Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018

March 26, 2018

Round Thirteen

In a long discussion during the middle-games, Jan trolls Peter a little bit about cricket.

He says, "Levon used sandpaper on the g6 square earlier" and "How about Cameron Bancroft tampering with the ball? The captain was in on it too. What is your take on the cricket situation today?"

Jan has read that Australia's Bancroft admitted tampering with the ball during the third Test against South Africa.

Using an abrasive on one side of the ball is one technique, hence the humorous reference to Levon.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/s...wing-g0pv3m02q

See also:

http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...hlight=cricket

_________

Peter: So-Karajkin was sort of a non-game. Mamedyarov won against Grischuk, which looked very safe for Alexander for a long time. He wasn't satisfied with a draw and kept pushing. Shakh found his chance and won. Shakh returns to +2 in the tournament.

In Caruana-Aronian, Levon had his chances until move 31, then went wrong and Caruana won.

Ding-Kramnik was a draw with Vladimir going in for three-fold repetition instead of playing on for another couple of hours to show he had the superior position.

The games:

Round 13, Mar. 26
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Grischuk, Alexander
D77 Neo-Grunfeld

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.O-O d5 6.c4 dxc4 7.Na3 c3 8.bxc3 c5 9.Re1 Nc6 10.Bb2 Nd5 11.Qc2 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nf6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.c4 Bf5 15.Qc1 Qc7 16.Nc2 Rab8 17.Bc3 Bxc2 18.Qxc2 Ne8 19.h4 c5 20.Red1 Bxc3 21.Qxc3 Nf6 22.Bf3 h5 23.Rab1 Rxb1 24.Rxb1 Rb8 25.Rb5 Ne8 26.Qe3 Rxb5 27.cxb5 Nd6 28.a4 c4 29.Kg2 c3 30.Bc6 Qa5 31.Qc5 a6 32.e4 axb5 33.axb5 Kh7 34.e5 Nxb5 35.e6 Qa3 36.Qxb5 c2 37.exf7 Kg7 38.Be4 c1=Q 39.Qe8 1-0

Final position in Mamedyarov-Grischuk



Round 13, Mar. 26
Ding Liren - Kramnik, Vladimir
A13 English

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 c5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 b6 5.e4 Bb7 6.d3 d6 7.Bg2 g6 8.O-O Bg7 9.Re1 O-O 10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4 a6 12.b3 Nbd7 13.Ba3 Nc5 14.b4 Ncd7 15.b5 Ne8 16.Rc1 Ne5 17.Qe2 axb5 18.Ndxb5 g5 19.h3 f5 20.exf5 Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Rxa3 22.Nxa3 Qa8+ 23.Qe4 Qxa3 24.fxe6 Nf6 25.Qe2 Qa8+ 26.f3 h5 27.e7 Re8 28.Ne4 g4 29.hxg4 hxg4 30.fxg4 Nfxg4 31.Qd1 Bh6 32.Rc3 Rxe7 33.Qd5+ Qxd5 34.cxd5 Ra7 35.Re2 Nf7 36.Kh3 Nge5 37.Nxd6 Nxd6 38.Rxe5 Bg7 39.Rg5 Ne4 40.Rc8+ Kh7 41.Rh5+ Kg6 42.Rh4 Ng5+ 43.Kg2 Rxa2+ 44.Kf1 Ra1+ 45.Ke2 Ra2+ 46.Kf1 Ra1+ 47.Ke2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2

Round 13, Mar. 26
So, Wesley - Karjakin, Sergey
E37 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 c5 8.dxc5 Nc6 9.Nf3 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxc5 11.e3 Nxd2 12.Nxd2 dxc4 13.b4 Qf5 14.Qxf5 exf5 15.Bxc4 Ke7 16.Nf3 Be6 17.Bxe6 fxe6 18.Ke2 Rhc8 19.Rhc1 Nd8 20.Ne5 Nf7 21.Nxf7 Kxf7 22.e4 Kf6 23.Ke3 g5 24.g3 h5 25.h3 g4 26.hxg4 hxg4 27.f3 gxf3 28.Kxf3 Ke5 29.exf5 exf5 30.Re1+ Kf6 31.Rac1 Rxc1 32.Rxc1 Rd8 33.Rc7 Rd3+ 34.Kf4 Rxa3 35.Rxb7 Ra4 36.Rb5 a5 37.Rxf5+ Kg7 38.Rg5+ Kf6 39.Rf5+ 1/2-1/2

