No, that's not the name of a new chess star from the Far East. It was my reaction when I stumbled into this new music video from Manic Street Preachers. The jackals from Sony will probably hunt it down and make sure nobody see it, so be quick.
Manic Street Preachers - (Its Not War) Just The End Of Love
[Some people can't view it, probably region-based IP blocking. Try their official site. I assume it will eventually make it to YouTube or their MySpace page, etc. It's worth the wait.]
You might recognize the actor from The Damned United. You'll recognize who he is playing in around 10 seconds, even if they didn't mention him specifically in interviews about the making of the video. (Do watch first.) I'm willing to go out on a limb and call this the best ever chess-themed music video for a song that vaguely sounds like a Steps ripoff. Probably.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to rally here this week for Shanghai, although I'll probably be on the road soon to beat some votes out of anyone Garry leaves alive on his Latin American tour. I'm usually more of a misericorde, but the gloves are off in the final month.
Reuben Fine would have a thing or two to say about this ...
Too late! Got to the clip just 90 minutes after Mig posted it and already it was inoperative, with the message 'This video is not currently available in your country.' Is this just in Australia or have the intellectual property police banned it everywhere?
Same thing in (Australia - al).
Same in France. Good to see Mig back, as ironical as it may sound. Well, just a month to finish!.
Probably just detecting your region and blocking you. Weasels. Still works for me. It was only released a few days ago and it's not on YouTube, etc. yet. This seems to be a pirate-ish version. Try this page on their official site.
http://t.co/mMdLoHs
Very interesting video! Note that it's all a single, fluid and well choreographed take. The final moments call for some sort of pun, don't they Mig? All I can think of is that Fischer never showed such creativity at the board.
Unrealistic. ;)
She's clearly a double-agent sent by Kirsan to put the final nail in Kaspy's moribund campaign! The corrupt politicians in Southamerica are ready to take the money from anyone who shows up with some money...including Karpov & Friends...but in the end, they are no fools: they know that they will need a little more once the campaign is over. They will vote for corrupt Kirsan instead of corrupt K/K combo.
Wow. Definitely best chess video ever. First time I ever saw the The Red Dragon used as a phallic symbol...
Silly, unimaginative, and juvenile, including most of the comments. Into the trash bin.
Hag
Shangai,
strange field. It's all about who's going to beat Wang Hao. Only Shirov is a wildcard.
90% chance to see Aronian and Kramnik in the final.
Why does this never happen at the chess tournaments I play in? I must be going to the wrong ones.
Blocked in US.
It's a couple tempi short of an interesting position.
Not a bad video even if the music sounds like something I've heard a thousand times already.
This one's kind of cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM009WDIyg8
Ok Mig, I'll admit to being dense but I don't get it. Who was I supposed to figure out was in the video within 10 seconds? That's Michael Sheen from The Damned United. I did kind of recognize him. He is playing Anna Friel, who I had never heard of before. What am I missing? Just seeking some sparsity from my utter denseness.
Imagine Kramnik & Topalov
NOT blocked in the US. I'm able to view just fine.
The video is an historically accurate recreation of the infamous touch-move incident involving Kasparov and Judit Polgar.
BTW, walking around New York, I have spotted and shaken hands with three famous people: Anatoly Lein, William Lombardy, and . . . Michael Sheen!
Honestly? I don't think so. But I do like the quasi-Ozzy-Osbourne working the demonstration board.
Anna Friel was in the unfortunately short-lived ABC series "Pushing Daisies".
Hey, I think this site has been hacked. Suddenly a new post has appeared.
http://www.youtube.com/user/manicstv#p/a/u/0/hRacII5WXpk
"This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment. It is no longer available in your country."
How can they be so mind-numbingly stupid.
"In the video the 41-year-old plays Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov opposite actress Anna Friel."
What does Kasparov have to do with it?
While players from former USSR countries continue to dominate the top of both the women's and (especially) the men's ratings lists, it's interesting to see that the top three on both lists are non-USSR.
Go Judit go :)
Very nice photo reports from the Amsterdam tournament at Chesspro: http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2010/amsterdam2.html and http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2010/amsterdam3.html
There's almost no text, so need of translation :)
In today's game Aronian-Shirov (rd. 2 from Shanghai) - seems to me Aronian was fortunate/lucky to survive Shirov's attack; anyone see any winning tries for Black? Exciting game!
Not blocked in US. I'm currently in Reno, Nevada and can view it. Remember to take breaks Mig!
