2018 Wijk aan Zee 12 - 28 January

[Tim Harding]

Great play by Gawain yesterday; congratulations.

Today's round 4 just began and Wei Yi-Jones is another 5 h3 King's Indian but after 5...0-0 the Chinese GM played 6 Nf3 instead of 6 Be3.

Anish Giri had joked with interviewer that today would be his "striking day" to go for another win against Magnus. Carlsen played the French and it's begun 4 e5 Ne7 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 c5 7 Qg4 cxd4!? could get very wild.

Other pairings:
Hou Yifan-Matlakov, Spanish Marshall 9 d4
Kramnik-Svidler 1 Nf3 heading for Catalan
Adhiban-Anand 1 Nf3 d5 2 c4 d4 3 b4 c5
Karjakin-Mamedyarov, Petroff
Caruana-So, Nimzoindian

[Steven DuCharme]

At the start of today's Giri v. Carlsen battle Giri had moved 1.e4. Meanwhile Carlsen was "adjusting" his pieces. I didn't see what Carlsen touched immediately after 1.e4 but whatever it was shouldn't that have been his move (he was touch his non-pawns so I think he should have to move a knight)

Thoughts?

[Tim Harding]

GMs are not petty enough to insist on touch-move until the game is actually under way.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Nice to see the French Winawer get an outing at this level (Giri-Carlsen) - I suppose we should not be surprised with anything Carlsen plays.

[NickFaulks]

7 Qg4 cxd4!?

Does Black have a move that isn't "!?" ( or worse, of course )?

[Tim Harding]

7 Qg4 cxd4!?

Does Black have a move that isn't "!?" ( or worse, of course )?

Better ask a Winawer expert. Negi recommends lines based on (8) Bd3 which Magnus presumably prepared against. Clock times seem to indicate that Giri was taken by surprise.

[Ian Thompson]

At the start of today's Giri v. Carlsen battle Giri had moved 1.e4. Meanwhile Carlsen was "adjusting" his pieces. I didn't see what Carlsen touched immediately after 1.e4 but whatever it was shouldn't that have been his move (he was touch his non-pawns so I think he should have to move a knight)

Thoughts?

How do you know he didn't say "j'adoube" before doing so?

[MartinCarpenter]

7.. cxd4 is I think the main line these days. Sort of meant to get into the 7.. Qc7 stuff while avoiding 8 Bd3. Which Negi of course recommended anyway.... 7.. o-o has been moderately terrifying for a while.

Berg (in his huge QC winaver series) reckons 14.. Qb6 is ?!, which I imagine might not hold up

[Alex Holowczak]

At the start of today's Giri v. Carlsen battle Giri had moved 1.e4. Meanwhile Carlsen was "adjusting" his pieces. I didn't see what Carlsen touched immediately after 1.e4 but whatever it was shouldn't that have been his move (he was touch his non-pawns so I think he should have to move a knight)

Thoughts?

How do you know he didn't say "j'adoube" before doing so?

Touch move only applies to a piece if you're touching the piece with the intention of moving it. In your own words, Carlsen was adjusting his pieces, and therefore had no intention of moving any of them. So it isn't touch move on any of them.

[Tim Harding]

At the start of today's Giri v. Carlsen battle Giri had moved 1.e4. Meanwhile Carlsen was "adjusting" his pieces. I didn't see what Carlsen touched immediately after 1.e4 but whatever it was shouldn't that have been his move (he was touch his non-pawns so I think he should have to move a knight)

Thoughts?

How do you know he didn't say "j'adoube" before doing so?

Touch move only applies to a piece if you're touching the piece with the intention of moving it. In your own words, Carlsen was adjusting his pieces, and therefore had no intention of moving any of them. So it isn't touch move on any of them.

I don't agree because the wording changed last year. Saying "J'adoube" is required because there is now a presumption of intent to move otherwise:

4.2.1 Only the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on their squares,
provided that he first expresses his intention (for example by saying “j’adoube” or “I
adjust”).
4.2.2 Any other physical contact with a piece, except for clearly accidental contact, shall be
considered to be intent.

However as I said yesterday, nervously adjusting your pieces before making your first move seems to be commonplace and nobody tries to enforce 4.2.2. there. Also it is hard to call out somebody during a game as they may claim they have muttered j'adoube and it's your word against theirs. But I did have a game against a GM last year where he twice touched movable pieces without an audible j'adoube. (In one case he eventually did move the piece.) I just warned him in our friendly postmortem that the rule wording and changed and this habit could get him into trouble against a difficult opponent.

[Tim Harding]

Round 5 this afternoon, last games before the first rest day. The Masters play in Hilversum with a later start time of 1300 GMT; the Challengers play in Wijk aan Zee starting 1230 GMT as usual.

Line-up is:
Jones (2) v Giri (3)
Anand (3) v Wei Yi (2)
Svidler (1.5) v Hou Yifan (0.5)
Carlsen (2.5) v Kramnik (2.5)
So (2) v Adhiban (1)
Mamedyarov (2.5) v Caruana (1.5)
Matlakov (2) v Karjakin (2)

[Kevin Thurlow]

"But I did have a game against a GM last year where he twice touched movable pieces without an audible j'adoube. (In one case he eventually did move the piece.) I just warned him in our friendly postmortem that the rule wording and changed and this habit could get him into trouble against a difficult opponent."

Indeed, like this...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/42717093

[David Shepherd]

Personally I don't think I have ever had a problem with my opponent not saying j'adoube, as its normally obvious when someone is adjusting the piece. The problems seem mainly to start when players do say j'adoube - just after they have picked up the piece ....

[Mick Norris]

Draw for Gawain today, I would assume he'll be fairly happy on 2.5/5 going into the first rest day

[Alex Holowczak]

How do you know he didn't say "j'adoube" before doing so?

Touch move only applies to a piece if you're touching the piece with the intention of moving it. In your own words, Carlsen was adjusting his pieces, and therefore had no intention of moving any of them. So it isn't touch move on any of them.

I don't agree because the wording changed last year. Saying "J'adoube" is required because there is now a presumption of intent to move otherwise:

4.2.1 Only the player having the move may adjust one or more pieces on their squares,
provided that he first expresses his intention (for example by saying “j’adoube” or “I
adjust”).
4.2.2 Any other physical contact with a piece, except for clearly accidental contact, shall be
considered to be intent.

However as I said yesterday, nervously adjusting your pieces before making your first move seems to be commonplace and nobody tries to enforce 4.2.2. there. Also it is hard to call out somebody during a game as they may claim they have muttered j'adoube and it's your word against theirs. But I did have a game against a GM last year where he twice touched movable pieces without an audible j'adoube. (In one case he eventually did move the piece.) I just warned him in our friendly postmortem that the rule wording and changed and this habit could get him into trouble against a difficult opponent.

Ah, yes. I'd forgotten that ridiculous and unnecessary rulechange.