English Chess Forum

I am duly amazed

Carlsen - Anand Pfft! 56 Qe2?? My cat could have done better than that. At least it shows Carlsen is human. I was beginning to have my doubts

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:42 am

56 Qe2?? My cat could have done better than that.

What would your cat have played instead, and why?

Some indications for cats and humans in the chess.com report

I was quite impressed with Anand's defensive play. Unlike Kramnik, maybe he will not retire any time soon but will carry on at a high level for a while yet. Has Anand given any indications whether he is contemplating retirement, or winding things down on the competitive side?

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:41 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:05 pm

It has been a while since I looked up a tablebase position online - has that become more difficult now?

There's an App for Android phones. It's called Lomonosov Tablebases and has the 7 man positions.

Thanks, Roger. Do you know of anything for desktops? My phone is Android but rather old and slow. Not sure if it will be able to access that.

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:18 pm

What would your cat have played instead, and why?

My cat - she calls herself MoJo by the way - is not entirely sure she's ready to reveal all she knows, not on a public forum anyway.

But she did indicate when prompted that she'd have taken a more feline approach, purrhaps playing 56 Kg2 and awaiting developments. After all, 56 Qe2 is the kind of move she'd play if dodging behind the sofa. After a little further thought, requiring some patience on my part, she eventually conceded that 52 Kg1 and the following repositioning of the B was "quite good - for a human". But I was left with the impression that she's not especially awed by humans - or chess players; that she has it all in hand, frankly

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:44 pm

Some indications for cats and humans in the chess.com report

I think you would have to be smarter than the average cat to work out all of those lines.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2019 1:44 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:41 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:05 pm

It has been a while since I looked up a tablebase position online - has that become more difficult now?

There's an App for Android phones. It's called Lomonosov Tablebases and has the 7 man positions.

Thanks, Roger. Do you know of anything for desktops? My phone is Android but rather old and slow. Not sure if it will be able to access that.

https://syzygy-tables.info/

Nimzowitsch getting a right pasting from Aronian and Vallejo Pons.

IM Keymer, V. (0) 2516 1 - 0 GM Meier, Georg (1) 2628

I've only just seen the scoreline, that must be a huge relief to him. Looks like a real struggle from all the red on Chessbomb, but somebody tell me why people are playing this 5...b5 stuff.

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:28 pm

Nimzowitsch getting a right pasting from Aronian and Vallejo Pons.

By coincidence, either the same day as these comments, or the day before, i followed a link on another site that took me to Spraggett's old website to look at book reviews and the page i started on was an explanation by him as to why he didnt rate Nimzowitsch and said russians generally didnt either. I had never realised he was not highly thought of.

You can also find Jan Gustafsson laying into him here and there, if I recall.

Keymer draws with Aronian.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:08 pm

Keymer draws with Aronian.

And since Meier lost to Carlsen (now clear first again) he is no longer last.