Thanks mishanp. Nice photo reports indeed.
Aronian-Shirov trully exciting Rich. I am sure engines will uncover a number of mistakes but a chess game between human players is still a mano a mano strugle decided over the board. The death of chess has been greatly exagerated. The Royal game has been with us in the current form for some five hundred years and it is still alive and well. Now, in respect to that music video, who said chess endings were boring?
I agree. It looks like Aronian was on the ropes for most of the game and one more shot would have put him down. I'm not a strong enough player to find that one more shot, and perhaps it really isn't there after all, and probably Aronian had it all covered anyways. Good game by both players. I wish I could play this good.
I'm glad to see that there are still a few intelligent posters like you and ed instead of the typical sick morons who post nothing of chess value.
Hag
Yeah, overall I'd much rather watch (yet again) the One Night in Bangkok video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqj31VPNoE&feature=related
It is interesting that's it all one single take -- not least because the action's replayed in slow motion.
Anna Friel's a pretty well-known actress in England. She's most famous (well, initially, at least) for doing one of the first lesbian kissing scenes on a British soap opera, Brookside.
I'm intrigued that the setting for this video clearly recalls the late 1950s, early 60s -- height of the Cold War stuff.
I think it should be noted that the clock regulations are shorter in the "Masters" tournaments:
"The rate of play will be 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move number 41"
Which leads to less correct, more faulty/entertaining chess. Like Shirov/Aronian today. The shorter time, the more "human" moves.
PS: Nice video clip. Always a good thing when chess makes it to the mainstream. I liked the end.
"Which leads to less correct, more faulty/entertaining chess." (Bobby Fiske)
You can think that if you want to, and some people get excited watching quick time control chess butchery, but many thoughtful chess players are not entertained by faulty, less correct, crappy moves. Instead, they are disgusted.
Hag
Hag is fat. This makes him perpetually angry.
Speaking of fat, Kramnik has grown a double-chin and beginning to look like soft potato. Welcome to middle age.
Right now, Shirov has played 22 moves with only 11min left before time control at 40 moves. The position is very sharp. If he takes home this game I will be impressed. But fun watching anyway!
I like this shorter classical time control. I think it was a factor also for Magnus Carlsen, when he won so much in recent Masters tournament.
Hmmm, Kramnik seems to have got his openings back to the right level, but then he's making trivial blunders in good positions. It's going to be tough to "qualify" for Bilbao with black against Shirov and Aronian to come!
On another note... I just translated this interview with Vladimir Malakhov: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/09/vladimir-malakhov-chess-player-nuclear-physicist/
He makes some of the most interesting comments on openings and endgames at the top level that I've read in a long time. e.g. he explains that some endgames with elite GMs become a "comedy of errors" because, as some fans have suspected, the GMs simply don't "know" them! They've decided it's not worth the time spent studying some of the more obscure possibilities...
p.s. to make it a little more relevant :) It looks as though Shirov - Wang Hao is about to become the theoretically drawn R v R+B ending that Malakhov mentions he's always won on the stronger side and drawn on the weaker side.
Indeed, Shirov may have read your site, as he won. Kramnik's game is in holidays or something? It's really not his normal level, or then, he's gotten weaker. In any case, his rating won't last long playing like this (sure, he doesn't care, but not to care when you play well is one thing, and not to care when you don't is another one)
Yep, Shirov's an endgame wizard, but that was pretty horrific from Wang Hao.
I don't suppose minor ratings ups and downs worry Kramnik, but why would you think he doesn't care about playing well or badly!? I'd be tempted just to blame the silly time control that all the players are complaining about (see e.g. Aronian after game 2 at Chessvibes) - you get a good position and then don't have time to work out how to win it. Except that today Kramnik seemed to have plenty of time... so, jet lag & humidity? :)
What I meant was that he already made a point about not really caring too much about rating, rather than focusing on the quality of his play. Alas, the last may pull the former down. I don't care too much about his rating, but his current play doesn't look normal. Is it time control, form, or whatever the reason, there's sadly something to be worried about. I hope it's only temporal, his play is so unique.
Are you sure it was all that easy for Black to draw? When I saw the R+B vs R my initial thought was OK, this is drawn, and didn't Shirov have something better earlier, but then he just aced the ending!
Kramnik has said more than once over the last years that reaching #1 on the rating list is a top priority for him, so he probably does care about it. But keeping up with Carlsen won't be easy.
