FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019 - Isle of Man

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oh, 37...Rb5 in one of the lines does seem to save the day, as taking the g5 pawn with check wins the knight.

[Angus French]

After little more than half an hour, the top board game has reached move 28

Now at move 29 and I think Sarana has a draw if he wants it.

Looks winning for Sarana (who has White), maybe?

You're thinking that White can march his king and pawns up the board and then somehow breakthrough or mate?

[Matt Mackenzie]

After little more than half an hour, the top board game has reached move 28

Now at move 29 and I think Sarana has a draw if he wants it.

Looks winning for Sarana (who has White), maybe?

He certainly has all the winning chances, I would say.

But given his opponent, most likely a draw

[JustinHorton]

Today's potential giantkilling is González Vidal v Allen where Black, nearly four hundred Elo points below his opponent, is stone-cold winning if he finds the right reply to White's eighteenth.

[EDIT: he didn't]

[Kevin Thurlow]

Sarin seems to be playing on the increment already (move 26). I'm assuming the clock times shown are right.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Good win for Brandon Clarke.

[Chris Rice]

Round 3 pairings and only 4 players left on 100%. I noticed there was a lot of talk today about Giri upsetting the organisers and skipping this tournament so that he would not lose rating points. Here's a ChessBase article to explain why he's doing what he's doing. Can't blame Giri, he's just playing the system. It's a rules problem which allows a player a better chance of qualification by not playing chess. Hopefully FIDE will sort that out before the next cycle.
England pairings.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Five players on 100%, not four. Carlsen playing Kasimdzhanov. Lots of GMs [well, OK, only ten], including Tal Baron and Gawain Jones and Keith Arkell, have started with 0/2, which must be a shock to the system for some.

Worth repeating: of the 154 players: 133 GMs, 2 WGMs, 16 IMs.
Three non-titled players: Li Wu (2332), Keith Allen (2161), Dahl Baard (2067).

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Here's a ChessBase article to explain why he's doing what he's doing. Can't blame Giri, he's just playing the system. It's a rules problem which allows a player a better chance of qualification by not playing chess. Hopefully FIDE will sort that out before the next cycle."

It's amusing to see that Chessbase say that the KO system can be manipulated, and of course it was brought into the Candidates to stop manipulation. Of course the event in question is a different one. Perhaps Giri withdrew from IoM for other reasons? Are FIDE going to say you disqualify yourself from future events if you withdraw from one of them? Perhaps the KO event we have just seen should not be a qualifier for the World Championship as it confuses the issue?

[Mick Norris]

Can't blame Giri, he's just playing the system. It's a rules problem which allows a player a better chance of qualification by not playing chess. Hopefully FIDE will sort that out before the next cycle.

Do you think so? FIDE have had opportunities to improve the qualifying cycle and not taken them before

[IM Jack Rudd]

Perhaps the KO event we have just seen should not be a qualifier for the World Championship as it confuses the issue?

The knockout is fine; it's the qualification by rating that's the issue. It's the only method of the four where playing extra chess games can make you less likely to qualify.

[Roger de Coverly]

It's the only method of the four where playing extra chess games can make you less likely to qualify.

Is there a rule in place which says players qualifying by rating have to have played in two of the World Cup, Grand Prix and the Grand Swiss?

[JustinHorton]

How much does it matter though? Giri's played the number of games he needs to and it's not a trivial number. If you don't have any qualifiers by rating there's obviously a danger that too many players who we would like to see in the Candidates don't actually make it there.

Wikipedia for anybody who found the Chessbase article insuficiently clear.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"The knockout is fine; it's the qualification by rating that's the issue. It's the only method of the four where playing extra chess games can make you less likely to qualify."

True - and rating is easier to manipulate than the other methods!

[Geoff Chandler]

HI Justin,

"If you don't have any qualifiers by rating there's obviously a danger that too many
players who we would like to see in the Candidates don't actually make it there."

Ratings got the players straight into the World Cup and Grand Prix without them having to go through a qualifying event
so ratings already play an important part. They should consider scraping the rating only spot even though the last
challenger got into the candidates that way.

"...a danger that too many players who we would like to see in the Candidates don't actually make it there."

The 'We would like' would differ from poster to poster, I'd like to see Rapport, Artemiev and Nakamura there.
This is the second time Giri has got into the candidates via ratings , jokes (most pitiful) are still being told about his
last outing in 2016, p.14. D14. This time he will probably win it and dethrone Carlsen.