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Chess: Observing the Mating Patterns of King, Queens and Bishops.


A Horse Named Stranger
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10 hours ago, Plessiez said:

At 39 years old, I really think this must have been Aronian's last chace to reach a world championship match.  Although looking at the rating list, I'm surprised at how (relatively) old everyone on it seems.  Other than Firouzja, Duda is the only player under 25 years old in the top twenty, and there are only three others in the top thirty.  Feels like a few years ago that was very different (mostly because it was the same people on the list a few years ago, I guess?).

Well, Covid has killed a lot of tournament play. So there might explain, the relative lack of new blood.

But still, there are a few players showing signs of improvement.

Obviously World Rapid Champion Abdusattorov (Rating: 2661; Pos 75), then there's the two Indian prodigies: Sarin (2647; 98) and more importantly Erigaisi (2676; 62) and the German hope Keymer (2667; 71).

Erigaisi looked super impressive at the Wijk B tournament, so gonna be fun watching him play next year with the big boys. 

Esipenko is alraedy in the 2700 club and he is also just 20. So there's some fresh blood. Sam Sevian is also slowly climbing into the 2700 spheres. 

Those probably the most standout prospects atm.

Note, Duda is also not exactly a senior at 23.

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Since the big boys are providing a draw fest, I think I will share one of my games.

Fun positional punishment.

Let's start here.

W: Kg1, Qc2, Rf1, b1, Bg2, c1, Nb5, c3, Pf5, e4, c4, d3, g3, a2 h2

B: Kg8, Qc8, Ra8, d8, Be7, b7, Ne8, d7, Pc5, b6, d6, e6, f7, g7, h7

Fen: r1q1n1k1/1b1nbppp/1p1pp3/1Np2P2/2P1P3/2NP2P1/P1Q3BP/1RB2RK1

I was enjoying the white side of this game. Black's position is pretty bad, the best thing to be said about it, is that he isn't down on the material count, yet. White to play and have fun.

Spoiler

1.fxe6 fxe6 2.Bh3! Nf8? (engine prefers the more active defenses 2...Ndf6 or 2...Ne5 white is better anyway) 3.Nd5!! (this shot just highlights all the problems in black's position. The weakness on b6, and theBishop on e7 are under attack, the pinned pawn on e6 did a poor job of keeping the knight out, the open f-file sill soon add to black's misery) 3...Bxd5 4.exd5 Qa6 this move came with desperate draw offer. But like I said, black's position is pure misery. So I duly turned it down. 5.dxe6! Qxa2 (black is hoping to get the queens off to to increase his chances for survival significantly) 6.Rb2 (obviously the Queens are going nowhere, the Engine prefers 6.Bb2, which I contemplated, but I wanted to get that tempo on the Queen) 6...Qa4  (once again offering the trade of Queens) 7.Qf2! (I warned you about the f-file, Qf7+ is a serious problem, black has to close the f-file.) 7...Nf6 (avoids the instant k.o. 7...Bf6 8.e7!) 8.Bg2 (good enough, without his pesky counterpart the white light squared Bishop now has time to return to the long diagonal unopposed, and add to the misery on blacks light squares; yes, it was an English opening, so mission accomplished) 8...Ng6 (the engine thinks offering the exchange is the relatively best moves, tells you all you need to know after 8...Ra6 I had planned to play Nc7 and Nd5 next) 9.Bxa8 (once again, good enough, turning the positional plus into a material one was too good to pass) 9...Qxa8 10.Ra2 (yep, invasion along the a-file, when it rains it pours for black) 10...Qc6 (the push d6-d5 is  right now the only thing even remotely resembling counter play) 11.Ra7 d5 12.Qe2 (12.Qf5 was the alternative, the point is to guard e6 and keep an eye the N on f6, Qe2 felt a bit safer and more natural to me, but both Queen moves deliver on that, on e2 it just provides more cover for c4) 12...dxc4 13.dxc4  Ne4 (13...Qe4 is preferable according to my engine, but swapping off Queens is the end of any counterplay)  14.Rc7 (engine prefers 14.Bb2 or 14.Nc7 but like I said trading queens is from a practical perspective very much in white's favour, this is just transforming huge a positional advantage into somewhat smaller but decissive material advantage) 14...Qxe6 15.Re1 (that's the point) 15...Ng5 16.Qxe6+ Nxe6 17.Rxe6 Rd1+ 18.Kg2 Rxc1 19.Rcxe7 Nxe7 20.Rxe7 (it's now a whole piece, the black King is locked out of the game by the rook on the seventh, and as one of those cruel ironies, c4 can't even be captured right away. alas...)  20...Rxc4 21.Re8+ black resigned, as Kf7 22.Nd6+ nets the whole rook for nothing.

