 Nd7 27.Rd1 Nc5 28.Nd5 Kf8 29.f4 Ra5 30.Nb4 Raa8 31.Kf2 Ke8 32.Ke3 f6 33.f5 Kd7 34.g4 Rh8 35.h4 h6 36.Nd5 Ra5 37.Rg1 Kc8 38.g5 hxg5 39.hxg5 Rh3+ 40.Kd2 Nb3+ 41.Kc3 Nd4 42.gxf6 Rh2 43.Nxb6+ cxb6 44.fxg7 Rc2+ 45.Kb4 Rxb2+ 46.Kc3 Rc2+ 47.Kb4 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

Chat Room Comments

- Rxb3 was interesting, but not a clear win

- yes, it was a 100% clear win for white after RXb3

- was never winning except to commentators





The position after 40….Nb3+. Does 41.Rxb3 win or not?

Sagar Shah in chessbase.com says this:

The best move in this position was 41.Rxb3! axb3 42. gxf6 gxf6 43.Kc3! It is important to start with this move to not let Black rooks coordinate on the seventh rank.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 18, 2017

World Cup Notes II

Etienne Bacrot was a participant in the World Cup 2017. He lost his second round against Bu Xiangzhi. After getting knocked out he has been helping MVL to prepare for his opponents.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-wo...svidler-s-fate

A chessbase.com poll has these figures for the semi-final matches:

Levon Aronian to win over MVL 54% to 45%

Wesley So to win over Ding Liren 73% to 26%

It is not clear whether Ding Liren has the Chinese players already eliminated staying to help him or, if they have departed, only his coach Xu Jun.
_______

Peter Svidler, meanwhile, can look back at another World Cup in which he exceeded pre-tournament expectations and played some fine games. It was, in fact, a repeat of his 2013 World Cup, when he also went out in the quarterfinal rapid tiebreaks after two draws in the classical games against Dmitry Andreikin. Although Peter has been a Candidates wildcard in the past it’s unlikely he’ll manage to play in the 2018 tournament in Berlin, but that might at least be good news when it comes to commentary!

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/tbi...-ousts-svidler

Viewers will notice that Ivan Sokolov has some injuries above his right eye. This from chess24.com:

Ivan simply said he went out with Jobava, his brother and another chess player and after Jobava suggested they start drinking chacha the rest of the night became something of a blur. He didn't explain exactly what happened to his head.

For those who don't know what chacha is - it's Georgian vodka.

He is leaving further commentary duties to Evgeny Miroshnichenko – not to recover from these “injuries” but Like many other World Cup participants, he will be playing the Isle of Man open and may want to spend a few days at home in between - if only to pack different clothes for a different climate/weather at his next event in a different role.
________

(Nigel Short) – Why do we bother with qualification tournaments for FIDE events? I think Kirsan should just select all the places. Or Makro.
______

From chess.com:

The likely candidates field looks like the right one:

Karjakin, Aronian, So, Shak, Grischuk, Caruana, Kramnik, MVL. World #2-8 + Karjakin.

Seems that for all their faults FIDE's system seems to deliver the right candidates!

Comment on this:

As others already mentioned, it can be exactly this field only if the eighth player on your list (not necessarily the last one you mention) gets the wildcard: Karjakin is already qualified. Aronian, So and MVL can still qualify via the World Cup - but only two will. So, Caruana and Kramnik can qualify by rating - but only two will. Mamedyarov, Grischuk and MVL can qualify via the GP Series - but only two will, and Ding Liren and Radjabov also still have chances. Whatever happens in Tbilisi (World Cup) and later Palma de Mallorca (last event of the GP Series), one player on your list will need the wildcard - maybe one will be definitely out if Ding Liren or Radjabov gets a GP spot, two if Ding Liren and Radjabov should make it via the GP Series.

It was already pointed out that Kramnik and/or his fans now root for So. Likewise, players who can qualify via the GP Series may root for MVL and Ding Liren (preferably both), while MVL and Ding Liren may root for each other.

Who is rooting for Aronian? He has his fans, otherwise maybe the Isle of Man organizers who want So in their event - Aronian didn't enlist, he seems to be the only top player that doesn't play Swiss opens and he has other things on his mind: getting married after the World Cup.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/vach...r-at-world-cup

For anyone wanting to follow the race to the candidates, here's a useful spreadsheet (not mine)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...n97Kg/pubhtml#

________

In Post #197 in this thread, I related Sokolov’s story about losing an easy game to Epishin at Groningen 1997 and then getting bawled out by Korchnoi for doing so.

