English Chess Forum

Report on the opening ceremony here:

http://www.chessdom.com/london-grand-pr ... -ceremony/

Hopefully there are some better pictures around than those!

Saw a "Mastermind-style" chess set-up pictured in the freebie magazine 'Sport' this morning.

Here it is online:

http://www.sport-magazine.co.uk/274/knight-riders-2260

I think that is a computer graphic... Anyone know what it really looks like?

The Russian version of chess-news.ru
http://chess-news.ru/

That's where the photo, posted earlier, of Kirsan and Mike Basman comes from.

How about here:
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/london-grand-prix-officially-opened

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Any postings on here represent my personal views and should not be taken as representative of the Manchester Chess Federation

The mock up of what Simpsons should look like is at chessvibes
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/fide- ... three-days

Far more conventional.

I'm not sure how the pictured arrangement would work for an event consisting of more than two players. There would seem to be a couple of other potential issues, one would be whether the players can see the screens above their heads. The other would be whether they can see the spectators.

Anyone know what is happening in Hao-Adams? Wang Hao has used very little time (move 20), so has presumably prepared this? Or is he bluffing after Adams chose an obscure side variation (14...Nxd5 according to what I read somewhere)?

That Nimzo-Indian line with Ba5, dxc5 and Bxc3 was an tabiya from the late 1960s when Larsen and others would play it. That's about all I ever knew about it or can remember. Looking at the position with the queens on h5 and h6, I would have though Adams is better because of White's weak pawns. But if it's a prepared variation by White, there may be hidden dangers.

Such as, er, an exchange of queens?

Unless we are missing important points White has to be accurate to retain equality in the ending they have reached, so I don't think the opening, early middle game really, has worked.

The ICC online computer rates Wang Hao v Adams as even, and says that the only player in all six games with a significant edge is Topalov.

It's very disappointing that the Grand Prix online viewer only has the games without accompanying computer analysis. Online computer assessments have been available in the Olympiad, Bundesliga, Tal Memorial, Tata Steel Wijk, that's most major events in Europe.

They are a big, big step forward in making online games good viewing and thus popularising chess yet I haven't seen a single UK event use them. I guess cost is a factor in many cases, but that isn't so here.

I did make this point before the tournament in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ju ... ew-paulson
and Roger raised it on this Forum.

Charitably one could blame it on to Simpson's or to BT, but I really think that with the available budget the problem should have been overcaome.

I just hope the London Classic and the Candidates will be more up to date.

Give Paulson the time to deliver... He has a very ambitious plans about broadcasting games on the Internet, but it takes some time to implement a new platform. I read somewhere that the new broadcasting features will not be available before the candidates tournament next Spring and that the first couple of grand prix event will use more traditional broadcasting methods.
I agree the website of the current event is not outstanding (even though the live video is not so common), but give Paulson time to deliver... he signed a multi-year plan, it would be unfair to complain about this first event organized in a hurry.

If you want computer commentary, chessbomb.com usually provides those for the main events.

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http://www.chessdom.com/london-grand-prix-2012-live/ is one option.

They've got working live cameras on each board and it's video coverage usually that stretches the capacity of the internet connection.

They've avoided the usual problem of having nothing work properly on the first day, but haven't yet shown that they can equal or surpass the standards of coverage established in Moscow or elsewhere.

The live video stream gives the head count of people watching.

This is the Adams game at the moment
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1504 ... nd1-Board5

It is like watching paint dry, isn't it? Maybe they should introduce changes to entertain the audience of, um, 200 people. Show 20-20 cricket between moves?

Wang Hao's in for a long evening. That ending might be holdable, but Adams is going to make him work for the draw if it is.

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Simpson's has a dedicated 100Mb pipe of which 20Mb of uncontended bandwidth has been ring-fenced for the event.

Each board has a streamed video feed.

I would suggest that bandwidth was not an issue.

It is refreshing to witness a chess event in England with such excellent technical resources and personnel at it's disposal: well done to Andrew Paulson and AGON.

I counted around 20 photographers at the start of round one most of which were using professional equipment with the odd camera 'phone throw in.

The playing room was superb as were the press and media facilities.

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