2018 Wijk aan Zee 12 - 28 January

[MartinCarpenter]

The biggest stories still seem to be Mamed's great form and Caruana's poor form. Of course the latter might be hiding his prep for Berlin but surely that is not the full story.

Incidentally a straw poll of Barbican players, taken last weekend, showed what was (to my mind) surprising support for Mamed's chances in Berlin - I suppose I am beginning to see it now, though somehow it still seems rather sudden.

He explained the reasons for his recent improvement (I think lack of alcohol and getting married featured?), and he must have a great chance based on the simple fact he's in great form; his live rating of 2817.5 is the 11th highest of all time, overtaking Grischuk and only 0.3 behind Kramnik

iirc he mostly put it down to starting to play 'old mans' chess

[Barry Sandercock]

Martin Carpenter wrote:
He mostly put it down to starting to play 'old mans' chess.

What is 'old mans' chess ? I'm 87,so maybe I should be playing it !

[Jonathan Bryant]

Martin Carpenter wrote:
He mostly put it down to starting to play 'old mans' chess.

What is 'old mans' chess ? I'm 87,so maybe I should be playing it !

Dunno - but I think it’s safe to assume it doesn’t mean punting the Dragon against Carlsen as Gawain has just done.

[Tim Harding]

I would put it this way: Magnus has shown no fear by allowing Gawain to play the Dragon...
"I am the World Champion; I agree to take on any opponent in his speciality" is the message.

Still, this is what we wanted to see, isn't it?
It's the 9 0-0-0 d5 line.

[Tim Harding]

Ivan Sokolov has taken over the commentary on chess24 (with Canadian GM Eric Hansen).

[LawrenceCooper]

I would put it this way: Magnus has shown no fear by allowing Gawain to play the Dragon...
"I am the World Champion; I agree to take on any opponent in his speciality" is the message.

Still, this is what we wanted to see, isn't it?
It's the 9 0-0-0 d5 line.

Gawain has varied from his normal 14.....Rb8 with Re8 and Magnus now deep in thought.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I would put it this way: Magnus has shown no fear by allowing Gawain to play the Dragon...
"I am the World Champion; I agree to take on any opponent in his speciality" is the message.

Still, this is what we wanted to see, isn't it?
It's the 9 0-0-0 d5 line.

Agreed, it is refreshing. I had been wondering whether all of Gawain's White opponents would bowl with 1 d4/1 Nf3 against him !

[Tim Harding]

Magnus hit by a novelty? I don't have Gawain's book. Who knows the theory of this line?

[Event "Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "B76"]
[Annotator "Harding,Tim"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.21"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.21"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Kb1 Re8
{Magnus starts thinking here. 15 minutes and counting. I found three previous Jones games where 14...Rb8 was played. There are a few games by other players with 14...Re8 in my database.} *

[David Robertson]

Magnus hit by a novelty? I don't have Gawain's book

Jones (2015; II,104) gives 14...Rb8 "the most direct approach". Not addressed is 14...Re8

[LawrenceCooper]

I found 7 games since 2000 with Re8 and they branch off with Ne4 x3, h4 x2, Bb3 & g4 x1. I couldn't find any games with Gawain's f5 though (Qc7 x2 and a5 x1) although the idea is known from Rb8 and not Re8 lines.

[Leonard Barden]

Holy mackerel! Seems Magnus has just blundered a piece....

[David Robertson]

It's Sunday morning at the 4NCL !!

[LawrenceCooper]

I found 7 games since 2000 with Re8 and they branch off with Ne4 x3, h4 x2, Bb3 & g4 x1. I couldn't find any games with Gawain's f5 though (Qc7 x2 and a5 x1) although the idea is known from Rb8 and not Re8 lines.

I've no idea what Magnus has in mind after 15...f5 16 Ng5 Bc8 16 g4 f4 though

[Leonard Barden]

On course for the history books, to become the first English winner against a reigning world champion since Michael Adams at the Tromso Olympiad.....

[Tim Harding]

Holy mackerel! Seems Magnus has just blundered a piece....

Indeed. Update from my database. I found one correspondence game with ...f5.

[Event "Tata Steel Masters"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2018.01.21"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "B76"]
[Annotator "Harding,Tim"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2018.01.13"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[SourceDate "2018.01.21"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.01.21"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O d5 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Kb1 Re8
{Magnus started thinking here. There are a few games by other players with 14..
.Re8 in my database.} (14... Rb8 {in three previous Jones games}) 15. Ne4 {
After 21 minutes} (15. h4 Qc7 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Bxd5 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 e4 19. Qd1 (
19. fxe4 Rxe4 {draw,54 in Navara-Edouard, France To-10 Team Ch 2016}) 19...
exf3 20. Qxf3 Bxb2 21. Kxb2 Rab8+ 22. Kc1 Qc3 23. Rd7 Qxe3+ 24. Qxe3 Rxe3 25.
Rf1 Rf8 26. Rxa7 Re2 27. Rc7 Rxg2 28. Rf4 h6 29. a4 g5 30. hxg5 hxg5 31. Rf5
Rg4 32. a5 f6 33. c4 Re8 34. Kd2 Rg3 35. Rxf6 Rd8+ 36. Kc2 Rdd3 37. Rb6 Rc3+
38. Kb2 Rcf3 39. Rb8+ Rf8 40. Rxf8+ Kxf8 41. a6 {1-0 Poetsch,H (2481)-Koepke,C
(2285) Schwarzach 2017}) 15... f5 (15... Qc7 16. Bc5 Nf4 {Relieving some of
the pressure} (16... Rad8 $5 {suggested in ChessBase notes}) (16... h6 17. g4 {
Leko-Trent, Isle of Man 2016}) 17. Bxe6 Nxe6 18. Bd6 Qb6 19. g4 $1 {½-½ (40)
Harmon Vellotti,L (2434)-Bodek,M (2408) Saint Louis 2016}) 16. Ng5 Bc8 17. g4
$2 {Incredible!} (17. h4 h6 18. Ne4 fxe4 19. fxe4 Be6 20. Bb3 a5 21. exd5 cxd5
22. Qd2 d4 23. Bxe6+ Rxe6 24. Bxh6 Bxh6 25. Qxh6 Rb6 26. Rhe1 Rc8 27. Rd3 Qf6
28. Rf3 Qc6 29. Qd2 e4 30. Rf4 e3 31. Qd3 Qc3 32. Qxc3 dxc3 33. b3 Re6 {
draw in Dutra,P (2203)-Stratta,R (2346) corr ICCF 2015}) 17... f4 18. h4 fxe3
19. Qxe3 *