OT: Chess: Part Two

[Elvis P]

Christmas knights

"Star columnist Jon Speelman continues to link chess positions with Monty Python sketches. Readers pitched in with further suggestions, and in particular one noted the unexpected absence of the expectedly ‘Unexpected Spanish Inquisition’!​

 

[Elvis P]

Hikaru intentionally drew against Fabi with White in the 15-minute portion of their finals match, so he could play him at a faster time control as Black. Then Fabi smited him with extreme precision in the 3-minute game. Had to feel good for Caruana; his speed chess game has gotten shit on quite a bit since Magnus' WCC strategy against him.

Rapid Chess Championship Week 2: Caruana Wins

"GM Fabiano Caruana won the knockout phase of week two of the 2022 Rapid Chess Championship tournament presented by Coinbase. GM Hikaru Nakamura finished second in the knockout—after taking first in the preliminary Swiss tournament, like GM Anish Giri did last week—while GMs Daniil Dubov and David Paravyan finished in the semifinals and GMs Wesley So, Alexey Dreev, Peter Svidler, and David Anton Guijarro finished in the quarterfinals. Interestingly, all the top-eight players besides Anton Guijarro were Russian or American".​

 

[Elvis P]

Airthings Masters Day 2: Nepomniachtchi Takes The Lead

"After two days and eight rounds of play at the Airthings Masters, former World Championship Challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia is leading the field by four points, while World Champion Magnus Carlsen is trailing him and another three players after suffering yet another defeat, this time at the hands of GM Praggnanandhaa R of India."​

 

[Harbour Dog]

@Harbour Dog , I claim that White Ding and Black Carlsen played this into an 11-move draw. Do you believe me?​

Yes I do haha. I'm following the games.

 

[Elvis P]

Airthings Masters: The plot thickens

"A fierce battle to reach the knockout awaits on day 4 of the Airthings Masters preliminary stage. Only Ian Nepomniachtchi has secured a spot in the quarterfinals, as he has an overwhelming 7-point lead going into the final three rounds of the all-play-all stage. Magnus Carlsen is one of three players sharing second place. The world champion recently contracted Covid and confessed to a lack of energy".​

 

[Elvis P]

Airthings Masters: Keymer and Hansen make the cut

Giri, Aronian, and Shak eliminated

"Underdogs Vincent Keymer and Eric Hansen qualified to the knockout stage of the Airthings Masters on Tuesday. On the other hand, the likes of Anish Giri, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did not make the cut. Ian Nepomniachtchi was the clear winner of the round-robin with a commanding score of 29/45 points".

@Harbour Dog pointed out in the last thread that Keymer is coached by Leko. Will HD pick Hansen over Esipenko? The Carlsen and Ding, Liren matches should be good, because their opponents are strong with the force. Leko was a great player.
​

Number of games in database: 2,505
Years covered: 1989 to 2020
Last FIDE rating: 2663 (2710 rapid, 2738 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2763
Overall record: +378 -199 =1016 (55.6%)

 

[Harbour Dog]

I've never seen a sponsor on a shirt collar before.

Airthings Masters: Keymer and Hansen make the cut

Giri and Aronian eliminated

"Underdogs Vincent Keymer and Eric Hansen qualified to the knockout stage of the Airthings Masters on Tuesday. On the other hand, the likes of Anish Giri, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did not make the cut. Ian Nepomniachtchi was the clear winner of the round-robin with a commanding score of 29/45 points".

@Harbour Dog pointed out in the last thread that Keymer is coached by Leko. HD is the second for his fellow Canadian Hansen in this tourney and predicted both players would win. Will HD pick Hansen over Esipenko? Leko was a great player.
​

Number of games in database: 2,505
Years covered: 1989 to 2020
Last FIDE rating: 2663 (2710 rapid, 2738 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2763
Overall record: +378 -199 =1016 (55.6%)

Would be really cool to see Hansen do well, but I think Esipenko is going to beat him pretty handily.

And I said it before, but right now I think that the only thing separating Keymer and Esipenko in strength, is experience. And Vincent has been piling up reps against top talent for the last three or four months.

 

[Elvis P]

2		Esipenko	2723.3	+9.3		2679.0		2617.0			19
3	↑6	Erigaisi Arjun	2659.5	+26.5		2450.0		2745.0			18
4	↓1	Keymer	2655.4	−8.6		2542.0		2557.0			17
5		Shevchenko	2652.0	0.0		2573.0		2624.0			19
6		Abdusattorov	2651.0	0.0		2670.0		2663.0			17
7	↓3	Nihal Sarin	2647.0	−9.0		2604.0		2705.0			17
8	↓1	Niemann	2642.0	0.0		2529.0		2632.0			18
9	↓1	Sargsyan S	2639.0	0.0		2477.0		2600.0			20
10		Yakubboev	2630.0	0.0		2454.0		2467.8			20
11	↑3	Praggnanandhaa R	2618.8	+6.8		1927.0		2599.0			16

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

... And I said it before, but right now I think that the only thing separating Keymer and Esipenko in strength, is experience. And Vincent has been piling up reps against top talent for the last three or four months.

@Harbour Dog, how would you rank the players above from 1-10?

 

[Harbour Dog]

@Harbour Dog, how would you rank the players above from 1-10?

