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On January 16 2024 05:25 M3t4PhYzX wrote:
Tata Steel Masters has 11 (out of 21) games that ended in a decisive result so far.. and 10 of them ended with black pieces winning. That is pretty crazy isn't it? Great thing to see.
Yeah Absolutely fantastic games. I am so happy with the field, no Wesley So or other pathological Drawing machines.
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Quite an unexpected winner must say! But wholly deserved. Very well played 
GGs
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R.I.P. The Chess Thread
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My interest for chess fell with Carlsen's motivation for classical
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On February 18 2024 03:33 sharkie wrote:
My interest for chess fell with Carlsen's motivation for classical
That certainly had a negative impact on the scene. It's too obvious that the overall quality of chess at the very top has declined with his abstinence. The recent 960 event has raised my interest again.
For me personally that's only a minor issue. While Carlsen certainly enriched the chess scene very much, my interest for chess never depended on his presence.
What I dislike is how much influence engine evaluations have on commentary these days. Even though there's a reasonable effort to avoid implementing it literally all the time, it's obvious that it does affect their analysis very frequently.
In my ideal world commentators wouldn't see an engine evaluation until the game is over. I prefer to be ignorant of an engine line if that means I get to see top players analyze positions entirely with their own minds.
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Well, Caruana is usually without engine... It's crazy how the chat in those stream goes crazy, like "omg he missed something"
We have to select our sources... When I analyze a game with GM they never turn on the engine. Also when I teach kids that need to get above 1800 fide, they have hard time understanding than a 0.0 eval does not mean it will be humanly possible to hold.
Also accuracy means very little when two 1500 play a 93% accuracy, you can see chess where nothing was attempted.
Both method fails to take into account the complexity of the positions reached.
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The freestyle/360/Fisher-random tourney was pretty cool! Great production, great games! Makes sense to have this format played on slower classical time controls.
Seems like the future of chess is rapid/blitz and 360.
The only exciting thing about the upcoming Candidates is that the winner will almost be assured of being Champion. Poor Ding. Really feel sorry for him, seems like he's physically and mentally checked out from chess.
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On February 19 2024 01:46 RKC wrote:
The freestyle/360/Fisher-random tourney was pretty cool! Great production, great games! Makes sense to have this format played on slower classical time controls.
Seems like the future of chess is rapid/blitz and 360.
The only exciting thing about the upcoming Candidates is that the winner will almost be assured of being Champion. Poor Ding. Really feel sorry for him, seems like he's physically and mentally checked out from chess.
Yeah, I liked it a lot. Some kind of mixed rapid/blitz & classical chess 960 Grand Prix Tour in the future would be great.
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Strangely I find myself rooting for Niemann more than anyone these days. His personality can be unbearable at times but there is something appealing about his underdog/bad boy attitude that makes me root for him. It’s him against the system. Him against the drawing top players afraid to lose their ratings and tournament invites.
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Putting aside his cheating history, I enjoy Niemann's playing style. His approach favors strong tactical thinking since he often gets into unbalanced and complex positions in the middle game.
This is very taxing and I think in the long run it tends to work only for the most intelligent and driven players such as Kasparov, Fischer and Nakamura. Even Carlsen gave up on this approach and started aiming for less complexity and more stability. We'll see how Niemann can handle the pressure.
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Candidates Tournament closing in. Hopefully no organizational hiccups, because I've heard there are still some visa problems from Canadian government? Annoying.
Anyway, who is your favourite to win? I'm thinking Caruana has the best chances, tbh.
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On March 04 2024 22:44 M3t4PhYzX wrote:
Candidates Tournament closing in. Hopefully no organizational hiccups, because I've heard there are still some visa problems from Canadian government? Annoying.
Anyway, who is your favourite to win? I'm thinking Caruana has the best chances, tbh.
Nepo would be funny, even though he feels less strong than Caruana, he has the play style that averages quite well against all players :D
The one I would be most interested to see play for the Title is Hikaru.
I want to see a Hikaru that would play a match fully prepared.
One of the Indian guys would also be very interesting for a country that will have so much to offer to the chess world in the coming years.
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For me Fabi is the favourite without a doubt. His strengths are well suited to classical round robin format. He has won before and that experience will help him do so again.
Im ambivalent about Hikaru, as I know him mostly as blitz/rapid specialist and emotional player. If something goes wrong early can see him spiral out of control ajd play below his best level.
With all the fuxkery going on around the rating spots with fake tournaments and pre arranged matches I would really dislike it if Alireza or the involved indians won the tournament. It just doesnt feel right to play for wc, after having to go through all this dishonest arranged rating transfers.
Nepo als has a good chance at qualifiing yet again. But I personally hope he won't. Since he has completely lost the mental battle in the two wcc matches against Magnus and Ding. Seems like his great ability to play chess, somewhat crumbles in the brightest spotlight.
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With Ding Liren's current mental/chess form it looks like whomever wins the 2024 Candidates Tournament will be the new (scuffed) World Chess Champion.
But You never should count anyone out in match play I guess.
Btw I really think the WCC cycle should be 3 years like it used to be back in the day. Fits perfectly between 2 (not enough time) and 4 (too much time). But FIDE is not really known for being good with overall decision making these days, now are they..
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The league season is over.
Played 8 games out of the 9 rounds.
Score was 7/8.
The average rating was 1959 elo. So little easier than last season, but we got few young player rising past me and pushing me towards the exit and lower league.
Even if I get down a league, the average opponent rating would probably be higher as I would play the first board instead of the 4-7th board.
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Head: Fabi the Fabulous
Heart: Ali Guccireza
Will be funny and poetic if Ali takes on Ding. Challengers who only qualified as Candidates through the backdoor.
Hikaru can stick to streaming and being bullet champion.
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I watch a video compiling 10 minutes of Kramnik calling anyone he loses to a cheater.
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EPT