Thanks, Mishanp
Very interesting interview, especially the parts about earning power in chess:
"I’d particularly warn young chess players with a rating of 2550-2600 from becoming professionals, because they’ll face certain problems. Firstly, because chess isn’t as rich a sport as e.g. football, and secondly, because at that level there’s a huge amount of competition. For that group of players the reply to the question of whether they should continue to devote all their time and energy to chess should be “no”. If there’s a chance of achieving success in other spheres of life, then they absolutely should take it. And even child prodigies should bear that in mind."
"A good chess player gets 2-3000/month euro, depending on how strongly he plays."
Forgot to add that GM Malkhov's comments are right on the money (pun intended!). Chess and riches do not go together and that's the reason FIDE ended up in the hands of a lunatic lowlife like Kirsan, with the not-too-bright prospect of going from bad to worse with the nefarious K-K duo.
It's definitely not easy - in fact Hao still had to jettison the pawn to even get to a theoretically drawn position (I assume!?). And the fact that someone like Malakhov (or Keith Arkell - see the comment under my translation) has always won with the extra bishop makes it clear how tricky it is against a good endgame player. Especially with little time.
All that said, Hao could surely have put up more resistance. The Chesspro commentator mentioned pushing the pawn sooner and wondered why Hao voluntarily moved his king to b8.
Who generally says "Oh, ratings are not important to me."?
The Answer: Those who are not good enough to have the highest ratings.
p.s. though until 62...a4 it was still a tablebase draw
And when do they typically say this?
The Answer: When their ratings start to go down.
And who answers their own questions? Rhetorical questioners, that's who.
Well, no-one can claim that Kramnik isn't going all out to try and improve his position in the tournament! http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess/tfd.htm
Though it seems to have gone slightly wrong. I've often thought if Kramnik kept playing fast in such positions where he's got a big time advantage he might at least pressurise his opponent into blundering, but when his position becomes dubious he tends to slow down and take long thinks instead...
Fantastic game! Though not sure where it's going... I think it's too early in the morning for the Chesspro commentators as they've been a long way behind the games.
Indeed it seems like a good fight. Has Shirov replayed his old-youth f3 Nimzo lately? If not, that's a surprise for you! What a way he has of playing (and even getting good positions) with "dubious" openings against the world top. Like a second youth (see famous Kramnik-Shirov from Linares 93 and 94).
I think it was Kramnik who went for a very off-beat opening this time. Shame about the silly time control at this tournament: Kramnik 10 mins for 14 moves, Shirov 4 for 13.
And predictably enough a fascinating game ends in an idiotic time scramble...
I found 5 ..., b5. in NCO commented by Khenkin, but the coincidences stop there, since the plan with Ne8 isn't even mentioned. I don't know, Kramnik usually plays openings very well, but this one didn't seem particularly inspired, especially against a player like Shirov. But it's true that the time control doesn't help. I think it should be time that time controls get a bit more standardized and that everything, blitz, rapid and long games are counted into rating, a little bit like tennis has different surfaces which favour different players. So players would have to prepare better for rapid and blitz instead of taking it too lightly and spare us this not rapid nor slow time controls.
Wow, Shirov takes down Kramnik in spite of having 4-5 minutes against 30 for a while!
Kramnik blundered in zeitnot.
Another casualty of the shorter time controle.
Yep, I wouldn't even say the final blunder was particularly critical as it was a very tough position to hold before that - but if he'd had more time earlier he'd probably have been fine (or if he'd been less principled and gambled by blitzing out moves when Shirov was in much more serious time trouble he'd have had good winning chances, though that's simply not his style).
In general Kramnik gets full marks for going all out to win, but these positions where he has dynamic equality (or even a slight edge) with black just don't seem to suit him that well (I'm thinking e.g. of the game he lost to Carlsen in London, or those Pircs at Amber, or the Naiditsch game in Dortmund).
Not that I trust my own calculations here, but to me black's position looks horrible even without the Ne7 howler. Anyone fed it to Rybka yet?
But it's true that the time controls are likely to Shirov's advantage: In a 2hr game he usually wastes those extra 30 minutes anyway (often by taking a big think at move 2 or whatever).
One can hardly blame the time control, Shirov won, end of.
It's not that the time control determined this particular result, simply that it's spoiling the games in general. The players have been complaining about it in the post-game interviews, regardless of whether it helped or hindered them.
What kind of slop is this?