Some readers may not be aware that Ivan Sokolov has had a book published recently called Ivan’s Chess Journey: Games and Stories (2016) – 272 pages. This story is on pages 76-80.

The book is chatty and has an average of three diagrams per page.

Unlike other writers, he is rather blunt when he doesn’t like someone. He lost a game to Salov at Wijk aan Zee in 1997 (p. 228).

He says that his life time opportunity to win Wijk aan Zee – Hoogovens A group went down the toilet by losing an easy drawn queen-ending.

He had a last round game against Nikolic and was still smarting from the thrashing from Salov.

“As I sat down having my coffee and some scrambled eggs in the breakfast area – all out of nowhere Salov arrived and without asking sat down at my table.

After realizing not to be seeing a ghost and this indeed to be Salov I said: ‘No, no, not you! I was looking at you 7 hours yesterday, played 100 moves. You have f**ked up my tournament! There are many empty tables here..I don’t want to see you. Sit somewhere else!’

Salov was unperturbed: ‘This is my table! I am sitting at this table every morning! This is your first breakfast. You have been the whole tournament drinking with Timman and you have missed all the breakfasts! No, this is my table and I am not moving!’

‘So you bought this table or did you inherit it from your father?’, was my honest question. ‘Doesn’t matter, this is my table!’ Salov was adamant. This ruined my appetite, so I left for a walk..thinking ‘let’s hope this idiot loses today’! Finally justice will be served for once!”

Well, Sokolov drew with Nikolic and Salov drew with Korchnoi and Salov became the glorious winner of the tournament.

Ivan says at the end: Valery Salov decided only few years later, and that still at a young age, to quit professional chess. His only connection with chess at the present, 2015, are some strange Facebook articles he publishes.
_______

Sokolov tells of games with Tal, Smyslov and Geller, Evgeny Bareev and, a rarity – one with Lawrence Trent!

How would you assess this game from Gibraltar 2009 with Sokolov as White and Lawrence Trent as Black?

Black to play his 69th move:



Win, draw or loss for White?

(From the chapter – Simple Endings, Knights pp 221-2)

A most enjoyable and different book of chess anecdotes.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Intersting, Russia has no players in semifinals. On 3 previous World Cups both finalists were Russians.

2011: Svidler - Grischuk
2013: Kramnik - Andreikin
2015: Karjakin - Svidler

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 17, 2017

Round Five
Playoffs
Games Three and Four
25+10

Round 5, Game 3, Sept. 17
25+10
MVL-Svidler, Peter
C54 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.a4 h6 8.Re1 O-O 9.h3 a5 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bb5 Na7 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Bb4 14.Bd3 d5 15.e5 Nd7 16.Re2 c5 17.Nf1 cxd4 18.Bc2 Nc5 19.Nxd4 Nc6 20.Ng3 Nxd4 21.Qxd4 f5 22.exf6 Qxf6 23.Be3 Qxd4 24.Bxd4 Bd7 25.Rd1 Rae8 26.Rxe8 Bxe8 27.b3 b5 28.axb5 Bxb5 29.Be3 Bc6 30.Nf5 Ne4 31.Nd4 Bd7 32.Bd3 Rb8 33.f3 Nc3 34.Rc1 a4 35.bxa4 Bxa4 36.Kh2 Bd6+ 37.f4 Nd1 38.Bd2 Nf2 39.Bf5 Ne4 40.Be6+ Kh7 41.Be3 Nf6 42.Nf5 Re8 43.Bf7 Rxe3 44.Nxd6 Re7 45.f5 Be8 46.Be6 g6 47.Nxe8 Nxe8 48.fxg6+ Kxg6 49.Bxd5 Nf6 50.Bf3 Re5 51.Kg3 Rg5+ 52.Kf2 Ra5 53.Rc4 Kg5 54.h4+ Kg6 55.g4 Ra7 56.Kg3 Kg7 57.Rc6 Re7 58.Bd1 Rd7 59.Bc2 Re7 60.Bf5 Re3+ 61.Kf2 Re7 62.Kf3 Ra7 63.Be6 Ra3+ 64.Kf4 Ra4+ 65.Bc4 Ra7 66.h5 Ra5 67.Rc7+ Kh8 68.Kf3 Re5 69.Rf7 Nxg4 70.Rf8+ Kh7 71.Rf7+ Kh8 72.Kxg4 Re4+ 73.Rf4 Rxf4+ 74.Kxf4 Kg7 75.Kf5 Kh8 76.Kg6 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 4, Sept. 17
25+10
Svidler, Peter – MVL
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bc4 Nd3+ 7.Ke2 Nf4+ 8.Kf1 Ne6 9.h4 Nd4 10.d3 e6 11.Bf4 a6 12.Nxd4 cxd4 13.Ne2 Nc6 14.a3 Bd6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.Qd2 Bd7 17.f4 e5 18.f5 g6 19.Ng3 Ne7 20.Qh6 O-O-O 21.h5 Kc7 22.Bxf7 gxf5 23.Qxd6+ Kxd6 24.exf5 Nxf5 25.Ne4+ Ke7 26.Bb3 Ne3+ 27.Ke2 Bc6 28.Rac1 Rhf8 29.Rh3 Nxg2 30.Rxc6 bxc6 31.Rg3 Nf4+ 32.Ke1 Rb8 33.Rg7+ Kd8 34.Bf7 Rb7 0-1

