Chess

[Federberg]

Looking forward to Giri - Nepomniatchi today. After that snarky comment, I'm sure Nepo would like to prove a point to him today. I'm on his side!

 

[Federberg]

Oh wow! Adhiban's playing the King's Gambit against Wesley So

 

[DarthFed]

Interesting games. Looks like So has the edge now. Giri again looks like he is in serious danger of WINNING a game. Let's see how he draws this.

 

[DarthFed]

Joking aside it looks dead lost for Ian now after Bxa6

 

[DarthFed]

Just checked out the most recent round of the tournament. Impressive win by Rapport over Carlsen, really blew him off the board. So has had another great tournament so far. He's really stepped up his game and maybe he will become the next challenger for Carlsen. I think he and Caruana figure to be the biggest threats at this point, they are very tough, they seem to be improving, and they are both a couple years younger than Magnus.

 

[Federberg]

Yes I watched that game. It was funny really, I had a suspicion that something like that could happen. Typical Magnus.... I rather suspect that missing mate in 3 vs Giri the day before had something to do with this. Sometimes he pushes too much. He has to learn that you simply can't get a W on demand against strong players

 

[DarthFed]

So wins another big tourney with a quick win as black vs. Nepo today. 9/13 with 0 losses is very strong given the field. Chess at the top is starting to get very interesting. I'd say the stock of So, Caruana, and Karjakin is on the rise these past few months.

 

[Federberg]

Yes agreed. I'm very impressed by So. He plays such strong chess. You make the slightest error it's over

 

[DarthFed]

Yeah I always thought his game was a little quirky when he was rising in the ranks. One of those pretty aggressive players without much subtlety (ie he would create obvious threats but ultimately his style worked). But now he is super solid and strong as heck. Hopefully he keeps backing it up, I believe this is his 3rd straight win at a big time tournament.

 

[Federberg]

Yup. Giri can learn something from him

 

[Federberg]

Looks like Van Wely is about to win a game. Happy for him!

 

[DarthFed]

Carlsen-Karjakin is interesting. Carlsen sacrificed a piece for a few pawns to open up Karjakin's king and then Sergey gave up an exchange and I'm not quite sure why. Looks like it could be tough to draw for black here.

 

[Federberg]

Wow! Nigel Short taking it to Caruana

 

[DarthFed]

Awesome win by the old guy! That's cool to see huge upsets in the old generation vs. new generation of chess. This has actually happened to Caruana before, Korchnoi beat him as black in 2011. That one was old generation to the 5th degree vs. new generation

 

[Federberg]

Nakamura vs Caruana today.

Amazing to think neither is the number 1 ranked US player now.

 

[DarthFed]

Yeah it's tough to lose 7 rating points when you go 5 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws but it is an open tournament so the competition isn't as strong as Caruana and the other top guys are used to. Kind of cool but I saw he played and beat Kateryna Lahno yesterday, a pretty hot Russian lady that I've played a bunch of blitz games against online. She's a tough broad.

 

[Federberg]

Haha! Very cool!

On another note I was pleasantly surprised to see Giri isn't going to be involved in the Grand Tour this year. Nepo instead. It's good to keep it fresh and looking at the other guys, Giri was clearly expendable...

Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So, the world number one and two in the live ratings, will be playing the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. Vladimir Kramnik could not play in all events and therefore had to decline.

In a press release on Tuesday the Grand Chess Tour organizers announced the nine main participants of this season, and the tournaments they wil play. Besides Carlsen and So, they are Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Viswanathan Anand, and Levon Aronian.

 

[DarthFed]

Yeah I saw that Kramnik declined. That's disappointing. Still, a nice list of players for sure, glad to see Caruana, So, and Karjakin in there to see how they do vs. Carlsen going forward.

 

[Federberg]

Carlsen's form over the last while has been terrible. Not sure what's going on with him. This will be an interesting year. Very impressed with So, and it'll be interesting to see if both Nakamura and Caruana can maintain their levels. Agreed about Kramnik. Loving his new more enterprising style

 

[DarthFed]

It'd be very interesting and good for chess if someone eclipses Carlsen for #1 even if it is briefly. Nothing against Magnus, I like him and he is incredible, but I sense we could be near the beginning of a golden age of chess at the top.