Both Azerbaijani participants won today in the A Group of the Corus supertournament. Mamedyarov outplayed van Wely out of an innocuous b3 Sicilian and crashed through in the Dutchman's time trouble. Radjabov manhandled Eljanov in his favorite King's Indian, the defense that won him so many points in last year's edition. The other decisive game was Gelfand's total implosion against Topalov. We're always pleased to see someone losing in the Petroff, especially someone like Boris who was such a master of the Najdorf.
Radjabov moved up to join Carlsen and Aronian in the lead on +2. It was a quick round. Eljanov's resignation ended it 15 minutes shy of the first time control. Carlsen held comfortably against Ivanchuk's Exchange Ruy, about which Ivanchuk was critical after the game. Aronian got nothing against Vishy in the 6.Bxf6 Slav (no Bh4 this time) and made all of four new moves before offering the draw. Thrilling. Did Black really do anything exceptional in that four-move span or did Aronian just decide not to push his luck against Anand? Kramnik had a new move, 13..Nxd4, against Adams in the Petroff and drew without fanfare. Polgar took on Leko's Marshall in the all-Hungary battle and they followed the hottest line. But Polgar avoided commentary on the recent Shirov wins and played 16.Be3, giving up the d3 pawn immediately. (Down in the B Group Smeets-Bacrot also followed this line, with very different results. Bacrot sacrificed a rook and eventually played mate!) Leko confidently gave up his isolated pawn and his bishop pair held the draw without discussion.
With two quick draws and two games bone dry by the two-hour mark it looked like a rough first day for virgin ICC Chess.FM commentator GM Ronen Har-Zvi. We were starting to swap old KasparovChess.com stories out of desperation. (We worked together in the Israeli office for seven months in 1999. He's still hilarious, now living in New York State.) Things changed suddenly when Gelfand and van Wely resigned a few minutes apart. van Wely had followed my recommendation of putting his bishop on d4 and as usual my successfully predicting a plan presaged doom for the player. (One cute line earlier, pointed out by Ronen and which may have been what van Wely missed, was 17..h6? 18.Nxe6! Rxe4?? 19.Nxe4 winning thanks to mate on d8.) 25.b4! gave White a lasting initiative that Mamedyarov converted with brio as van Wely faded on the clock.
After been squeezed by Kramnik yesterday, Eljanov again looked out of his league today against Radjabov. Black didn't seem to be doing anything special as he swapped off the right pieces and took over the board. Is chess this easy? Eljanov headed for the -3 cellar where Gelfand was waiting for him. Topalov got pressure against Gelfand's ..Bd6 experiment and the game ended abruptly when Gelfand blundered with 26..Qe7?? instead of ..Qh7. Topalov seemed a little embarrassed by the easy win after the game, saying "you don't have to be a genius to find such moves in positions like that." Ouch to Gelfand, but he's playing atrociously so far, with bad blunders in all his losses.
Bacrot now leads the B Group with 4/5 while top seed Cheparinov lost for the third time, this time horribly to L'Ami. IM Braun was finally held to a draw in Group C and still leads Caruana by a half point with 4.5/5
So far it does appear that the torch is being passed to next generation.
Eljanov may become like Bacrot--not quite good enough for the top tier, but a little too good for the next one down. He's young and time will tell.
Wow!
I left my desk for an hour and when I came back I just couldn't believe what these guys did to their relatively reasonable positions.
Maybe this is irrational to say, but Eljanov can solely serve as an adequate reason to prove Elo rating inflation. They should strip him of his GM title!!!! (I'm just kidding, but it's an interesting idea, isn't it?)
And also Smeets. OMG! He just got mated! maybe it was a suicide attempt in a desperate position or severe time pressure.
Topalov's queen hunt was quite entertaining. I don't like this guy as most of the chess fans (except maybe Dimi) in this blog, but.. C'mon! He is an original and adventurous chess player and DO NOT forget his legendary comebacks when he touches the bottom of the table. This has been his habit for a while now.
