OT: Chess

[Harbour Dog]

Nakamura Wins Arena Kings After Titled Tuesday Sweep

"GM Hikaru Nakamura won the first week of Arena Kings Season 9 with a score of 3-1 in the final knockout match, defeating second-place GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara with one game to spare. Nakamura also swept both Titled Tuesday events the day before, performing dominantly in Chess.com's online events this week. IM Le Tuan Minh finished in third and Sundram Kumar, the only top-four finisher to have no verified title on his profile, finished in fourth. 1660 players participated in this week's arena".

He's so good. The 3 highest rated online players in FIDE tourneys are Alireza, Carlsen, and Giri. Go Rangers! I just wish @Harbour Dog knew who my avatar is.​

Ratelle! I wouldn't know most Rangers of that era, but the guys with their numbers in the rafters are a different tier.

 

[aufheben]

Ah, I gotchya, so it's about leaving that b pawn open.

Makes sense that it's named after Morphy. The romantic era was full of grand sacrifices and gambits.

Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra, Morphy Gambit - Chess Openings

 

[Ben Grimm]

Ivanchuk starts streaming

"Vasyl "Chucky" Ivanchuk is one of the most original of all top players, but for more than a year he has not played an official game. However, he is still enjoying chess and is now trying his hand at streaming. On his new YouTube channel "IvanchukChess" the former world's number two explains and analyses current games".

He was very good. Perhaps the best player of his era who didn't become a WC after Kasparov. @Harbour Dog

January 1996 - FIDE Rating List​

• Kasparov,Gary RUS : 2775.​
• Kramnik,Vladimir RUS : 2775.​
• Karpov,Anatoly RUS : 2770.​
• Ivanchuk,Vassily UKR : 2735.​

Number of games in database: 3,883
Years covered: 1983 to 2020
Last FIDE rating: 2678 (2686 rapid, 2710 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2787
Overall record: +856 -295 =1306 (61.4%)​

 

[aufheben]

Ivanchuk starts streaming[…]

The two streamers* I like—the former for replays, the latter for theory—are agadmator’s Chess Channel, and Hanging Pawns (Stjepan Tomic).​

Not exactly unknown people, in fact I think it was @ORRFForever (…?) who started a thread about agadmator’s Chess Channel on the Entertainment board a few years ago. Either way, that very thread was actually what got me back into chess again (if playing my dad growing up counts); mostly watch Stjepan if anything now.

For real, like if you have an Eastern European accent, I will believe every goddamn word you say about chess.

*I watch Gotham Chess & Hikaru too, on Twitch instead of YouTube…

Gotham Chess is hilarious but I learn more about pop culture than chess when I watch his stream.

Hikaru’s cool, but he’s like…too much of a savant for me to soak up any information from him; nonetheless very cool. Anyway, it seems like most of the time he’s casting games, which I actually don’t like at all, because him and the other casters are always *futzing* with the goddamn pieces and I can never tell when the actual players make a move.

 

[aufheben]

Kind of hilarious though lol, you're already in the Smith-Morra Gambit, and then there's another gambit within it.

Can't be many playable lines like that out there.

I don’t even see how playing Nf3 instead of c3 is a gambit?

 

[aufheben]

The odds of black responding like this are very, very tiny, but, can you think of a more badass checkmate than the old move-8-Queen-sacrifice-pawn-mate?

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Ng5 f6 6. Qxh5+ g6 7. exf6 gxh5 8. f7# 1-0

5. Ng5 is a bad move for white, but the …f6 response swings the game back to white’s favor.

…gxh5 (Queen sac), and the game goes from -0.5 to M1 in that one move. Lol.

 

[Harbour Dog]

I don’t even see how playing Nf3 instead of c3 is a gambit?

View attachment 504920

Hmm, yeah now that I'm looking at it more closely, it isn't a gambit within the smith-morra, it's a different gambit altogether. In this one, instead of trading on c3 and being down a pawn, you're allowing Black to defend their pawn where it sits on d4, with e5.

I like c3 way more. It opens up the centre so that White can take advantage of the lead in development before Black is able to find stability.

edit - I guess there's nothing stopping White from playing c3 on the very next move. Interesting; I'm going to have to look a bit harder at that when I get a chance!

 

[Harbour Dog]

The odds of black responding like this are very, very tiny, but, can you think of a more badass checkmate than the old move-8-Queen-sacrifice-pawn-mate?

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. Ng5 f6 6. Qxh5+ g6 7. exf6 gxh5 8. f7# 1-0

View attachment 504923

That's the kind of mate where both players would stay in the lobby after the game and be like, "WTF!?" lol

 

[aufheben]

That's the kind of mate where both players would stay in the lobby after the game and be like, "WTF!?" lol

Yeah, pretty wild. I was just playing a few “gif” games in the opening’s comments, and after that one I was like “—wait—what?…how did…wow… …LMFAO”.

I’m gonna buy a subscription with www.chess.com this weekend; their features are just too cool.

 

[aufheben]

@Harbour Dog Yeah but so anyway, down a pawn, you can still get nice development while black has only moved 1 piece and doesn’t have anything past the 6th rank.

 

[Ben Grimm]

January 1996 - FIDE Rating List​

• Kasparov, Gary RUS: 2775​
• Kramnik, Vladimir RUS: 2775​
• Karpov, Anatoly RUS: 2770​
• Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR: 2735​
• Kamsky, Gata USA: 2735​

It's interesting that a month before Deep Blue I played Kasparov for the first time, Anand is not top 5 yet. I agree with @Harbour Dog that being the first Super GM to fully utilize AI helped his career.

