Whew, another busy weekend. Are you boxing up your old chess junk yet? The list of worthy causes is growing!
The top boards on the Experience team added wins on the final day to increase the final margin of their victory in the NH Tournament to five points, 27.5-22.5. Svidler beat Nakamura for the second time and Nielsen beat Hou Yifan; both wins came with the black pieces. Jan Smeets drew with van Wely after one original move in a, fittingly enough, Scheveningen Sicilian. That sealed his top placement in the Rising Stars group, which means he'll play at the Melody Amber rapid/blindfold supertournament in Nice next year. The affable Dutch champion came on Chess.FM for a while to chat and sounded as surprised as the rest of us! He's studying economics at university and doesn't play often, but the 24-year-old said he'd postpone some of his studies to make a go of it at Amber next March. Congrats to him on the big win.
Nakamura's misery continued and he lost his second white in a row. In the 8th round Beliavsky's strong center play out of a Giuoco Piano led to a kingside attack that won material. Today the American champ's desire to take the opening into less charted waters earned him an inferior position. Avoiding Svidler's renown expertise in the Grunfeld isn't a bad idea, of course, but the GM consensus today was that Black and his big lead in development were for choice after just a dozen moves. Nakamura got his chances in tactical complications, however, and had he played 21.d6!? things might have followed a very different path. Incredibly, the typically insanely fast American champion was already in severe time trouble (! Nakamura!) by the time he blundered with 24.Re1. (24.Rd1 is the only reasonable defense.) Svidler didn't miss his chance and scored a tactical knockout with 24..Ng4! It would have been even faster had he then found the pretty 26..Bh6! Larry Christiansen showed on ICC Chess.FM.
Nielsen, the top overall scorer in the event with a solid +3, also showed that the veterans don't only win with long endgame grinds. He offered a piece sacrifice against Hou Yifan in a line of the Giuoco Piano (what is this, 1840?) that has been considered bad for White since Shirov beat Adams in their candidates match in 2007. The slow white play with h3 and Nh2 allows Black a quick attack on the g-file with ..g5 and ..g4 and it didn't seem like Hou Yifan had seen it before. White was already close to lost after 12..gxh3!, although to the Chinese's credit she found enough play to make Nielsen work a little for the win.
Caruana finished second on the youth team with an even score. He scored his only win against Svidler in the 9th round when the Russian underestimated the dangers in an endgame where he was better for a long time and then suddenly losing to a runaway black h-pawn. The Brooklyn/Italian teen missed a win against Nielsen a day earlier in a wonderfully sharp game. The clearest win was going into a winning pawn endgame with 35.Re7+ Bf7 36.Rxf7+! and White wins when all the pieces come off. The a-pawn becomes a decoy that gives the white king enough time to come around and take the g-pawn. White's g-pawn is faster than black's d-pawn.
Stellwagen also showed signs of life in the later rounds, though he'll be remembered most for what he missed in his win against van Wely in the 9th. Some nice preparation based on van Wely's KID win over Radjabov at the 2008 Olympiad gave Stellwagen a nice attack. Apparently van Wely hadn't spent much time analyzing his victory because he spent a lot of time and almost immediately blundered. The computers all suddenly went nuts announced a spectacular mate that few if any of the assembled Grandmaster spectators could see. Stellwagen spent a long time but couldn't find it either, even when presented with two chances. Lucky for him and his family he went on to win anyway; had he not he would have been on suicide watch for a while. Stellwagen's missed immortal game went 28..Bc3+ 29.Bd2 Qg3! 30.Bxc3 e3! 31.Qd4 Rf1+! 32.Kxf1 Qf2#. Black is down a knight, bishop, and rook but mates with just his queen and a pawn. Legendary. Such a shame. Plus, missing the mate cost Stellwagen most of the much-coveted bragging rights over van Wely.
Nakamura's miserable health status didn't stop him from playing some very entertaining and aggressive chess; it only stopped him from playing good chess most of the time. He'll shed a huge chunk of rating points, though in a custom-made twist FIDE has decided to put out the first ever September rating list that of course doesn't include this result. That locks Nakamura in at 2735 and the #16 spot in the world. Apparently the rating list is now going to come out every two months.
