Octopus Overlords

Uzbekistan beats the Netherlands in the final round to win on tiebreaks over Armenia, who defeated Spain. India(2) finished clear third and the US a three-way tie for fourth.

Bizarre chess drama: Magnus Carlsen withdraws from a major tournament after three games. He doesn't say why, but a lot of top players seem to think it's because another player in the tournament is cheating.

I am a long time Carlsen fan, but in this case I can't help thinking it's sour grapes from being outplayed by a lower rated opponent. It reminds me of when Kasparov could not believe he was beaten by Deep Blue and accused the opposition of cheating.

It sure seems like sour grapes, but who knows. Apparently the opponent in question had been temporarily suspended from chess.com in the past for cheating in an online tournament. (No has confirmed this, Hikaru Nakamura has just hinted at it very, very heavily.)

Yeah, that is not a good look. And it must be very uncomfortable that they are continuing the tournament with Hans but no Magnus.

A denial from Hans: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/hans-n ... is-critics

He acknowledges cheating on chess.com when he was 16 (I believe he's 19 now), and says that he's never cheated since then.

AWS260 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:22 am A denial from Hans: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/hans-n ... is-critics

He acknowledges cheating on chess.com when he was 16 (I believe he's 19 now), and says that he's never cheated since then.

Alas, you're underselling much of the humour surrounding this particular tale of skulduggery, such as the following headline from Yahoo News:

Chess Player Insists He Didn't Use Sex Toy To Beat World Champion

…which, for those unfamiliar with the 'signals sent by wireless anal beads' details of the accusation, perhaps conjures up the image of a dildonically-bludgeoned grandmaster (though alas, the headline has since been slightly rephrased).

And of course, Elon Musk chimed in with his own sardonic observation:

In one of the most bizarre incidents in chess history, during the U.S. Championship, Sam Sevian picks up his opponent's (Hans Niemann of the alleged cheating scandal) king during a game and fiddles with it until the crown breaks off. Then he disdainfully tosses the broken piece back on to the board.

Amazing that there was no penalty for his actions.

BAM'ed by 14 minutes my man.

This was in support of your post for further context, my dude.

An absolutely sick attacking game. Really fun to watch. Played by a 12-year-old!

The first post-Carlsen world chess championship starts tomorrow for Ian Nepomniachtchi vs. Ding Liren.

14 games
If tied, a rapid play-off
Classical time control
Prize fund: $2M Euros

In their head-to-head record, Ian holds a slight edge of 3 wins to 2 with 9 draws.

Nepo crashes through with a win with Black in game 2. Ding looks outmatched at this point.

Ding bounces back with White in game 4. He sacrificed the exchange and crushed Ian with his two connected passed pawns. Match now even.

Ian scores again in game 5 with White in a Ruy Lopez to take the lead in the match.

Hot damn, Ding strikes back! Beautiful mating net at the end.

This match is so dynamic. I figured it would be a draw-fest like other recent World Championships, and I'm happy to be wrong.

The slugfest continues as Nepo prevails in a hard fought French Defense by Ding.

Ding strikes back! He levels the match with two games remaining.

Ding holds a draw with Black in game 13 setting up a win and in scenario for game 14.

Aaaaaand Game 14 is a draw. On to rapid play to decide the match. Interesting that the last two Carlsen matches went to OT, but got there completely differently.

Damn, that was exciting. Ding!

Some remarkable personal history from GM Susan Polgar (her younger sister Judit is the best female player in history).

I actually met Susan Polgar. I was playing in a tournament in L.A. After my game my opponent and I were analyzing the game and Susan came over and looked at it with us. I was impressed that a world class player would take interest in a game by a couple of amateurs.

I am not cool enough for chess these days.

Club Chess

One Wednesday night in the dead of August, some 300 zillennials file into Manero’s in Little Italy to hit up the open bar for dirty martinis before heading to the chessboards out back. As Celtic music blares over the sound system, the players pair off and get down to business at the latest installment of a weekly gathering where chess aficionados play, drink, and occasionally dance.

This game is sick.

The next World Championship qualifying event starts April 3 in Toronto. With the retirement of Magnus Carlsen and WC Ding Liren showing poor form lately, this may be the best chance for an American to claim the crown since Bobby Fischer. It's winner take all to face Ding.

The qualifiers (with latest rating) for the Candidates Tournament are:

Russia Ian Nepomniachtchi 2758
India R Praggnanandhaa 2747
United States Fabiano Caruana 2804
Azerbaijan Nijat Abasov 2632
India Vidit Gujrathi 2747
United States Hikaru Nakamura 2789
India Gukesh D 2747
France Alireza Firouzja 2760

I think I'm #TeamFabi, although Nakamura winning would be wild. But it should be very competitive all around, maybe except for that dude from Azerbaijan.

I have to wonder if a Nakamura win would piss off Carlsen enough to bring him out of retirement.

What's the over/under on anal beads references?

The Candidates tournament starts tomorrow (4/4). Nakamura and Caruana, the two favorites (by rating) square off in the first round. Because of the winner take all format, players are more inclined to play for a win.

All 4 games in the first round were drawn but at least 2 were fighting draws. Naka had to rally brilliantly with Black against Caruana to hold the draw, and Prag had to sacrifice big time with Black to salvage a perpetual against Firouzja.

Wow, round 2 finished with all four games being decisive. Winners were Gukesh, Vidit, Nepo and Caruana. Most brutal was Vidit with Black punishing Naka for failing to develop his pieces. I hope this trend continues.

In the third round the only decisive game was Prag beating his fellow countryman Vidit with Black using the discredited but tricky Schliemann against the Ruy Lopez. Apparently players from the same country being matched in the early rounds is by design to help minimize late round shenanigans. This was Fischer's big complaint against the Russians back in the day. He claimed they fixed draws with each other and went all out against him. Most likely a fair complaint, at least in that era.

Nepo was the only winner in round 4, squeezing out Vidit with White to take sole possession of first place with 3/4. Tomorrow is a rest day.

In round 5 Nakmura (with Black) and Gukesh (with White) score victories, and Gukesh moves into a tie for first place with Nepo at 3.5/5. Meanwhile Nepo and Caruana had to scramble to hold draws in"lost" positions.

Indian countrymen Vidit and Prag won today, but no change to the leader board with Gukesh and Nepo at 4/6.

Firouzja was the only winner today. It was against Gukesh, knocking him out of first place. So at the half way point, at 4.5/7, Nepo holds a .5 lead over Gukesh, Caruana and Pragg.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2024 8:37 pm Firouzja was the only winner today. It was against Gukesh, knocking him out of first place. So at the half way point, at 4.5/7, Nepo holds a .5 lead over Gukesh, Caruana and Pragg.

Don't know if you watched that one, but it was pretty wild. Gukesh was showing a pretty clear advantage through most of the game and had a pretty big time advantage, but Firouzja hung in there, made what moves he could, and spotted a checkmating attack just before the time control. Gukesh let his own time dwindle down and was unable to prevent it. Crazy stuff.