5th Sinquefield Cup 2-12 August 2017

[LawrenceCooper]

33 .. Nxf3 from Aronian is worth a look, he's on the way again hopefully...

40...Rxf3 wasn't so great though. I can understand in some ways why Aronian played this instead of 40...Bg2+, but it feels like he bottled out of the logical conclusion to the combination he started with 33...Nxf3.

A comfortable enough win all the same to move him to 1st= with Anand & MVL.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

A comfortable enough win all the same to move him to 1st= with Anand & MVL.

Aronian now number 2 in the live ratings.

[JustinHorton]

The last round pairings include Carlsen-Aronian. The other two leaders meet this evening, so Carlsen, who is Black against Nepo, still seems to me to have every chance.

[Paul Cooksey]

I've been enjoying Aronian's good form in recent tournaments. He plays how I wish I could myself, if only I had the talent.

I suspect he was been working really hard. There must be dozens, if not hundreds, of wacky opening ideas rejected to find the few that are dangerous.

It seemed a few times in interviews his pride was a bit hurt when he was being treated as "only" a super-GM and not a potential challenger. Perhaps a motivation, or perhaps other reasons for his good form.

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 8 and 9 pairings:

White Evaluation Black
GM Anand, V. (4½) 2783— — GM Vachier-Lagr. (4½) 2789
GM Aronian, L. (4½) 2799— — GM Svidler, P. (3) 2751
GM Nepomniachtc. (2½) 2751— — GM Carlsen, M. (4) 2822
GM Caruana, F. (3½) 2807— — GM Nakamura, H. (2½) 2792
GM Karjakin, S. (3½) 2773— — GM So, Wesley (2½) 2810

White Evaluation Black
GM Carlsen, M. (4) 2822— — GM Aronian, L. (4½) 2799
GM So, Wesley (2½) 2810— — GM Anand, V. (4½) 2783
GM Svidler, P. (3) 2751— — GM Caruana, F. (3½) 2807
GM Vachier-Lagr. (4½) 2789— — GM Nepomniachtc. (2½) 2751
GM Nakamura, H. (2½) 2792— — GM Karjakin, S. (3½) 2773

[LawrenceCooper]

http://grandchesstour.org/blog/sinquefi ... ap-round-7

[Chris Rice]

Peter Doggers report on Round 7 with some good quotes:

Jennifer Shahade "the five players who wear glasses are at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of the five without glasses. Also, all players from the USA and Russia are below the four players who are not from these two countries."

Wesley So " "I was trying to think it's just the beginning of the tournament, like it's the first round, trying to prevent the tournament from snowballing into losses. The past few days have been very tough for me and very stressful, with losses taking its toll."

Against So, Caruana also didn't want to press for more. "I thought a little bit about my strategy yesterday. I'm behind the leaders by a bit, and there's a still chances to make up some ground. I thought that this is not the time. Even though he had a rough last two games, this is not the time to go all-out."

Caruana again " "I do want to keep my rating high to qualify for the Candidates'. This is an important goal. At the moment I have a pretty decent lead on both of them. So this is also a reason why I thought he might try to make up some ground today...It didn't seem like he has many ambitions to win."

Karjakin tweet "I have checked my notes. I knew everything till 38...Ne4. But had to spend about 2 hours to remember !"

On Anand's win against a collapsing Nepomniachtchi, Jonathan Tisdall "All the furious people who scream at Anand to retire whenever he makes a mistake, please file today away for future reference."

Peter Svidler "This is an extremely strong field and I'm not drowning but once you start getting ecstatic about being on minus one in any tournament, even this strong a tournament, something has gone wrong I think".

Carlsen: "Clearly I missed the amount of chances I usually miss for a year in this tournament, which to some extent is a good thing because it means that I've been getting chances almost every game. Today wasn't one of them. There wasn't much either of us could do. I'll just have to keep fighting. Two rounds left... I'm not the favorite by any means but it's still possible to play a good tournament."

Finally Seirawan: “How does it feel being no. 2 in the world?” Aronian: “I think being no. 1 would feel better!"

[NickFaulks]

Karjakin tweet "I have checked my notes. I knew everything till 38...Ne4. But had to spend about 2 hours to remember !"

Is he serious?

[Chris Rice]

Karjakin tweet "I have checked my notes. I knew everything till 38...Ne4. But had to spend about 2 hours to remember !"

