Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

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David Sedgwick
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Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by David Sedgwick » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:55 am

This is a holding post to start the thread. I should have substantive information in the morning.

Chris Rice
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:09 am

Chess.com report on Kasparov's return to the chess circuit albeit briefly. Looks like he is really looking forward to it. "Thank God this will only last five days!" Kasparov said, reiterating that his re-retirement begins anew after the tournament ends. "I have no plans to come back." Apparently his pre-tournament preparation involved watching the latest Games of Thrones episode.

Kasparov is back to play 27 rated games over the next 5 days. In the rapid he has Black against the four highest rated players and five Whites against the rest. The first round handshake may contain a bit of spice given Karjakin's relationship with Putin. We'll see:

Round 1 of rapid. Kick off 7pm BST:

1 GM Kasparov, G. (0) 2812 — GM Karjakin, S. (0) 2773
2 GM Anand, V. (0) 2783 — GM Nakamura, H. (0) 2792
3 GM Le, Quang L. (0) 2726 — GM Caruana, F. (0) 2807
4 GM Aronian, L. (0) 2809 — GM Navara, David (0) 2737
5 GM Nepomniachtc. (0) 2742 — GM Dominguez Pe. (0) 2739

David Sedgwick
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by David Sedgwick » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:47 pm

By coincidence Kasparov is White against Karjakin both in Round 1 of the Rapid today and in Round 1 of the Blitz on Thursday 17th August

The full pairings are attached.

Play starts each day until Friday 18th August at 1900 BST. If there is a playoff, it will be on Saturday 19th August at 1700 BST.

Live coverage will be at http://www.grandchesstour.org and at https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/1/1/1 (the end may change each day).

YouTube links:

Day 1 Rapid 1-3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3rsUIC3RU
Day 2 Rapid 4-6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8X2HkLoXuQ
Day 3 Rapid 7-9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmsfvkmq09s
Day 4 Blitz 1-9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVQiALqGggc
Day 5 Blitz 10-18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgJ74aL6fvM

Dailymotion link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ukycz (same each day)

Video of Opening Ceremony on Sunday 13th August: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRkggkCbKAw
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Last edited by David Sedgwick on Mon Aug 14, 2017 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Chris Rice
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Aug 14, 2017 1:43 pm

David Sedgwick wrote: Play starts each day until Friday 18th August at 1300 BST.
Wouldn't that be 7am in St Louis?

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:11 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
David Sedgwick wrote: Play starts each day until Friday 18th August at 1300 BST.
Wouldn't that be 7am in St Louis?
Chess24 is expecting the games to start at 19:00 UK time.

NickFaulks
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by NickFaulks » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:19 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
David Sedgwick wrote: Play starts each day until Friday 18th August at 1300 BST.
Wouldn't that be 7am in St Louis?
That's Birmingham Summer Time, the one in Alabama.
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David Sedgwick
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by David Sedgwick » Mon Aug 14, 2017 4:32 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:Play starts each day until Friday 18th August at 1300 BST.
Chris Rice wrote:Wouldn't that be 7am in St Louis?
NickFaulks wrote:That's Birmingham Summer Time, the one in Alabama.
LawrenceCooper wrote:Chess24 is expecting the games to start at 19:00 UK time.
Thank you everyone.

I did of course mean 1900 BST, or 1300 CDT (the local time in St Louis).

I have corrected my previous post.

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Carl Hibbard » Mon Aug 14, 2017 7:33 pm

Live feed from YouTube working well.
Cheers
Carl Hibbard

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:04 pm

1 GM Kasparov, G. (0) 2812 ½ - ½ GM Karjakin, S. (0) 2773
2 GM Anand, V. (0) 2783 0 - 1 GM Nakamura, H. (0) 2792
3 GM Le, Quang L. (0) 2726 1 - 0 GM Caruana, F. (0) 2807
4 GM Aronian, L. (0) 2809 1 - 0 GM Navara, David (0) 2737
5 GM Nepomniachtc. (0) 2742 ½ - ½ GM Dominguez Pe. (0) 2739

NickFaulks
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by NickFaulks » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:06 pm

Le - Caruana end was amazing. 2800 players are ( very ) human.
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Chris Rice
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:06 pm

Great game by Aronian.

Aronian, Levon - Navara, David

1-0

Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz GCT 2017 round 01

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:17 pm

NickFaulks wrote:Le - Caruana end was amazing. 2800 players are ( very ) human.
Although I didn't have the commentary on live it's worth playing it back it to hear the commentators applauding black's play, expecting white to resign and then the reality dawns on them that white is somehow winning.

Steven DuCharme
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Steven DuCharme » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:23 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote:
NickFaulks wrote:Le - Caruana end was amazing. 2800 players are ( very ) human.
Although I didn't have the commentary on live it's worth playing it back it to hear the commentators applauding black's play, expecting white to resign and then the reality dawns on them that white is somehow winning.[/quote
Last edited by Steven DuCharme on Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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LawrenceCooper
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Aug 14, 2017 8:38 pm

Steven DuCharme wrote:
LawrenceCooper wrote:
NickFaulks wrote:Le - Caruana end was amazing. 2800 players are ( very ) human.
Although I didn't have the commentary on live it's worth playing it back it to hear the commentators applauding black's play, expecting white to resign and then the reality dawns on them that white is somehow winning.
I think you mean the reverse.
No. Why?

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2017

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Aug 14, 2017 9:32 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote: Although I didn't have the commentary on live it's worth playing it back it to hear the commentators applauding black's play, expecting white to resign and then the reality dawns on them that white is somehow winning.
I caught up with it after the game had finished when the commentators were trying to find ways of defending Black's position against the mate, even at the cost of a Rook. Usually when you queen a pawn and win material as a consequence, you expect the game to be over in your favour.

Black had to find .. Rf2 (instead of Ke8) in this position ( according to the chessbomb stockfish)



On the following move Rg8+ would have been better than Ra7 as .. Rf2 is still a defence of sorts, even though it loses a Rook. The simple Rg8+, followed by R6g7+ seems to force the King over to the b file where Rb8+ wins the Queen.