True, but they were both in quite a bit of time trouble, so these things are bound to happen.benedgell wrote:Howell's thrown away a perfectly reasonable position. 29. Red3 was a blunder, and 30. Rxd6 just loses.
London Chess Classic - games only
-
- Posts: 324
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:26 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
-
- Posts: 1260
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:43 pm
- Location: Somerset
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Short has a pretty clear edge against Adams now. Big blow for Adams' tournament hopes if he loses a second game with white.
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Ola Winfridsson wrote:True, but they were both in quite a bit of time trouble, so these things are bound to happen.benedgell wrote:Howell's thrown away a perfectly reasonable position. 29. Red3 was a blunder, and 30. Rxd6 just loses.
Paul Cooksey wrote:I'll take the opportunity to make a safe prediction - Howell - McShane will be decided in a crazy time scramble!
-
- Posts: 324
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:26 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Great minds think alike, hey Paul?Paul Cooksey wrote:Kramnik, Anand, Short all very critical of being in time trouble every game. Simply randomises your results.benedgell wrote:Howell's thrown away a perfectly reasonable position. 29. Red3 was a blunder, and 30. Rxd6 just loses.
It does, but the problem is that it's a lot easier to say "don't get into time trouble" than actually getting rid of the problem. It requires a lot of mental training to become more disciplined on clock handling.
I even seem to remember that Kramnik himself was quite a bit of a time-trouble addict in the '90s (perhaps I'm confusing him with someone else).
-
- Posts: 1260
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:43 pm
- Location: Somerset
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
The Anand- Nakamura game has seen far too many mistakes for a game at this level, imo.
-
- Posts: 153
- Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:21 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Good to see Nigel get some pts, also McShane doing awesomely.
I'm not anti draw, but I imagine the low number of draws will be pleasing to people who care about such things.
I'm not anti draw, but I imagine the low number of draws will be pleasing to people who care about such things.
AKA Scott Stone
"Give a man fire and he's warm for a day, set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."
That's Mr Stone to you, f**kface.
"Give a man fire and he's warm for a day, set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."
That's Mr Stone to you, f**kface.
-
- Posts: 5261
- Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:51 pm
- Location: Millom, Cumbria
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Anand finally broke his run of draws, I see
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
-
- Posts: 8843
- Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
- Location: London
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Is there any analysis anywhere of that? I was trying to work out what happens if Black replies 31...Rxh6. I assume it starts 32.f5 and, then, er, something else happens after that! Carlsen looked quite bored while playing his moves towards the end. Almost as if he knew the position was drawn but also knew there were little tricks and he was waiting for some little slip.Matthew Turner wrote:Carlsen is still making mischief in a position where most people would have shaken hands on a draw hours ago. 31. f4 is inspired.
Watching the Howell-McShane time scramble was painful. Howell had only seconds left when he resigned after Qg5+. I'm sure many in the audience were trying to work out what was going on, but were being left behind by the flurry of moves. The commentary team took the audience through lots of lines afterwards, which was good.
Watching that time scramble also meant missing the critical moment in Anand-Nakamura. By the time I started watching that game again, Anand's position already looked in ruins. I wonder what Gelfand is thinking if he is following these games? Anand still has Kramnik, Carlsen and Aronian to play, though he does have White in two of those games (Black against Aronian).
Had to leave before the Adams-Short game finished, but saw that the exchange had been sacrificed and that Short was already winning by that point. Am impressed with how Short has come back from those two losses. It doesn't get any easier for Adams, as he now has to play Kramnik with Black, Aronian with White, and Carlsen with Black, finishing with Nakamura in the final round (after a round 8 bye).
Looking at the overall standings, Kramnik and Aronian are well placed as they have that game in hand. Nakamura has only the English players left to play, which should be interesting. Don't think it is possible to predict who might win the tournament yet. Any of the current top five (Carlsen, McShane, Nakamura, Kramnik, Aronian) could still do that.
-
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 11:54 am
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Chris,
After f4 the computers say that Kramnik could indeed take the pawn on h6. However, after Rxh6 f5 Rh5 Kd6 Black must be extremely careful. I think Kramnik came up with a very good response with Bd7
After f4 the computers say that Kramnik could indeed take the pawn on h6. However, after Rxh6 f5 Rh5 Kd6 Black must be extremely careful. I think Kramnik came up with a very good response with Bd7
-
- Posts: 667
- Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:08 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
I think Ola and Paul get the title of 'forum oracles' for yesterday and also I think Matthew Turner, as he did get 3/4 the day before and that is rather good!
-
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 11:54 am
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
I'm going to get my predictions in very early for round 5.
Nakamura to beat Howell
Short to draw with Anand
Kramnik to beat Adams
Aronian - Carlsen, not sure about this one. All three results seems equally likely to me, so I'll sit on the fence and go for a draw.
I didn't make a note of Luke's odds at the start of the tournament, but I'm sure they are a lot less now. Does he have a chance of winning?
Nakamura to beat Howell
Short to draw with Anand
Kramnik to beat Adams
Aronian - Carlsen, not sure about this one. All three results seems equally likely to me, so I'll sit on the fence and go for a draw.
I didn't make a note of Luke's odds at the start of the tournament, but I'm sure they are a lot less now. Does he have a chance of winning?
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
My predictions are slightly different to Matthew's:
Nakamura vs Howell - draw
Short vs Anand - win for Anand
Kramnik vs Adams - draw
Aronian vs Carlsen - win for Aronian
Nakamura vs Howell - draw
Short vs Anand - win for Anand
Kramnik vs Adams - draw
Aronian vs Carlsen - win for Aronian
-
- Posts: 4667
- Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:26 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Surely so. Two Black wins will mean that he a good chance of winning any tiebreak. The "but" is that he now has two days off, and I doubt that this will help.Matthew Turner wrote:I'm going to get my predictions in very early for round 5.
Nakamura to beat Howell
Short to draw with Anand
Kramnik to beat Adams
Aronian - Carlsen, not sure about this one. All three results seems equally likely to me, so I'll sit on the fence and go for a draw.
I didn't make a note of Luke's odds at the start of the tournament, but I'm sure they are a lot less now. Does he have a chance of winning?
At the moment I would make Carlsen favourite, Naka second favourite and Luke third. Kramnik has "only" beaten Short but he hasn't much chance to do anything else. Aronian still has it all to do.
The chess has been entertaining but in terms of quality of chess, yesterday was something of a low. Apart from anything else, Adams and Short both seem to be suffering from anaemia when they play White - apparently playing for equality and struggling even to get that. Anand's case is harder to assess, since he is having to hide his "real" prep for the third Boris.
-
- Posts: 1758
- Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:52 pm
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Nick Pert has indicated he will be late in arriving.
-
- Posts: 8843
- Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
- Location: London
Re: London Chess Classic - games only
Ah, the FIDE Open. Not much discussion of that yet.Alex McFarlane wrote:Nick Pert has indicated he will be late in arriving.
Round 5 pairings:
http://www.livechess.co.uk/classic/2011 ... rings.html
No massive surprises (though there were some), and no GM clashes yet, I think.
Yesterday (round 4), Lorin D'Costa beat Mark Hebden in a R+B vs R ending. Let's get that out of the PGN files. Oh. How disappointing. The PGN file seems to be empty. Can anyone else manage to get that game score? It looks like they are not available yet. Probably being entered as we speak (er, type, you know what I mean).