Gashimov Memorial 2019 Shamkir 30 Mar to 9 April

[Jonathan Rogers]

anyway, yes, this seems to be his best event for several years. And those who like "order" in the chess world might celebrate having a clear number one in the world again.

[Richard Bates]

Perhaps give it time - there are lots of other forcing lines that do not involve 7.Nd5, which would need to be learnt. Carlsen had time and assistance with these others lines last year, and he used to play the opening some years back anyway, but I would imagine that even other strong GMs might want to hesitate before trying to imitate him. It may be that some lines lead to draws too, which might not suit GMs who play non-elite events.

What is perhaps just as surprising is how players keep banging away with Nd5.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I suppose they like the idea that they can predict the position after 12 moves and get their engines on the job. But are the engines assessing the resulting positions correctly, one wonders?

[NickFaulks]

What is perhaps just as surprising is how players keep banging away with Nd5.

Players kept banging away with the English Attack against Kasparov's Najdorf. That didn't work too well either.

[Richard Bates]

Fair to say that Magnus adequately rose to the challenge posed by Leonard's Saturday column?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

This column:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/ ... azerbaijan

Yes, +5, 7/9, two points ahead of second place, a TPR of nearly 2991, and a live rating of 2860.

[Mick Norris]

Yes, but can he do it in Edinburgh on 26/27 May (is that the chess equivalent of a cold Tuesday night at Stoke)?

[Chris Rice]

Great quote from Jonathan Rowson:

"Just played through Magnus Carlsen's games from Shamkir where he won with 7/9 and pushed his rating to 2860.
For a few years there he was merely the best of the best, but now I think he is back to being superior in historic terms; the best of the best of the best."