Pity Stellwagen missed that mate - although to be fair, I doubt many of the top players would've seen it without the help of Fritz or Rybka.
Hou Yifan is only 15, I'm not suprised that she hasn't memorized all opening theroy yet. I'm sure she'll learn it in time, though.
Smeets winning was a suprising result, specially as he said he doesn't play often! It'll be good to see a new face at Amber.
"Apparently the rating list is now going to come out every two months."
That's not really news, Mig - it was decided in Dresden last year, together with the doubling of the Ks. The latter was later reversed, but obviously the change to 6 rating periods was not affected.
Anybody who are aquainted with changes to the rating regulations, knew that the changes were to take effect from July 1st 2009. Hence, this comment - "in a custom-made twist FIDE has decided to put out the first ever September rating list" - says more about you than FIDE in this case. :o)
Sorry!
I don't think Mig was genuinely surprised to see the new rating list 'out of the blue' ("hey, wasn't this due only 1st October?"); I think his closing statement was deep irony.
But yes, the comment says something about Mig: it's a golden opportunity to combine his negative attitude towards FIDE and his positive attitude towards Nakamura in just a few sentences.
Both 'attitudes' are legitimate, as long as facts are still represented correctly. Concerning Nakamura I refer again to the ICC live commentary: "He is undoubtedly the world's strongest rapid player" is, at the very least, a matter of taste. "He won many strong tournaments" is, putting it mildly, an exaggeration.
On the games mentioned:
Caruana-Nielsen: During the live commentary GM Benjamin had mentioned the possible pawn endgame, but (as far as I remember) wasn't 100% sure how to evaluate it. The line one has to calculate is forced but quite long, and [if I got things right] white wins by a single tempo in the end. Also, as far as I remember, Caruana was in at least mild time-trouble. Then it is understandable that he "wanted to play it safe" and create a passed a-pawn while remaining an exchange up. Playing it safe was doing it wrong, but again Benjamin also had trouble realizing just how strong black's threats are with only two pieces involved. Of course the clear win would have occurred in correspondence chess, but that's another story ... .
Van Wely-Stellwagen: Interesting that "few if any of the assembled Grandmaster spectators" saw the mate, while BM (blogging master) Luke saw it immediately. Sometimes amateurs have their moments ... .
"'He is undoubtedly the world's strongest rapid player' is, at the very least, a matter of taste"
Some would certainly see Aronian and Anand as capable of playing rapid chess on almost the same level as Nakamura :)
This time the "oldies but goodies" clearly won the generational head-to -head.
Smeets had a good tournament and deservedly got the place for next year Amber.
Caruana isn't in a brilliant period and just did what was required from him ( 50 % )
Stellwagen more or less managed to get a decent score , if we consider his rating.
Nakamura was the delusion , even if his health problems influenced his bad performance. We will see how much his score was influenced by his illness, or an over evaluation of his playing stenght was finally discovered , in the next future.
Add Grischuk, Morozevich and Kramnik there.
But Naka is probably a top-10 rapid player.
It was somewhat easy to see. I always start by looking at checks first, so 28...Bc3+ was the first move I looked at. If I can't check, and there is no immediate and safe win of material, I try to find a way to threaten a check. So, after 28...Bc3+ 29.Bd2 I looked for a way to threaten a check, and of course, 29...Qg3 just lit up the board. After that, just seal in the King with e3 and it's over and done. I think the whole process took me less than a minute, and I was amazed that Stellwagen kept thinking, thinking, thinking. I thought there was some type of delay coming from the site and that the board would soon show 28...Bc3+ followed by 0 - 1.
I find it hard to believe that "few Grandmasters" were able to see this at the time. I am about 600 elo points lower than the average GM. I practice on the daily problem at chessgames.com and seem to do well there, plus I do fine playing online, at least in tactics until I blunder away my advantage in the ending. Mig must be just using some of his writer's hype to make the story more interesting. I would be willing to bet that if 50 GMs saw this position, the overwhelming majority of them would find this mate. If it is really true that "few" of the GM spectators found the mate, then the ones that missed it must have been distracted somehow. Stellwagen's thought process broke down and he missed it, but that can happen with a clock ticking right next to the board. All I was doing was looking at my computer screen at home, nice and relaxed. After I found the mate, I switched on Rybka and she confirmed it.