Kudos to L'Ami for his win over top seeded Cheparinov and Negi (I had given up on the Indian teenager after his two defeats in the beginning).
Every time the Petroff loses, an angel gets its wings.
So far it does appear that the torch is being passed to next generation.
Eljanov may become like Bacrot--not quite good enough for the top tier, but a little too good for the next one down. He's young and time will tell.
-- Posted by: chesstraveler at January 17, 2008 14:16
Yes, players like Bologan, Sokolov, Bacrot, Rublevsky, Kasimdzhanov: they are 2680-2699 material. They are too strong for the 2650s but not strong enough for the 2700s.
Dimi's not alone :)
Negi (I had given up on the Indian teenager after his two defeats in the beginning).
Posted by: Artin at January 17, 2008 14:33
DON'T DISCOUNT HIM SO EASILY. HE IS BACK WITH 3 WINS. ALL GAMES DECISIVE!
Why is there so much anti petroff sentiment? its a perfectly good opening and only drawish in the hands of the worlds best. Incidentally its strange that no one plays e4 against radjabov or d4 against Kramnik as they are both less successful against these openings. Still its difficult to imagine Kramnik losing a petroff like Gelfand did.
Mig wrote: {We're always pleased to see someone losing in the Petroff
}
gmnot wrote: {Every time the Petroff loses, an angel gets its wings.
}
Clearly a lot of people feel there is something wrong (or dissatisfying) with a hard-fought Petroff draw.
Now if they would only explain what that something is, clarity might ensue.
Gene, the problem is that 99% of Petroff draws are not hard-fought.
I think Mig was the first one to use the Angels wings joke concerning the Petroff in a previous Dirt. It's still pretty funny though.
Searching all Petroff's with players rated 2300 and up, my database shows: 7256 games, 60% drawn (4352), White wins 27% (1949), and Black wins 13% (955).
That's some pretty high draw statistics!
Nijboer had an entertaining bishop sacrifice against Krush in Group C. Maybe not the best chess but fun to watch.
"So far it does appear that the torch is being passed to next generation.
Eljanov may become like Bacrot--not quite good enough for the top tier, but a little too good for the next one down. He's young and time will tell.
-- Posted by: chesstraveler at January 17, 2008 14:16
Yes, players like Bologan, Sokolov, Bacrot, Rublevsky, Kasimdzhanov: they are 2680-2699 material. They are too strong for the 2650s but not strong enough for the 2700s.
Posted by: gmnotyet at January 17, 2008 14:58"
It's always interesting to see amateurs comment on grandmasters and the latters' shortcomings. Bologan seemed strong enough to win Dortmund by a full point a few years ago, and Kasim didn't win that FIDE title by beating only 2650's. I agree that these players haven't shown the sort of dominance that the top 10 has, but there could be various reasons for that, not just lack of "strength".
Gene, the problem is that 99% of Petroff draws are not hard-fought.
-- Posted by: kgd at January 17, 2008 17:10
Exactly. I have nothing against a hard-fought draw but most Petroff draws do -not- fall in that category.
It's always interesting to see amateurs comment on grandmasters and the latters' shortcomings. Bologan seemed strong enough to win Dortmund by a full point a few years ago, and Kasim didn't win that FIDE title by beating only 2650's. I agree that these players haven't shown the sort of dominance that the top 10 has, but there could be various reasons for that, not just lack of "strength".
-- Posted by: x y at January 17, 2008 17:47
And what has Bologan done since winning Dortmund 5 years ago? And Kasimdzhanov won the 2004 FIDE title by dominating the blitz/rapid tiebreaks, for goodness sake!
There are the World's elite players (Kramnik, Anand, Topalov, Carlsen, Kamsky, Aronian, etc.) and then there are incredibly talented players who just are not quite that good (Bologan, Sokolov, Rublevsky, Kasimdzhnov).
"I agree that these players haven't shown the sort of dominance that the top 10 has,..."