Round 13, Mar. 26
Caruana, Fabiano - Aronian, Levon
C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.d3 d6 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.c3 d5 11.h3 Bh5 12.Qe2 Rb8 13.Bg5 dxe4 14.dxe4 h6 15.Bc1 Bg6 16.Nbd2 Nh5 17.Nf1 Bc5 18.g3 Kh7 19.Kg2 Qe7 20.Bc2 Rfd8 21.b4 Bb6 22.a4 Nf6 23.Nh4 Qe6 24.Bd3 Bh5 25.g4 Bxg4 26.hxg4 Nxg4 27.Nf5 Nxf2 28.Bc2 g6 29.N1e3 gxf5 30.exf5 Qf6 31.Qxf2 e4 32.Rh1 Rd6 33.Bxe4 Rg8+ 34.Kf1 Ne5 35.Qf4 c6 36.axb5 Rg5 37.bxa6 Qd8 38.f6+ Ng6 39.Rxh6+ 1-0

Position after White's 31.Qxf2. What is Black's best reply?



Standing after Round Thirteen

Caruana 8
Mamedyarov 7.5
Karjakin 7.5
Ding Liren 7
Grischuk 6.5
Kramnik 6
So 5.5
Aronian 4

Last Round Pairings

Grischuk-Caruana
Aronian-So
Karjakin-Ding Liren
Kramnik-Mamedyarov

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018

March 26, 2018

With one round to go, there could be ties, which would necessitate tiebreaks.

Macauley Peterson at chessbase.com goes through the scenarios:

Candidates tiebreak scenarios

https://en.chessbase.com/post/candid...urs-mamedyarov

Please read the whole article.

Macauley's conclusions:

"Caruana is the clear favourite. But Karjakin is the only one among the three to have the White pieces in the final round. On the other hand, the players who have been given the burden of being considered a favourite so far have suffered. And so many of the scenarios are perfectly plausible. In any case, it remains exciting.

According to one observer's calculations, Caruana has greater than 50% chances to win, which increase to roughly 2/3 if he should draw against Grischuk tomorrow. Ding meanwhile has less than 2% chances, when one considers the general probability of wins, losses and draws in chess."

[Hans Jung]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

The chess brahs also brought up animal-named openings after talking about the Pelikan Sicilian. Eric, the chess grand wizard, would love to be on a reality TV show like the Bachelor but doesn't like having to always explain about chess on dates.

The brahs have invented names for pawns on the files, such as Bernie for the b-pawn, George for the g-pawn, Hillary for the h-pawn (I don't know, Donald for the d-pawn?). Has naming been done before? Is it useful in teaching?

For ages 3 to 7 essential

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Ding has drawn Vlad the Impaler and is out of the race. However congratulations to him for remaining undefeated.

Ding is not out of the race. He needs:

1. He beats Karjakin with black
2. Caruana loses with black.
3. Mamedyarov draws with black against Kramnik.

Internet gives him odds of 51, that means about 2% chances.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

A very interesting situation before the last round. 4 players still have some chances. 3 important games in last round: Grischuk-Caruana, Kramnik-Mamedyarov and Karjakin-Ding.

3 games, 3 possible outcomes for each game. Total 27 combinations or chains.

Caruana wins the tournament if

1. He wins - 9 chains.
2. He draws, Mamedyarov doesn't win and Karjakin doen't win - 4 chains.
3. He loses, Mamedyarov loses and Karjakin loses - 1 chain.

Total for Caruana 14 chains (of 27).

Mamedyarov wins if

1. Caruana draws and he wins - 3 chains.
2. Caruana loses and he wins - 3 chains.
3. Caruana loses, he draws and Karjakin draws - 1 chain.

Total for Mamedyarov 7 chains.

Karjakin wins if

1. Caruana draws, Mamedyarov doesn't win and Karjakin wins - 2 chains.
2. Caruana loses, Mamedyarov doesn't win and Karjakin wins - 2 chains.
3. Caruana loses, Mamedyarov loses and Karjakin draws - 1 chain.

Total for Karjakin 5 chains.

Ding wins if he wins, Caruana loses and Mamedyarov draws - 1 chain.

Total for Ding - 1 chain.