Re: rapid chess - there might be some anomalies but Shipov's probably right in saying that in blitz upwards the best players are simply the players who are best at classical chess. He does acknowledge Nakamura as the best bullet player, though (a specialist skill).
http://www.pogonina.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75
Natalia Pogonina asked Shipov what he thought about women in chess, and in his answer, he said:
"They should be promoted, served to the public with a special souse. Of course, playing in bikinis would be over-doing, but the factor of beauty should somehow be exploited."
I nominate chess auditor to be in charge of this exploitation.
Luke,
perhaps most GM's didn't consider the mate because black was winning anyway. Stelwagen probably didn't consider the mating possibilty x moves before that position but he probably saw Bxa8 with advantage for him. If the whole variation depended on him finding the mate or going bust it would have been an entirely different position.
Reminds me of a discussion between a strong player and an other less strong player after a game: the lesser player told the stronger player that he had missed a fairly easy mate in 5 (if you see it). The strong player looked at the position and admitted that the other player was right but that he didn't mind because the move he played led to a won endgame.
Anyway still impressive that you found it.
This comes down to "if you find a win, don't bother looking for another one" (even if that other one is safer and/or faster). It worked for Stellwagen against Van Wely. In two other recent games it didn't work in similar(?) situations:
Caruana - Nielsen, NH tournament (cf. above)
Morozevich - Vachier-Lagrave, Biel 2009.
As far as GMs (or any player) being able to find the forced mate, guess many would succeed if it was a daily problem at chessgames.com - read: if one knows that there is a forced and slightly unusual sequence of moves.
I have to agree with Luke on this one. I found the mate almost instantly myself... watching online from a library computer with no access to any engine. I don't believe for a second a GM would miss this mate.
a spectating GM* obviously that is the kind of mate easy to miss in the game itself cause you have other winning continuations.
Being a GM does not mean you never miss a mate. It just means it is much less likely to happen. Kramnik has missed a mate in 1.
I missed a mate too, when he moved to Australia.
too true of course GMs miss mates sometimes but to give a position where there is mate you would never expect MAJORITY of GMs to miss said mate.
Regarding the ranking list: Didn't they say they would provide an alternative list with the K-factor adjusted as originally planned? I would like to see how much difference it would make. Ivanchuk provided a best case study.
I think they reversed that decision too - based on analysis showing that a doubled K would make inflation (as per Sonas' new definition - see his ChessBase article) clearly worse. Hence, "lab simulations" seem to have removed the need for further "testing".
Ivanchuk would've surely been a fun example - being underrated at 2703 (like he was), he would've gained not 53 but 106 points, clocking in at 2809 for the September list. :o)
Btw, Bartleby - do you have any suggestion on how to get results from "USA open 1990"?
I found this source:
http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/USA_op_1990
but it only contains one game for Kamsky - is it possible that he withdrew? Maybe the easiest would be to write an email to Kamsky and ask about the missing results ;o)
@Bartleby: You - or anyone else - can create an alternative list with different K-factors: Chessvibes has the top 100 including changes with respect to the previous list:
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/ivanchuk-re-enters-top-10-on-new-fide-rating-list/#more-15711
Just double the rating gains (or losses) for each player: As frogbert mentioned, Ivanchuk would be at 2809 and #2. Nakamura would be at 2760 and - for the time being - #8. Kramnik would be at 2785, getting rather close to Anand's 2788. And so on ... .
2809? - So they screwed him again? In that case, I'm all for the democratically elected, dynamic shiny new K factor...
Search for the lost Kamsky games: I have the informators from back then, but there are no games you haven't mentioned already. Maybe this is new: In Bern open his result was 3-8. with 7/9. The USA open seems to be missing completely.
"Maybe this is new: In Bern open his result was 3-8. with 7/9. The USA open seems to be missing completely."
Thanks - at least it confirms that I need 5 more results from Bern open 1990. Yudasin finished 2nd or shared 1st in USA open (as the event is tagged as in multiple bases), with 9 of 12. If Kamsky played several rounds there, it's a bit strange that only one of his games is preserved, I think - but if my math is correct, then it means that 6 of 9 missing games are accounted for (even if I only have one of those 6 results). Maybe Kamsky played 4 rounds in USA open and withdrew for some reason?
