NRR: Official 2014 World Chess Championship Thread

Avocado's Number wrote:

"if Vishy had pounced on Qd2 with Nxe5 in game six"

Kd2, not Qd2.

Avocado's Number wrote:

Runsingcheck wrote:

Some might call it boring, but I love the fact that there have been no quick draws so far.

Fair enough, but perhaps it would have been better for everyone, including those who promote our beloved game, if the last forty-five moves or so could have been avoided today.

I give credit to Vishy for sacrificing his bishop for a couple of pawns and holding on to the draw. But there were very few (if any) original moves between the players' opening preparation and that interminable rook-and-knight endgame.

I followed the game this morning and then saw people on Twitter criticizing Carlsen for dragging the game out as long as he did. I'm not sure if that deserves criticism because: 1) Major blunders have been made by both players, so why not press on and try to force one if there is still a chance? 2) Magnus has a distinct age advantage. This is the world championship. I would assume that with better stamina, he benefits more in the long run from long drawn out games like today's. No punches pulled because it's all on the line here, right?

I'm a casual observer more than anything, though, so I could be totally off-base.

I agree with you.

So do Caruana and Polgar.

A solid game today. Nothing crazy, good or bad. I was surprised to see Carlsen so tired. I'm starting to think he's simply going to draw his way to the title from here on out. I also must admit, I usually kind of enjoy the the frankness and ambiguity in these two players' interviews, but today's press conference was just awful. The reporters must have said more than the players.

Magnus has the White pieces tomorrow in game #9. Any predictions?

He achieved a draw in game 8 with remarkable ease -- apparently napping during the game, at times. (!)

I'm an Anand fan, but his time is running out.

Avocado's Number wrote:

All in all, despite Anand's recent upswing and Carlsen's recent downturn, I give Carlsen a bit of an edge. If the Olympiad and Siquefield Cup didn't give him a wake-up call, I'm not sure what will.

Honest question from a formerly good living room player (if your living room was the dorm lounge at a small school), who clearly knows much less than the commentators here but takes an interest...

At this level, what would a wake-up call prompt? I assume that "the hay is in the barn" for these guys and there can't be many people around they can practice with, no? How do they prep the month before a major match/tournament?

jalfano wrote:

Magnus has the White pieces tomorrow in game #9. Any predictions?

Magnus has obtained very comfortable positions in all of his games with white thus far, playing only straightforward, by-the-book e4 openings (a closed Sicilian, an open Sicilian, and a couple of Ruy Lopezes (or Spanish Games, as they're sometimes called). He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would change a generally successful approach, especially where Vishy has not yet revealed any of his match preparations against d4 and has presumably taken some of his best prepared shots already against e4.

At some point, I would think that Vishy would aim for a sharp open Sicilian variation, if Magnus is obliging. But maybe he'll continue to try to eke out draws with black, and hope that he can pull even with white.

genuinely curious! wrote:

Avocado's Number wrote:

All in all, despite Anand's recent upswing and Carlsen's recent downturn, I give Carlsen a bit of an edge. If the Olympiad and Sinquefield Cup didn't give him a wake-up call, I'm not sure what will.

At this level, what would a wake-up call prompt?

Magnus sometimes seems to get complacent after a strong series of performances, playing riskier opening lines or meandering in middlegame positions as if waiting for his opponent to self-destruct (which they sometimes do). For Magnus, a wake-up call might prompt more careful selection of openings and defenses, more thorough and updated research of those openings and defenses, avoidance of murky middlegame positions, and more concrete and focused analysis in the match games themselves, especially in the middlegame.

Exactly right. ... A case in point would be Carlsen's (interesting) loss to Caruana earlier this year in St. Louis, when he essayed the Bishop's Opening and launched an attack based on a speculative sacrifice.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1772638

It would refreshing -- but highly unlikely -- to see such fireworks in the present match.

Avocado's Number wrote:

genuinely curious! wrote:

At this level, what would a wake-up call prompt?

Magnus sometimes seems to get complacent after a strong series of performances, playing riskier opening lines or meandering in middlegame positions as if waiting for his opponent to self-destruct (which they sometimes do). For Magnus, a wake-up call might prompt more careful selection of openings and defenses, more thorough and updated research of those openings and defenses, avoidance of murky middlegame positions, and more concrete and focused analysis in the match games themselves, especially in the middlegame.