14 + 7 + 5 + 1 = 27, which is good.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

From http://eji.com/chess/

"The current chart, after Round 13:
Caruana 42/81 = 51.852% weighted: 56.424%
Mamedyarov 21/81 = 25.926% weighted: 20.943%
Karjakin 15/81 = 18.519% weighted: 20.662%
DingLiren 3/81 = 3.704% weighted: 1.971%"

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

From http://eji.com/chess/

"The current chart, after Round 13:
Caruana 42/81 = 51.852% weighted: 56.424%
Mamedyarov 21/81 = 25.926% weighted: 20.943%
Karjakin 15/81 = 18.519% weighted: 20.662%
DingLiren 3/81 = 3.704% weighted: 1.971%"

81 outcomes - the typical computer's way to solve the problem. Human always wants to simplify first. Game Aronian-So doesn't have any impact, so you can reduce the number of outcomes from 81 to 27.

[Tony Li]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

So Aronian has not impact on tiebreak?

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

81 outcomes - the typical computer's way to solve the problem. Human always wants to simplify first. Game Aronian-So doesn't have any impact, so you can reduce the number of outcomes from 81 to 27.

I thought the interesting thing from the site was that although there are fewer ways that Karjakin can win, because of the weightings his chances were almost identical to Mamedyarov's.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

I thought the interesting thing from the site was that although there are fewer ways that Karjakin can win, because of the weightings his chances were almost identical to Mamedyarov's.

Probably, because Mamedyarov plays black while Karjakin plays white.

[Victor Plotkin]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

So Aronian has not impact on tiebreak?

In this particular situation, game Aronian-So has no impact on tie-break.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018

March 27, 2018

Round Fourteen

The games so far...

Round 14, Mar. 27
Aronian, Levon - So, Wesley
A30 English Symmetrical

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.e3 Nf6 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qb3 Nxc3 9.Bc4 e6 10.bxc3 Bd7 11.Be2 Na5 12.Qc2 Bg7 13.Ba3 Bf8 14.Bb2 Bg7 15.Ba3 Bf8 16.Bb2 Bg7 17.Ba3 1/2-1/2

Round 14, Mar. 27
Karjakin, Sergey - Ding Liren
C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 O-O 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Be3 Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Nd5 c5 13.a4 Be6 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Qd7 17.b3 e5 18.Ra2 b4 19.Nd2 Rae8 20.Raa1 Bd8 21.g3 g5 22.Nc4 Re6 23.a5 Ref6 24.f3 h5 25.Nb6 Qf7 26.Kg2 h4 27.Nd5 h3+ 28.Kg1 Rxf3 29.g4 Kg7 30.Rxf3 Qxf3 31.Qxf3 Rxf3 32.Rf1 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Bxa5 34.Ne7 game in progress

Karjakin-Ding Liren after 34.Ne7




Round 14, Mar. 27
Kramnik, Vladimir - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Ne5 Qd6 8.Na3 Rd8 9.Naxc4 Qa6 10.Qc2 Rxd4 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 13.Rxd1 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qa5 15.Bf4 Nd5 16.Be4 g6 17.Bh6 Qc5 18.Qd2 Qb4 19.Qc2 Qc5 20.Qd3 Qd6 21.Nc4 Qc5 22.Qf3 c6 23.Bd3 Nf6 24.e4 e5 25.Be3 game in progress

Kramnik-Mamedyarov after 25.Be3



Round 14, Mar. 27
Grischuk, Alexander - Caruana, Fabiano
C43 Petrov, Modern Attack, symmetrical variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 Nxd2 6.Bxd2 Be7 7.Bd3 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.O-O Bg4 10.Re1 Qd7 11.h3 Bh5 12.Bf4 Qe6 13.a3 O-O 14.b4 h6 15.Bg3 b6 16.Nd4 Bxd1 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Raxd1 c4 19.Bc2 b5 game in progress

Grischuk-Caruana after 19..b5

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

[u]Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018[/u\

March 27, 2018

Round Fourteen (continued)

Round 14, Mar. 27
Karjakin, Sergey - Ding Liren
C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 O-O 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Be3 Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Nd5 c5 13.a4 Be6 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Qe2 Qd7 17.b3 e5 18.Ra2 b4 19.Nd2 Rae8 20.Raa1 Bd8 21.g3 g5 22.Nc4 Re6 23.a5 Ref6 24.f3 h5 25.Nb6 Qf7 26.Kg2 h4 27.Nd5 h3+ 28.Kg1 Rxf3 29.g4 Kg7 30.Rxf3 Qxf3 31.Qxf3 Rxf3 32.Rf1 Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Bxa5 34.Ne7 Kf6 35.Nf5 Ke6 36.Ng3 Bd8 37.Nh1 a5 38.Ke2 d5 39.Nf2 Kd6 40.exd5 Kxd5 41.Ne4 Kc6 42.Kd2 Be7 43.Kc1 Kb5 44.Kb2 a4 45.Ka2 a3 1/2-1/2

Final position in Karjakin-Ding Liren



Stockfish evaluates the final position as -1.22

Is there a winning line for Black?


