Sinquefield Cup 2018

[Hans Jung]

All the games ended in draws. The expected squeezes by Magnus and Levon went nowhere.

[Hans Jung]

As a result with two rounds left Fabi Caruana has the lead with 4.5, followed by Magnus, Shak, Levon Aronian, and Grischuk all with 4, and Vishy Anand and MVL with 3.5. Theoretically 7 players with a chance to win the tournament. Crunch time! Wins are in order!

[Hans Jung]

Kasparov playing Fischer Random! This Ive got to see.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 8 Shak-Magnus at move 40 fascinating position

[Hans Jung]

Triple E pawns causing problems. Humorous

[Wayne Komer]

Sinquefield Cup 2018

August 26, 2018

Round Eight

Alexander Grischuk comes in a few minutes late for his game with Wesley So. He is clutching a plastic bag, sits down quickly and plays 1.f4

"I thought about playing it for quite a long time," Grischuk explained. "I just never had an opportunity. So it's a good day to try it out because I really needed to try to win...For quite some time it was my emergency idea."

Could things get more strange? Well, they almost did. So said he wanted to "spice it up" with an incredible rejoinder: "Next time he plays 1. f4 I'm going to be ready to with 1...f5."

(Mike Klein at chess.com)

Yasser said that before their Candidates Quarterfinal match in 1965, Bent Larsen played 1.f4 in several games and, therefore, Borislav Ivkov had to spend a lot of time analyzing the opening in his preps. Then, in the match itself, Larsen did not play the Bird’s Opening at all. Larsen won 5.5 to 2.5 and went on to meet Tal.

_________

The world renowned Scottish photographer Harry Benson comes in to talk to Maurice. He was born in 1929, so is 88 years old. He photographed The Beatles on their inaugural American tour in 1964 and had private access to Bobby Fischer during the entire 1972 WCC Match in Reykjavik.

He was working for LIFE Magazine then and had a friendship with Bobby because a) He knew nothing about chess, b) He photographed and showed Bobby pictures of the New York Jets and c) He photographed Mohammed Ali and could tell Bobby about the champion.

"“I got along with Bobby Fischer because I knew nothing about chess. Bobby thought anyone who knew about chess was a moron.”"

His favorite photo is “"Bobby Kissed by a Horse”", Iceland, 1972

Bobby would call him from California two or three times a month, at 3 AM, to talk about various subjects – like nuclear disarmament.

He has been photographing the Sinquefield and likes taking pictures of Magnus Carlsen, who dresses well and has a star quality.

He has his second exhibit coming up at the World Chess Hall of Fame next month – put together by his wife.

A review of the book Bobby Fischer by Harry Benson on amazon.ca:

"“After a brief delay in receiving the book, it finally arrived. Overall, book is very interesting. It's mainly a "coffee table" book with very little dialogue. Most of the pictures are shot in black and white and have never been seen before. We see Bobby getting ready for matches by boxing, skipping rope, swimming, doing pull ups, lifting a medicine ball and playing ping pong. There's one shot of Bobby holding a Coke cup in one hand and a ping pong paddle in the other giving us the famous "Fischer stare". Very intimidating. Some of the shots are outtakes from the assignment Benson did for the 11-12-71 issue of Life magazine. Oddly, most of the limited color shots are "reversed" which detracts from the picture. (The square in the lower right hand corner of the board should be white, not black. Also, Bobby parts his hair on the left, not the right). I could have also done without the pictures of Bobby in the shower. My favorites are the ones of Bobby at the board with Boris. Benson's point of view is over Boris' right shoulder.

Overall, a good book but the lack of color pictures and the sloppiness in printing them reversed prevent this from being a 5 star book.”"

________

Round 8, August 26
Caruana, Fabiano –- Anand, Vishy
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 g6 14.Rc1 Bf6 15.b4 Qe7 16.Nf3 Rd8 17.h3 Ne5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Qd2 a5 20.bxa5 Bxf4 21.exf4 Qxa3 22.Ra1 Qd6 23.Rfb1 Qf6 24.Ra2 Rd6 25.Rc2 Rc6 26.Rxc6 bxc6 27.Qb4 Qd8 28.Ra1 Ba6 29.Bxa6 Rxa6 30.f5 d4 31.fxg6 hxg6 32.Rd1 Rxa5 33.Rxd4 Rd5 34.Re4 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Qd6+ 36.Qxd6 Rxd6 37.Re7 Rd2 38.Rc7 Rxf2 39.Rxc6 Ra2 1/2-1/2

Round 8, August 26
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar -– Carlsen, Magnus
E60 King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nbd2 a5 7.b3 a4 8.Ba3 axb3 9.axb3 O-O 10.O-O Re8 11.e3 Bf5 12.Qe2 Na6 13.Ne5 Ne4 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Bxe4 dxe4 17.Qb5 Rb8 18.Qc4 Bxe5 19.dxe5 Qd3 20.Rac1 Qxc4 21.Rxc4 b5 22.Rc6 Ra8 23.Rfc1 Nb8 24.Rc8 Kf8 25.Bb4 Na6 26.Rxa8 Rxa8 27.Ba5 Ke8 28.Rc6 Kd7 29.Rb6 Nc5 30.b4 Nd3 31.e6+ fxe6 32.Rxb5 Rc8 33.Rb7+ Kd6 34.b5 Rc1+ 35.Kg2 Rc2 36.Kg1 g5 37.Rb8 Rb2 38.Rd8+ Kc5 39.b6 Rb5 40.Kg2 g4 41.h3 h5 42.hxg4 hxg4 43.Bc3 e5 44.Rg8 Kc4 45.Rc8+ Kd5 46.Rd8+ Kc5 47.Rc8+ Kxb6 48.Rb8+ Kc5 49.Rxb5+ Kxb5 50.Kf1 Ka4 51.Ke2 e6 52.Kf1 Kb3 53.Ba5 Kc2 54.Ke2 Nc1+ 55.Ke1 Nd3+ 56.Ke2 Nc1+ 57.Ke1 Nd3+ 58.Ke2 Nc1+ 1/2-1/2

• Magnus’ pawns look like teeth carved in a Halloween pumpkin

Final position with tripled pawns!