It appears that Chess Magazine covered Bern open in volume 55 back in 1990, btw - but I doubt they printed complete round results... ;o)
"You - or anyone else - can create an alternative list with different K-factors"
But seeing the effect for the November list will be practically impossible, since you would then have to do all calculations yourself, in addition to calculating 20K september ratings for every opponent of every player you care about... :o)
Frogbert, the best way to get rating information pre 1991 on US Tournaments is to contact Tim Just. He keeps that data in physical paper format. Politely email him and ask for what you wish. timjust@comcast.net
"(what is this, 1840?)"
Pearls before swine, Mig. ;)
Chessdom says that Dominguez and Cheparinov are the seconds of Topalov for the Anand match.
I was looking at the rules of the Anand-Topalov match. Bulgaria seems to be the only bidder and Anand is not likely to play in Bulgaria. In the event of Anand not playing he is supposed to be replaced by VLADIMIR KRAMNIK.
I think London is going to try to bid for the WC match.
¨In the event of Anand not playing he is supposed to be replaced by VLADIMIR KRAMNIK.¨
Is that true ? Why on earth ? Under what excuse?
Sounds fiction to me.
IMO the match is going to happen anyway , in fact i believe this is conected with Bilbao´s humble prices for this year , Bulgaria´s bid is a very clever way of ensuring that the match will happen or at least Topa will enjoy the proper compensation if Vishy refuses to play for whatever reason.
Those who wondered (and complained) about seeing Dominguez on almost every tournament now may realize that Silvio was casting seconds for Topa :)
:)
I think Anand should approach Carlsen and Aronian to be his seconds.
Would be fun.
"clocking in at 2809 for the September list"
He scored 2805 over 42 games in the 2 months, and would go from 2703 to 2809. The Kamsky effect again?
Not really. It would've been based on a K of 20 (Kamsky only got "helped" by a K of "only" 15 instead of 10), and a difference of 2805 and 2809 is hardly even academic... :o)
Paying a Cuban second a half years salary is probably much less costly than paying, let’s say a Dane. (One of Anands seconds, Peter Heine Nielsen, is from Denmark, -a high cost country).
-Silvio is solving the needs of Topalov AND keeping costs low.
If Anand for some reason does not play in Sofia then he will be replaced by Kamsky not Kramnik.
Stellwagen missed the mate...no big deal. There isn't a GM in chess history who hasn't. His play is exciting and aggressive, and there is a huge difference between sitting at the board across from van Wely and sitting in front of your computer at home. Daniel continues to improve and his immortal game will come.
This event showed that the play GM Neilsen is quite strong despite the fact that we do not get to see him often, and that GM Smeets can rise to the occasion. And wasn't it wonderful to see Gm Beliavsky rebound after a tough start, and watch the chess of the great Ljubojevic? Truly inspiring.
As for Nakamura I hope his health problems are only a temporary misfortune. Good thoughts to him.
Lots of rumors around the Topalov-Anand match ... . As far as I know (or read), there is at least interest from other countries besides Bulgaria, namely India and Azerbaijan [now caleague also mentions England, this is new to me]. The Bulgarians only make more noise:
- hinting at FIDE connections
- emphasizing their connections with the Bulgarian government, with the objective to financially outcompete other bidders. Hence, literally at any prize, they want to avoid a match in "Anand country" or on neutral ground.
- discrediting their competitors, saying that India wouldn't be up to the task of organizing the match
@chessplayer and jaideepblue: What are your respective sources oncerning possible replacements for Anand? I guess if either player refuses to play, the other one will be awarded the title without playing (is THAT what Bulgaria has in mind?). But indeed Kramnik (2nd in the Mexico WCh tournament) would be the most logical replacement for Anand, and Kamsky would be a logical replacement for Topalov.
The second scenario could happen if FIDE decides to have the match on neutral grounds, even if the Bulgarian prizefund is higher. It wouldn't be the first time that Topalov doesn't play an event for which he is qualified "because the money doesn't meet his expectations" ... .
@playjunior: There are ongoing rumors that Anand does work with Carlsen - when asked, Carlsen neither confirmed nor denied, but just smiled. In any case, Anand's second Peter Heine Nielsen also works with Magnus Carlsen.
