Tromso World Cup 2013

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John Swain
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by John Swain » Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:52 pm

Matthew Turner wrote:I am beginning to think replacing Polgar and Trent wasn't the best idea :D I really enjoyed their commentary, but I am not so keen on the pairing of Nigel and I am not sure who the other commentator is.
Agreed. I thought that the Susan Polgar-Lawrence Trent partnership worked really well, with concrete analysis coming from both, as well as anecdotes. The present partnership perhaps needs time to develop. Nigel Short seems a bit jet-lagged and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam seems reluctant to deploy any analytical insights - is he a strong player?

Simon Spivack
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Simon Spivack » Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:17 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:I followed this on Chessbomb. Is there some way of turning off the comments, which somehow are very hard to avoid?
It's quite simple. Go to a website that imbeds the chessbomb widget, e.g. http://susanpolgar.blogspot.co.uk/ . Just resize the browser to hide the other frames.

benedgell
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by benedgell » Sat Aug 24, 2013 5:46 pm

Kamsky's out :(

Nigel Short
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Nigel Short » Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:59 pm

I am disappointed that there hasn't been any criticism of my commentary for a few days. Standards are falling on the EC Forum...

Ian Thompson
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Ian Thompson » Mon Aug 26, 2013 5:28 pm

Nigel Short wrote:I am disappointed that there hasn't been any criticism of my commentary for a few days. Standards are falling on the EC Forum...
Maybe that's because no-one's been listening to it :)

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Aug 26, 2013 5:32 pm

Maybe everyone was watching the cricket? I've found it difficult to keep an interest in following the World Cup matches for some reason. Maybe because there are less games now we are reaching the business end of the tournament? When is the final scheduled to be played?

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Mon Aug 26, 2013 5:43 pm

Goodness. Svidler and Caruana are out. Is Kramnik the red-hot favourite now, or can one of Tomashevsky, Vachier-Lagrave or Andreikin manage to win the event?

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Mon Aug 26, 2013 6:00 pm

... and presumably one of Andreikin and Tomashevsky will play in the next Candidates.

Goodness 8) Who can say a little bit more about them, other than that Andreikin is Russian Champion and that they both seem to be twenty something 2700+ Russians with very good nerves?

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Rob Thompson
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Rob Thompson » Mon Aug 26, 2013 6:17 pm

Tomashevsky is a former European champion, for what it's worth.
True glory lies in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read.

Simon Ansell
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Simon Ansell » Mon Aug 26, 2013 7:22 pm

I played Tomashevsky a few years ago in the Euro Club Cup, he just outplayed me positionally and I never had any real chances. Preparing for the game, he seemed to be the most solid/boring player I'd ever come across, virtually no losses with White - sort of like a turbo-charged Keith Arkell :D He seems to have sharpened up a bit recently and has clearly become a lot stronger in the last couple of years. Nice guy, too.

About today's games - what are we supposed to expect when the players don't even get a single rest day in this ridiculously tough schedule?! Having said that, I really enjoy watching the knockout format and there's been some great drama.

John Swain
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by John Swain » Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:48 pm

Nigel Short wrote:I am disappointed that there hasn't been any criticism of my commentary for a few days. Standards are falling on the EC Forum...
If there's one thing worse than being criticised, it's not being criticised .... :wink:

I enjoyed the commentary I saw over the weekend, but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see any of it today. Nigel seemed to be back to his usual animated self and Dirk, with his background in chess journalism as co-editor of New in Chess, provided some interesting insights from the world of top level chess.

Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent seemed to 'spark' off each other - they had a good rapport and would develop and constructively criticise each other's analysis. They also had a wider selection of games from which to choose.

Nigel's job is much harder - he seems to have to do all the concrete analysis without too much back-up, except when joined by the players after the game.

Matthew Turner
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Matthew Turner » Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:22 pm

I've watched some of Lawrence Trent's commentary at the Classic and I've always felt that he was a perfectly good commentator, but it seems to me that he has really really excelled at the World Cup. There seems to be an amazing attention to detail. Notice how often Susan and Lawarence asked the players about sports and working out. Notice too how often they spoke about players pursuing their academic career alongside their chess. I am sure that is due to Tromso building a sports centre for the Olympiad and the University of Tromso being the (lead?) sponsor of the World Cup. Being able to engage with so many differents elements as a commentator is really difficult and I just thought Lawrence and Susan did an amazing job.
It is also true that it is more difficult for Nigel and Dirk with fewer games and it may be that for the Final games the organisers want a really strong players as a commentator and I guess that means that Nigel is one of the best, if not the best available. With the benefit of hindsight I would have stuck with Susan and Lawrence (if that were an option). However, I think either Susan and Nigel or Lawrence and Nigel would have would better than Nigel and Dirk.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:23 am

Is 'Dirk' of ''New in Chess'' referring to Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam? I've read some of the collections of his interviews with top chess players and others, and they are excellent. Maybe the dynamic for a live broadcast is different? It was interesting to read in the latest Chessbase article on the World Championship match coming up in Chennai about who might be commentating. The names mentioned there were Susan Polgar and Danny King. It makes me wonder how much chess commentating jobs have expanded over the years. I remember Danny King (and others) on Channel 4 when Nigel was playing Garry Kasparov. And I remember various GMs commentating at the World Championship in 2000 between Kasparov and Kramnik. I have at times wondered just how much the going rate is (or has been) at the very top for these commentating gigs...
Last edited by Christopher Kreuzer on Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:32 am

And in the actual chess... you have to love the droll humour of the Chessbase report:

"No Javascript board for the games today. Get out a chessboard and pieces, or play them in your head."

(Draws in 14 and 16 moves).

John McKenna

Re: Tromso World Cup 2013

Post by John McKenna » Tue Aug 27, 2013 1:10 am

Remaining schedule (Tromso time: BST+1hr?) -

27 Aug Tue. (15:00) Semi-Final Round 6 - Game 2
Wednesday (15:00) Tiebreaks

29 Aug. Thursday - Free Day

Friday (15:00) Final Round 7 - Game 1
Saturday (15:00) Round 7 - Game 2
1 Sep. Sun. (15:00) Round 7 - Game 3
Monday (15:00) Round 7 - Game 4
Tuesday (12:00) Tiebreaks
(19:00) Closing Ceremony