If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Policy / Politique
The fee for tournament organizers advertising on ChessTalk is $20/event or $100/yearly unlimited for the year.
Les frais d'inscription des organisateurs de tournoi sur ChessTalk sont de 20 $/événement ou de 100 $/année illimitée.
You can etransfer to Henry Lam at chesstalkforum at gmail dot com
Transfér à Henry Lam à chesstalkforum@gmail.com
Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
General Guidelines
---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
Some Basics
1. Under Board "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) there are 3 sections dealing with General Forum Usage, User Profile Features, and Reading and Posting Messages. These deal with everything from Avatars to Your Notifications. Most general technical questions are covered there. Here is a link to the FAQs. https://forum.chesstalk.com/help
2. Consider using the SEARCH button if you are looking for information. You may find your question has already been answered in a previous thread.
3. If you've looked for an answer to a question, and not found one, then you should consider asking your question in a new thread. For example, there have already been questions and discussion regarding: how to do chess diagrams (FENs); crosstables that line up properly; and the numerous little “glitches” that every new site will have.
4. Read pinned or sticky threads, like this one, if they look important. This applies especially to newcomers.
5. Read the thread you're posting in before you post. There are a variety of ways to look at a thread. These are covered under “Display Modes”.
6. Thread titles: please provide some details in your thread title. This is useful for a number of reasons. It helps ChessTalk members to quickly skim the threads. It prevents duplication of threads. And so on.
7. Unnecessary thread proliferation (e.g., deliberately creating a new thread that duplicates existing discussion) is discouraged. Look to see if a thread on your topic may have already been started and, if so, consider adding your contribution to the pre-existing thread. However, starting new threads to explore side-issues that are not relevant to the original subject is strongly encouraged. A single thread on the Canadian Open, with hundreds of posts on multiple sub-topics, is no better than a dozen threads on the Open covering only a few topics. Use your good judgment when starting a new thread.
8. If and/or when sub-forums are created, please make sure to create threads in the proper place.
Debate
9. Give an opinion and back it up with a reason. Throwaway comments such as "Game X pwnz because my friend and I think so!" could be considered pointless at best, and inflammatory at worst.
10. Try to give your own opinions, not simply those copied and pasted from reviews or opinions of your friends.
Unacceptable behavior and warnings
11. In registering here at ChessTalk please note that the same or similar rules apply here as applied at the previous Boardhost message board. In particular, the following content is not permitted to appear in any messages:
* Racism
* Hatred
* Harassment
* Adult content
* Obscene material
* Nudity or pornography
* Material that infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any party
* Material the posting of which is tortious or violates a contractual or fiduciary obligation you or we owe to another party
* Piracy, hacking, viruses, worms, or warez
* Spam
* Any illegal content
* unapproved Commercial banner advertisements or revenue-generating links
* Any link to or any images from a site containing any material outlined in these restrictions
* Any material deemed offensive or inappropriate by the Board staff
12. Users are welcome to challenge other points of view and opinions, but should do so respectfully. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Posts and threads with unacceptable content can be closed or deleted altogether. Furthermore, a range of sanctions are possible - from a simple warning to a temporary or even a permanent banning from ChessTalk.
Helping to Moderate
13. 'Report' links (an exclamation mark inside a triangle) can be found in many places throughout the board. These links allow users to alert the board staff to anything which is offensive, objectionable or illegal. Please consider using this feature if the need arises.
Advice for free
14. You should exercise the same caution with Private Messages as you would with any public posting.
The win by GM Carlsen over GM Topalov from Wijk aan Zee 2012 is the best game I have seen in years!! Topalov is probably the top GM whom I dislike the most, particularly because of his ridiculous antics in his match against GM Kramnik several years ago. Carlsen plays in the style of GM Mikhail Tal during his prime in this game! Tal's famous remark on sacrificing pieces ("They can only capture one at a time!!") fits perfectly here. So, for artistry, beauty, brilliance, occasion, strength of opponent, and toasting Topalov, this game gets my vote as one of the best of all time!!!
Many sites have this game, but I like chessbase.com, which has a great format for following it online, and some nice analysis. Check it out!! :) :)
Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.
Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.
Once Toppa caved in to the pressure and sacked his Queen, he was on the defensive. I would love to know why he sacked his Queen - some of the lines around that were scary, but a GM of his calibre should not have folded.
Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.
I find the GM commentary on chessbomb to be pretty awful to be honest. They more or less just follow the computer analysis, and they are very quick to criticize moves that stockfish deem slightly inferior.
Once Toppa caved in to the pressure and sacked his Queen, he was on the defensive. I would love to know why he sacked his Queen - some of the lines around that were scary, but a GM of his calibre should not have folded.
Hi Kerry:
I have done a Fritz 13 analysis of the game, for the Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views, the newsletter of the Scarborough CC. The next Issue is coming out tonight.
Fritz agrees that Topalov sacking the Q was a blunder. He moved from a " winning " game, to an equal game, with the blunder. I have posted the analyzed game on Chess5 ( www.chess5.com ).
Also, Carlsen's sacs were unsound, as the computers evaluated.
But the game shows that unsound moves in human games may not be fatal. We all, including GM's , make faulty judgments, under the pressure of tournament conditions, and so we may escape the consequences of unsound sacs.
And it is my contention that this is even more true for us class players, like myself. We can play inferior opening lines, and may generally not be punished for it at our level, because our level of player often makes inferior moves, and so where a white opener may intially be choosing an opening, giving Bl a " slight " advantage, it is generally the case that Bl will shortly, by inferior moves, bring the game back to equality. By this method at the class level, W can often get the advantage of " surprise ", by playing an inferior little-used line, and yet not suffer the consequences that should be suffered in an ideal theoretical world. In fact, Bl may be so discombobulated by the unfamiliarity with the suspect opening, he may end up giving W the " slight " advantage!
Bob
Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Tuesday, 31st January, 2012, 04:03 PM.
I spent some time looking at the game last night, having written down some of the key alternatives from the analysis on chessbase.com, and it seems likely that Carlsen's play was unsound. But the game was so creative, right from the opening, where Topalov's ...e5 was new, I believe on move 8. From a Rossolimo / Moscow Sicilian with 3.Bb5, it headed for territory similar to a Spanish (Ruy Lopez), and perhaps Topalov was disoriented. Topalov likely used a lot of clock time when on unfamiliar ground, and when the attack arrived, he couldn't find the best moves. I doubt if we will see Carlsen's attack repeated, but he did have a very good position anyway, before launching it. All in all, the game must remind many chess fans of GM Mikhail Tal's style, when the best defenses to his attacks were discovered after the game, sometimes months or years after!! :) :)
It certainly wasn't as exciting, but I preferred Aronian's win over Giri. I remember looking at the position around move 14, and I just didn't understand why black had sacrificed an exchange. I didn't really get it until I looked at the game afterwords. Complete positional domination by Aronian, Giri's rooks were spectators pretty much the whole game. I would suspect that Giri missed some improvements, but Aronian made it look easy after the exchange sacrifice. The computers suggest Rxf3 as well, but that doesn't mean that the follow up is easy to find.
I also enjoyed some of Motlyev's games in the tournament. He sacrificed his queen in two consecutive games, once on the white side of a Scandinavian and the next game as black in the same opening, winning both. I do not think that happens too much at the top levels.
Comment