Regarding Manu's hints that
- Bilbao prize money is diverted to the Bulgarian bid, and
- Danailov controls invitations (also) for Corus and Linares
Well, I doubt that he has such inside information ... .
"There are ongoing rumors that Anand does work with Carlsen - when asked, Carlsen neither confirmed nor denied, but just smiled."
What occasion are you referring to? Anand confirmed before the Bonn match that he had been working with Carlsen (something Kramnik had actually already mentioned before). Whether they have also been working afterwards I don't know. Is that what Carlsen was asked?
Yes, I had the Bonn match in mind. Don't ask me to find back the source, but I am pretty sure that I read about Carlsen's smile at the time (or even saw it in a video?). But apparently I missed that Anand did confirm such rumors.
Of course there are still nuances:
- Did Anand and Carlsen work together at some stage?
- Was Carlsen directly involved in Anand's match preparation?
- Was Carlsen Anand's secret, unofficial extra second?
It would have been hard to keep secret if Carlsen was actually present in Bonn - even if he checked in under a pseudonym and never left his hotel room during the entire match!? But phone calls or emails could be kept secret ... .
Which part of " IMO " you don't understand , Thomas ?
I never claimed to have inside information , don't change my words again you douche bag.
You heard me.
The London Chess Classic will surely be a hot topic of conversation here in December. If Nakamura doesn't finish in the top 3, it will be considered a disappointment.
The source for Kramnik replacing Anand and Kamsky replacing Topalov is in the FIDE rules for the world championship.
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3965-anand-topalov-match-bidding-procedure
The news of Carlsen working with Anand was first disclosed by Kramnik in an interview with Sports Express.
Anand has acknowledged after the Bonn match that Carlsen visited him for a few days after Bilbao to play some warmup matches.
At the time of the Bonn match Carlsen was playing in some other event.
" 3.6.2 If a player refuses to participate in the World Championship Match, he will be replaced
as follows: GM Vladimir Kramnik replaces the World champion Vishy Anand and GM Gata
Kamsky replaces challenger GM Veselin Topalov. In case any or both players refuse to
participate when invited, the rating list of January 2010 will be used to determine their
replacements. "
WTF? the scenario seems very unlikely to happen but this must be a joke , nore Kramnik or Kamsky (in fact nobody) should have the right to play for the title unless winning the proper qualification process .
Kramnik has really made a habit about losing to reach WCH matches , and then one has to hear him complaining about Kamsky's rights.
Amazing ...
"Kramnik has really made a habit about losing to reach WCH matches"
Actually that's how Topalov got to play Kamsky, so you probably don't want to criticise others too strongly. And in any case the only conceivable situation in which Krammnik would ever play Topalov again in a match is if one of them becomes the undisputed world champion. If Anand doesn't play then Topalov can't become WC, so there'd be no reason to play him. I suppose there's a slight chance Anand would play Kamsky if Topalov pulled out, but it also seems unlikely.
The most curious item in that list of rules is that if the match is played in one of the participants' home countries the opponent gets an extra 100,000 euros. Topalov seems so cash driven that maybe the plan really is to get the match to take place in India, but with a minimum prize fund of 3 million euros!?
"the only conceivable situation in which Krammnik would ever play Topalov again in a match is if one of them becomes the undisputed world champion."
Not quite, imagine the following combination of facts or events:
- The forthcoming candidates tournament will consist of matches rather than a (double) round-robin
- Kramnik qualifies by rating
- Topalov "qualifies" by losing his match against Anand
For each 'event', I would estimate a probability of roughly 50%. Combined it's then 12.5% - actually still lower because they won't automatically be paired against each other. But still this is not "inconceivable" ... .
Manu, of course you are free to have any opinions or beliefs ... but you might as well keep them to yourself if there is nothing to support your statements. And you could only have supporting evidence if you had some inside information.
"Manu, of course you are free to have any opinions or beliefs ... but you might as well keep them to yourself if there is nothing to support your statements."
Listen to me you idiot , after poluting the entire web with your stupidity , where do you find the balls to ask another person to shut up?
For the sake of this thread don't answer my posts anymore.
You're completely out of order, Manu. You did imply, 1) that Danailov diverted the potential Bilbao prize fund to the WC match and, 2) that he was able to decide on Dominguez playing at Corus and Linares.