Peter went in to a dubious line. MVL felt he had more energy during the game and was able to pull off the win. This eliminates Peter.

Tomorrow (September 18) is a Rest Day

On September 19, the semi-finals begin, with these two matches:

1. MVL-Aronian
2. So-Ding Liren

The official site closed down its broadcast after the game was finished.

Yasser and Eric were on the chessbrah channel. They were talking about Aman going to the Isle of Man Tournament. He has vowed not to cut his hair until he gets the grandmaster title.

Eric says that he and Aman have been discriminated against in three Montreal restaurants because of the beard. They are thinking of going to New York City and have Aman in the beard hustle people in rapid chess for money.

That tournament starts on September 23:

http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...634#post117634

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 16, 2017

Round Five
Game Two

Ivan told this story today, reminded by the current position in Ivanchuk-Aronian (two bishops vs knight). He was playing the World Cup and he had a mini-match against Epishin (1997). Ivan won the first game with white and in the second game with black he only needed to draw. He had a massive advantage on the board and his opponent was running out of time - he was on increment. He had twenty moves to make on the increment before the time control.

Then he didn’t know what to do. Then he understood that it was time to make a draw. He was a pawn up and his opponent had two bishops. The opponent made the time control and then beat him.

Ivan resigned and was in a very bad mood. He was leaving the playing hall and who did he meet as he was going? The worst person to meet - Viktor Korchnoi. He immediately started to tell him that he was stupid even though he wasn’t asked. When someone loses, you leave him alone but not if your name is Viktor Korchnoi. You don’t leave anyone alone. And he got this lecture immediately.
_____


Some chessbomb comments after:

- draw unless someone screws up bigime
- is two bishops vs knight a win?
- great respect for Ivanchuk
- this fight would have been nice yesterday
- well cone Lev and also to Chucky for a great showing
- too bad, chucky won’t play in the candidates
- a wild card is not out of the question for Chucky
- too bad, one sh*tty game against prep!

Levon passes into the finals. He says the game was tense as he expected. He was playing too slowly and Vassily was trying to exploit that.

He prefers to play the classical games instead of the rapid playoffs. His possible opponents are MVL or Peter Svidler and he hates them both, because they are so strong!

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 16
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Aronian, Levon
A15 English, Neo-Catalan