Putting then in tiers:

Tier 1: Esipenko, Erigaisi, Keymer, Abdusattorov.

Tier 2: Shevchenko, Sarin, Pragg.

Tier 3: Niemann

Not sure about Sargsyan and Yakubboev. Maybe tier 2, maybe tier 3.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Actually, I think I'd move Keymer to tier 2.

It's so close between them all haha

 

[Elvis P]

@Harbour Dog, what do you think of this: Airthings Masters QF: Artemiev knocks out Ding

Thought you may like this: A football match as a chess game: Ajax Amsterdam vs Benfica Lissabon

 

[Harbour Dog]

Good for Artemiev. He was definitely the underdog, but it's not that much of a shock, given his speed chess acumen.

#5 Blitz player in the world right now, and likely a top10 online Bullet player in the world (though there's no trustworthy accumulated ranking for that).

 

[Elvis P]

This is the face @aufheben makes when playing Black against @Harbour Dog . ​

 

[Elvis P]

Airthings Masters SF: Carlsen and Nepo reach the final

"It has been a tough day for everyone. Vladimir Putin’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine has shocked the world, and his actions have been condemned by most world leaders. At the Airthings Masters, three out of four semifinalists hail from Russia, with Ian Nepomniachtchi confessing after beating Andrey Esipenko, “I can’t think”. Nepo will face Magnus Carlsen in the finals of the online tournament, in a rematch of the recent contest for the World Championship title".

Who does @Harbour Dog like in the WC II? ​

 

[Harbour Dog]

Airthings Masters SF: Carlsen and Nepo reach the final

"It has been a tough day for everyone. Vladimir Putin’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine has shocked the world, and his actions have been condemned by most world leaders. At the Airthings Masters, three out of four semifinalists hail from Russia, with Ian Nepomniachtchi confessing after beating Andrey Esipenko, “I can’t think”. Nepo will face Magnus Carlsen in the finals of the online tournament, in a rematch of the recent contest for the World Championship title".

Who does @Harbour Dog like in the WC II? ​

Under normal circumstances, I'd lean toward Nepo with how he's played since the WCC. But if he is actually distracted now, then it could be an easy win for Carlsen.

 

[Harbour Dog]

The Olympiad won't be in Russia. The Ukraines have asked for a Russia ban.

Rightfully so.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Airthings Masters Day 7: Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen Draw First Four Final Games

"GMs Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew all their games during day one of the final match. Carlsen has to be disappointed not to take the first set because he was winning in three out of the four games. Credit goes to Nepomniachtchi for his never-say-die attitude".

It seems like Nepo is giving Carlsen a look that says, "You had me in 3 games, and you let me off the hook and back into the match". What do you think of that and the match in general? @Harbour Dog​

I actually wasn't able to follow any of the games today, unfortunately. It sounds like it's been a great match so far. No doubt Carlsen is frustrated about the day, but that just tilts the odds a little more in his favour, in my opinion. He is a master of channeling motivation appropriately.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Ding isn't playing in this leg either. I guess he won't get the two starts, and will have no chance of advancing to the Candidates.

 

[Kent Nilsson]

Is there a forum for chess equivalent to HFBoards ?

 

[Elvis P]

Is there a forum for chess equivalent to HFBoards ?

Chess Forums - Chess.com @Kent Nilsson

 

[Harbour Dog]

Can't wait. I don't see it happening, but there is still an outside chance that Ding doesn't meet the rating requirement. He's playing some relatively weak opponents, and if he goes on a cold streak, drawing a bunch of games, he'll lose a bunch of points very quickly.

He's got like 28 points on Aronian right now, but rating points can disappear quickly if you have some bad games against guys that are 250+ points lower than you

 

[Elvis P]

1		Carlsen		2864.0	0.0		2847.0		2832.0			31
2	↑1	Ding Liren		2805.5	+6.5		2836 i		2788 i			29
3	↓1	Firouzja		2804.0	0.0		2670.0		2791.0			18
4	↑1	Caruana		2778.4	−2.6		2784.0		2744.0			29
5	↓1	Aronian		2776.4	−8.6		2705.0		2773.0			39

"Finally, from 14 to 24 April Ding will take part in ten games qualifying tournament for the 19th Asian Games and then he will have played enough games for the Candidates". Ding Liren on his way to the Candidates

 

[Harbour Dog]

1		Carlsen		2864.0	0.0		2847.0		2832.0			31
2	↑1	Ding Liren		2805.5	+6.5		2836 i		2788 i			29
3	↓1	Firouzja		2804.0	0.0		2670.0		2791.0			18

"Finally, from 14 to 24 April Ding will take part in ten games qualifying tournament for the 19th Asian Games and then he will have played enough games for the Candidates". Ding Liren on his way to the Candidates He could get the games in but miss on rating. He's only up +1.5.

View attachment 533820

Firouzja already has his Candidates seat though, so Ding's closest competition right now is Aronian, I believe.

 

[Whoot Whoot]

any high level players here? if so how did you achieve it?

 

[Harbour Dog]

any high level players here? if so how did you achieve it?

I think there are a couple guys that have been around or above 2000 otb rating. @Chimpradamus maybe?

I play mostly 10min games on chess.com, and my highest rating at that level is 1856.