Candidates Tournament 2013

[Clive Blackburn]

Does anybody think (like me) that the live game feed is just an elaborate April Fool's prank and the real games will appear online later?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Can Carlsen draw with 42.Bf7+? 42...Kf8 43.Bxg6 Kg7 44.Bxh5 Kxh6 45.Bxf3 certainly looks as if it has good drawing chances.

[Clive Blackburn]

Carlsen has just resigned.

I can't help wondering, what if Ivanchuk now offered Kramnik a draw, thereby gifting him 1st place?

What could anybody do about it?

[benedgell]

42. Bf7+ Kf8 43. Bxg6 Kg7 44. Bxh5 Kxh6 45 Bxf3 Bb3 46 h4 (If 46. h3 I think walking the king in should do) Be5 47. Ke3 Bxb2 48. Kf4 Bd4 49. Kg4 Bf2 50. Be4 Be6+ 51. Kf4 Kh5

I can't take much credit- mostly Fritz's work.

[IM Jack Rudd]

42. Bf7+ Kf8 43. Bxg6 Kg7 44. Bxh5 Kxh6 45 Bxf3 Bb3 46 h4 (If 46. h3 I think walking the king in should do) Be5 47. Ke3 Bxb2 48. Kf4 Bd4 49. Kg4 Bf2 50. Be4 Be6+ 51. Kf4 Kh5

I can't take much credit- mostly Fritz's work.

Ah yes, I didn't see ...Bb3 followed by ...Be5. Good spot.

[Neill Cooper]

Carlsen and Kramnik both losing, who'd have guessed that?

Carl, but a day out!
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 20#p111435

[Richard James]

Carlsen and Kramnik both losing, who'd have guessed that?

Mark Crowther

[Martin Benjamin]

I hope someone at the site pays tribute to Vladimir Kramnik for displaying graciousness and dignity at the press conference, at what must have been a desperately disappointing moment for him. I think he has not had the best of luck at this tournament, either.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Well that was all rather special.

[Ray Sayers]

I hope someone at the site pays tribute to Vladimir Kramnik for displaying graciousness and dignity at the press conference, at what must have been a desperately disappointing moment for him. I think he has not had the best of luck at this tournament, either.

I was very impressed by Kramnik at the press conference. I would not have been surprised if he didn't turn up.

Carlsen at his 2nd press conference (after he knew he had qualified) looked dead on his feet. He looked so tired I don't think he really was in a state to string sentences together. As Svidler said, Carlsen plays lots of moves in a tournament.

But good grief, what an exciting end! It was unbearable tension - it would be interesting to hear from someone who attended.

[Adam Raoof]

Kramnik was extremely gracious in defeat. I was very lucky to be there for most of the tournament in the role of 4th Arbiter and it was a real insight into events at this level. We need more of the same, in addition to the London Classic!

I am currently trying to raise money to hold a Grandmaster Tournament in the UK in order to give our young IMs a chance to step up a notch and get a GM norm (in some cases a final GM norm). If you'd like to contribute, please visit

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/123 ... hess-tourn

I wonder how much money we would have to raise to have the World Championships in London?

[JustinHorton]

Carlsen has just resigned.

I can't help wondering, what if Ivanchuk now offered Kramnik a draw, thereby gifting him 1st place?

What could anybody do about it?

Heh

[Christopher Kreuzer]

But good grief, what an exciting end! It was unbearable tension - it would be interesting to hear from someone who attended.

It was very tense in that final time scramble, though I was only really able to follow the Carlsen-Svidler game. It was nerve-shredding to see Carlsen's clock ticking down and him clearly not being able to navigate his way through the complexities of the position. Seeing the assessment on the Chess Casting tablets swing in Svidler's favour was another key moment. All the while, it seemed that Ivanchuk was keeping an edge, but that time scramble was less frantic, so I only really looked at that after move 40, and I couldn't tell for sure what was happening. Thankfully the commentary room team made clear that Ivanchuk was clearly winning, so all that was left was to sit there for another 30-40 minutes as both Carlsen and then Kramnik bowed to the inevitable.

It was good to be able to watch the press conferences by Carlsen as well, though as others have said, he was clearly absolutely shattered by the tension and emotion of it all. Overall, the event was excellent in terms of drama, though I'm not sure where it ranks in terms of quality of chess when compared to similar events in the past. I was very impressed by the professionalism shown by the players, especially those other than Carlsen and Kramnik, and the way Svidler and Ivanchuk calmly finished off their games.

Aronian and Svidler, finishing only half a point behind the joint winners (with Carlsen winning on tie-break) must be ruing not taking their opportunities earlier. Who would have thought +3 would be enough to win? Svidler finished third due to beating Aronian over their individual games. Aronian's victories were against the bottom three, and he failed to beat anyone outside those three. Svidler beat both Aronian and Carlsen. Ivanchuk beat Kramnik and Carlsen. Grishuk was very solid with 11 draws, but Gelfand finished above him (more victories). Radjabov, with 7 losses and a solitary win, trailing a long way behind in last place. Radjabov, Ivanchuk and Aronian only drew 6 times, but then Carlsen only drew 7 times. Overall, 25 games were decisive, with 31 games drawn, which is a lot of decisive games at this level.

The organisation of the event was excellent, no complaints there.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Kramnik showed today that he is a class act - something some of us have known for a while

But, somehow, the "right" player won in the end.

It won't be easy for Magnus against Anand - far from it - but could we look back on that extraordinary game yesterday as the "real" moment Carlsen won the title?

[Sean Hewitt ECF DoMM]

It was very tense in that final time scramble, though I was only really able to follow the Carlsen-Svidler game. It was nerve-shredding to see Carlsen's clock ticking down and him clearly not being able to navigate his way through the complexities of the position. Seeing the assessment on the Chess Casting tablets swing in Svidler's favour was another key moment. All the while, it seemed that Ivanchuk was keeping an edge, but that time scramble was less frantic, so I only really looked at that after move 40, and I couldn't tell for sure what was happening. Thankfully the commentary room team made clear that Ivanchuk was clearly winning, so all that was left was to sit there for another 30-40 minutes as both Carlsen and then Kramnik bowed to the inevitable.

It was good to be able to watch the press conferences by Carlsen as well, though as others have said, he was clearly absolutely shattered by the tension and emotion of it all. Overall, the event was excellent in terms of drama, though I'm not sure where it ranks in terms of quality of chess when compared to similar events in the past. I was very impressed by the professionalism shown by the players, especially those other than Carlsen and Kramnik, and the way Svidler and Ivanchuk calmly finished off their games.

Aronian and Svidler, finishing only half a point behind the joint winners (with Carlsen winning on tie-break) must be ruing not taking their opportunities earlier. Who would have thought +3 would be enough to win? Svidler finished third due to beating Aronian over their individual games. Aronian's victories were against the bottom three, and he failed to beat anyone outside those three. Svidler beat both Aronian and Carlsen. Ivanchuk beat Kramnik and Carlsen. Grishuk was very solid with 11 draws, but Gelfand finished above him (more victories). Radjabov, with 7 losses and a solitary win, trailing a long way behind in last place. Radjabov, Ivanchuk and Aronian only drew 6 times, but then Carlsen only drew 7 times. Overall, 25 games were decisive, with 31 games drawn, which is a lot of decisive games at this level.

The organisation of the event was excellent, no complaints there.

Chris. I'm glad that you enjoyed the event but I would like to apologise to anyone who was offended by the 20% discount on offer to ECF members.

The latest E-mail from the ECF says a number of things
1. It passes on a deal from a seemingly fairly dubious business without first checking it out