A Horse Named Stranger

Personally I think best chess playing millenial not named Magnus is Levon (also best player, who never wore the crown).

And indeed both Gukesh and Caruana are now winning. Assuming nobody suffers a heart attack and thus Gukesh and Caruana will be able to convert. We would go into the final round with Gukesh in the lead 1.Gukesh 8.5 2.Caruana, Naka, Nepo 8 5.Pragg 6 6.Vidit 5.5 7.Firou 4.5 8.Abasov 3.5 Edit: No heart attacks, thus those are standings before the final round. Pairings: Nakamura (8) - Gukesh (8.5) Caruana (8) - Nepo (8) Abasov (3.5) - Pragg (5.5) Firou (4.5) - Vidit (5.5) Nice thing that the contenders have to play each other, with Naka, Caruana and Nepo being in must win situations. 9 Points are the requirement to get into the tie-breaks, assuming that Gukesh doesn't win. If Gukesh wins, it's game over for the pack.

I mean Ken fucking (it's his middle name) Buck called out her incompetence and insanity and fell out of favour with the MAGA crowd and he essentially had to resign. So while some mainstream conservatives might have grown as tired of her as you and the rest of us, the main chunk of her party hasn't.

Nepo - Nakamura was a draw afterall. As was the dead rubber game between Vidit and Abasov Pragg has found a nice defensive resource. Essentially ejecting an exchange to stabilize things and have better squares for his pieces and coordination. I still believe in Caruana, but it will be a long day at the office for him. Gukesh - Firouzja is wild, I still back Gukesh.

Call me when she loses her seat (either in a primary or GE)

When has the prospect of failure ever deterred the Trailer Gweene?

Somewhat disappointingly, there's no major transfer saga this time around (apparently). Altho, we official have no REAL idea where Mbappe is headed... I mean there's this mild rumour of Musiala being a priority target for City (isn't it fun, when money is no issue). There's potentially Davies to Real. We have Leverkusen's Grimaldo being linked with several destinations (likesay Bayern). I am more curious, why there's no real fight over Olmo. Barca is once again linked to him, and with a € 60m release clause, it's not like he is unaffordable for the big boy clubs.

I think Caruana and Gukesh will win their games, at least that's my feel from looking at the games. Nepo-Nakamura is anyone's guess. Like I said, I'd rather play Nakamura's position (just looks more harmonic/better coordinated), but I don't have a concrete winning idea. Pragg's position just looks like utter misery. Barring some disaster it's probably just a question of when Caruana will break through, not if.

Looks like Gukesh has managed to seize the initiative against Firouzja. += sorta stuff Nepo looks to have missed something against Nakamura. Engine might say it's still equal, but I'd much rather have black there. Pragg - Caruana is swinging into Fabiano's direction. I think this will be 0-1. Feels like Pragg has flamed out, and has to fight with his fatigue and frustration of no longer being in the race for the WCC match.

I see what you did there.

A lot of defending is about knocking attackers off balance. That's too broad imo. Question is how the defenders does it/if he crosses a line. Referee said no, I agree with that call. You disagree with it. I think a penalty call would've required more contact. I'm sure you could possibly find a referee in a game that draws the line elsewhere and awards that penalty. Ultimately I think, it was the right call, you disagree. Fine, let's move on. Bayern back to pretending that they are good by pummeling Union today. The latter are far from safe in the relegation battle. Just three points on the play-off spot, and Mainz will play Freiburg tomorrow. So it's entirely possible that they could close the gap.

Too little force for a penalty imo. Refs are usually a bit more lenient with fouls in the box, because a penalty (likely goal) is quite impactful. And refs really don't want the game and subsequent headlines to be about them (at least the good ones) and their decissions. So they are rather cautious in those situations. It also wasn't a clear and obvious error, but rather within the discretion of the on-field referee how he judges that situation. So also not a VAR thing. The handball I have a much harder time to justify the inaction of the VAR.

