Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

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NickFaulks
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:55 pm

Is White winning in Nepo - Naka? I can't work it out, but my phone says it's drawn without the f-pawns. I haven't asked the toaster.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Chris Rice » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:26 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:55 pm
Is White winning in Nepo - Naka? I can't work it out, but my phone says it's drawn without the f-pawns. I haven't asked the toaster.
Totally stunned by 57...b4. Wonder what Nakamura was thinking as it looks like a beginners error.

After 5 rounds:
1= Caruana, Ding, Anand 3/5
4= Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave, So, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov, Karjakin 2½
10= Giri, Aronian, Nakamura 2

Rest day tomorrow. Then Round 6:

Nepomniachtc. (2½) 2774 - Ding (3) 2805
Nakamura (2) 2743 - Carlsen (2½) 2882
Karjakin (2½) 2750 - Aronian (2) 2765
Mamedyarov (2½) 2764 - So (2½) 2776
Caruana (3) 2818 - Vachier-Lagr. (2½) 2778
Anand (3) 2756 - Giri (2) 2779

Mmm later Nakamura doing a decent job in the post-mortem with Nepo of showing why ...b4 shouldn't have lost.

Paul Cooksey
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Paul Cooksey » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:52 pm

you are a hard man Chris! Of course there is always a moment when the loser makes a critical error, but I thought Nepo's pressing in that bishop ending was worthy of Magnus on top form.

Chris Rice
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Chris Rice » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:56 pm

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:52 pm
you are a hard man Chris! Of course there is always a moment when the loser makes a critical error, but I thought Nepo's pressing in that bishop ending was worthy of Magnus on top form.
Definitely great grinding from Nepo. He's just explaining in an interview now how it was all achieved by a succession of cheapos.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by JustinHorton » Thu Aug 22, 2019 7:46 am

I was intrigued to see that Chessbomb red-marks 68 Kb5 and that it recommends 68 Bxb4 Bc1 69 Kd5 Bb2 rather than the 69...Bxf4 you'd expect. Another bout of wishing I'd looked more closely at those openings books as a kid ensued.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Chris Rice » Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:34 am

Such an interesting ending in Nepo-Nakamura I thought I'd give the whole game. Nepo said later he thought Naka played 57...b4 because he thought White was going to get in anyway with Kd4-c5. However, GM Mihail Marin said on FB "Naka’s ...b4 is difficult to understand, it should be in your blood that you can’t play it":
1-0

But it's not the first time this ending has come up. Here's a couple of famous examples:



Mick Norris
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Mick Norris » Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:44 am

Chess.com reports rounds 1 2 3 4 and 5
Last edited by Mick Norris on Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:40 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Paul Cooksey
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Paul Cooksey » Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:46 pm

I don't think 100 Endgames You Must Know can have been on Justin's childhood reading list. But at this point anyone who does not know the blunders made by both players in Capablanca - Janowski should hang their head in shame!

I think one of the things that made the Nepo-Naka ending fascinating was close to the tablebases but not in them. It is not often you get to laugh at Stockfish, but it was saying 60... fe4 was a significant improvement over 60 ... Ba3. Actually fe4 gets to a tablebase loss :-)

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JustinHorton
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:41 pm

Unusual material imbalance in Caruana v Vachier-Lagrave where Black has three pawns for two exchanges.
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LawrenceCooper
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by LawrenceCooper » Fri Aug 23, 2019 9:41 pm

Fully refreshed from the rest day there's been four draws so far.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:19 pm

When was the last tournament when Carlsen failed to win a game?

(hasn't happened yet I know, but we are over halfway through now)
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JustinHorton
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:59 pm

There was his match against Caruana
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Ian Thompson
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Ian Thompson » Fri Aug 23, 2019 11:01 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:41 pm
Unusual material imbalance in Caruana v Vachier-Lagrave where Black has three pawns for two exchanges.
... followed by some silliness. They could reasonably have agreed a draw round about move 40 and certainly by move 46.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Aug 23, 2019 11:24 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Aug 23, 2019 10:59 pm
There was his match against Caruana
If you only count classical games, and not a tournament. But nice try :)

Having done a bit of digging, we might have to go back to his initial appearance in the top Corus group in 2007.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Grand Chess Tour - Sinquefield Cup 2019

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:12 am

A clean sweep of non-decisive results again, Anand messing up another "won" game in the process.

One thing can definitely be said - the supposed "anti-draw" measures at this event have been an unequivocal failure.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)