Those are serious statements (the first is almost an allegation), so it's perfectly reasonable to ask you to support them.
Thomas, point taken about a possible Topalov-Kramnik match - I'm sure you agree with the main point that Kramnik would never agree to play Topalov in place of Anand.
I am not , i said ¨i believed¨, ¨IMO¨ ,and i even put 2 smileys after the Dominguez remark ,
and never claimed my assumptions were based on any inside information...
I am going to ask you the same question that Thomas couldn´t answer ..:
Which part of ¨IMO¨ you don´t understand?
In the same way i am not asking you for proof for this statement , because it is obvious that is only your opinion :
¨I'm sure you agree with the main point that Kramnik would never agree to play Topalov in place of Anand.¨
Specially since the guy has accepted that kind of gifts in the past..
So mishamp , when the most prolific idiot that this forums have ever seen asks me for evidence of a simple supposition , it is only fitting to bash him a little bit .
Stay clear.
Rubbish, Manu. I understand you were expressing an opinion, as did Thomas - that doesn't mean it's unreasonable to ask you to justify it.
Re: Kramnik not playing Topalov - it'd be perfectly normal (that's the whole point of publicly posting an opinion) for you to ask me to back it up. And of course I would. Even you'd admit that Kramnik's not going to choose to play Topalov again lightly (knowing how Danailov will behave). And as you keep pointing out he refused a million euros (?) to play a match with Topalov before, so he's not desperate for the money. Why would he suddenly choose to play a match when no-one, except perhaps FIDE, would consider Topalov to be world champion!?!
Asking to justify an opinion is a completely different thing of what Thomas was doing, mishamp.
If you take a closer look , in spite of a disguise of politeness , Thomas was trying to aply censorship in an open forum , the same open forum that sees him posting every-single-little-thing that he feels relevant day after day.
About Kramnik being in the contract as a replacement for Vishy , well , what can anyone say?
I cannot believe i heard him complaining about Kamsky´s rights, is just too absurd.
Of course everything i said is just my opinion , or like a giant from the tv used to say: ¨Por lo menos así lo veo yo¨.
We just have to wait for another country to make a proper bid for the match.
If just the Bulgarian bid will stand when the bidding period will be expired , no other chance for Anand but to play ..
"About Kramnik being in the contract as a replacement for Vishy , well , what can anyone say?
I cannot believe i heard him complaining about Kamsky´s rights, is just too absurd."
Kramnik lost the last WC match to Anand, Kamsky lost a match to Topalov, so there's not really anything especially odd about them being the replacements for the players in the match (it's odd that Kamsky played Topalov, though at least Kamsky qualified).
What is absurd is to suggest that Kramnik has anything to do with FIDE's regulations - or to believe that he would actually play Topalov if Anand pulled out. It's nothing to do with Kramnik and it's not going to happen, so it's a silly point to try and use to attack Kramnik.
As Manu tries to apply censorship ("don't reply to my posts any more"), I will reply to mishanp's rather than Manu's post ,:):
Yes, in principle Kramnik could be willing to replace Anand "in case of need" (i.e. if such a situation should arise), just like he once played Kasparov in Shirov's place - but for how long will this be mentioned and held against him?
On the other hand, Kramnik would have even stronger reasons than Anand for not wanting to play in Bulgaria ... [my opinion, and I just need to say "Elista" for supporting facts].
Nobody is atacking Kramnik ,mishamp , the guy is clearly inocent , he knows nothing about this silly point in the contract and would never use any influence he may have to his advantage , more over he will continue his quest against other people´s privileges with renewed energy after this comertials.
Location might be an issue in the distant future if Topalov was the undisputed champion and Kramnik was going to be the challenger - but now (next April) it's beside the point. Kramnik wouldn't play because
Anand is the champion and only ceases to be the champion if he loses a match. FIDE might feel otherwise (they want their match pay day) but can you really see Kramnik acknowledging that Anand forfeited the title to Topalov without playing? :)
Glad we agree, Manu. You make more sense when you're trying to be sarcastic :)
August 6: ...people who like calling names are usually cowards. --manu
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.