The Answer: Previous posters have described the quality of chess being played in this empty Chinese room: idiotic, blunders, and howlers as the players frantically slap a chess clock.
Oh wow, Shirov wins a game against Kramnik after a while! Only Shirov can do this! Some of the opening moves looked like they were made by coffee house players, but somehow everything hung together for Shirov! Very nice.
I realize that good chess players prefer positional chess with plenty of time to think for each move, but if it is to be a world sport, the games need to be interesting also to complete idiots (like myself). In this regard, 45 min pauses to find the absolute best move should be discouraged.
It is my opinion that with cheap software easily available, and Carlsen leading an army of talented youngsters from all over the world (top 10 juniors are from Norway, Russia, France, Italy, Vietnam and the Netherlands), chess has an opportunity to reach a very broad audience. However, they will mostly prefer drama to perfect chess.
Note that modifying rules to encourage entertaining play is normal in other sports such as basketball (certain kinds of defense being illegal) and soccer (penalty shoot-outs to decide which is the better side).
Two comments:
That empty chess hall is an embarrassment to chess. Can't the commis dragoon half the village to a show event anymore, j/k? Yet it's consistent with what I've seen of top players out of China: they have little practical experience during youth, and thus huge holes in their game.
Second, Kramnik probably lost to jet lag, not Shirov. (Maybe he isn't fattening up, just puffiness from jet lag.) This is of course my pet issue: in any tournament in China, or with Chinese nationals in Europe, jet lag will often tell in first few rounds. An 8 hour differential is HUGE. (Of course, Wang Hao flubbed his HBA again [that's home bed advantage], which I think easily worth 4 whites in the first 4 rounds.) Nothing like catching Kramnik at 5am droopsy.
El Presidente asks:
Gee, Shirov doesn't know how to stop feeding his face or tie his tie, Kramnik will soon stop shaving and revert to his usual seedy grubbiness, Aronian seems to grow shorter every year, and with one billion people in China, Wang Hao is the best geek they can come up with? No wonder there are nothing but empty seats. Maybe if Aronian remained seated in his chair at the arbiter's order and produced a puddle on the floor...
The Answer: Hey moron, what's your question?
The hall in Shanghai was empty because the Spanish organisers held it in a part of the Spanish Expo site where visitors are not allowed. They also chose the time limit. Don't blame the Chinese.
Amazing. It could have sprung from the mind of FIDE.
Kirsan apparently stepping down as pres of Kalmykia:
MOSCOW — A Russian regional leader who claims to have visited an alien spaceship says he is retiring.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Interfax agency Monday that will step down after his term expires in October.
Since 1993, Ilyumzhinov has headed the predominantly Buddhist southern province of Kalmykia. The arid, impoverished area is dominated by Mongol-speaking Kalmyks.
Ilyumzhinov has also been president of FIDE, the International Chess Federation governing body, since 1995.
Aside from the spaceship claim, Ilyumzhinov says he uses hypnosis in daily communication and consults clairvoyants in his business affairs.
Rights activists have accused him of cronyism, corruption, rights abuses and squandering government funds on chess championships and Buddhist temples.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kalmykia-leader-to-quit/414975.html
ctunnel.com saves the day in germany
How or how did Shirov win that so easily??? I thought around move 49 he was struggling to save it. Couldn't W play 50. d7 ??? Even afterwards, Wang Hao just seemed to collapse. Shirov leads, woo hoo!!
I'm all for exciting games with big blunders, dramatic - yet unsound - attacks and spectacular refutations. That's what has worked througout chess history: Tal's most famous attacks were full of mistakes and Morphy's brilliancies were played against very bad players. But all those brilliant - if flawed - games are the ones we remember and love. If we really want mistake-free chess (or the closest thing to it) we should stop watching chess between humans and let the best computers play. So, let's modernize the game: 2 hours per player for the entire game. Let's get the blunders going, let's get the beauty back. It's time we stop pretending chess is more than a silly, beautiful and addictive game!
I wonder does Aronian have it in him to dominate Kramnik, one day. It's just an impression but I have the feeling his play was somewhat fresher a few years ago. Like his playing style and still hope he makes it big, tough proposition against those sharks up there of course.
There's a difference: they didn't really know it was incorrect at that time. You can remember the games you want, i would very much prefer high level chess. If what you want is to see blunders you can watch anyone on ICC or FICS. For me it would be better to have rapid official tournaments with normal rapid time controls (allowing players to adapt to them and prepare properly) alongside with slow classical ones instead of this nonsense of time controls not rapid nor classical which don't let players find a normal rhythm of play.