Round 14, Mar. 27
Kramnik, Vladimir - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Ne5 Qd6 8.Na3 Rd8 9.Naxc4 Qa6 10.Qc2 Rxd4 11.Bg5 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 13.Rxd1 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qa5 15.Bf4 Nd5 16.Be4 g6 17.Bh6 Qc5 18.Qd2 Qb4 19.Qc2 Qc5 20.Qd3 Qd6 21.Nc4 Qc5 22.Qf3 c6 23.Bd3 Nf6 24.e4 e5 25.Be3 Qb4 26.Nxe5 Qxb2 27.Bf4 Be6 28.Rb1 Qxa2 29.Rxb7 Bc5 30.Kg2 Re8 31.h3 Bxf2 32.Qxf2 Bxh3+ 33.Kg1 Qxf2+ 34.Kxf2 Rxe5 35.Bxe5 Ng4+ 36.Kg1 Nxe5 37.Be2 Kg7 38.Rxa7 Kf6 39.Ra5 Bd7 40.Kf2 Ke6 41.Ke3 Kd6 42.Ra1 h5 43.Rd1+ Ke7 44.Kd4 f6 45.Kc5 Bh3 46.Ra1 Bg2 47.Ra4 Ke6 48.Rd4 Nf3 49.Rd8 Ng5 50.Bc4+ Ke7 51.Rg8 Nxe4+ 52.Kxc6 Nd6+ 53.Kc5 Nxc4 54.Kxc4 Kf7 0.5-0.5

Final position in Kramnik-Mamedyarov



Grischuk-Caruana still in progress

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018

March 27, 2018

Round Fourteen (concluded)

Round 14, Mar. 27
Grischuk, Alexander - Caruana, Fabiano
C4 Petrov, Modern Attack, symmetrical variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 Nxd2 6.Bxd2 Be7 7.Bd3 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.O-O Bg4 10.Re1 Qd7 11.h3 Bh5 12.Bf4 Qe6 13.a3 O-O 14.b4 h6 15.Bg3 b6 16.Nd4 Bxd1 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.Raxd1 c4 19.Bc2 b5 20.a4 a6 21.f3 Bg5 22.Bf2 Bf4 23.Bc5 Rfd8 24.Bd6 Bg3 25.Re2 g5 26.Kf1 Kf7 27.Bc7 Re8 28.Bd6 Rac8 29.Ra1 Red8 30.Bb1 Rd7 31.Ra3 d4 32.axb5 axb5 33.cxd4 Nxd4 34.Rea2 Nc6 35.Be4 Bxe5 36.Bxc6 Rxd6 37.Bxb5 Rd1+ 38.Ke2 Rg1 39.Ke3 Rb1 40.Ra7+ Kf6 41.Bd7 Bf4+ 42.Ke2 Rd8 43.Rc2 Rxb4 44.Bc6 c3 45.Rd7 Rc8 46.Be4 h5 47.Kd3 Rb2 48.Ke2 h4 49.Rd1 Ke5 50.Ra1 Rd8 51.Rd1 Rdb8 52.Ra1 Bd2 53.Ra6 Rd8 54.Rc6 Rb1 55.Kf2 Ra1 56.Rc4 Rd4 57.Rc8 Rb4 58.Ke2 Kf4 59.Kf2 Rbb1 60.Rf8+ Ke5 61.Bd3 Rb2 62.Ke2 Re1+ 63.Kf2 Rc1 64.Rxb2 cxb2 65.Rb8 Bc3 66.Be4 Bd4+ 67.Ke2 Kf4 68.Rb4 e5 69.Rb7 Kg3 0-1

Final position



Final Standings

Caruana 9
Karjakin 8
Mamedyarov 8
Ding Liren 7.5
Grischuk 6.5
Kramnik 6.5
So 6
Aronian 4.5


Fabiano Caruana is the challenger for the World Championship with Magnus Carlsen!

[Caleb Petersen]

Re: Candidates Tournament 2018 Berlin

Final position in Karjakin-Ding Liren



Stockfish evaluates the final position as -1.22

Is there a winning line for Black?

No, the position is drawn (there is no way to break through with the king, and the bishop is blocked by it's own pawns). The computer often evaluates these positions as being great for the side with more material, but doesn't see that there is no way to get through in the end.