Candidates Tournament in Berlin March 2018

[AustinElliott]

Karjakin has dropped a pawn.

Wow. Wonder what he missed? Surely not Kxh3 g4+! ...? Certainly the sort of thing club players like me miss, but not a super-GM. Or are we putting it down to pressure? Karjakin always seems to have the strongest nerves of any of the top players.

A further thought: if Karjakin looks to be struggling to draw, and Kramnik-Shak looks even, and Grischuk-Caruana is heading for potentially mad time scramble.... would one think Caruana would take a draw? Or would Grischuk play on to try and help Karjakin? [EDIT: Grischuk has traded Qs, which I guess makes the time scramble a less ghastly prospect, but must surely help Caruana hold at least a draw.]

Another thought: Karjakin-Ding to trade all the heavy pieces to a classic 'good' Knight v 'bad' Bishop ending, with the bad Bishop having extra pawns?

[JustinHorton]

I still don't think Ding's going to win this tournament but I think he might be the player who's enhanced his reputation the most over its course.

[Tim Harding]

Karjakin has dropped a pawn.

Wow. Wonder what he missed? Surely not Kxh3 g4+! ...? Certainly the sort of thing club players like me miss, but not a super-GM. Or are we putting it down to pressure? Karjakin always seems to have the strongest nerves of any of the top players.

A further thought: if Karjakin looks to be struggling to draw, and Kramnik-Shak looks even, and Grischuk-Caruana is heading for potentially mad time scramble.... would one think Caruana would take a draw? Or would Grischuk play on to try and help Karjakin?

Another thought: Karjakin-Ding to trade all the heavy pieces to a classic 'good' Knight v 'bad' Bishop ending, with the bad Bishop having extra pawns?

Grischuk's mind is surely on making the time control before thinking about anything else.

Ding has to weigh winning a second pawn against keeping the knight in its box. Very impressive tournament by him - though he did survive a lost game versus Caruana and missed an easy win in another game (against Wesley So?).

[JustinHorton]

You may be thinking of Grischuk

[Roger de Coverly]

I'd be interested in hearing a coach explain to a beginner why Ding putting all of his wns on the same colour as his remaining bishop is a good strategy.

From a practical viewpoint it acts as a glue or super pawn which holds the entire structure together. Whilst there are some positions best avoided, not all Bishop + same colour pawns v Knight are dodgy. The typical Samisch chain of c4, d5, e4, f3 with a Bishop on c2 is one such example.

If nothing else, Ding's play illustrates the practical value of a King's Indian style pile of heavy pieces on the f file.

[AustinElliott]

The good-Knight v bad Bishop ending has duly arrived in Karjakin-Ding.

An interesting point in Grischuk-Caruana is whether Caruana might try ...Nxb4 cbx4 Bxb4 leaving him a pawn phalanx. With Grischuk having to make twenty moves in almost no minutes it would be fun to watch... probably too much of a gamble for the Candidates final round, though?

[Roger de Coverly]

Another thought: Karjakin-Ding to trade all the heavy pieces to a classic 'good' Knight v 'bad' Bishop ending, with the bad Bishop having extra pawns?

Which is what they've reached. White can reduce the deficit to one pawn by playing Kf2-g3xh3 . It may not be not that easy to win for Black to win, given the locked pawn chains.


[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/6k1/p2p4/b1pNp1p1/1p1pP1P1/1P1P3p/2P4P/5K2 w - - 0 34"]

[JustinHorton]

An interesting point in Grischuk-Caruana is whether Caruana might try ...Nxb4 cbx4 Bxb4 leaving him a pawn phalanx. With Grischuk having to make twenty moves in almost no minutes it would be fun to watch... probably too much of a gamble for the Candidates final round, though?

So it proved

[Chris Goodall]

Which is what they've reached. White can reduce the deficit to one pawn by playing Kf2-g3xh3 . It may not be not that easy to win for Black to win, given the locked pawn chains.


[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/6k1/p2p4/b1pNp1p1/1p1pP1P1/1P1P3p/2P4P/5K2 w - - 0 34"]

Well as good knights go, that's a terrible knight. Doesn't ...Bd8 just immobilise White completely? Even if the king picks up the h3 pawn, Black just walks his own king to b5 and queens the a-pawn, no?

[Roger de Coverly]

Well as good knights go, that's a terrible knight.

Karjakin seems to agree, as he's regrouped with Nd5-e7-f5-g3. That gives Black the d5 break now.

[JustinHorton]

Mamedyarov has just put his foot in it

[Chris Goodall]

Mind I thought Grischuk had 27.Rxd5, so I might not be a world champion yet. Clearly Grischuk saw it was defended by a pawn.

[Tim Harding]

Mamedyarov has just put his foot in it

Comments like that (without a specific move reference) aren't very helpful because the position may have changed by the time anyone reads it.
What precisely do you mean?

[Tim Harding]

Caruana's clock is a big worry, what time does he really have left?

[LawrenceCooper]

Caruana's clock is a big worry, what time does he really have left?

To answer that we would need to know at what point and what move you were refering to.