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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Magnus Carlsen
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Ding Liren
Sergey Karjakin
Anish Giri
Veselin Topalov
Teimour Radjabov
David Navara
Radoslav Wojtaszek
Rauf Mamedov
Vladimir Kramnik had been scheduled to play but informed the Organizing Committee that he was taking a rest for a while after the Candidates Tournament in Berlin. He has been replaced by Radoslaw Wojtaszek Radoslav.
The schedule:
April 19 - Round 1
April 20 - Round 2
April 21 - Round 3
April 22 - Round 4
April 23 - Round 5
April 24 - Rest Day
April 25 - Round 6
April 26 - Round 7
April 27 - Round 8
April 28 - Round 9
Rounds are scheduled daily from 15:00, which is 7:00 AM Toronto/Montreal time
All games will be commented on in Azerbaijani and in English respectively by Anar Allahverdiyev, honored trainer and by International Grandmasters Ljubomir Ljubojevich (Serbia) and Igor Khenkin (Germany).
It will also be possible to watch the press conferences of chess players on-line as well as the games.
Evidently, Ding had a win with 49.Kf2 but played Ke3 instead; Ke2 also may have worked. A chessbomb kibitzer wrote that his engine said mate in 51 moves after Ke2!
Ding-Wojtaszek after Black's 47...fxe4+
________
We have tried to listen to the post-mortems on replay but the replays are just as broken up as the original transmission. Ljubo asked Karjakin why his games after the World Championship Match were down in quality. Sergey disagreed. Ljubo said that he thought that Giri played better after the birth of his son. Anish disagreed and said that he hadn’t adjusted to the life with a child. Ljubo asked Teimour and Veselin what they thought of the time controls at present and both said that they would like them speeded up.
Same old Ljubo. Terrible sound though from Shamkir. I hope it improves.
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Thursday, 19 April, 2018, 10:54 PM.
The sound and transmission problems of yesterday must have been due to the first-round glitches.
Today, there are no problems whatever.
As you will see, since all the games were drawn, the main interest in the broadcast is the presentation, which was hilarious. Please, read on!
Ljubo's question of the day is about how we will deal with robots in the future. It takes him several minutes to pose the question and then several minutes for the players to answer. The poor lady interpreter has to wait until each is finished and then pose questions and answers in Azerbaijani.
Karjakin says that even if there is a robot car that drives itself, he likes to drive too and he would still drive himself. Ding Liren says that robots can't play sports, humans do. Robots should help mankind.
When Ljubo has given his final opinion, he often says, "There can be no question.." I have noticed that the players have faint smiles when he is going on and on about his latest hobby horse.
Some comments from the chat room:
- I remember Ljubo cannot be stopped contradicting the players on what was the correct move in the last tournament. This guy is an embarrassment
- Maurice and Ljubo are not Magnus's favourite interviewers
- Looks like Shamkir bought their mics at the same place where Chess24 purchased their computer mice
- Magnus was clearly showing that the interview was too long for his taste. That is unprofessional in my book but I forgive him 80% given Ljubo's behaviour
- Anish is lucky he hasn't been interviewed yet
- My ears are bleeding
- GM Kevin Spraggett should do the interviews, but only when the players are males, lol
- The commentary is hitting new levels of awkwardness
- At least they don't take callers
- There are people walking past the camera - this is hysterical
- Khenkin is commentating next to an empty chair and Ljubo is calling out moves from a distance behind the camera
- To be honest, the US coverage would be roughly twice as good if they didn't take callers
- To stay one step ahead the next chess24 show will have Svidler yelling moves from a moving vehicle
- This is horrible, Ljubo is shouting in the background without a mike
- Tomorrow there will be just empty chairs with all analysis shouted from offscreen
- Seriously, wtf is this?