 

[Harbour Dog]

@Harbour Dog Yeah but so anyway, down a pawn, you can still get nice development while black has only moved 1 piece and doesn’t have anything past the 6th rank.

View attachment 504948

Lol, yeah I think it's actually a great opening for White up until like 1500-1600. Like in that position, Black should play Ne7-Ng6 instead of developing the Bishop, but I imagine it's very rare for you to see that.

 

[Harbour Dog]

January 1996 - FIDE Rating List​

• Kasparov, Gary RUS: 2775​
• Kramnik, Vladimir RUS: 2775​
• Karpov, Anatoly RUS: 2770​
• Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR: 2735​
• Kamsky, Gata USA: 2735​

It's interesting that a month before Deep Blue I played Kasparov for the first time, Anand is not top 5 yet. I agree with @Harbour Dog that being the first Super GM to fully utilize AI helped his career.

Yeah, Anand may be THE guy who first brought engine analysis to the forefront of chess. He was prepping deep computer lines when there were other top GMs that were barely using engines at all.

 

[ORRFForever]

...in the lobby after the game and be like, "WTF!?" lol

That's where things get loud. Voices get raised, people get angry (at themselves), and players see what they missed...

Nothing worse than analyzing a game with the other player and someone (watching over your shoulder) says, "Why didn't you play <fill in the blank with something you should have seen>".

In the OLD days, that was the best way of analyzing a game - before everyone had an engine in their pocket. You'd hang around after the matches and everyone would offer their 2 cents on critical (and not so critical) moves.

 

[ORRFForever]

The two streamers* I like—the former for replays, the latter for theory—are agadmator’s Chess Channel, and Hanging Pawns (Stjepan Tomic).​

Not exactly unknown people, in fact I think it was @ORRFForever (…?) who started a thread about agadmator’s Chess Channel on the Entertainment board a few years ago. Either way, that very thread was actually what got me back into chess again (if playing my dad growing up counts); mostly watch Stjepan if anything now.

For real, like if you have an Eastern European accent, I will believe every goddamn word you say about chess.

*I watch Gotham Chess & Hikaru too, on Twitch instead of YouTube…

Gotham Chess is hilarious but I learn more about pop culture than chess when I watch his stream.

Hikaru’s cool, but he’s like…too much of a savant for me to soak up any information from him; nonetheless very cool. Anyway, it seems like most of the time he’s casting games, which I actually don’t like at all, because him and the other casters are always *futzing* with the goddamn pieces and I can never tell when the actual players make a move.

Yes, it was me. Good memory.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Check out "The Coldest Game" on Netflix.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Berlin GP: Dubov escapes

"The FIDE Grand Prix series kicked off on Friday in Berlin. Out of the eight games played in the first round, three finished decisively, although perhaps two of the draws were the most entertaining to follow live — Daniil Dubov escaped against Vincent Keymer (pictured), after the latter entered a sharp opening variation, while Alexander Grischuk failed to find a killer blow in an endgame against Andrey Esipenko".​

 

[Ben Grimm]

Berlin GP: Rapport bounces back with brilliant win

"In an exciting second round at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, three players obtained full points in remarkable style. Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez won to take the lead in their respective groups, while Richard Rapport bounced back from a first-round loss by taking down Vladimir Fedoseev in a game that featured a positional piece sacrifice and exceptional tactical accuracy".​

I hope @Harbour Dog likes the players in my sig.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Berlin GP: Rapport bounces back with brilliant win

"In an exciting second round at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, three players obtained full points in remarkable style. Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez won to take the lead in their respective groups, while Richard Rapport bounced back from a first-round loss by taking down Vladimir Fedoseev in a game that featured a positional piece sacrifice and exceptional tactical accuracy".​

I hope @Harbour Dog likes the players in my sig.

Of course! Too young to have seen him play, myself, but any former Rangers great goes into the good books.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Rapport involved in another crazy game today, with Oparin.

And Aronian has put together a quiet masterpiece against Keymer.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Dirty forks and dead parrots

"A talk with his son Lawrence got Jon Speelman thinking about how many Monty Python sketches he could link to specific chess themes. He thus came up with ‘dirty forks’, ‘dead parrots’, ‘four Yorkshiremen’ and ‘the Ministry of silly walks. Enjoy"!​

 

[Ben Grimm]

4		Caruana	2781.5	−10.5		2784.0		2744.0			29
5	↑1	Aronian	2779.2	+7.2		2719.0		2773.0			39
6	↑3	Mamedyarov	2776.1	+9.1		2722.0		2769.0			36
7	↑1	So	2775.1	+3.1		2782.0		2814.0			28

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Rapport involved in another crazy game today, with Oparin. And Aronian has put together a quiet masterpiece against Keymer.

Yeah, Rapport's 10th in the live ratings. My pick Aronian has a 2977 perf rating. I was right about Naka still being great. His perf rating is 2832, Woj has a 2841, So has a 2849, and Perez has a 2856. The 4th-7th players in the live ratings are listed above. @Harbour Dog

 

[Ben Grimm]

Berlin GP: Aronian in full control

"Fighting chess has been the rule rather than the exception at the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, as Sunday’s third round marked the halway point of the group stage. Round 3 saw half the games ending decisively, with Levon Aronian becoming the first player to score two wins in the event. Aronian now has a full-point lead over Vidit Gujrathi in group C".​

 

[VanIslander]

Is chess boxing still a thing?

 

[Harbour Dog]

Is chess boxing still a thing?

Pretty sure it is. I've actually never seen a match of it before, but there was a GM playing in a tournament a couple months ago, and the commentators spent some time talking about him being a phenomenal chess boxer.