I believe that's what we amateurs were talking about in the first place.
'but there could be various reasons for that, not just lack of "strength".'
Omit "strength" and fill in the blank and you have a generalization that can apply to any aspect of life. Geez!
"Gene, the problem is that 99% of Petroff draws are not hard-fought."
What's the weather like on your planet?
Everytime the word "draw" is said, GeneM posts a comment and an angel loses its wings.
@Mig: Interesting that you and Ronen know each other. I'm due to play him in a simul here next week. It is nice to have a local GM, to be sure. The only unfortunate thing is that there's almost no point playing in tournaments that he enters--he outrates everybody else around here by about 500 Elo. :)
People that keep dogging Eljanov forget that last year Magnus had equally miserable performance. The year before Mamedjarov and Kamsky scored 4.5/13 Also those tournaments were substantially weaker than this edition of Corus. I hope nobody is going to claim that Carlsen or Mamedjarov are good enough for 2699 only.
Not that I'm going to predict a super-bright future to Eljanov, but judging the guy on one performance is stupid. If such a collapse can happen to super talents like Carlsen or Mamedjarov, it can happen to anyone, especially when you are playing in a super-tournament for the first time.
acirce: how obvious an exaggeration do I have to make for you to understand it? It might be something like 50-70%. However, my point is still valid.
"Stop inviting players who use the Petroff!"
;-)
acirce:
"
"Gene, the problem is that 99% of Petroff draws are not hard-fought."
What's the weather like on your planet?"
We don't all live on the undiscovered planet you inhabit Acirce. Does it rain blue where you are?
Irina Krush has beeen just getting krushed, she ahs no right to be in a tournament of this caliber as her results prove. Go back to girly tournaments honey, you are way out of your league.
It is noticeable that acirce and rdh defend short unfought draws (Petroff and otherwise) and fight against the possible introduction of the highly desirable Sofia rules banning the draw offer.
I wonder if they would do this if it wasn't part of their hero's repertoire?
http://chessarrabal.blogspot.com/2008/01/very-important-letter-kamsky.html
What about the rumour that Rustam Kamsky has sent a letter to Putin asking for Russian citizenship for Gata?
Sorry to be off topic, or if someone already posted this, but I just heard that Bobby Fischer has passed away.
http://www.visir.is/article/20080118/FRETTIR01/80118030
Sad news knight_tour.
Rest in peace, Bobby, you need it more than most.
Shocked and speachless.
My chess idol.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7195840.stm
D
Yes, I just saw this too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2243058,00.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/18/fischer.dies.ap/index.html
Really sad.
Died at an age of 64. That can't be a coincidence..
man, what a sad end. Here's to you Bobby..
"what a sad end"
Why Sir, do you plan another one for yourself ???
troll alert.. nobody responde please
Just switched on the games to see Aronian headed bang down the maon super sharp line. Kram is blitzing out his moves and I can see why. thye are flloewing Radj v Anand this year where after 24 ..Bc8 he played Qd3 and lost white has the amazing 25 Nc3 which looks like it leads to R + B + 3 v R+B+ 2 which I suppose Aronina can hold still not much fun against Kram. dont understand Aroninas prep for this gane - must have seen all this i guess and reckoned he can hold the ending But then why is he thinking so long over his 24th the move ???? he has to play Bc8 - which he has just played! Kram has spent 8 minutes on 24 moves
Sad day guys Bobby Fischer reportedly died to day read it on chessdom ........ kidney probelms apparently - incredible
What do the tablebases say about the Kramnik-Aronian ending after 57...Kf7?
dead draw.
gmnot(yet) and chesstraveler,
unless you're 2500+ or so, you have no clue how string the people you bash are. this is not an insult by any means, btw.
one very good reason why, say, bologan hasn't done anything spectacular since dortmund 200x is that he hasn't gotten invited to play in the big events. do you think it's easy to keep a 2700 rating playing slightly lower-rated players? why do you think many of the "top" players play 20 games a year? not everyone is an ivanchuk. an actually both he and shirov dipped below 2700 are some people were claiming they were washed up.
i just don't like reading nonsense about how weak some (very strong) players are. let elo do its job - it's not like your opinions are based on a whole lot else.
