Tal Memorial Wed 12th Jun 2013 - Mon 24th Jun 2013

[Colin S Crouch]

I have to admit that I had missed that Carlsen's four recent losses were all with White. Well spotted to Jonathan Rogers!

"I was trying to create a little imbalance" (Carlsen) looks like it could be a really dangerous attitude in a World Championship match. Anand is a supremely experienced player to encounter such an approach.

Another statistical anomaly. Caruana, in his first four games, won twice as Black, and lost twice as White! Someone else, at an extremely high level, who needs to think about the White pieces?

Nakamure ahead at the moment, losing in his first round, then three wins.

[LawrenceCooper]

Nakamure ahead at the moment, losing in his first round, then three wins.

All the more remarkable given he was a pawn down against Kramnik in round 2.

[Matt Mackenzie]

A pawn down and positionally pretty much lost to boot.

Whatever else you say about Carlsen at the moment, hard to see him chucking away a position like VK got there!

[Colin S Crouch]

After responding to Jonathan's comments, and Carlsen's four recent losses, I have been looking at Carlsen's losses from the London Classic. 2010 to the beginning of the London Classic 2012. Naturally, the wins considerably outnumber the losses. Once he got some really bad losses out of the system, he was looking exceptionally difficult to beat. Now though he is looking far more fallible.

He lost three times as White in this period, and five as Black.

Of the three losses with White:
Carlsen - Giri, Wijk aan Zee 2011 - got absolutely thumped when his opening preparation went badly wrong.
Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi, Wijk aan Zee 2011 - refused a repetition in the opening, wanted to play for a win, and again lost drastically.
Carlsen - Karjakin, Wijk aan Zee 2012 - another thumping loss.

Of the five losses as Black, they are generally through over-pressing, and with tactical errors involved.

I leave it to you all to decide whether this falls in the same general pattern as in his very recent lean spell spell.

[Mick Norris]

If so, the fact that three of those four defeats were rook endings he might have held is also worth a thought.

Well aside form the quip I've read about him saving his endgame prep for the WC match, he clearly needs to concentrate his WC preparation on reading the S&B blog

I agree. Shocking lack of professionalism on Magnus' not to have got around to this yet.

He seems to have decided a different type of preparation will suffice
http://saintlouischessclub.org/news/201 ... efield-cup

[Jonathan Rogers]

I've been rereading Kasparov on Fischer (anything to postpone renewing ECF membership ). GK suggests that Fischer may have sensed that he was not ready for the world championship in the 1960s; thus the various withdrawals which maintained his fearsome reputation until the time came when he had convinced himself that he was ready. And it seems to me that the strengths and weaknesses of Carlsen are not so very unlike the 1960s Fischer: you have the versatility (in both repertoire and playing style), the will to win, iron technique, intimidation by mere presence and the strong sense of independence; but you also have a lack of lines that have been studied in very serious depth (so there is no auto pilot if you are off form or tired) and an exaggerated self-confidence that can seriously affect the assessment of one's own positions.

I have noticed Carlsen's lack of objectivity before. Going back to his bad patch in 2010, as Colin does above, do we remember his North Sea Opening v Adams at the Olympiad? He suffered in a passive though presumably quite playable position, lashed out and lost. That was bad enough but what struck me was an interview he gave afterwards where he even suggested he was a bit better out of the opening! Now, he is better than me, is MC , but that particular claim was still nonsense. To be sure one may need a bit of optimism during the game but surely afterwards you have to be able to review it objectively (even 1960s Fischer did that, else 60 Memorable Games would not have been such a hit).

So I am starting to question what the result will be in Chennai altogether. Had Carlsen worked more seriously a few years ago, perhaps but not necessarily with Kasparov, then I should think he would be ready to assume the mantle now. But with all his distractions he actually seems closer to 1960s Fischer than the polished 29 year old Fischer right now.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I've decided not to delete that post in reaction to Anand losing to MC in about two hours today.

Close call though

[LawrenceCooper]

I've decided not to delete that post in reaction to Anand losing to MC in about two hours today.

Close call though

In light of his blunder on move 21 Anand will now have to completely re-think his approach to chess

[Roger de Coverly]

In light of his blunder on move 21 Anand will now have to completely re-think his approach to chess

Carlsen did seem to make it look very easy, much like an old Capablanca or even Fischer game. You could probably even fit some old Chernev "Logical Chess Move by Move" annotations to it. Engines, naturally, point out improvements for Black, the move 21 suggestion being to play b5. But the regroup with Bc8 might be inaccurate as well.

[William Metcalfe]

Does anybody have a link so i can watch the live games please

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Does anybody have a link so i can watch the live games please

The official Russian site is here:

http://www.russiachess.org/championship ... ial_talya/

This link should work for the round 5 games:

http://online.russiachess.org/#2013/06/ ... 0Alexander

Chessdom link here:

http://www.chessdom.com/tal-memorial-2013-live/

[Roger de Coverly]

Does anybody have a link so i can watch the live games please

Mark Crowther's site at http://www.theweekinchess.com/ has the games in play through format. Last year the official site had commentary ,video coverage and game coverage in both Russian and English. It seems to be Russian only this time. http://online.russiachess.org/

The Carlsen game

http://online.russiachess.org/#2013/06/ ... iswanathan

That also gives you the live video and commentary.

[Mick Norris]

If so, the fact that three of those four defeats were rook endings he might have held is also worth a thought.

Well aside form the quip I've read about him saving his endgame prep for the WC match, he clearly needs to concentrate his WC preparation on reading the S&B blog

I agree. Shocking lack of professionalism on Magnus' not to have got around to this yet.

In case anyone thinks I don't rate Magnus' endgame play, have a look at the analysis here, I have great admiration for how he and Kramnik play so well at blitz speed
http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2013/ ... 58406.html

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nakamura won today, against Anand. He is now also threatening to reach 2800, while Kramnik and Anand are heading in the other direction. Radjabov failed (spectacularly) to reach 2800 after getting close. The thread about those who reached 2800 and when is here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4720

[Matt Mackenzie]

Four players representing Russia - and after six rounds not a single win for any of them. Astonishing.