- To be fair, I've laughed more in the past 20 minutes than in any peter and jan stream
After all this, Topalov-Giri is over and the players come to the tables for the press conference. Ljubo argues with Giri about a move he should have played. More chat room comments:
-this is like watching flowers wilt
-I really like how Giri and Lubo are talking to themselves and Veselin is just throwing in some moves and no one is listening to anyone
-if we can limit it to just three people talking at the same time
-so Yasser's broadcast is in 2 hours, right?
-Ljubo is slumped in his seat or is he really 3ft 6in tall?
-Ljubo is working on his yoda appearance
-Ljubo and his electronic gadgets question
-Is Lubo crazy?
-Veselin thinking about dinner
-Jokes on us. This meme stream is gonna go internet viral and get massive viewcounts
And the last press conference is over. All in all, a very enjoyable last hour or two because of the chaos. One chat room guy writes, "This will kill me. My head is pounding, my ears are hurting"
-Well, I'm off to study using my gadgets. I'll be back with the rest of you masochists tomorrow
"Cameraman doing his job while sound engineer drunk at the pub somewhere"
Ljubo's questions are about preparation for an opponent and playing women and reaction if you lose. He also asks each player what they do with their dear ladies on the 8th of March? This turns out to be International Women's Day. Is it like St. Valentine's Day here?
Giri is a real student of the game. He talks about the Karpov-Ljubo era and the openings and about Kasparov's games in World Championship play. He says that he has lost a couple of games to Hou Yifan and it doesn't trouble him a bit.
(The games were at Tata Steel in 2013 and Biel in 2014)
Mamedov comes to the press-conference alone. There is a suspicion that Magnus has had enough of Ljubo's questions and doesn't want to answer question about his ladies. Or, he is disgusted at drawing again!
One chat room kibitzer predicts that ten people will ascend to the podium for the first prize at the end of the tournament!
The only hope for a win today is in the game Ding Liren vs Veselin Topalov. Topa had a winning position after 42.Bf1 but played Nxf2 instead of Ng4
At the press-conference Ding is asked if they celebrate March 8 in China and he says yes. When asked if they give flowers to a mother, a wife or sweetheart, he thinks they do not.
Round 3, Apr. 21
Navara, David - Wojtaszek, Radoslav
B91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb variation
Ljubo's question du jour is this: Cities today are sometimes very violent. Chessplayers could be assaulted in the street. If you were in a dangerous situation, could you defend yourself? Would you remain calm or just run?
Topalov said that he would just run.
The game that went on for hours is Anish Giri vs Ding Liren. Some say that both players kept the game going so that they wouldn't have to come to the interview!
- When you come to a Shamkir game the ljubo interview is more scary than losing
The Giri game had an interesting ending in which Giri was dead lost
Position after 62...Bxd2
Giri played 63.f4 and after 63...Kb4 64.Ke4 Black let the win slip away with 64..Kc5 when 64..a6 or 64..Ka3 would have easily done the job. That is, if you had seen it.
Mark Crowther - Looks like Giri-Ding will finish in a draw. They should put the Bishop and Rook Pawn vs 3 pawns endgame in a book. I don't really understand how you'd work out the winning method even with a computer.
Ljubo's question today is, "Would you take a prize in a tournament in bit coins?"
Topalov didn't think so and Ljubo said that that was because he was of an older generation. David Navara said that he wouldn't like bit coins either and he said that he was the second oldest contestant.
At the end of the post-mortem, David appeared to read a page in Azeri, for which he received applause. I am told that Azeri is a Turkic language but will say no more.
The games:
Round 5, Apr. 23
Navara, David - Topalov, Veselin
A11 Reti, King's Indian Attack, Yugoslav variation
Among other questions Ljubo asks if the player believes that aliens or extra-terrestrials live on Earth.
Teimour Radjabov says that he would not believe it unless he saw some proof. Ljubo says that serious American pilots have seen extra-terrestrial vehicles but he is unconvincing.
- Giri wins
- Such a wonderful day
- Our prayers are heard
- Now we know for sure that somebody messed with the Large Hadron Collider; it sent us into a bifurcation of the multiverse where Giri does win chess games
Ljubo seems to be a student of numerology. He asks Topa and Magnus if they have a magic number or believe in them. He says that Kasparov liked 13, Fischer 9, Michael Jordan 3 and Joaquim Cruz 14.