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Sept 3: ...don't change my words again you douche bag. --manu
Sept 3: ...Listen to me you idiot, after poluting the entire web with your stupidity... --manu
Sept 3: ...the most prolific idiot that this forums have ever seen... --manu
Exciting news from Boiko Borisov & co. :) (I loved Danailov's comments yesterday that the match would be great PR for Bulgaria - surely it'd be better simply to invade a small country!?)
http://previews.chessdom.com/topalov-anand-sofia
As I understand it that means they're actually only bidding double the agreed minimum - as I presume FIDE's 1 million was excluding taxes and organisation.
Again showing that you can´t read a simple phrase , i said those who LIKE calling names , like you.
You definitely have something against Bulgarians , what is your nationality?
English/Irish. We're well-known for our bitter hatred of Bulgaria :)
Besides, I was just sympathising with the country receiving the PR "boost" of a chess match involving Danailov. And you must admit Boiko doesn't sound like a pleasant man.
Plus I put an almost positive spin ("double the agreed minimum") on some bad press. I could have said they'd reduced the amount by a million euros - seeing as Danailov previously promised a prize fund of 3 million, not 2 million. I'm guessing they were trying to trick the Indians into making a massive bid (as I said - the contract offers a 100,000 euro bonus to play "away", so I could see Danailov wanting to take that).
Ray Robson in World Cup as President's nominee.
I didn´t know Irish people had something against Bulgarians ... Technically you are a racist , aren´t you?
I can only speak for myself, but when I wrote "Bulgarians" I was referring to Danailov, Topalov, Borisov, Sergiev (president of the Bulgarian Chess Federation) and others involved in the bid.
I didn't mean the entire country or the entire people ... indeed I wonder if all "average Bulgarians on the street" like the idea of spending millions of government (tax) money on the match - while Borisov admitted that the country is poor and in desperate need of subsidies from Brussels.
Yes, that's how I'd sum up my dislike of two and a half people who happen to be Bulgarians :)
p.s. the half is for Topalov - I can never shake the feeling that he's just a little gullible and easily manipulated.
To be fair, I imagine sponsoring Topalov is popular in Bulgaria. It's a small country and they probably don't have too much else to shout about in sports (presumably football's not quite as popular without Stoichkov!?).
In passing, I stumbled upon an interview with Lilit Mkrtchian (it's in Russian and charming if a little Chessbase-like in its questioning of her marital status etc.!) - she mentions there that she's fully sponsored by the government, as are all the other leading Armenian players. It sounds like a great life - but again, as chess is very popular in Armenia it's fair enough. http://russiachess.org/content/view/2645/377/
And yet you don´t like when someone says anything about Kramnik , interesting.
May i ask what Kramnik represents for you?
"So mishamp , when the most prolific idiot that this forums have ever seen asks me for evidence..."
To clarify: You asked yourself for evidence, and then refused to answer?
"And yet you don´t like when someone says anything about Kramnik , interesting." It's pretty banal, actually. Kramnik's unfairly attacked so I defend him. If you unfairly attack Anand or Carlsen I'll defend them too. I do like Kramnik as a chess player and a person, but that's beside the point.
I don´t know what are you talking about.
Topalov's gracious statement before Elista Game Six, about an announced refusal to shake hands with Kramnik:
"Perhaps it sounded too emotional; it is nothing for me to be proud of. I shook hands with Kramnik, and the match continued. I believe that his play is fair, and my decision to continue the match proves it. We are humans, and sometimes we make mistakes."
It's such generous, human conduct that leads folks to conclude that the bizarre eruptions from Team Topalov are orchestrated by Danailov. And that in going along with them, Topalov shows himself "a little" gullible and easily manipulated.
You are really consistent with your taste , you just called Topalov an easily manipulated little gullible but claim to be the defender of those unfairly atacked ...
Oh oh i see , you were trying to insult me in a clever way , well , better luck next time :)
mishanp-- Your comments don't appear to consitute an attack; they rather tend to excuse some of Topalov's poor behavior.
Quely-- Nicely done as usual.
"I didn´t know Irish people had something against Bulgarians ... Technically you are a racist , aren´t you?"
I didn't realize that Bulgarians were their own race. I learn something new on here everyday.
Read and learn.
Racism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.[1] In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment, while Reverse discrimination favours members of a historically disadvantaged group at the expense of those of a historically advantaged group. Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, even though anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic differences. According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination.