Bobby's passing as sad as it is, came at a moment when we can't dwell too much on it, but rather look at the great games being played at the moment -- Kranmik - Aronian has me glued. That's the best way to deal with sorrow. Otherwise, I have the feeling that Bobby left us many, many years ago in a truer sense...
D.
i just don't like reading nonsense about how weak some (very strong) players are. let elo do its job - it's not like your opinions are based on a whole lot else.
-- Posted by: x y at January 18, 2008 12:30
I fail to see how saying that Bologan is not quite as strong as Kramnik/Anand is insulting to Bologan. That you would even be compared to Kramnik/Anand is a great compliment.
Hmm... Karmnik vs Aronian really left a sour taste. Not especially good sportsmanship from Kramnik's side... Let him defend exactly - which he did - until his clock is nearly out. Then switch strategy and do some moves that Aronian usually have responded to quite easily. But of course with seconds left and no increment.. Impossible for the brain to adopt.
Amazing - Aronian didn't claim the 50 move rule!
Amazing - Aronian didn't claim the 50 move rule!
-- Posted by: evanhaut at January 18, 2008 14:36
That's because there was no 50-move rule. White's pawns stayed on f5 and h6 from move 72 (72 f4-f5) until 100 (100 f5-f6). So that was only 28 moves without a capture or pawn move, not even close to 50.
With today's results Kramnik breaks the 2800 barrier (2803), and Carlsen, at 17 years of age, advances to 7th place in the world with 2748!
If he continues the tournament like this (although I doubt it) he could very well be 5th in the world after Corus.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessuser?uname=frogbert
Well... I said a few days ago (yes I know, so many of my predictions are true that it's boring) that Kramnik (who was at that time 3rd in the tournament behind Aronian and Carlsen) would beat the two leaders, who are his expiatory victims.
For the first one, it's done. We'll see within a few days if the second one has made enough progresses to hope for a better destiny.
Kramnik's percentage with white since his comeback to chess after his illness is simply astonishing, as is amazing his ability to never loose a game. And since he's not playing with the world champ crown on his head I've got the feeling that he's even stronger, showing an ability to perform at 2900 as if it were natural...
Kasparov made his living on his madman's work, preparation, lab novelties, and outplayed his opponents in most cases in the opening phase. 2600 GMs were saying during his reign that Kasparov was not that frightening once they managed to reach the 20th move against him in an equal position... Kramnik is just the opposite. He's transforming almost equal positions in victories, with increasing pressure on 100 moves games. He is just displaying his huge natural talent, probably the best chess understanding a chess player ever had. Would he play with black pieces with the same determination he's playing with white, he would be even more impressive. But I guess he knows what he's doing, that he instinctively knows that to stand the test of time he can't display fireworks in all his games, as opposed to big attackers like Spassky, Topalov, Shirov who can remain no more than a few years at their top level.
Karpov had that as well. Karjakin and Carlsen seem to have it both. Next years will be passionnating, how long will Kramnik be able to keep his crown against those young terrors?
Oh ... Anand? :o)
x y,
What the hell are you babbling about? I'm not bashing those players and I certainly don't consider any of them "weak." I am only saying that they are not "STRONG" enough to consistently be placed in the top 10 or 12 in the world. That's a fact, so deal with it! I don't need to have a "2500+" rating to express that opinion and I certainly don't need your approval to do so. As far as "nonsense" is concerned, you may want to spend some time in self examination. In other word...get real!
Too bad for Pontus..blundering in a dragon position where he was better. Missing the tactic Nf4...Qc4...Bd4...with the knight fork if white captures the bishop..A typical tactic in the fianchetto kid...sicilian dragon..positions. Tactics...tactics... Musta been in time trouble.