NRR: Official 2014 World Chess Championship Thread

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

Avocado's Number wrote:

Vishy holds on with a perpetual check! Excellent save for the draw!

Huge for Vishy. He dug himself into a hole but found a way to get the draw. Magnus might be disappointed with the result.

My duffer's takeaway - Carlsen pretty easily got the kind of position he wanted playing black, which isn't a good sign for Anand. On the other hand Anand was able to hold the draw in a kind of position that generally favors Carlsen, which has to be a psychological boost. Very curious what A.s N has to say.

dkny64 wrote:

Very curious what A.s N has to say.

"Slightly relieved." Direct quote from Anand. Magnus says he didn't see a chance to win so he's satisfied with half a point.

Good game. Slight inaccuracies by both sides (Anand giving Carlsen the advantage, Carlsen giving back equality), but solid chess. 1. d4 so no dry Berlin opening like last year. A fighting draw ending in a perpetual.

A fine start to the match. Looking forward to more fighting chess tomorrow. I say, barring a repetition, Carlsen presses with white 50+ moves deep but Vishy holds the draw.

I think Vishy did well to press a *little* with White, but hold back when it was clear he wasn't going to get the win. His chess is in a good place right now. This might be more competitive than many expected.

Magnus is Magnus, the best player in the world - if not ever. He's still the heavy favourite. He's just so hard to beat.

Methinks the fame has gone to Magnus Carlsen's head. He is simply not playing like the ruthless tactician he was last year. No way Vishy gets away with those mistakes against 2013 Carlsen. Magnus will still be World Champ when this is over, but Fabiano Caruana would destroy Magnus right now.

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

dkny64 wrote:

Very curious what A.s N has to say.

"Slightly relieved." Direct quote from Anand. Magnus says he didn't see a chance to win so he's satisfied with half a point.

It seems to me that Vishy shouldn't have to work this hard to obtain a draw from the white side of this kind of middlegame. I don't think that Magnus did anything special in this game, but Vishy nevertheless found himself in a difficult situation that required the computer-like 44. Qh1 to secure the draw. Over the course of twelve games, it's hard to consistently find resources like this, especially when you're in your mid-forties and stamina becomes more of a factor as the match goes on. Still, it's good to see that Vishy is continuing to play precisely when it really counts. That wasn't true last year.

Fabiano #1 wrote:

Methinks the fame has gone to Magnus Carlsen's head. He is simply not playing like the ruthless tactician he was last year. No way Vishy gets away with those mistakes against 2013 Carlsen. Magnus will still be World Champ when this is over, but Fabiano Caruana would destroy Magnus right now.

I'm not sure that fame has gone to his head, but he does sometimes seem to believe the reports of his own invincibility, and his other interests and activities also seem to spread him a bit thin. He reminds me of Capablanca, who played so well with so little effort that he eventually got too complacent, with disastrous results in his match against Alekhine, who had the single-minded drive that one sees now in Caruana. (Caruana may lack Alekhine's tactical brilliance, but he also seems much more well-adjusted and psychologically healthy than Alekhine.) Carlsen is conceding too much to Caruana (and others) in opening preparation, and does not appear to be outworking his opponents over the board as he was earlier. But as I mentioned earlier, Caruana has had his own struggles in recent weeks. One or two months ago, Caruana seemed a strong favorite against anyone. Now, I'm not so sure.

Avocado's Number wrote:

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

"Slightly relieved." Direct quote from Anand. Magnus says he didn't see a chance to win so he's satisfied with half a point.

It seems to me that Vishy shouldn't have to work this hard to obtain a draw from the white side of this kind of middlegame. I don't think that Magnus did anything special in this game, but Vishy nevertheless found himself in a difficult situation that required the computer-like 44. Qh1 to secure the draw. Over the course of twelve games, it's hard to consistently find resources like this, especially when you're in your mid-forties and stamina becomes more of a factor as the match goes on. Still, it's good to see that Vishy is continuing to play precisely when it really counts. That wasn't true last year.

If you were one of Anand's seconds, what advice would you give him about opening selection in game 3?

I'll go out on a limb and predict a match-win for Anand.

Objectively speaking, Magnus is surely the stronger player. But his recent performances (e.g. at the Olympiad, and to a lesser extent at the Sinquefeld Cup) suggest a lack of motivation/desire since he won the world championship in 2103.

Anand seemed to me out-of-sorts psychologically in last year's wc match, precisely due to the burden of being world champion. His play in 2014 seems more relaxed, confident, convincing.

... At least those were my thoughts before this morning's game #1. I won't mind being wrong if the games are interesting and hard fought.

Is it possible that the drama between Carlsen and FIDE has simply caused him to lose some motivation?

You're right about Capablanca: It came so easily for him. If memory serves me correctly, Capablanca didn't lose a game for 10 years. Was it Reti who beat him?

Alekhine never gave Capa an adequate rematch. Would have loved to have followed that one.

jalfano wrote:

I'll go out on a limb and predict a match-win for Anand.

Objectively speaking, Magnus is surely the stronger player. But his recent performances (e.g. at the Olympiad, and to a lesser extent at the Sinquefeld Cup) suggest a lack of motivation/desire since he won the world championship in 2103.

Anand seemed to me out-of-sorts psychologically in last year's wc match, precisely due to the burden of being world champion. His play in 2014 seems more relaxed, confident, convincing.

... At least those were my thoughts before this morning's game #1. I won't mind being wrong if the games are interesting and hard fought.

Houdini seems to think Anand is well on his way to being busted after Carlsen 20 h4.

A's N: can you help me understand what Anand was thinking when he played 9 ....Nd7? I just don't get that move at all. More generally, I continue to be unimpressed with Anand's opening preparation, which was supposed to be his biggest advantage over Carlsen in the last match and is again supposed to be his biggest advantage in this match.

Another interesting game. Kind of unfortunate [but not entirely shocking] that Anand blundered in time pressure given how much pressure he had been under for practically the entire game.

So far 2 games and Carlsen has gotten pretty much what he wanted out of each opening. If that trend continues, I think this match could be every bit as one sided as the last one.

Last time someone gave a good link to follow the games. What was it?

Here are some good links. (There are many others.)

The official match side, hosted by FIDE, does broadcasts of the games live with commentary from Peter Svidler and a WGM.

http://www.sochi2014.fide.com/

A good general site for all things chess -- including the current match and analysis/commentary from fans -- is ChessGames.com.

http://www.chessgames.com

Professional/computer analysis is given at ChessBase.

http://en.chessbase.com/

And Mark Crowther's The Week is Chess is consistently solid.

http://www.theweekinchess.com/

Thanks

Carlsen seems to like solid chess, favoring stale positions with the 'risk' of a draw over creating imbalances at the risk of a loss. Being ahead in the match makes it psychologically comfortable for Carlsen to continue playing that way, while Anand will want to / be forced to create imbalances at his own risk. This looks very much like a repeat of Chennai to me..

Big blunder by Vishy, but his position was already close to lost (-2.5, if I remember correctly). Not sure which looked worse for Vishy, the little mistakes leading toward a loss, or the big one sealing it. Obviously, it's only one game, and it's very early in the match. Even so, a great start for Carlsen. Kid's just a winner.