You were saying...
I said I learn something everyday. Sorry that I don't know how to say that in Spanish.
Don´t blame yourself , Why would a monkey need a pencil?
Sorry, English isn't my first language either, so I'm not always familiar with your cogent sayings. I just hope it wasn't a racist remark, or else you may need to scold yourself.
You are the one who faked Luke´s posts , aren´t you?
As Manu's insults continue - against other posters (like me) as well as against Kramnik ... quoting from his reply to Greg Koster:
"i said those who LIKE calling names ..."
Apparently Manu doesn't like what he is doing, if so: Kudos to our Argentinian colleague for reluctantly doing what has to be done ... but does it have to be done??
Where did i insulted Kramnik ?
Nope, just one.
The #1 name-caller in the blog doesn't like what he's doing but does it anyway.
Certainly there's no duty to call names so perhaps it's a compulsion; maybe he just can't help himself.
Or maybe he's basically a nice guy but just a little gullible and easily manipulated and his manager is making him do it.
The ¨number1 name-caller¨ , Lol ...
Here's the peace pipe. Everybody sit back and inhale deep.
This bickering is playing havoc with my already poor digestion.
"Here's the peace pipe. Everybody sit back and inhale deep."
It needs more ice cubes. ;)
Amen, brother.
Looks like Bulgaria doesn't have the money in the pocket for the Anand - Topalov match. Just now, the prime minister of Bulgaria is asking for sponsorship.
http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_English/News/0309B-14.htm
They seem to have money in banks and calling local investors to the event , which is standar procedure in many countries for this type of events...
Seriously , there is some anti Bulgarian thing going on @here , some people need to understand that Kramnik is out of the picture and no matter how hard they wish against the Bulgarians , that wont bring Vlady closer to a WCh match.
And talking about matches , here chessbase shows again that they will not let good journalism spoil their war against Topa:
¨The resulting split in the chess world, and rival world title claimants, was only finally laid to rest in December 2008, when Anand's match win over Kramnik finally reunited the title.¨
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5736
As far as i understood the title was reunited in Elista , but then again i didn´t know about Kramnik being in the next WCH contract , so maybe is better to relax and wait for the next happy hour.
"Here's the peace pipe. Everybody sit back and inhale deep."
Back in 1977, I was returning to college for my sophmore year. I had attended classes during the summer, and in the short break between the end of summer classes and the beginning of the fall semester, I used some of my book money to obtain an exceptional peace pipe filler from Hawaii (the Kona area to be exact).
I came back to school a couple of days before the dorms opened in order to visit and carouse with some old friends. I headed across the campus to pick up some refreshments at the local convenience store, and on my way home realized that I had somehow misplaced my package.
The next several eons of my life were spent retracing my steps, searching in vain for the lost item. Sigh.
Did any of you find it?
The best pipe filler is free pipe filler. ;)
"some people need to understand that Kramnik is out of the picture ..."
Chessplayer was the only one, and he simply pointed out that - according to the rules - Kramnik is a potential replacement for Anand. There are three situations when this could become relevant:
1) Anand refuses to play in Bulgaria. So actually, "wish[ing] against the Bulgarians" (and those wishes coming true) would decrease Kramnik's [already non-existing] chances to play the next WCh match ... . All other things aside, not that Kramnik would be keen on playing in Bulgaria.
2) Anand suddenly dies (which can happen to anyone)
3) Anand suddenly decides to quit chess (which also 'happened' to Kasparov when he was still at or near the peak at his career).
In all these situations, some people might prefer if Topalov gets the WCh title for free.
And regarding chessplayer's latest post: While Manu's interpretation or opinion is one possibility, it is still at least odd and ambiguous to declare that you have the money secured, and ask for sponsors just a few hours later ... .
What about if anyone come up with the required minimum bid ? Will FIDE call it a day about this WCH cycle or move it to Elista with some pocket money from Kirsan just to save face ?
Anand is the Champ and Topalov is rated 25 points higher. Who do you guys think would win? I'll take Anand or Kramnik against anyone until someone else proves they can win under the pressure of the World Championship.
Anand should not play in Bulgaria? Is there a bid from Bulgaria? Anand should play in India or in some neutral venue!