Is he serious?

Looks like it was a bit tongue in cheek though clearly he had prepared a lot of it but just couldn't remember everything.

"One of the most exciting games of the round was actually one of the draws, between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sergey Karjakin. The players went straight into a deep Berlin Endgame, and the experts expected a quick draw there. They predicted the right result, but not all the adventures the players went through. One of those experts was in fact Caruana. He discussed MVL-Karjakin with Maurice Ashley and dazed some of the excitement—which originated from some beautiful, study-like variations that the computer produced—by stating that it must be all preparation.

Caruana: "If they both remembered their analysis, the game would've already be over with a draw. The problem is that it is so long and so complicated that you just can't remember. And then you get an exciting game. I don't know what the result will be, so I think that is the definition of suspense. Objectively the position is for sure a draw. I think we've all analyzed it, like every player in the tournament has analyzed this line and concluded that it is a draw. But it's very complicated and very difficult so over the board anything can happen."

After the game Karjakin confirmed all this: "I was very good prepared but at home, I mean theoretically. But for today's game of course I didn't remember anything and even though I have repeated this line one hour before the game this didn't really help me." However, his reputation as Minister of Defense did help Karjakin. Although he was out of book after 28.f4 a4, he found all the critical moves over the board.

Vachier-Lagrave, who had prepared the line not an hour but 20 minutes before the game, said: "I didn't expect Sergey looking at this for a long time because this line has virtually not been played in recent years. It's a bit tricky. At some point he has to find only moves. It took almost all of his time to find these moves. (...) I expected Sergey to be prepared but not to remember everything. It seemed like a tricky enough try."

[LawrenceCooper]

Karjakin tweet "I have checked my notes. I knew everything till 38...Ne4. But had to spend about 2 hours to remember !"

Is he serious?

No reason to doubt him, it's reassuring to know that it's not just us mere mortals who struggle to remember.

[Roger de Coverly]

Karjakin tweet "I have checked my notes. I knew everything till 38...Ne4. But had to spend about 2 hours to remember !"

[SetUp "1"]<br> [FEN "5K2/1ppk4/2p1pB2/6P1/8/2n5/2P5/8 b - - 0 38"]

and draws. I'd imagine you have to be aware of the idea from some moves previously, otherwise it just looks as if the g pawn will queen.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 h5 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14. Rfe1 Bb4 15. g4 hxg4 16. hxg4 Ne7 17. Nxe6 Rxe6 18. Kg2 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Rh1 Nd5 22. Bg3 Rh6 23. Rxh6 gxh6 24. Kh3 Nxc3 25. Kh4 Nxa2 26. Kh5 Nc3 27. Kxh6 a5 28. f4 a4 29. f5 Ke8 30. g5 a3 31. e6 a2 32. Kg7 fxe6 33. f6 a1=Q 34. f7+ Kd7 35. Be5 Qa5 36. Bf6 Qc5 37. f8=Q Qxf8+ 38. Kxf8 Ne4 39. Kf7 Nxg5+ 40. Bxg5 Kd6 41. Kf6 e5 42. Kf5 Kd5 43. Bd8 Kd4 44. Bxc7 Kc3 45. Kxe5 Kxc2

[NickFaulks]

No reason to doubt him, it's reassuring to know that it's not just us mere mortals who struggle to remember.

For me, the remarkable thing is that they would even try. This mere mortal was recently unable to remember his supposed repertoire on move two!

[David Sedgwick]

No reason to doubt him, it's reassuring to know that it's not just us mere mortals who struggle to remember.

For me, the remarkable thing is that they would even try. This mere mortal was recently unable to remember his supposed repertoire on move two!

You were perfectly capable of taking full advantage when I couldn't remember my supposed repertoire on move four.

For the present, that remains the more important skill. When that ceases to be the case, it may be time to adopt Chess960 as the standard form of the game.

[Roger de Coverly]

When that ceases to be the case, it may be time to adopt Chess960 as the standard form of the game.

The problem with Chess960 is that there may be well be positions that are almost lost either on move 1, or with plausible opening ideas. That would benefit those willing and able to memorise all 960 start positions, or at the very least, the early tricks to look out for.

[NickFaulks]

The problem with Chess960 is that there may be well be positions that are almost lost either on move 1, or with plausible opening ideas.

You have said that a number of times, but have never produced one. Until you do I shall doubt their existence.