" Tal's most famous attacks were full of mistakes.."
What a load of rubbish from somebody who clearly has never bothered to play through his games and read proper analysis.
Every single modern game has some mistake. Certainly Tal's opponents didn't always play the computer correct defense, but neither does any modern player. He won because he was superior to his opponents in the resulting positions. To say that his games were full of mistakes because computer analysis reveals that in a single byline of 1 out of 100 variations, on move 17 of a combination, his opponent could have drawn by playing some move virtually impossible to find over the board in 10 hours is absurd. By the same token, so are Kramnik's, so were Kasparov's, Karpov's and Fischer's.
Get lost thee troll.
Alez wrote:
"There's a difference: they didn't really know it was incorrect at that time"
so what? Kramink didin't know he was playing incorrectly today, until Shirov showed him :-)
"You can remember the games you want, i would very much prefer high level chess."
Even high level chess is marred by errors, no matter how much time top players invest on every move.
"If what you want is to see blunders you can watch anyone on ICC or FICS."
Nope. I don't want blunders. I want exciting chess, and if a greater incidence of blunders is the price to pay, I'm all for it. If I wanted blunder-free chess (or the closest thing to it), I'd never watch humans play. I'd watch computers.
BTW, it's ironic that this elitist position of wanting "high level" chess and nothing else is usually espoused by very weak players, who could never tell the difference between a game played by Kramnik at 5 years for 40 moves or 10 minutes for the whole game. I'm not saying that's Alez's case - because i don't know his playing strenght. But that has generally been my experience (further proof of this is that the average 1600 player keeps buying the latest version of playing software, like it will make any difference). And, no, I'm not some patzer. I'm a lowly master, but a master nevertheless, and I can't tell the difference between Anand's play at 30 minutes/game and Anand's play at 2hrs/40 moves. I'd rather see Anand playing exciting games at any time control, just like I dread Leko's play at ANY time control.
But that's my opinion, and your mileage may vary...:-)
"Tal played "wrong" chess - entertaining, spectacular, dramatic, combinational. He was like the legendary American Paul Morphy, the unofficial world champion of the mid-19th century.
[..]
Later, after the quiet analysis, especially in recent years when powerful chess computers became available, it was often proved that many Tal's combinations, with pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen sacrifices, were unsound and could have led him to defeat. But in the game, they brought Tal one win after another."
http://www.chess.com/news/garry-kasparov-talks-about-mikhail-tal-and-soviet-chess-history-1340
BTW, this may not be obvious to you, but I was actually praising Tal's play :-)
For you it doesn't seem to make a difference but for them it does, i'm sure, and certainly it does for me. I understand your point; you want them to give you thrill and amazement. But many people find that the better they play, the most amazing it is, and don't feel the need to lower the level of play. Instead, rather work out through their thinking, would it be by analyzing, reading their books or watching their video conferences. Lowering the level will never be a solution. Tal wasn't succesful because the other players were playing badly. Often they found great solutions, too, until they lost the thread under pressure. Or they found a draw, or even a win (rarely when he was really in form). What mattered was that Tal's level was higher, at least in some chess aspects, not that they put a crazy time control to allow more unsound sacrifices.
So tomorrow, what happens? Is Kramnik now a favourite over Aronian? He plays the tailender with white, while Aronian must face Shirov. But how sharp will he be now that he's qualified? How will be Aronian's morale? And Kramnik's form?
dtal *is* the troll. He doesn't communicate except to except to lash out at others expressing normal comment. Same too, with this autistic twin "the answer".
one more thing to remember: classical time controls date back to the Capablanca days where players received 2.5 hours for 40 moves. Given that opening theory preparation and memorization, t the time ran into the high single digits (10 moves on average, I'd say), players were in effect getting 150 minutes for, say, 30 moves.
Nowadays - where most opening theory runs into the high tewnties, the same classical time controls would yield top players about 150 minutes for 20 moves.
It follows that a time control adjusted for today's level of preparation would be 100 minutes for 20 moves.
The point is that classical time controls are giving players far more time that Capablance, Fischer, etc. received. So, shortening the time controls a bit shouldn't necessarily result in an inferior level of play.