 

Edited by A Horse Named Stranger
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  • 1 month later...

Time to share another game of mine. So that I am not just giving away my wins, this time I am on the losing side. Pretty unnecessarily. One bad move nullifies 40 good ones. In this case, how I assessed a position wrongly and gave my FM opponent a full point.

position.

w: Kg1, Qc2, Rc3, f1, Bb2, e4, Nf4, P b3,c4,c5, g4, h3

b: Kf7, Qa2, Ra7, Rb8, Bg7, Ne5, f8, P c5, d6, e7, f6, g6

rr3n2/4pk2/3p1ppb/2pPn3/2P1BNP1/1PR4P/qBQ5/5RK1

White to move.

White (me) is clearly better. All the pieces are well placed, the black king isn't particularly safe either. 

1.Ne6! Nxe6 2.dxe6+ Kg7 So far so good. Now any reasonable move keeps the advantage, white just can sit on the position and continue to grind, or go on the offensive with 3.h4 the black position is miserable. Plain and simple. White to play and lose.

Spoiler

3.Ra1?? stupid unnecessary, and a losing mistake on top. I thought I could get a pair of rooks of and then converting it, would be merely a technical task. 3...Qxa1 4.Bxa1 Rxa1+ -+ Now, all thos poorly placed black pieces suddenly became good and active. 5.Kg2 Rc1! (most forcing way, there were even more brutal ways to win this, but this good enough) 6.Qb2 Nxc4 and white is toast. Here the choice is between a horrible joyless endgame with 7.Qxc1 Bxc1 8.Rxc4 and hoping to somehow escape and hang on in an opposite coloured bishop ending, or playing dead lost position and hoping to find a swindle after 7.Rxc4 Rxc4. I opted for the dead lost position. The game dragged on for another twenty moves, with me trying to generate some sort of counter-play against e7 with perpetual ideas against the black king. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Sharing a game from today's rapid tournament (check unworthy thread). Neat little tactic.

Positon

w: Kg1, Qc2, Ra1, f1, Bb2, g2, Nc3, f5, P a3, b3, d3, e3, f2, g3, h2

b: Kg8, Qd7, Rb8, f8, Bc8, d8, Nc6, e6, P a7, b7, c5, e5, f6, g7, h7

Black to move.

here things started to get a bit off the rails for black.

15...g6 (chasing that annoying knight away from f5, however, this moves fatally weakens f6, which will become an issue in a few moves). 16.Nh4 (unfortunate, but pretty much the only move) 16...Ne7 (providing more cover for d5, but again weakening the defense of f6 further) 17.Rac1 (standard move just putting the heavy artiellery on the semi-open c-file) 17...b5? (wanting to make the thematic b4 push, and maybe plant a Knight on c3 later on but here it just runs into a counter) Spot the move.

Spoiler

18.Ne4! (highlighting the problems on f6, the threat is simply 19.Nxf6+ Rxf6 20.Bxe5 leaving white with an exchange and two pawns for naught Stockfish thinks this is merely +/-, after 18...Bb7, during the game it felt much more like +-) My opponent agreed with my assessment, and panicked) 18...Nf5 (acceptng that the position is bad, it restores some badly needed cover for f6 but the game continuation was just as joyless). 19.Nxf5 gxf5 20.Nxc5 Nxc5 21.Qxc5 (a pawn is a pawn is a pawn, black's pieces lack coordination white is just better +-) Qxd3?? restoring the material equilibrium. Alas, now the black position just falters) What did black miss?

