Candidates Tournament 2013

[Matthew Turner]

In my view Ivanchuk had an advantage of half a pawn ten moves ago, an advantage of half a pawn 5 moves ago and an advantage of half a pawn now. That will not be enough to win, but it will be enough to make Carlsen suffer and if he makes a slight inaccuracy he could well lose. For the tournament's sake it would be good if he did.

[Carl Hibbard]

In my view Ivanchuk had an advantage of half a pawn ten moves ago, an advantage of half a pawn 5 moves ago and an advantage of half a pawn now. That will not be enough to win, but it will be enough to make Carlsen suffer and if he makes a slight inaccuracy he could well lose. For the tournament's sake it would be good if he did.

I presume he loses on time now with probably draws in the other three

[IM Jack Rudd]

In my view Ivanchuk had an advantage of half a pawn ten moves ago, an advantage of half a pawn 5 moves ago and an advantage of half a pawn now. That will not be enough to win, but it will be enough to make Carlsen suffer and if he makes a slight inaccuracy he could well lose. For the tournament's sake it would be good if he did.

I presume he loses on time now with probably draws in the other three

You think Svidler-Gelfand will be a draw? Oh kaaaaaaay...

[Roger de Coverly]

I presume he loses on time now with probably draws in the other three

Ivanchuk made move 40 with around 30 seconds to spare. The chesscasting software must have a move counter switched on as it added the extra time to both players immediately on completion of Magnus's 40th move. In the days when arbiters set clocks with increments to add time at the move, the DGT clock had a unbalanced appearance at move 40 as White's clock would add the extra time, whilst Black's clock continued the countdown to zero.

I'm presuming the extra (doubled) pawn on the King side gives him what winning chances there are, an opinion shared by whatever engine is being used for the chesscasting evaluations.

[Carl Hibbard]

In my view Ivanchuk had an advantage of half a pawn ten moves ago, an advantage of half a pawn 5 moves ago and an advantage of half a pawn now. That will not be enough to win, but it will be enough to make Carlsen suffer and if he makes a slight inaccuracy he could well lose. For the tournament's sake it would be good if he did.

I presume he loses on time now with probably draws in the other three

You think Svidler-Gelfand will be a draw? Oh kaaaaaaay...

And now?

Gelfand might be even winning if he had more time

[IM Jack Rudd]

Hmm, Carl got it right. Presumably the position after the forced 32.Nh7 is a draw with best play, although I'd be interested to see the analysis of that.

[Carl Hibbard]

Hmm, Carl got it right. Presumably the position after the forced 32.Nh7 is a draw with best play, although I'd be interested to see the analysis of that.

Hibbard 1 Rudd 0, nice

[Carl Hibbard]

Kramnik and Carlsen now winning so got some of it wrong

[James Coleman]

Carlsen still looks to be in some difficulties as he probably has to take on h5 now otherwise h5-h6 comes with Nxf5 constantly in the air. I'd slightly fancy the draw over an Ivanchuk win but not a picnic for Black by any means.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Kramnik and Carlsen now winning so got some of it wrong

Kramnik's certainly the only one with winning chances in his game, but I'm not certain about the theoretical evaluation of the B+3 v N+2 ending that seems inevitable (unless I've miscalculated).

[Carl Hibbard]

Carlsen still looks to be in some difficulties as he probably has to take on h5 now otherwise h5-h6 comes with Nxf5 constantly in the air. I'd slightly fancy the draw over an Ivanchuk win but not a picnic for Black by any means.

I prefer Black but then I am a rabbit...

[Carl Hibbard]

Carlsen still looks to be in some difficulties as he probably has to take on h5 now otherwise h5-h6 comes with Nxf5 constantly in the air. I'd slightly fancy the draw over an Ivanchuk win but not a picnic for Black by any means.

I prefer Black but then I am a rabbit...

Yes perhaps my Jack winning point has to be surrendered to James

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Hmm, Carl got it right. Presumably the position after the forced 32.Nh7 is a draw with best play, although I'd be interested to see the analysis of that.

I have no idea what best play was in the position where they agreed a draw (after Black played 31...Ng3), but they both had not much time left to make nine moves to the time control. It is possible they agreed a draw in "mutual time trouble", not that I'd expect to see that happen a lot at super-GM level. Did anyone watch what Svidler and Gelfand said at the press conference? Overall in that game, I'd say Svidler would be the more disappointed at the result. Presumably Gelfand offered the draw. The Chessbase report says "After some more strange moves the game reached a position in which both players had enough of the melee that this game was and agreed to a draw."

I was impressed with how coolly Carlsen held the draw. Ivanchuk looked a bit distracted at the end, as if he had let an opportunity slip there, which he might well have done. Kramnik might feel the same way, but Aronian's play was excellent to draw that endgame. I thought Radjabov might have won against Grischuk, as his three connected passed pawns looked threatening, but clearly not.

Radjabov is the only player left to still play the joint leaders (Carlsen and Aronian), so if he manages to spring a surprise or two he is well in it (he has White against Aronian and then Black against Carlsen), as will Kramnik if he can put together a run against Ivanchuk and Gelfand (he has White against Ivanchuk, followed by Black against Gelfand).

[MikeTasker]

Went along today and got good value for the £20 with all games being long fighting draws (exept Svidler-Gelfand maybe which could of gone on longer but was still interesting). The commentary area was surprisingly informal,almost like an analysis area at a weekend tournament. There are about 10 tables each of which has a very nice set on which you could play with,although only a few were used. There were about 20 seats so they will need a few more at the weekend when it should get busy,there were usually about 30 people in the room watching Lawrence Trent and Nigel Short do the commentary.
To get in the playing theatre you have to go through a fairly extensive body check each time which tends to make you stay once you are in! The theatre has about 300 seats which was about 30-40% full. I was siting about 20 feet from Ivanchuk-Carlsen and you can get closer if you want, Vassily does some of his thinking not looking at the board,which makes interesting viewing! There are about 30-40 tablets which carry the website and commentary,which are a bit tempramental but very nice once you get them going,the password is 0000 btw. The lack of a stage and arena seating again gives an informal feel.There is also a bookstore and coffee area.
We are spoilt in London at the moment with so many high level events and this one also is definitely worth a visit ,at least once, if you are in town.

[Tristan Clayton]

It's been good to hear everyone's experiences of visiting the Candidates tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing round 7 this weekend. Just a quick question - I can understand the rigorous body checks before being allowed in the playing hall, but is it true that mobile phones (even switched off) are not allowed?

No big deal if not (I can drop mine off at work on the way in), but forewarned is forearmed! Interesting that I could see nothing on the ticket website, or during the booking process, about this. If indeed it's true. And assuming I've not missed something obvious. Which is entirely possible.