Isolated triple pawns, usually on the c- or f-file are called the Irish Pawn Centre. See Tony Miles’' book.

Round 8, August 26
MVL –- Aronian, Levon
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Rd1+ Ke8 10.Nc3 Be7 11.Ne2 Nh4 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.Nd4 a6 14.Bf4 c5 15.Ne2 Bf5 16.c4 Rd8 17.Nc3 Rd7 18.Be3 b6 19.Nd5 Kd8 20.g3 Be7 21.a3 Bc2 22.Rd2 Bb3 23.Rc1 a5 24.Rc3 a4 25.e6 fxe6 26.Nxe7 Kxe7 27.Bg5+ Ke8 28.Rcd3 Rxd3 29.Rxd3 Rf8 30.Rd8+ Kf7 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.Bd8 Bxc4 33.Bxc7 b5 34.Bd6+ Kf7 35.Bxc5 e5 36.f3 Bd5 37.Kf2 g6 38.Bb4 Bc6 39.Bc5 Bd5 40.Bb4 Bc6 41.Bc5 Bb7 1/2-1/2

Round 8, August 26
Grischuk, Alexander –- So, Wesley
A02 Bird’s Opening

1.f4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.b3 Bb7 4.e3 g6 5.Bb2 Bg7 6.g3 O-O 7.Bg2 c5 8.c4 d5 9.O-O Nc6 10.Qe2 Rc8 11.d3 d4 12.exd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Bxg2 14.Kxg2 cxd4 15.Na3 Nd7 16.Nc2 Nc5 17.f5 Qd7 18.g4 b5 19.Ba3 a5 20.Bxc5 Rxc5 21.Rae1 bxc4 22.bxc4 gxf5 23.gxf5 Rxf5 24.Rxf5 Qxf5 25.Qf3 Qg5+ 26.Kh1 Kh8 27.Rg1 Qh6 28.Qd5 Qd2 29.Nxd4 Qxa2 30.Qe4 Qb2 31.Nf5 Be5 32.Rg2 Qc1+ 33.Rg1 Qb2 34.Rg2 Qc1+ 35.Rg1 Qb2 36.Rg2 1/2-1/2

Position after White'’s 30.Qe4



Round 8, August 26
Nakamura, Hikaru –- Karjakin, Sergey
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.Nc3 c6 9.Bf4 dxc4 10.e4 Re8 11.a4 b6 12.d5 exd5 13.exd5 Bb7 14.a5 bxa5 15.d6 Bf8 16.Nd2 Nd5 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Nxc4 dxc4 19.Bxb7 Rb8 20.Bd5 Ne5 21.d7 Qxd7 22.Rxa5 Rbd8 23.Bxe5 Bb4 24.Ra4 a5 25.Bc3 Bxc3 26.bxc3 Qxd5 27.Qxd5 Rxd5 28.Rxc4 Ra8 29.Ra1 Kf8 30.Raa4 Ra7 31.Rc8+ Ke7 32.c4 Re5 33.h4 Kd6 34.Kg2 h5 35.Rd8+ Ke7 36.Rc8 g6 37.Rb8 Kd6 38.Rb6+ Kc5 39.Rb5+ Kd6 40.Rb6+ Kc5 41.Rb5+ Kd6 42.Rb6+ 1/2-1/2

Standings at the end of Round Eight

1 Caruana 5
2-5 Carlsen, Mamedyarov, Grischuk, Aronian 4.5
6-7 MVL, Anand 4
8 So 3.5
9 Nakamura 3
10 Karjakin 2.5

Last Round Pairings

Aronian-Grischuk
So-Caruana
Anand-Mamedyarov
Carlsen-Nakamura
Karjakin-MVL

[Hans Jung]

Nice try by Magnus. Very artistic and entertainment for the spectators.

[Hans Jung]

But all draws round 8. That means Fabulous Fabi is poised to win the Sinquefeld Cup. A draw almost guarantees the win. Will he draw? Statistics say yes. Will the fab four immediately behind (by half a point or a draw) - that would be Magnus, the Shak, Sasha, and Levon, win and catch up with him? Statistics say no.

[Hans Jung]

Its Monday morning. And in North American culture that means going to work. The boys in St Louis (I mean Sinquefeld Cup) are going to be working hard. Nerves,nerves,nerves. A perfect solution would be cups of great coffee and Harry Benson's book on Bobby Fischer. What better inspiration than the man himself. Plenty of great pictures by a legend and great photographer. Available right across the street at the World Chess Hall of Fame. (unless they are sold out and that would call for more coffee and perhaps a visit to the blues bar down the street) Good Luck boys!

[Hans Jung]

Levon Aronian has just sacrificed his rook on f7! Excitement.

[Hans Jung]

Carlsen-Nakamura is an interesting fight. The computer likes Magnus.

[Hans Jung]

Vishy looks to be dominating against the Shak.

[Hans Jung]

So-Caruana I have to question White's choice of opening. Why wouldnt Wesley play to win?

[Hans Jung]

In Vishy vs the Shak the king's knight sits on f3 from move 2 to 20 and then does a tour of the board, 12 moves out of 21. Its on b3 at move 41. Where will it go to next? Gotta love it.

[Hans Jung]

Levon somehow got compensation for the sacrificed rook. Computer didnt foresee it. Almost magical. Triumph of the attacker (although still a long way to go)