 

Spoiler

22.Rd1! (SF prefers Bd5 slightly more but this is good enough) Qe2 (SF prefers the desperate Qxd1) 23.Qxa7 (ouch. others moves work, too. black's pieces lack coordination this move took me a bit longer, because I was seeing spectres in the form of 23...Rb7, which is obviously not working because the English BIshop on g2 is covering b7) 23...Qxb2 24. Qxb8 (Bd5+ is more accurate, I saw it, but opted against it for some reason, the prosaic Qxb8 is still good enough) 24...Be6 (like I said, 24.Bd5+ cutting out this  nonsense was more accurate) 25.Qd6 Qxb3 26.Bd5 (simplifying into a won endgame, which is auto-pilot territory) 26...Bxd5 27.Qxd5+ Qxd5 28.Rxd5 Be7 29.Rxb5 (?) (this is making life more dificult than it had to be 29.Rc7 and doubling on the 7th asap is instantly game over, but alas auto pilot had already taken over) 29...Bxa3 30.Rc7 Rf7 31. Rbb7 (the king should be kept on the 8th rank, to keep counterplay at a minimum) Rxc7 32.Rxc7 I'll cut off here. The rest was merely a matter of technique as they say. While mine wasn't flawless, it was sufficient to bring home the full point.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I almost didn't notice that the Candidates had started.

Early days yet (we've just reached the first rest day), but Nepo and Caruana are tied for first at the moment (with Ding Liren trailing at the bottom again, sadly). 

Given Carlsen's threats not to play the challenger if it's anybody but Firouzja, it would be pretty funny if we ended up having a Nepo-Caruana World Championship match next year.  (At least, I believe that FIDE's position is that there would be a match between the winner and the runner-up of the Challengers in the event that Carlsen doesn't play?)

It would definitely be a very strange situation though, and I hope it doesn't happen (whether because Firouzja wins or Carlsen turns out to be bluffing).  Of course, FIDE have stripped an existing world champion of their title before, but Fischer had stopped playing professional chess already by that point while Kasparov kept calling himself world champion and set up a whole rival title qualification process, which was treated at least as seriously as FIDE's by most people (at least while Kasparov retained his version of the title). 

It doesn't seem like that would make sense for Carlsen to do, if he's really just unhappy about having to keep playing matches (I guess he could try arranging a match against Firouzja, if it comes to it, but I hope Kasparov's example shows why splitting the title like that is a bad idea).  But having the world champion just stop being the world champion but carrying on playing chess (and being very obviously the strongest player in the world) seems pretty unsatisfying all around.  Would people consider either Caruana or Nepo genuine world champions at that point?

(I do think the pace of world championship matches is a bit excessive though.  One long match every three or four years seems far more sensible than the current pattern of short matches every other year.)

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Chess24 had the chickens (team Magnus seconds) making predictions. Who would win, and as bonus category: would Magnus play him?

Consensus was more or less Carlsen wouldn't who up, if Caruana were to win the candidates. Basically everything Carlsen hates about matches. Super solid opponent, with very little action and lots of draws. 

Ding's first round loss (with the White pieces on top) against Nepo sucked. I still don't understand, why he didn't exchange the bloody knight on g4, picked up the e4 pawn and continued with an extra pawn. 

Firouzja was sorta lucky in his first two games. He overpushed against Radjabov with black in round one. He had a very promising position after the opening. Must have been esp. disappointing, since Radja is arguably the weakest player in the tournament. So that's half a point wasted. Against Rapport he was just worse for most of the game and he had to defend a very unpleasent rook ending. Kudos to him he managed to do that.

Rapport was worse (probably very close to losing) against Duda in Round 1, and he might have wanted to collect the full point against Firouzja (check above). 

Firouzja really has to up his game, if he wants to win the candidates. Ding is just -1. Not great, but not a catastrophe at this point either. If the candidates isn'T interrupted again, it gives Nepo a fair chance to implode halfway through the tournament. Caruana is maybe the early favorite now over Ding. But like I said, nothing is broken beyond repair for Ding, yet.