Mine does. Altho, I don't use that setting for enviromental reasons. Lower temperature and soak/tub (no idea what the English word for Einweichen on a washing machine program is) function will do the trick and cost less energy (for those who didn't know, the really energy intensive part for the washing machine is heating up the water, so the higher the temperature of the washing machine the more energy it consumes. Pre-washing or the soak/tub functions consume less energy, even if the machine runs longer on a lower temperature).

Assuming 1. was the handball, yeah, that should've been a penalty. VAR will have some explaining to do (again) there. 2. Too little for a penalty imho. If Chelsea had been awarded a penalty for that, then City for once would've had more right to complain about that call, then Chelsea about it not being given.

I'm disappointed with AI there. The obvious nickname for the orange felon is obviously *drumroll* Fartosaurus Snore I admit, his previous short lived name Don Snoreleone was better, but it omitted the farts. I suspect your diet might be a wee bit healthier. Obviously I could be wrong, and you ignore medical advice and also go hard for the MacDonald's BicMac with fries and ketchup diet. YOLO?

You did? Thought you got around paying him out, by letting him go there for free...

The Saudis helped to move dead wood from a few clubs, not just Chelsea. Liverpool managed to elegantly offload Henderson and his contract this way, while Henderson could get rid off his SJW label. United managed to get rid off C. Ronaldo Bayern could sell off Mane without having to write off any value.

How to put it... I thought crabs were endangered in the western world due to loss of their natural habitats. (that was so elegantly put, I kinda have to applaud myself here). And how did this discussion move away from ty and MTG - Minor Trunk Growth (it was either that or Make Trunks Great).

In other news, in other lands, namely the Netherlands. Vitesse is the first team relegated (after 35 years in the Eredivisie). They were already bottom of the table and were likely to go down, before they were hit with a deduction of 18 points. They are now sitting on -1 point. The club have accepted the ruling of the indepedent regulator and admitted to have messed around with their balance sheets. There's also another investigation into Vitesse going on. Focus of it potential ties to Abramovich (yes, he is sorta like herpes, you can't get rid off him), who is (as we all know) under EU sanctions.

So Nagelsmann won't return to Bayern, instead he (somewhat surprisingly) extended his contract as Headcoach for the National Team. Which makes things interesting at Bayern. Nagelsmann was the the preferred pick of Eberl and Freund (who were not there during the Nagelsmann days and the controversies around him), but faced somewhat persistent resistence by other the other big wigs. Anyway, like I said, this point is now moot. Now the question is really where they go next. Seek a permanent appointment (Rangnick and Emery are now rumoredly the frontrunners, with Zidane also on the short list), or go for an interim solution, and try again with Alonso next year. If the interim is a success that could also become a permanent solution. Flick would apparently be that temp. Tuchel is as of now not in the mind to reverse course on his exit and stay for another year. But that might change.

Watched the fifth of ten episode of In Her Car Ukrainian-European coproduction. I can highly recommend this one. Plot is built around a Ukrainian Psycho-therapist, who finds her a new calling by driving Ukrainians through their war torn country. Each episode tells the story of her passengers. It has some pretty dark humour in it.

fixed.

Ok, Nepo - Pragg a draw in the French exchange variation. And wins for Caruana (Vidit), Gukesh (Abasov) and Nakamura (Firouzja). Thus Nepo, Gukesh and Nakemura sit on 7.5/12 with Caruana in pursuit with 7/12. Tomorrow's a rest day. And then we enter the two final rounds. Round 13 has Nepo-Naka as top pairing. Nepo also still has to play Caruana in the Final round. With Naka having to deal with Gukesh then.

You asked me to use my imagination? Are you sure about this? So lemme picture it. So to get in the mood, you went to a restaurant, had a fine bottle wine, then you went home and put on some music, which I just assume was the Beetlejuice musical. Yeah, I think I am getting the picture.

I am with DMC on this one. There are better ways for you to come out as a Republican than with a Red Elephant thong. Yes, I am assuming this was a political statement better placed in the US politics thread. No, not going in the other direction with that.