Norway 16-29 April 2016

[Chris Rice]

Carlsen won the blitz with 7.5/9 though intriguingly he lost to Giri in the last round. He may have been taking liberties castling queen side in a Ruy Lopez.

[Event "Altibox Norway Chess 2016-Blitz"] [Site "Stavanger"] [Date "2016.04.18"] [Round "9"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2790"] [BlackElo "2851"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [EventType "blitz"] [EventCountry "NOR"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 Be6 7. O-O Nd7 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. Ng5 Bxb3 10. axb3 Qe7 (10... f6 11. Nf3 Nc5 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Nc4 Ne6 14. Kh1 Qd7 15. Qg4 Rad8 $11 {1/2-1/2 (72) Nakamura,H (2787)-Kramnik,V (2801) Zuerich 2016}) 11. Bd2 (11. Kh1 f6 12. Nf3 Nc5 13. Nh4 Ne6 14. Qg4 O-O-O 15. f4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Qd7 $11 {1/2-1/2 (54) Sethuraman,S (2622)-Karthikeyan,P (2400) Kottayam 2014}) 11... O-O-O {Castling queenside is a bit careless - White can quickly drum up an attack.} 12. b4 Kb8 13. c4 Bd4 14. Nf3 Nf8 (14... Bxb2 15. Ra2 Bd4 16. Qa4 a6 17. Nxd4 exd4 18. b5 $40) 15. Qa4 (15. Nxd4 Rxd4 (15... exd4 16. b5 cxb5 17. cxb5 {followed by} -- 18. Qa4 $18) 16. Be3 $18) 15... a6 { A move Black would prefer not to make but how else to defend a7? [#]} 16. b5 cxb5 17. cxb5 Qd7 18. bxa6 Qxa4 19. Rxa4 Ne6 20. axb7 Nc5 21. Ra3 Bxb2 22. Ra2 Nxd3 (22... Bd4 23. Nxd4 exd4 24. Rb1 $18 {is not much fun for Black.} Nxb7 25. Rab2 $18) 23. Rb1 c5 (23... c5 24. Ne1 $18) 1-0

[JustinHorton]

Tsk, 4...Bc5 again, when will these super GMs learn.

[Mick Norris]

Carlsen, Magnus - Harikrishna, Pentala 1-0 41 E15 Queens Indian
Kramnik, Vladimir - Grandelius, Nils 1-0 39 A45 Trompowsky
Giri, Anish - Eljanov, Pavel 1-0 36 C50 Giuoco Piano
Aronian, Levon - Topalov, Veselin ½-½ 46 A29 English Four Knights
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Li, Chao b ½-½ 37 C42 Petroff's Defence

TWIC report

Round 2 Pairings 3pm BST Wed 20th April 2016: Grandelius-Aronian, Li Chao-Kramnik, Giri-Vachier-Lagrave, Topalov-Carlsen, Eljanov-Harikrishna.

[Roger de Coverly]

Kramnik, Vladimir - Grandelius, Nils 1-0 39 A45 Trompowsky

Rather 2. Bf4 in a London system. Amongst other top GMs, Kramnik has taken to using opening ideas previously only seen in amateur tournaments. Here's how to turn a London into a Stonewall.

To be fair to the chess.com classification, it's also a position that can be reached with a tempo loss by Black from the Tromp in lines with .. Ne4 followed by a retreat back to f6.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. c3 c5 5. Nd2 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. f4 cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O

There's a game last year in the 4NCL division 3 between Ben Edgell and Mark Page in the Tromp move order where Ben "waited" with a3, before following the same plan as Kramnik.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Giri, Anish - Eljanov, Pavel 1-0 36 C50 Giuoco Piano

He has evidently, ahem, drawn a line under his recent run then

[Mick Norris]

yep, Giri's draw streak finishes at 20 classical games - maybe he'll win the tournament now, though the way he has started suggests Magnus likely to win

[LawrenceCooper]

There's a game last year in the 4NCL division 3 between Ben Edgell and Mark Page in the Tromp move order where Ben "waited" with a3, before following the same plan as Kramnik.

It's nice to hear that my game inputting is benefiting the world's elite

[benedgell]

There's a game last year in the 4NCL division 3 between Ben Edgell and Mark Page in the Tromp move order where Ben "waited" with a3, before following the same plan as Kramnik.

It's nice to hear that my game inputting is benefiting the world's elite

I can't even remember that game.... how did I do?

[Roger de Coverly]

I can't even remember that game.... how did I do?

Win in 49 moves (round 5 in 2014-15)

[Barry Sandercock]

Magnus drew a very steady game with the black pieces against Topalov.

[Mick Norris]

Thanks Barry, keep forgetting it is on - Magnus discussing with Svidler now

[Simon Brown]

Giri about to complete the full set of possible outcomes in his last three games. Looks like a horrible game.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Well, a win a draw and a loss is worth the same (in the usual scoring system) as three draws

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Interesting piece sacrifice by Carlsen against Grandelius today.
Not sure if it is brilliant or just being too optimistic?
Engines say it is level at 12...Na5, but...

[Barry Sandercock]

Very interesting game. Magnus seems to be winning (move 15 )