Did Kramnik really play 54...Rh4+? against Aronian today? It's plausible that both players missed the stalemate defense 55.Kxa3! Kc3 56.Bb1 Rg4 (Zugzwang? Nope...) 57.Be4!---or just 56.Be4! right away. However, the move 54...Rh3+ is a purposeful way to win (just 1 move worse than ...Rh6 right away), and White's 55.Kb4 could be a response to that. Anyone onsite?
You are right, except for the end of the game--the sudden death t/c. This has clearly hurt endgame play.
But then Fischer et al didn't have such a pack of well-prepared,tough to beat, close to WC status opponents all the time either.
It most likely was 54...Rh3+ 55.Kb4 Rh6 like you suggest. Perhaps Kramnik was not precise in putting his rook on the h3 sensor on the board.
I don't understand why Kramnik played 35...Kg7 when 35...Qg7 looks like a win (threatens Qa1+ then Qxa2). It is also difficult to understand Aronian's 37.Kg2 instead of 37.Kf2. These apparent mistakes could be the result of time pressure, and most of us are guilty of making similar errors.
However, the most serious mistake was Aronian, with plenty of time, being unable to see that he would simply be going into a dead lost ending after trading off queens with 44.Qe4+?? This is not a tactical or time pressure oversight. It indicates a basic flaw in his positional evaluation ability. He needs to fix that or he'll never make it to the top.
Hag
in my opinion , at the time Tal played chess , the psychological aspect had probably more importance than today , because the opening theory and understanding of chess was not as great as today , they couldn't analyze with computers after the games , they had to rely mostly on their own understanding of chess to see which and when they did commit a mistake and improve their game , there was still some aspect of "mystery" and dogmatic positional beliefs in chess
one must remember that Tal was playing on this aspect a lot ( mental) , also one should also consider that Tal was often a bit of a gambler in critical moments when he felt his opponent was not feeling secure ,Spassky also shared this traits , often playing "intuitive" and risky chess , almost romantic chess , but at a very high level for that time and Tal did it with a lot of class , creativity and endurance .
it's clear that Tal (the guy was world champion so young , he really was a genius ) combined the ability to unsettle his opponents with often semi-sound sacrifices to get them in positions where they were ill at ease and the ability to out-calculate his opponents and outplay them positionnally in those positions with unusual material balance and pawn structures , the sort of positions most players of the "classical" school were not comfortable with .
It's true that some of his sacrifices were unsound even though he won those games , but what we don't consider is that at the precise moment he made those sacrifices , he was probably confident his opponent wouldn't find the right answer , and that in the worst cases , he could still hope to equalize even though his gamble would not have paid off , chess was still a 100% human game by then , and Tal was charismatic , full of energy , extremely strong tactically and the clock was ticking for his unsettled opponents
By the way , congrats to Shirov , really happy for hm that he made it to play a major event again and thanks a lot Mig for your nice blog , keep it up ! cheers from france ;)
Shanghai is yet more evidence that the tournament organizer choice for the Candidates Matches next year should have been Shirov, not Mamedyarov.
I think my post and comments on Tal's play have been completely misunderstood. I actually love Tal's games, flawed as they were. And that's the point I tried to make: I'd rather watch Tal's unsound sacrifices than Leko's boring games. Shortening the time controls would allow top players (Shirov, Morozevich, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Aronian) to play riskier and more interesting openings hoping that their opponents won't be able to sort out the complications. I'm kind of an old-timer, so I prefer the old, romatic chess over the new clinically dry ultra-precise regurgitation of computer analysis.
@chesshire:
"But then Fischer et al didn't have such a pack of well-prepared,tough to beat, close to WC status opponents all the time either."
But then again, Fischer wasn't that well prepared himself (compared to today's players, of course!), so the analogy still applies.
Any analysis on shirov's game today? I really thought he was in trouble at some point.
Re tal, he didn't play wrong chess in any way. He played right chess. That's how he became WC. But I can see myself getting sucked into that old argument again about time travel. Never mind all that. Great thing is, Shirov's playing well again!
Check out chessvibes.com. They have some quick analysis, and black was indeed in a world of pain.
Why didn't Aronian play 1.e4 today? Chessgames.com says he has over a hundred e4 games.
Yep, after a long layoff he'd be set to tear apart the Petroff, as happens so often against Kramnik.
Peter Doggers confirms in comments at ChessVibes that 54...Rh4? 55.Kb4? DID happen. He says Aronian thought it was a fortress draw and will post a video of that.
"He says Aronian thought it was a fortress draw"
It is surprising that a super GM don't know the theory of such a tematic position. And that he was not able to figure it out OTB so late in the game.