1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxc4 c5 7.Ne5 Qc8 8.d3 Nc6 9.Nxd7 Qxd7 10.Nd2 Nd4 11.Nf3 b5 12.Qc3 Nd5 13.Qd2 Be7 14.O-O O-O 15.Qd1 Nxf3+ 16.Bxf3 Rac8 17.a3 Bf6 18.e3 Rfd8 19.Qc2 Ne7 20.Be4 Nc6 21.Rd1 Be7 22.f4 f5 23.Bf3 Bf6 24.Rb1 Ne7 25.Be2 e5 26.fxe5 Bxe5 27.Bd2 Qd5 28.Be1 Kh8 29.Bf1 Qe6 30.Bf2 Nd5 31.Qb3 Qh6 32.Re1 a6 33.d4 cxd4 34.exd4 Bb8 35.Bg2 Nf6 36.Re6 f4 37.Rbe1 fxg3 38.hxg3 Rf8 39.d5 Qh5 40.Bf3 Qh3 41.Bg2 Qh5 42.Bf3 Qh3 43.Bd1 Rcd8 44.Qf3 h5 45.Qg2 Qxg2+ 46.Kxg2 Rxd5 47.Bc2 a5 48.R1e2 Bd6 49.Be3 Bc5 50.Bc1 g5 51.Ra6 Ng4 52.Rae6 Rf2+ 53.Rxf2 Bxf2 54.Be4 Rc5 55.Bd2 Bd4 56.b4 axb4 57.axb4 Re5 58.Rxe5 Nxe5 59.Bxg5 Kg7 60.Bd2 Nc4 61.Be1 Nd6 62.Bd3 Bf6 63.Kf3 Bg5 64.Ke2 Kf6 65.Bc3+ Ke6 66.Kf3 Nc4 67.Be2 Kf5 68.Bd4 Ne5+ 69.Kg2 Nc6 70.Bc3 Be7 71.Bxb5 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 16
MVL-Svidler, Peter
C54 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O a6 7.a4 h6 8.Re1 O-O 9.h3 a5 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Bb5 Ne7 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Bd7 14.Nf1 Re8 15.Ng3 Ng6 16.f4 Bxb5 17.axb5 Qd7 18.Kh2 Re7 19.Ndf5 Re6 20.Nd4 Re7 21.b4 Bxd4 22.cxd4 Qxb5 23.f5 Nf8 24.Rxa5 Rxa5 25.bxa5 Qxa5 26.Bb2 N8d7 27.Qc1 Re8 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 16
Ding Liren – Rapport, Richard
E18 Queen’s Indian, old main line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Bf6 9.Re1 a6 10.Ne5 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 d6 13.Ng4 Be7 14.e4 b5 15.Qe2 bxc4 16.d5 Qc8 17.e5 exd5 18.exd6 cxd6 19.Qxe7 d4 20.Qe4 Qc6 21.Bxd4 f5 22.Qxc6 Nxc6 23.Ne3 Nxd4 24.Rad1 f4 25.Rxd4 fxe3 26.Rxe3 Rab8 27.Re2 c3 28.bxc3 Rb6 29.Rb4 Rxb4 30.cxb4 Rb8 31.Rb2 Kf7 32.Kf3 Ke6 33.Ke4 d5+ 34.Kd3 Kd6 35.a4 Rb7 36.f4 h5 37.b5 axb5 38.axb5 Kc5 39.Rc2+ Kxb5 40.Kd4 Rf7 41.Kxd5 1-0

Round 5, Game 2, Sept. 15
So, Wesley – Fedoseev, Vladimir
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.O-O Nc6 8.Nbd2 Bf5 9.Re1 Nxd2 10.Qxd2 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 O-O 12.c3 Qd7 13.Bf4 a6 14.Re2 Rae8 15.Rae1 Bd8 16.Nd2 Rxe2 17.Qxe2 a5 18.Nb3 b6 19.Nc1 f6 20.a4 Ne7 21.Nd3 g5 22.Bc1 Ng6 23.b3 Be7 24.h4 gxh4 25.Nf4 Rf7 26.Qe6 Qxe6 27.Rxe6 Nxf4 28.Bxf4 Bd8 29.b4 Kg7 30.bxa5 bxa5 31.Ra6 c6 32.Rxc6 Kg6 33.Rc5 Rd7 34.f3 Kf5 35.Bd2 Ke6 36.Rc6+ Kf5 37.Be1 Kg5 38.Rc5 f5 39.Kh2 Kh5 40.Bf2 Rd6 41.Be3 Bb6 42.Rb5 Bd8 43.Bf4 Rd7 44.Be5 Kg5 45.Rc5 f4 46.Rc6 Kf5 47.Ra6 Kg5 48.Kh3 Kf5 49.Rc6 Kg5 50.Re6 Be7 51.Rc6 Bd8 52.Bd6 Kf5 53.Kh2 Rg7 54.Be5 Rd7 55.Rd6 Rxd6 56.Bxd6 Kg5 57.Kg1 Kf5 58.Kf2 Kg5 59.Kf1 Kf5 60.Ba3 Ke6 61.Ke2 Kf5 62.Bc1 Kg5 63.Kf1 Bc7 64.Bd2 Bd8 65.Be1 Kf5 66.Ke2 Ke6 67.Kd3 Kd7 68.c4 Kc6 69.Bc3 Bb6 70.Bb2 Bd8 71.Bc1 Bc7 72.Bd2 h5 73.Bc3 Bb6 74.Bb2 Bc7 75.Ba3 Bd8 76.Bf8 Bg5 77.Bg7 Kd6 78.Be5+ Kc6 79.Kc3 Bh6 80.Bf6 Bf8 81.Kd3 h3 82.gxh3 Bd6 83.Be5 1-0

