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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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The memory of a world champion – Judit asks Vladimir if he ever played a certain line in the Caro-Kann. He was surprised saying, “Yes, against you in either 1995 or 1996.”
In the first hour Joel Lautier joins the commentators. He gave up competitive chess between 2006 and 2009 and went into business. Because he spoke Russian, he was able to move around Russia in his endeavors. His conversation with Judit and Vladimir was quite interesting especially how the training he got in top level chess helped him in business.
A bit about his company (just to show that there is life after chess):
The RGG Capital company was founded in 2009 as a consulting company that specialize in M&A transactions under the leadership of Joel Lautier.
Before the RGG Capital company's establishment Joel Lautier was in charge of the department «Russia Goes Global» (consulting on assets' acquisition abroad for Russian investors) at the Strategy Partners Group company (russian strategic consultancy № 1). Today the RGG Capital company - is a team of professionals with a considerable experience in carrying out M&A transactions, consulting on a business development in the Russian Federation, CIS countries and the EU.
The company's projects are implemented within such areas, as:
Oil and Gas Energy, including renewable energy sources Metallurgy Chemicals industry Pharmaceutical Construction and real estate Media & Telecommunications Information technology Food industry Financial services
Joel Lautier has joined the show! Vlad objected when Judit introduced Joel as the only player with a +score in classical chess against Kasparov... since there are two such players on today's show!
Joel was a second of Kramnik for the 2000 World Championship match and noted half a year preparing the Berlin could be enough for anyone to decide to quit chess! __________
Turning our attention to the games now. After losing to Duda yesterday, Carlsen faces him again with colours reversed.
Some wag on the Chat writes:
Will Magnus be able to stop Duda's winning streak of 1 ?
It is difficult not to enjoy the @chess24com broadcast. Aside from the amazing main hosts, Judit & Vlad, they have a parade of famous guests on the show. Today it was Joel Lautier, once one of the best players in the world, now a successful businessman. Great to see him again.
Judit on Duda's position vs. Carlsen: "It looks very scary!"
Kramnik: "I think it's already not scary. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore for Black! It probably must be just losing by force"
Revenge is a dish best served hot! Magnus Carlsen bounces straight back to defeat yesterday's hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda
What a beast Firouzja is! The 17-year-old has now won 5 of his 6 encounters (he lost only in Armageddon to Magnus, though he was winning that game) and will lead today if Aronian doesn't win
Kramnik on this year's #NorwayChess:
"It's a fantastic tournament and I guess we all wish that it will never end, but unfortunately it seems to me that one day it will!"
Kramnik on Carlsen's "huge positional talent", that neither Kasparov nor Karpov had at the same age : "It seems that for Magnus it was from birth, it was absolutely natural"
Kramnik after a 16-year-old Magnus defended perfectly against him in Monaco on a 10-second increment: "I said that in my opinion he's going to be the next Federer... not only that he has good chances to be World Champion but he can also dominate the world of chess"
Kramnik talks about something he never had: "the almost inhuman level of concentration" at the right moment of Karpov, Carlsen, Caruana & Kasparov - "you can see by [Garry's] face that he's not in this world!"
As Kramnik noted, Gibraltar Chess Festival has officially been cancelled (he was intending to give a seminar there), though the organisers do promise "to contribute significantly to chess in January 2021"
An interesting anecdote by Kramnik. Says Kasparov told him that he just never allowed the Marshall gambit as White as he just didn't like the positions, so never even played it or even studied it.
At the end, Aronian had the better position but Firouzja moved just a bit faster with seconds for each and Aronian flagged. Firo leading the tournament with three rounds to go.
Fabiano Caruana plays leader Firouzja today! FC: "He’s playing great. He is in general a great player and he’s also having a good event. It’s one of my important chances to try and fight for first place, so I’ll try to put pressure on him"
Magnus was sure he was winning after 21.Nd2: "The strategical battle is over at that point" "It's very nice when you can just follow a plan and you don't need to calculate"
42.Re8! is a nice tactical finish, though by this point it was a question of style! The zugzwang after 42.c4 is also pretty appealing
Magnus Carlsen wraps up victory against Aryan Tari and will lead #NorwayChess going into the final rest day unless Firouzja can pull off an unlikely win against Caruana
(Had to go for some overnight bloodwork and missed the games) WK
From chess24.com
World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen has won his first tournament back at what he called “the wooden screen” after beating Alireza Firouzja in Round 9 of Altibox Norway Chess. Nerves got the better of the 17-year-old prodigy, who blundered with two seconds left on his clock in what should have been an easily drawn pawn ending. Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana picked up wins in Armageddon and go into the final round with a chance of second place, but Alireza knows he’ll clinch the runners-up spot if he wins his classical game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
Here Firouzja played 69.Kc3?? with two seconds left on his clock.
That was met by 69…Kc5, seizing the opposition, and it’s a simple win for Black. Alireza resigned and Magnus had won the tournament.
While 69.Kc3?? was clearly a terrible move, it was less immediately obvious that all other moves but one for White were losing. As Magnus explained, however, finding 69.Kd2! shouldn’t have been too difficult. Basically you just need to keep the distant opposition, that’s kind of child’s play, but he was shaking his head, he was so nervous that I felt at some point where he was going to put his king was probably going to be a bit random, because he was shaking so much, so in that sense I had some hopes, but obviously that was lucky. It was certainly a tough lesson, with Magnus himself commenting:
It’s a difficult situation, he’s 17 years old and he’s playing in such a game for the first time. It’s not easy… Certainly I had many experiences like this. I lost two rook endings against Levon for absolutely no reason, for instance. It’s part of the growing process, but he’s so strong he’s going to be around for a long time. It’s nice to be the wise old man!