I guess a potentional WC cannot have such holes in his end game technique.
"I guess a potentional WC cannot have such holes in his end game technique"
Well, Kramnik also thought the endgame was a draw, so maybe there's still hope for Aronian.
Thanks, Chessbase was also up since then. Man, I didn't realise that Shirov was lost well before move 49. My question of why not not 50. d7 is answered though!
Perhaps Shirov isn't playing that well, but at least he's winning!
Very interesting:
Malakhofs interview about efficient preparation for a 2700+ GM, the value of endgame knowledge
and other things...
http://www.chessintranslation.com/
"There are two kinds of sacrifices: sound ones, and mine."
"They compare me to Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. He made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one!"
Who is the author of these quotes?
First correct answer wins a fantasy evening of night clubbing in Moscow.
When I read the Malakhov interview, I didn't immediately think his comments about the endgame would extend to WC contenders such as Kramnik and Aronian.
And especially not to Kramnik: not only is he a perferctionist, but he also plays so few games per year that those extra half points that can be gained from knowing these exotic positions actually mean quite a bit.
So, very surprising that none of them knew the theory on this one...
@greg
Answer 1 : Tal
Answer 2 : Tal again
What's so surprising? Opening work devours their time. Dvoretski has been complaining about such things for years.
You win!
Did Kramnik win an Armageddon game in a tie-break against Aronian? On teh TWIC live page I see a third game win presumably on time for Kramnik as Black in a position that surely White can draw? The official site is incomprehensible.
Not sure that the opening work argument explains Kramnik. He's had the same, limited repertoire for years, and even then he was severely outprepped several times in Dortmund. Doesn't seem to be on top of his openings at all.
Carlsen is a good example of a player who's shored up his knowledge of theoretical endgames, and it has gained him some points already (not to mention that it might have saved him from some embarrassing losses, like the famous blunder against Aronian).
Yes, he won the Armageddon game on time. I just posted all details of the play-off - videos to come.
If this Karpov thing has taken Mig away from us, we will have to support Kirsan.
Interesting link, Greg Koster (I know I'm a couple of days late). My favorite part of the press release:
"Ilyumzhinov cited President Dmitry Medvedev’s policy of rotating regional leaders as the reason for his decision and said he would support any successor put forth by Medvedev and the ruling United Russia party."
Nothing quite like independence and democracy, is there?
Yep, democracy in action :) I've been looking through the Russian press on Ilyumzhinov's departure and found this headline:
"Communists: The Parliament of Kalmykia will vote for absolutely any candidate"
I translated a Karpov response to Ilyumzhinov's two statements on Monday: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/09/karpov-hits-back/
Karpov says, among other things: "And it’s certainly not for Ilyumzhinov, mired in corruption scandals and accused of organising the murder of the opposition journalist Larisa Yudina, to teach me or G. Kasparov about patriotism."
Shirov seems to have put on a LOT of fat recently. At the final ceremony, the photo of Shirov and Kramnik is a real contrast -- heavy slothful Shirov and physically fit Kramnik. I love the way Shirov plays chess, but his weight-issue is concerning. He really should get a physical trainer, start working out at least a couple of hours each day, and get rid of all that ugly fattiness he's packed on.
That's the best part of the Dirt, solid life advice from qualified, brilliant people to help you better yourself.
Shirov should follow Jim's example and conceal his ugly fat between his ears.
Jim, what did you expect from the collection of angry morons who lurk here? As soon as you say anything even slightly critical about one of their favorites, the angry love boys will attack you. When I posted this picture of Shirov, the response from the little angry morons was "Hag is fat!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotosfeda/4925810755/
Hag
The ants love peeing on the elephants.
Aronian was not pleased with the way Kramnik was knocking over pieces in the armageddon game. There was no handshake. Aronian told Kramnik "you push over the pieces." Kramnik just shrugged and mumbled something.
Hag
Gashimov out of the Olympiad for playing for a team with "Kasparov" in their name: (seriously) http://www.chessintranslation.com/2010/09/gashimov-left-out-of-azerbaijan-team-for-olympiad/
With all due respect to you and Jim, i do not think it is your place to be telling Shirov what to do concerning his weight...more so that it is not killing him.
"Aronian was not pleased with the way Kramnik was knocking over pieces in the armageddon game."
Aronian's failure to seek a remedy during the game renders his displeasure of no importance.
Fair enough. Thanks.