Results of Round Five

1. Peter Svidler-MVL 1-1
Match goes to playoffs tomorrow, winner plays Levon Aronian in the semi-finals

2. Ivanchuk-Aronian 0.5-1.5
Ivanchuk eliminated, Aronian to semi-finals

3. So-Fedoseev 1.5-0.5
Fedoseev eliminated, So goes to semi-finals and plays Ding Liren

4. Rapport-Ding Liren 0.5-1.5
Rapport eliminated, Ding Liren goes on to play Wesley So

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Great game by Aronian. The engines don't even understand the real extent of white's advantage on move 11. But the GMs know. I always enjoy games like that, because it makes us kibitzers look like the fools we are.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Bottle Job - Maybe I live under a rock, but I've never heard this quaint English expression before. After a bit of googling, in this use of the term, I'd equate it to "lack of nerves"

G.Kasparov told long time ago about Ivanchuk as a genius who plays as a class A player from time to time.

[Hans Jung]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

So the games were a little short today and I tuned in a little late and Im glad I did. I checked the chessbrah commentary and sure enough there was Eric Hansen and Yasser Seirawan online commentating together. I admire Yasser very much for taking a double whammy to his nervous system. In his late fifties Yasser is combining the early morning hours with the high stress of super grandmaster games (always calculating, tactically alert, even when he misses something his recovery time is fast, and of course applying strategical knowledge, especially endgame advantages) and doing it with a sense of humour and enthusiasm. In short it was a chance to watch a grandmaster thinking workshop and highly entertaining as well. Uncle Yaz even told a great story about washers and dryers and when Eric mentioned that he was going to take him down in a speed match Yasser had that as an excuse but said next time they meet he would be glad to lay a beatdown to keep morale in balance (or that was my take on it - Eric might correct me if he sees this) - absolutely hilarious! and prime entertainment!

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 15, 2017

I have never heard the expression either. When I google it I get:

Bottlejob - Someone who constantly backs out of events at the last second or with little to no real excuse.

which is certainly not true of Ivanchuk.


_______

chessgames.com has 3583 Ivanchuk games in its database and mentions 1229 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games etc not included in that number

[Fred McKim]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Bottle Job - Maybe I live under a rock, but I've never heard this quaint English expression before. After a bit of googling, in this use of the term, I'd equate it to "lack of nerves"

[Wayne Komer]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017

September 15, 2017

Round Five
Game One

Round 5, Game 1, Sept. 15
Svidler, Peter – MVL
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb4 6.Bc4 Nd3+ 7.Ke2 Nf4+ 8.Kf1 Ne6 9.h4 Nd4 10.d3 Nbc6 11.Nb5 Be6 12.Bf4 Nxb5 13.Bxb5 Qb6 14.Ba4 Qa6 15.Rc1 b5 16.Bb3 Bxb3 17.Qxb3 e6 18.Be3 Na5 19.Qc3 b4 20.Qc2 Nb7 21.Qc4 Qxc4 22.Rxc4 Be7 23.Ke2 O-O 24.Nd2 Rfc8 25.Nb3 a5 26.a4 bxa3 27.bxa3 a4 28.Nd2 Nd6 29.Rxc5 Rcb8 30.Rb1 Rxb1 31.Nxb1 Bxh4 32.Rc6 Be7 33.Bc5 Nb5 34.Ke3 Kf8 35.Bxe7+ Kxe7 36.Rb6 Nd6 37.Nc3 h5 38.f4 f6 39.Nb5 Nxb5 40.Rxb5 h4 41.Rb7+ 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 1, Sept. 15
Fedoseev, Vladimir – So, Wesley
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.Nc3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Rb1 b6 12.Re1 c6 13.c4 dxc4 14.Bxc4 Nd7 15.Bd3 Re8 16.Bg5 Qxg5 17.Nxg5 Bxd1 18.Rbxd1 Nf6 19.Ne4 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 1, Sept. 15
Rapport, Richard – Ding, Liren
C77 Ruy Lopez, Four Knights variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.d3 O-O 8.Qe2 Re8 9.h3 Nd7 10.Nd1 Nf8 11.Ne3 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Game 1, Sept. 15
Aronian, Levon – Ivanchuk, Vassily
A13 English Opening

