2016 Candidates Moscow 10-29 March

[Roger de Coverly]

There's a partial climbdown on the release of pgn files.

http://www.agonlimited.com/news/2016/3/ ... 310zzcvi5s

Please note that from Round 2 of the Candidates Tournament, the PGN files of the moves will be released on the official site and WorldChess.com immediately after the conclusion of each game, rather than two hours afterwards.

This step has been undertaken after consultation with media organisations around the world and we are delighted to take this step so news of the results can be distributed with greater speed.

[NickFaulks]

They're busted, we can do whatever we want to do.

[John McKenna]

Despite that announcement about availability of PGN files the Chessbase express report is lacking the Karjakin-Nakamura game.

Instead it has a duplicate of Aronian-Anand.

[Chris Rice]

There u go John.

[Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow, Russia"] [Date "2016.03.12"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Karjakin Sergey (RUS)"] [Black "Nakamura Hikaru (USA)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E15"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Qc2 Re8 12. Rfd1 Nf8 13. Ne5 Bb7 14. Bc1 Ne6 15. Bb2 Bd6 16. e3 a6 17. Ne2 c5 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Nd3 Nce4 20. Rac1 Rc8 21. Qb1 Qe7 22. Bd4 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 b5 24. b4 Nd7 25. a3 Nf8 26. Ba1 Ne6 27. Qa2 Bc7 28. Nd4 Bb6 29. h4 Nxg3 30. fxg3 Nxd4 31. Bxd4 Bxd4 32. exd4 Qe3+ 33. Qf2 Qxd3 34. Rc7 f5 35. Rxb7 h6 36. Bxd5+ Kh7 37. Bg2 Re2 38. Bf1 1-0

[Chris Rice]

For completeness here are the other three:

[Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow, Russia"] [Date "2016.03.12"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Svidler Peter (RUS)"] [Black "Topalov Veselin (BUL)"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. Nc3 Ne8 10. Nd5 Bd6 11. Re1 c6 12. Ne3 Be7 13. c4 Nc7 14. d4 d5 15. cxd5 Bb4 16. Bd2 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Qxd5 19. Re5 Qd6 20. Bc4 Bd7 21. Rae1 b5 22. Bb3 a5 23. a4 bxa4 24. Bxa4 Be6 25. Rxa5 Rxa5 26. Qxa5 Qxd4 27. Bxc6 Qxb2 28. Bd5 Bxd5 29. Qxd5 Qf6 30. g3 g6 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow, Russia"] [Date "2016.03.12"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Aronian Levon (ARM)"] [Black "Anand Viswanathan (IND)"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bf4 dxc4 6. e3 b5 7. Nxb5 Bb4+ 8. Nd2 Nd5 9. Bg3 N7b6 10. Qc2 O-O 11. Be2 Ba6 12. Nc3 c5 13. dxc5 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bxc5 15. O-O Rc8 16. Rfd1 Qg5 17. Nf3 Qg6 18. Qd2 Bb5 19. Qe1 Ba4 20. Ne5 Qg5 21. Rd2 Rfd8 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Nxc4 Nxc4 24. Bxc4 Bxe3 25. Qxe3 Rxc4 26. Rb1 Rc8 27. h3 a6 28. c4 Rxc4 29. Rb8 Rc8 30. Qb6 Rxb8 31. Qxb8 1/2-1/2

[Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow, Russia"] [Date "2016.03.12"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Caruana Fabiano (USA)"] [Black "Giri Anish (NED)"] [Result "*"] [ECO "C65"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nbd2 Ne7 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 10. Re1 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qb3 d5 13. e5 Nd7 14. Qd1 f6 15. e6 Nb8 16. Nb3 Qd6 17. g4 Bg6 18. Nh4 Nbc6 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Bd2 Bc2 21. Qe2 Bxb3 22. axb3 Bxd4 23. Bb4 Bc5 24. Rec1 b6 25. Bxc5 bxc5 26. Ra6 Qb7 27. Rxc5 Rfe8 28. Qb5 Qxb5 29. Rxb5 d4 30. Nf5 Rad8 31. Rxa7 Nxf5 32. gxf5 d3 33. Ra1 g6 34. Rc5 Re7 35. Rd1 gxf5 36. Rc6 Rd4 37. Kg2 Kg7 38. Kf3 Kg6 39. Rc4 Rd5 40. Rc3 d2 41. Re3 Rd6 42. Re2 *

[Mick Norris]

chess.com round 2 report

TWIC

[John McKenna]

My thanks to Chris for posting all the games of R2.

Also, thanks to Mick for the links.

I'll have a look - particularly at how Nakamura blew a gasket!

[Mick Norris]

Round 3 today: Nakamura-Svidler, Giri-Karjakin, Anand-Caruana, Topalov-Aronian

[Jonathan Bryant]

You mean a BERLIN WALL, I presume?

Indeed. With Caruana and Aronian playing Black today there’s a chance we’ll get one.


https://youtu.be/PNrt7_DbLG0

[Paolo Casaschi]

You mean a BERLIN WALL, I presume?

Indeed. With Caruana and Aronian playing Black today there’s a chance we’ll get one.

In the first round Anand with white allowed the Berlin but avoided the wall, resulting in a very entertaining game with lot of ups/downs. Definitely a good sign of Anand fighting spirit, hopefully we'll see some more of that.

Aronian often plays the Morphy variation 3... a6 instead of the Berlin, although his Marshall gambit is as drawish as the Berlin Wall if not more.

[JustinHorton]

Chess24 a little slow off the mark today, still showing only two games.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Aronian often plays the Morphy variation 3... a6 instead of the Berlin, although his Marshall gambit is as drawish as the Berlin Wall if not more.

More. Aronian has said himself that he plays the Marshall to draw and Berlin to win. The problem with The Marshall is that is so forcing. Games burn can out quickly in the way Berlin's rarely if ever do

[Jonathan Bryant]

Chess24 a little slow off the mark today, still showing only two games.

They've got three now. Anand - Caruana another d3 non-Berlin. Tcha

[Mick Norris]

Just back in from the Bolton sunshine, I gather Giri - Karjakin was a draw, looks like Anand - Caruana will be too

Aronian better with black v Topalov; Svidler similar v Nakamura although I assume that will be a draw?

[Roger de Coverly]

Svidler similar v Nakamura although I assume that will be a draw?

It's an ending with only king side pawns, but Svider has four to Naka's three. Both players also have a Rook and a Knight. The Rook only version of the ending is usually a draw, although Capablanca did win it from time to time. Naka has been unable to use one of the key defensive resources, namely to get P-R4 in. The pure Knight ending is likely a win for the material as is the King and pawn ending. So chances perhaps to make progress.