Hag
He did voice an objection during the game to Kramnik, or perhaps to the arbiter but kept on making moves. The arbiter was standing right there and did nothing, but I don't know what the rules are if Aronian did not turn in her direction to clearly and directly protest.
Right near the end, Kramnik knocked over his own king two or three times and also played his king onto two squares simultaneously. He corrected the situation quickly, but with only a few seconds remaining, it certainly appeared to be a major distraction for Aronian to deal with. Kramnik did not appear to be doing this on purpose and offered no apology other than to say "this is blitz." However, no handshake.
Perhaps Aronian would have been justified to simply stop playing the game and turn to the arbiter to complain. However, he also had only a few seconds left, so if his time ran out before the arbiter did anything, what happens then? I can see how momentum would cause him to keep playing in the heat of the moment, but shouldn't the arbiter be there to protect the interests of the players in situations like this instead of just standing there? Shouldn't she reach out and stop the clock?
As I said, Kramnik did not seem to be doing this deliberately, and I've seen worse.
This is not an ideal method for potentially determining who could ultimately become world champion, but we keep on seeing foolishness like this again and again.
Hag
At least Kramnik refrained from turning chess pieces into deadly missiles of mass spectator destruction, a la Irina Krush.
According to the report on Chessvibes, Kramnik responded saying “What is this, to play this position?” - referring to Aronian playing on in a position with no winning chances whatsoever (other than flagging the opponent). Could Kramnik have claimed a "winning draw" from move 69 onwards, i.e. after the last white pawn disappeared? Probably not according to the rules, but still according to 'common sense'!? But I won't blame Aronian either for acting the way he did in the heat of the moment ... .
Peter Doggers also writes that "soon afterwards the players were on friendly terms again". I agree with him that "[t]he end of the game was not exactly good advertisement for chess" - but IMO the chosen system should be blamed, rather than Aronian and/or Kramnik.
Are there not clear rules about this sort of nonsense? I think that if X makes a move and hits the clock and the piece falls over as a result of bad placement by the player, or an opponent's piece(s) does/do, then the clock hitter should be forfeited at once. Similar rule for leaving a piece one has moved on two squares at once, and hitting the clock.
Hmm, so Aronian was annoyed that Kramnik violated the rules and maybe made him lose seconds on the clock in a critical situation. And Kramnik was annoyed that Aronian played on when he had to win.. Of course, Aronian should have stopped the clock and told the arbiter, but I sympathize with him.
Of course the whole Armageddon rubbish is obviously a travesty of chess.
Armageddon games should be played on computers. No piece can fall down. Noone can cheat the clock. Noone can leave a piece in the middle of 2 squares.
Otherwise, you always see that kind of situation.
Armageddon games should not be played at all, but yeah.
The previously unknown GM Noone is very versatile, it seems.
Anyone with a gut hanging over their belt line like Shirov in that photo is, in fact, headed down the road of ill health with such things as diabetes ready to control and possibly end your life.
Anyone with a gut hanging over their belt line like Shirov in that photo Hag offered is, in fact, headed down the road of ill health with such things as diabetes ready to control and possibly end their life. I'm a big Shirov fan -- I just want him to be healthy so he can continue to play great chess. By the way who is that girl standing next to him?
With fans like this who needs enemies...
The video of the Armaggedon game, including the final seconds, is available at Chessvibes. But it's a bit unclear what exactly happened on the board - at least the first time, Kramnik moved his king, pressed the clock and THEN the king fell down (maybe because he pressed the clock too hard and the table was vibrating). It is also hard to understand what exactly the players told each other ... .
"Kramnik was annoyed that Aronian played on when he had to win".
The first sign, some hand movements, was right after the last white pawn went off. The issue is - no matter how much is at stake - whether it's "legitimate" or "ethical" to play for a win on the clock, when there are no winning chances whatsoever on the board.
I once watched a clubmate losing rook + 3 seconds vs. rook + 5 seconds on the clock, after his draw offer (+- claim) was rejected. Some differences:
- the opponent needed the win to remain in contention for prize money, whereas my clubmate was a tailender in the field.
- the opponent was a bit embarassed himself, and paid him a beer right after the game ,:)
Personally - while I understand his behavior and anger - I can hardly sympathize with Aronian because the game reached its logical result (a draw would also be a win for black).
Meanwhile, back at the video: how come nobody here noticed that they fouled up the chess?
http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2010/09/if-you-tolerate-this-your-chessboard.html
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