Candidates Tournament 2013

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Richard Bates
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Richard Bates » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:04 pm

Apologies to Clive - obviously a better judge of a drawn position than me! Should curb my over-optimism in slightly unbalanced positions.

David Blower
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by David Blower » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:06 pm

To be fair I won't. I can also say that I have never lost a game on time. :mrgreen:

However it is a valid point I am making. The players do know the time controls and I do consider 2 hours to make 40 moves enough time.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:15 pm

David Blower wrote: The players do know the time controls and I do consider 2 hours to make 40 moves enough time.
There are players, perhaps fewer than there used to be, who will use all of whatever time limits they have available. Even in the days when major tournaments were 40 moves in two and a half hours, you had people who would still be at move 25 with 5 minutes remaining. If you aren't the player in time pressure, it can still be distracting with the atmosphere of panic created round the board.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:19 pm

JustinHorton wrote: From when, do you think? Swapping queens didn't look like a brilliant idea.
When asked in the press conference, Gelfand said that he had miscalculated one of the lines in the ending.

The commentators had got a hint from a chess engine that Qc6 instead of the exchange of queens was a continuation. This was put to Magnus by Lawrence and Malcolm who agreed that the game would continue.

Richard Bates
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Richard Bates » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:26 pm

David Blower wrote:To be fair I won't. I can also say that I have never lost a game on time. :mrgreen:

However it is a valid point I am making. The players do know the time controls and I do consider 2 hours to make 40 moves enough time.
Enough time for what, though?

Karpov once lost on time in a World Championship match with several moves still to make(when he had 2 and a half hours for the 40 moves!) and he had a reputation for being a good practical player who tried to move quickly to combat the dangers inherent in time trouble. Of course against every player except one he could afford to make the compromises involved...

David Blower
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by David Blower » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:32 pm

Well unless you have unlimited time for matches, you will always have a risk of a player losing on time. There will always have to be some sort of time limit.

MikeTasker
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by MikeTasker » Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:34 pm

Gelfand struggling earlier today.
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PeterTurland
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by PeterTurland » Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:56 pm

Ahem, Magnus Carlsen is the chess players Pope.

David Blower
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by David Blower » Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:08 pm

PeterTurland wrote:Ahem, Magnus Carlsen is the chess players Pope.
But not the world champion.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:35 am

The 14 games are in batches of three, apart from the last two games, so the point after each mini-set of three games will probably be a good point to take stock and discuss things during the rest days (will the entire tournament be discussed in this one thread?). The halfway point after round 7 (next Saturday)is another obvious point to assess things.

Aronian is on 2.5/3, Carlsen and Svidler on 2/3, Kramnik, Grischuk and Radjabov on 1.5/3, while Gelfand and Ivanchuk trail behind with 0.5/3. Who do you think would be most encouraged by the standings after these three rounds? Would the scores be what you would have expected, even if it is very early days yet?

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:46 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Would the scores be what you would have expected, even if it is very early days yet?
The story so far seems to be that Ivanchuk and Gelfand are the back markers that the rest will try to beat. Ivanchuk in particular now becomes a dangerous wild card in that he could win against anyone as he has no particular reason to avoid risk taking play.

Kramnik has had two Blacks, so a slow start is understandable. With not a lot to choose between players in terms of preparation and ability, perhaps clock handling will be a decisive factor?

It's nice to see openings such as the Torre ( Ivanchuk - Aronian) and the Cambridge Springs ( Gelfand - Carlsen) that are staples of amateur play ( OK for the Cambridge Springs it's usually junior play).

Chris Rice
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:00 am

I would agree with Roger's first paragraph and probably go a bit further. It's early days yet but if the first three rounds show anything its that Ivanchuk and Gelfand are not likely to win this tournament.

Ivanchuk's handling of the Tromp yesterday was exciting to watch 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nd2 c5 4. e3 b6 5. Ngf3 Bb7 6. c3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. h4!? presumably his intention was to threaten Bxh7+ and Aronian with 9...Nc6 basically said "c'mon on then son if you think you're hard enough" but Ivanchuk declined and then just burned his clock down even though at one point in his time trouble he almost turned the tables.

I don't know if it was the lighting but on the live streaming Gelfand looked like he was being tortured, continually moving around, clearly sweating and grabbing his head frantically while Magnus bore his usual expression of "this is all rather boring isn't it?".

Great job on the live commentary by Lawrence Trent and Malcolm Pein with help from Luke McShane. The after match interviews were also very interesting. Kramnik looked clearly upset he didn't manage to beat Grischuk. Kramnik was doing most of the talking while Grishuk was pretty quiet which kind of indicates Grischuk thought he was getting done. Svidler's obviously done a good deal of prep which he was pleased to show against Radjabov. Radjabov was insisting he had missed the sequence of his opening moves up but understandably he didn't explain where.

Mick Norris
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:34 am

Yes, the progress to finding the 7 losers has started, with 2 emerging already

Hopefully the winner won't be decided by a close challenger getting Ivanchuk on a good day
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Ray Sayers

Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Ray Sayers » Mon Mar 18, 2013 11:20 am

Gelfand looked pretty devastated in the press conference. I would go so far as to say he looked even more upset than Chucky.

It's really hard to beat Gelfand as Black; that is a good win for Carlsen.

Svidler's win was lovely. Very smooth, no fuss against a dangerous player.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Candidates Tournament 2013

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:07 pm

And now a Chigorin Defence from Ivanchuk. What next? A Haldane Hack?


Shame Magnus didn't play a Berlin Ending against Grischuk.