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 dxc4 4.Qa4+ c6 5.Qxc4 b5 6.Qc2 Bb7 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Nc3 Rc8 9.O-O a6 10.d4 c5 11.d5 exd5 12.Nh4 Ndf6 13.Rd1 g6 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.e4 Bg7 16.exd5 Nf6 17.Qe2+ Kf8 18.a4 b4 19.Be3 Qd6 20.Rac1 Nd7 21.Nf3 h6 22.Nd2 Kg8 23.Ne4 Qf8 24.d6 1-0

Position after White’s 24th move and Black’s resignation




Would you resign or play on? Vassily spent 42 minutes on his tenth move and now Aronian has almost an hour up on him. Someone joked that Vassily was upset because Zurab came over and told him to change out of his jeans before the start of the game.

Chess24 calls the game an Ivanchuk meltdown and quoted Aronian saying that the 10th move was “a bit suicidal”. ‘From then on Chucky played even faster than he had to until abruptly resigning on move 24 in a position where there was still material equality.

Elsewhere Fedoseev-So and Rapport-Ding Liren gave themselves a rest day with quick draws, while MVL wriggled out of a tough position against Peter Svidler.’

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/tbi...nchuk-meltdown

Comments online

- Why would a young and rested Ding Liren need to take a draw in 11 moves. He did not play yesterday, in contrast to Rapport who has played 6 straight days. I would have played on in that equal position and keep Richard at the board using up his mental energy.

(Peter Doggers) - Ivanchuk's 10...c5 allowed 11.d5! and if this pawn break is possible, it's usually bad news for Black. White ended up with a passed d-pawn while simultaneously preventing Black from castling. Black's queen was a bad blockader; she was easily chased away. By move 24 Ivanchuk had enough, and his loss almost looked amateurish.

Which Ivanchuk we'll see tomorrow is anyone's guess.

- However Chucky's career goes, he is, and has been incredibly fun to watch, and root for!

(Lawrence Trent) - Oh Chucky. Such talent, such genius, but ultimately one of the biggest bottle jobs the game has ever seen.

- I really do think that Lawrence Trent was being a huge d*** to Chucky for being "ultimately one of the biggest bottle jobs the game has ever seen.", when we all know that Chucky would easy crush this IM British-big-ego b****. He should really think before insulting people that are much stronger than him.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Why does your kind continue to spread anti-Trump shit into other threads, Peter?

You're shown an awesome tee ...and that is where your filthy mind goes?

Seek help, Peter.

Because Trump has earned that disrespect, Neil. Why don't you see that?

[Neil Frarey]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

Aronian should avoid wearing that shirt next time he's in St. Louis - Trump might grab it. Lots of Russians in jeans. Zurab looking unkempt in an unpressed and untucked shirt. What a load of crap.

Why does your kind continue to spread anti-Trump shit into other threads, Peter?

You're shown an awesome tee ...and that is where your filthy mind goes?

Seek help, Peter.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

http://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-wo...und-five-clash


Note Aronian's "cat shirt" about 1/4 of the way down the page.

Aronian should avoid wearing that shirt next time he's in St. Louis - Trump might grab it. Lots of Russians in jeans. Zurab looking unkempt in an unpressed and untucked shirt. What a load of crap.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: The Chess World Cup 2017

http://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-wo...und-five-clash


Note Aronian's "cat shirt" about 1/4 of the way down the page.