Zurich 2014

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Zurich 2014

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:45 pm

A preview here of Zurich 2014:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/zurich-201 ... hours-away

"The strongest tournament in chess history"

1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2872)
2 Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2825)
3 Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2789)
4 Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 2782)
5 Boris Gelfand ( Israel, 2777)
6 Vishy Anand (India, 2773)

First tournament for the new World Champion. Any predictions?

Barry Sandercock
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Barry Sandercock » Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:01 pm

Magnus will win.

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Carl Hibbard » Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:11 pm

I will go for Caruana as the heavyweights take each other out.
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Colin S Crouch
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Colin S Crouch » Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:21 pm

Another outstanding tournament.
I would expect a close battle between Aronian and Carlsen, with Aronian very much wanting to demonstrate that he is fully on level terms with the new World Champion.
Perhaps Caruana as third, but he needs to cut down his high proportion of losses.

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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:38 pm

Bit of a turn around for Anand. World Champion to tournament bunny in a couple of months.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:44 pm

The colours may play a big role here, as this is a single-round APA (no rest day), not a double-round, and hence only 5 rounds, not 10. As such, it can't really be compared with Zurich 1953 (which was 28 rounds). We may have to wait until the next major double-round APA. Norway Chess is larger, but still single-round. Which tournament is the next double-round APA between the world's top players?

EDIT: Surely the Candidates Tournament 2014 is the next big one?

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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:18 pm

TWIC says the format is

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5 rounds of Blitz to decide the draw, 5 rounds of Classical Chess and finally 5 rounds of Rapid Chess
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Colin S Crouch
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Colin S Crouch » Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:39 pm

And possibly even bigger bunny-drops from Gelfand and Nakamura? They both suffered big setbacks recently in the Netherlands. Nakamura might bounce back quickly, but Gelfand might well find it difficult to bounce back.
Depending on the luck of the draw, and only five rounds being played perhaps +2 with either Carlsen or Aronian, and +1 for the other and also Caruana.
Note that I am not automatically giving Carlsen as clear favourite.
Also, as an oldie, my inclination is very much on the slowplay. Nakamura might well go up the lists in the rapidplay.

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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by John McKenna » Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:47 am

Mick Norris wrote:TWIC says the format is

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5 rounds of Blitz to decide the draw, 5 rounds of Classical Chess and finally 5 rounds of Rapid Chess
Here's the blitz result - Colin (above) could be right that Boris may struggle to get going after Wijk.

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1 Carlsen, Magnus GM NOR 2879 # = 1 0 1 = 3 7.25

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2 Aronian, Levon GM ARM 2812 = # 0 = 1 1 3 6.75

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3 Nakamura, Hikaru GM USA 2789 0 1 # 1 = 0 2.5 6.75

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4 Caruana, Fabiano GM ITA 2782 1 = 0 # 0 1 2.5 6

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5 Anand, Viswanathan GM IND 2773 0 0 = 1 # 1 2.5 5.25

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6 Gelfand, Boris GM ISR 2777 = 0 1 0 0 # 1.5 4

AustinElliott
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by AustinElliott » Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:09 pm

Rather a shame that, having assembled such a super-strength line-up, they couldn't give us a double round-robin. Still only taking under a fortnight, even with a blitz day thrown in, and intrinsically much fairer as the white/black issue is avoided. Plus lots more games to see interesting chess...

Still, looking forward to seeing if Aronian can continue to trounce the opposition with his distinctly Carlsen-style play (few unnecessary risks in the middle game, remorseless conversion of small advantages in the ending) from Wijk.

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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Graham Borrowdale » Thu Jan 30, 2014 12:34 pm

It might be fairer to say that Carlsen has adopted some facets of Aronian's play.

I agree that a 5 round APA creates a potentially big imbalance on the colours, depending on the draw, which, say, an 11-round would avoid.

I think the event will technically be decided by the sum of classic and rapidplay, with the classic carrying double weighting. For my money the winner will be the best score over 5 rounds of classic chess, with the rapid being a bit of fun at the end.

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Simon Louchart
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Simon Louchart » Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:56 am

AustinElliott wrote:Rather a shame that, having assembled such a super-strength line-up, they couldn't give us a double round-robin.
To be compared to the legendary Zurich 1953, a double round-robin with 15 participants and 210 games !

What a game from Carlsen in round 1 by the way. This whole g4-idea was brilliant to get the initiative.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:40 pm

Talking of game broadcasting set-ups (prompted by the mention of ChessCasting in another thread), what do people think of the one used at the Zurich site compared to other sites and tournaments?

http://www.zurich-cc.com/games.html

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Carl Hibbard » Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:48 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Talking of game broadcasting set-ups (prompted by the mention of ChessCasting in another thread), what do people think of the one used at the Zurich site compared to other sites and tournaments?

http://www.zurich-cc.com/games.html
Hard work.

I really don't like the actual board and pieces but can almost forgive the rest of the interface.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Zurich 2014

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:09 pm

The verdict by the engine is cute:

"Houdini 3a Pro x64 | Depth: 21 with 300.680.433 positions [...] White is slightly better"