Plessiez Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 3 hours ago, Notone said: It's been hour since I made this post, and since I don't want to spam this thread more than I already do (and it feels kinda sad when you're the sole poster) I'm following the Candidates too. Bit surprised (but not displeased) to see So and Karjakin at the bottom of the table, even if only after two rounds. Though So hasn't been quite in the same form he was a year or so ago. Even though I wasn't happy about how Kramnik qualified, a part of me would be very amused to see him beat Carlsen in a match (not that I'm that confident he would). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 Candidates are coming at a terrible time for me this year. For the next five days, I’ll be away without internet.. ach. Oh, well. Should have watched today, but didn’t find the time. Early results at least point to So struggling. Still early, though. I did read somewhere that Grishuck was in zeitnot - but then again I think it would be newsworthy if he wasn’t. Good for him that he could get back to .500 by playing So in the second round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 Doomsday is approaching. Aronian played 1.e4, seems like that was the surprise prep he was hiding. Of course it backfired and he lost to Kramnik. Caruana-Shak are still battling in their Najdorf encounter. Looks dynamically even to me. So stopped the bleeding by drawing Ding. And Grischuk-Karjakin was also drawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Interesting games this round. Really tough to pick a standout, as there are three. Karjakin-Aronian, it was nice to see Aronian bounce back after his debacel against big Vlad. Grischuk-Ding was highgly interesting. Looks like Grischuk might have missed a tactical k.o. blow. Kramnik-Caruana super chaotic Petroff. No idea how this is gonna end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 And Big Vlad blundered. Thus Caruana is now in the lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plessiez Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Well, yesterday was disappointing for Aronian and today was no improvement. A shame that So chose today to start playing well. Kramnik's play today was also very strange. I'm not sure I can see either of them recovering. Caruana and Mamedyarov are now tied for first. I don't really think either of them would challenge Carlsen all that much, honestly (Mamedyarov's head-to-head score in particular is not encouraging). Then again, I'd have said the same about Karjakin in 2016 (and probably did). It does look like one of those two will win this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 Of the current leaders, I think Caruana could trouble Carlsen. Shak’s style fits badly for playing Carlsen, I think, while Caruana generally holds Carlsen to equal endgames. This will look like hindsight, and I accept that, but I always thought Karjakin was a though opponent for Carlsen, a bit like Giri would be. Both are very adept at defending, and are content (well, sort of) doing just that, while Carlsen likes to press for a win. Against both Giri and Karjakin, that has the potential for backfiring. Karjakin is the most dangerous, I think, because he’s better than Giri at changing gears and countering. All that said, I like the fact that Shak is up there. He’s entertaining to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mother of The Others Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Hawaaian chess! It's the best. (Pacific) the armies are like a bunch of supernatural creatures using their strange move powers to invade and bang. I like that youtube guy adamator or whatever his name is and what's surprising is when he shows pics of the players most of them look like really cool guys. Snazzy even. Stylish. Sometimes there's a boris of course with that intense front cowlic you see on russian heads sporatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plessiez Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Caruana beats Aronian to take the sole lead. Don't think there's a way back into contention for Aronian now (or for So, if he loses to Karjakin as it seems he will). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 Aronian is one frustrating player. Well, seems now that we’ll see either Fabi or Shak playing Magnus. Grischuk and Ding/Kramnik could perhaps be considered, but being 1,5 points behind with three rounds to go seems a bridge too far. As I indicated earlier, I think Fabi has the best shot at beating Magnus, and I think a Fabi-Magnus matchup will be the most exciting. So I sort of hope for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 It's amazing how So can have a horrible tournament (which I enjoy), and still annoy me at the same time. I am pretty sure he does that on purpose. 9 minutes ago, Rorshach said: Well, seems now that we’ll see either Fabi or Shak playing Magnus. Grischuk and Ding/Kramnik could perhaps be considered, but being 1,5 points behind with three rounds to go seems a bridge too far. Ahum, isn't it 7 rounds to go? 8 players DRR tournament, equals 14 rounds ((8-1)x2). So auto-destruction today was really a thing of beauty. Levon's being Levon. He played an interesting game, in mutual time trouble he missed the strongest continuation (which was far from obvious) and thus lost a game he could've drawn. Shak was very happy to draw against Grischuk today, which must be somewhat annoying for Sascha. He wants to go for the relatively sharpest lines, and nobody is really in the mood of picking up the challenge. With the exception of Ding. Ding on the other hand has been forced by almost every player to play very concrete chess (with the exception of So, who just wanted to stop the bleeding and was very happy to draw). Kudos to him for not backing down. But yes, it looks like Caruana might be the next challenger for Carlsen, assuming he doesn't suffer some form of collapse in the second half. Kramnik has been playing weird. He has really tried to produce a decissive game constantly, and taken some really uncharacteristic risks. Maybe he felt this is his last chance to challenge for the title again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 Oh dear. That’s what you get for posting tired, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Well, one decissive game this round. Sascha managed to grind out a win against big Vlad. So the current Standing after 8 rounds. Caruana 5.5 (8) Mamedyarov 5.0 (8) Grischuk 4.5 (8) Ding 4.0 (8) Kramnik 3.5 (8) Karjakin 3.5 (8) So 3.0 (8) Aronian 3.0 (8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plessiez Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Seems hard to remember that, during round 4, Kramnik was on 2.5/3 and had (at several points) a winning position against Caruana. What odds would you have got on Kramnik only having 3.5 by the end of round 9? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Looks like Vlad is on tilt (to borrow a poker term). And it's worth keeping in mind, he also could've lost against Ding, so it could've been even worse for him. His play is really uncharacteristic for him, usually Kramnik is very precise, and really doesn't push his luck, but here it's really just weird. Maybe he contemplates retirement at the end of the year or something, if he doesn't get to play for the title again, and thus decided to go for broke in this tournament. Meanwhile Caruana is pushing against Ding, I am not sure whether the Chinese can hold this, but it's look really unpleasent to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Ding has been impressive so far, given that he’s really a neophyte here. Then again, that also goes for Shak. I’m impressed by both of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Yes, but Ding was dead lost against Caruana anyway. He was just lucky that Caruana couldn't find the off switch after 7 hours of play. Anyway, Ding keeps on chasing Giri. Ok, so Kramnik won again today against Lev *sigh*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Lev lost again. Everything else seem to be draws (Ding-Grischuk is still going on). No idea how Sascha managed to save this game. I checked in around move 40, and it looked like he was toast. But now this looks like a draw. Disappointing for Ding. Edit: I would probably find a way to lose with King and Knight against King and Rook, but I am not a GM with a rating of 2700++, so Sascha should that ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Ding finally found his win, and against Shak of all people. Things are heating up. I really don’t want to talk about Karjakin-Caruana. Sergey is finishing strongly, as is his wont, but by all that’s holy, I don’t want him in another WC match. He’s a complete bore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plessiez Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Karjakin takes the lead! I missed today's games, but the results are ... not what I was expecting. I'm sort of rooting for Ding now, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.