Magnus says that he likes Number One.
-I doubt if questions about favorite numbers or the like will attract throngs to chess
-Ljubo is refreshment in the world of commentators. Good, old and bold
Ding Liren is soft-spoken and seems very mild and likeable.
These questions today to Ding and to Rauf:
Ljubo: You are under the spotlight because you are famous both in China and around the world. Such people are often criticized in the press (false news). If you were criticized in this way, how would you respond?
Ding: What are they saying?
Ljubo: Theoretically, how would you react? Would you answer, would you go to your lawyer or talk with your press officer? There are chess magazines in China, yes? What if you were criticized there?
Ding: I would explain at an interview. I am not on twitter.
Ljubo: I understand Rauf, that you are sad today because you lost. What would you do?
Rauf: I've never had this problem.
Question from the audience:
Ding, what do you chew at the end of each game?
Ding: Dried fruit but not at the end of every game
Comments from the chat room:
- Does Ljubo only do commentary once a year?
- Hope so
- Unfortunately, wish we saw him more
- I've never laughed so much watching a post-game conference
- I don't understand people who criticize ljubo. He's an absolute master at this, and very polite
- I don't want to watch super-serious interviews; it's funny, it's witty; c'mon, we can have some fun once per year, right?
- The fake news stuff with Ding was painful, Ding initially answered, depends on what they say
- Mamedov almost fell asleep during his interview
Giri-Carlsen after Black's 40...Qd8 and before 41.Rh3?
Tarjel J. Svensen: After Carlsen's win vs Giri, there are only 3 players among the World's top 20, he doesn't have a plus score against (among those he actually played):
Most of the games finished quickly with only Karjakin-Topalov dragging on.
Ljubo asked Navara and Radjabov if they had a preference for any piece and Radjabov said that when he was learning chess, Fischer's games were still all the rage and his preference was for the bishop over the knight. Ljubo said that Fischer told him that the advantage of B over N was 10%.
An article on this very subject gives as examples Fischer-Taimanov, Match Rd 4, 1971, Fischer-Tal Rd 11, Curacao 1962 and Fischer-Addison Rd 11, US Champ 1957.
Thus, Carlsen wins the tournament. I was wondering how many supertournaments he has won so far in his career. In 2015 the number was 22. Just counting wins in classical tournament and excluding blitz, rapid and the world championships, I can add, London Chess Classic 2015, Qatar Masters 2016, Tata Steel 2016, Norway Chess 2016, Bilbao 2016, Isle of Man 2017, Tata Steel 2018 and now Gashimov Memorial 2018 for a total of 30 firsts. I welcome any corrections or additions to this list.
Speaking of the Isle of Man Open, at his press conference today, Sergey Karjakin said he would be playing at the Isle of Man. I believe it runs from Oct. 20 to 28th. This is a chance for a ChessTalker perhaps to be drawn versus Karjakin!
- Won his 2nd tournament of 2018
- Won his 30th supertournament
- Remained undefeated after 32 gains
- Got rid of the "Giri curse"
- Gained 4 rating points
Tarjei J. Svensen - Carlsen is +10 =20 -0 so far this year, a rating performance of 2862. Obviously a lot left of 2018, but that's close to the level he was in 2012 & 2013 (2875)
Tarjei J. Svensen - Mamedyarov reveals he will play in Biel in July, along with Carlsen, MVL and Georgiadis.
Chess24.com - Carlsen: "I was playing much more when I was 17, 16 years old... normal for me [now] is to have at least a month between tournaments, and there will be a lot of time to rest on your laurels or to lick your wounds, if that's what you need!"
ChesscomNews - "I'm really happy with the result but I think the fact that I've won here three times in a row is something I'm very proud of but it's also always a bit coincidental. You cannot always control your own destiny in these tournaments."- Magnus Carlsen
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