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When you don'T look for an hour.

Nepo has indeed won against Firouzja.

Ding is still torturing Caru with his extra pawn. Altho the term torture is used rather generously here. The position is a draw. Round about move 30 Ding has let Caruana off too cheap.

No it's just a rook and pawn ending with a meaningless extra pawn for Ding. e-f v e with the black King being with his pawn. Only way to win this for white is for Caruana to just blunder away either pawn or rook. Just exchanging a pair of pawns and creating a passed pawn is not enough. That would lead to a fairly basic rook ending, that I could hold against Carlsen.

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Nepo and Caruana both won so after 6 games, Nepo is at +3, Caruana is at +2 and the closest behind them are Nakamura and Rapport at 0. There are still 8 games to play so in theory, anyone can still win (even Firouzja who is currently at -2), but thus far, it does indeed look like a two horse race.

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I wonder if I can still place a bet somewhere on either Caruana or Nepo winning the candidates. The odds must be horrible. There's probably a chance of 90% that one of them will win it. I mean, with Nepo there's still a chance that he will just implode in the second half, but Caruana will collect another point here or there and finish on +3 or +4 . Rapport and Nakamura won't finish in those regions. Rapport imho has a better chance to pick up steam and go on spree. But +4 is a tough ask. Ding's almost out of reach on -1. I still give him better odds than Nakamura, but scoring +5 from his remaining games is rather longshot territory. Anything short of finishing +4 overall will probably not be enough to win. 

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Should have been a quick draw for Nepo - Petroff doing its black magic.

Rapport has decided he rather wants to play an objectively worse position with white. This will backfire on Richi. 

Edited by A Horse Named Stranger
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Free point for Nepo today. This will be 0-1 at the end of the day.

Fortunately Caruana - Radjabov looks to be leaning to 1-0. Fabi will just torture him endlessly,playing for two results.

Duda-Nakamura: I'd back Duda. The Bishop is such a miserable piece, this has to be betterish for Duda.

I quite like what Ding's doing today. I don't envy Firouzja one bit.

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Caruana has White against Nepomniachtchi in Round 9.  Looks like that could be the crucial game of the tournament.

Not that it particularly matters which of those two wins if Carlsen's serious about not playing the winner: they're so far ahead of the pack (Nakamura is in clear third place on 50%, 1.5 points behind Caruana and 2 points behind Nepo) that the odds must be that whichever of them doesn't win the tournament will finish second. 

Though given how their respective matches went, you'd think that Carlsen would be a lot more willing to play Nepo at this point than Caruana, wouldn't you?

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The clash is probably a bit too early to be fun (assuming the gap will still be just 0.5 points then).

In that case Caruana won't go all in there guns blazing. With five more rounds to go it's too early for him to do anything crazy and potentially throw the tournament away. Nepo would be happy to retain his lead. So I wouldn't get my hopes up for a chess brawl between them.

If they were paired in the 12th round, then I could see Fabiano feeling the urge to say all-in or nothing.

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47 minutes ago, Plessiez said:

Though given how their respective matches went, you'd think that Carlsen would be a lot more willing to play Nepo at this point than Caruana, wouldn't you?

Yep, you would think if he can get such another easy payday again he will postpone his huff. 

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Caruana looks bust against Nakamura.

Nepo has already drawn his game against Ding.

So next round's Caruana - Nepo game might turn out more eventful than I thought yesterday. Trailing by a whole point is entirely different to just being behind by half a point. So Fabiano might really be forced to play looser than he'd like to.

In the meaningless games. Firouzja looks to be collecting his first win against Radja. 

And Rapport on his way back to 50% against Duda.

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It's amazing how much of a fight Caruana puts up, I'd have been devestated to put in all that work and *almost* save my position only to see it slip again. 

This does indeed mean tomorrow takes on renewed importance. Nepo will want a quick draw, Caruana quite possibly needs to win. Will be fun. 

I hope.

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