Thanks for this! I appreciate the patient answer and also enjoyed the Slate article^, which gave me some sense for how Carlsen apparently manages to glide through with imperfect opening preparation. Looks as if Anand is up to it this time around so indeed MC must be awake now!

Short game today. This match has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Anand, as Carlsen made it clear with his play today that he won't be risking anything these last few games. Excited to see Vishy come out swinging with white!

So another draw today. Didn't look at the game carefully but at a quick glance it appears to have been pretty interesting.

Anyway, if Carlsen approaches game 11 the way he approached game 9, it seems likely that the match will come down to whether Anand can break through in game 12 and force a tie breaker.

dkny64 wrote:

So another draw today. Didn't look at the game carefully but at a quick glance it appears to have been pretty interesting.

It was an interesting game. Vishy appeared to have excellent chances of winning at various points of the game, based largely on his passed d-pawn and strong bishop pair, but I thought that he was too timid when he needed to pull the trigger. Maybe he was afraid of losing his passed pawn, and ultimately the game and match, but I doubt that he's going any more chances as good as the ones he had today. It's too bad, because -- unlike his sole win in game 3 -- a win today would have been the result of good over-the-board play, not just better home preparation.

I love the Gruenfeld Defense: double-edged positions with active play across the entire board. Kasparov played the same Prins Variation in the late 1980's -- here's a sample that follows yesterday's game until move 12.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070343

... Carlsen's opening choices as Black have been interesting. I find it impossible to guess where his preparation ends and he starts thinking over the board. (Hence Anand's hesitation re: pushing his d-pawn ?)

jalfano wrote:

Kasparov played the same Prins Variation in the late 1980's

In that regard:

"GM Simen Agdestein, commentating live in Norwegian, said, 'This looks like [Garry] Kasparov's opening. It's the way he played against [Anatoly] Karpov. It might very well be that Kasparov has been in touch with [Carlsen].' (Quotes translated by Norwegian VG Journalist Øyvind Askeland.)

"Carlsen did not illuminate anything further, only banally admitting to working with Kasparov in 2009 and 2010 and that the Grünfeld was part of that training.

"'Everybody knows that Kasparov has been in touch with Magnus lately,' Adgestein continued, 'but it's not sure if he has contributed with his openings...It looks like the game from when Kasparov became world champion.'

"Agdestein was probably referring to the 15th game of the 1987 match."

Here, after queens were exchanged, it looked as though the game might fizzle out, but when Anand played 19. Ng5, I thought that we might see him produce something special. Spassky said that he was "very sure" that Anand was winning, and the position after 21.Bf3 looks very pleasant for white, but Anand seemed not to have a clear plan after that, and 28. Bxb7 was basically a draw offer. Disappointing.

In other news, Nakamura tortured Aronian yesterday in the first game of their four-game match in St. Louis. Anand may be losing this match, but he's actually moved ahead of Aronian on the live ratings list, after being about 65 points behind him earlier this year.

... And Magnus has defended his title with a victory in game 11.

Anand's breakthrough on the queenside with 23 ... b5 was a beautiful shot. It's a shame that his attacked faltered (either due to overestimating his chances with the exchange sacrifice, or perhaps simply by capturing with the wrong pawn on move 28, ... cxb4 instead of ... axb4.)

A very nice game regardless, and a well-fought match.

Yes, after 23 ... b5, and his rook controlling the open b-file following the exchange of pawns, it was very surprising to see Anand give up the exchange and then play cxb4 instead of axb4. I haven't heard any commentary or explanation by Anand about that sequence of moves, but the justification isn't at all obvious to me -- the passed b-pawn and undoubling of c-pawns seems dubious compensation for the exchange, and it seems that black is simply playing for a draw thereafter. It was as if the moves ... b5, ... Rb4, and ... cxb4 were made by three different players of decreasing strength with no consultation among them.

For what it's worth, the final score was in line with the players' respective ratings, with Magnus losing and Anand gaining a single Elo point after eleven games. But I think that, going into the match, Anand's fans had good reason to be optimistic.

So JH's A and I correctly predicted a final result of 6.5 - 4.5, but the match sure didn't go the way I would have expected. Will try to remember to pay attention to the next candidates tournament, which I hope will include Caruana + some/all of Nakamura, So and Giri.

World champion out of only two people.