Carlsen is the tournament winner with a round to spare.
The 8th edition of Altibox Norway Chess was the first super tournament to return to over-the-board chess since the Candidates Tournament was suspended in the end of March, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Originally scheduled for June and as a 10-player round-robin, the tournament was held from 5-16 October as a 6-player double round-robin, because of travel restrictions. With World Champion Magnus Carlsen, World number two Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, the top three seeds were all world-class players and former tournament winners – Carlsen in 2019 and 2016, Caruana in 2018 and Aronian in 2017. The field was completed by two of the world’s most promising young players, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Alireza Firouzja, as well as by the Norwegian number two and 2017 Junior World Champion, Aryan Tari.
The coronavirus pandemic of course had a serious impact on the tournament. Players and staff from outside Norway had to quarantine for 10 days prior to the tournament (the Norwegian quarantine rules allowing for outside activities, the nice weather, as well as the organisers providing bikes and goody bags made this period not too unpleasant). Chess pieces and boards were disinfected before every game, visitors wore masks in the playing hall and Antibac disinfectant and hand sanitizers was widely used by the players, staff and volunteers. However, since everyone had undergone quarantine (the two Norwegians had self-isolated at home) and been tested twice, the players were able to play their games without having to wear masks, and without a Plexiglas above the board. This was very much welcomed by the players, who were all visibly very happy to be back at the board after such a long hiatus. While Caruana and Aronian had both played a few games in the Bundesliga shortly before flying out to Norway, Carlsen’s last classical event had been Tata Steel Chess, all the way back in January.
As for the tournament itself, chess fans all over the world could hardly have hoped for a more exciting event. While the format of draws in classical games being decided by an Armageddon game remained the same as last year (when Norway Chess became the first super tournament to try out this new format), the point system was slightly adapted this year. A win in a classical game was worth 3 points (with 0 for a loss), while a draw in the classical game followed by a win in the Armageddon was worth 1.5 points, and a loss in the Armageddon 1 point.
This system, combined with an incredibly fighting field of players, led to a very competitive event, as out of the 30 classical games, only 11 (plus those today) ended in draws. Fabiano Caruana had taken the early lead after beating Tari and Duda in their classical encounters in the first two rounds, but round 4 was a huge turning point in the tournament as Magnus Carlsen beat Caruana for the first time in a classical game after over 2 years, and 19 consecutive draws.
There followed a first rest day, during which Levon Aronian won a cake decorating competition in the showroom of our sponsors HTH, and then the tournament once again made global headline news as Magnus Carlsen’s 125-game unbeaten streak was broken by Jan-Krzysztof Duda after a wild game. This profited Aronian who took the lead at the halfway mark, but the very next he lost his game against Caruana, while Firouzja took out Tari and thus became the new leader. Round 7 was another highly fighting day, with both top games ending in draws, and Firouzja emerging out of the day one point clear of Carlsen. With three rounds to go, Aronian and Caruana were also both still within striking distance. Round 8 was another turning point, as Carlsen was the only player who managed to win his classical game, and thus he was now the one with a 1-point lead over Firouzja going into the second rest day. In a perfectly timed turn of events, the players were set to meet in a possibly decisive clash in round 9, as a win would guarantee Carlsen tournament victory with a round to spare. What started out as a quiet and equal game soon became the tournament decider, as after having been put under huge pressure by Carlsen throughout the game, Firouzja blundered in a drawn pawn endgame and had to resign on the spot. Magnus Carlsen thus defended his Altibox Norway Chess title and was crowned winner with one round to spare.
In the last round, all that was left to play for were the remaining two podium spots, as well as the money of course, with a total prize fund of NOK 1.810.000 at stake. But what a round it was! Levon Aronian beat Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces, but that was only good enough for third place as Alireza Firouzja also won his game against Duda and clinched second. Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen on winning Altibox Norway Chess 2020 and see you all next year!
‘This tournament is not only the first in a long period of time, but also maybe the most exciting since years, because it’s really very interesting to follow. We have a big festival of chess here, in all senses. It’s a fantastic tournament and I guess we all wish it will never end.’ -Vladimir Kramnik
“It’s been a very fun couple of weeks chess wise. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on the tournament format, which wasn’t too different from the format we introduced last year. It’s always great to have the best chess players, their team members as well as the rest of the crew gathered in Stavanger. I believe we’ve managed to create a nice atmosphere at the venue, despite the social distancing! The challenge of organizing such a high profile event during covid-19 certainly was an added challenge and a learning experience. However, we are very pleased we managed to go through with the event and now we look forward to celebrating the players and thanking them for staying in Stavanger for three and a half weeks!”
"I think I was missing many things. At some point, I thought I had a big advantage, but somehow he got everything together," - Aronian. When a draw seemed near, Carlsen made a crucial mistake, Rxf6, after which black pawns were running quicker A year ago Magnus Carlsen won #NorwayChess then lost to Caruana in the final round, this time he won the event yesterday but lost to Levon Aronian today!
Great tournament. I really enjoyed following the games and your reports Wayne! Congrats to Firoujza and the consolation for finishing a close second $40,000 US dollars. Not a bad pay cheque for a teenager!
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