2016 Candidates Moscow 10-29 March

[Matt Mackenzie]

He was saying in New In Chess or somewhere that he was thinking about not playing. Who would have been first reserve, Kramnik?

If true, that's very possibly why he decided to play!

[Mick Norris]

He was saying in New In Chess or somewhere that he was thinking about not playing. Who would have been first reserve, Kramnik?

Jakovenko

3rd in the Grand Prix is first reserve, no matter what qualifying route gave us the Candidate choosing to withdraw

Vlad was second reserve

[Mick Norris]

TWIC round 3 report

EDIT chess.com report which refers to this very forum

[Jonathan Bryant]

In the first round Anand with white allowed the Berlin but avoided the wall ...

d3 non-Berlin’s are thin gruel compared to the real thing but there was a curious move order wrinkle in Anand’s game with Caruana today.

In round 1 against Topalov, Vishy played 4 d3 Bc5, 5 0-0 which allows 5 ... Nd4 although Toppy chose not to play it.

Today against Caruana Vishy went 5 c3*, which later transposed back into his earlier game. Avoding prep, presumably, but since he obviously had something lined up for 5 ... Nd4 why not play it against Caruana?




* assuming the chess24 moves are correct.

[Mick Norris]

In round 1 against Topalov, Vishy played 4 d3 Bc5, 5 0-0 which allows 5 ... Nd4 although Toppy chose not to play it.

Today against Caruana Vishy went 5 c3*, which later transposed back into his earlier game. Avoiding prep, presumably, but since he obviously had something lined up for 5 ... Nd4 why not play it against Caruana?

* assuming the chess24 moves are correct.

Interesting, maybe the kind of game he wanted against Topalov was different to the kind of game he wanted against Caruana? Of course, he might have forgotten his prep, but that's unlikely at move 5

[Roger de Coverly]

Interesting, maybe the kind of game he wanted against Topalov was different to the kind of game he wanted against Caruana?

All of them have recent experience of both allowing and preventing .. Nd4. Anand was prepared to allow Kramnik to play .. Nd4 last month at Zurich.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Interesting, maybe the kind of game he wanted against Topalov was different to the kind of game he wanted against Caruana?

All of them have recent experience of both allowing and preventing .. Nd4.

Oh sure. And years-old experience too. I just stumbled across a game from 2006 when Anand had the chance to play ... Nd4 as Black against Polar but didn’t bother.

5 0-0 Nd4 is interesting in that it’s often touted as an efficient equaliser for Black but our betters often allow it as White and don’t play when given the option as Black.

All of which makes it even more curious. Why choose one move order against one opponent and the other against another. Or is it all just random and 'no reason' is a deliberate strategy to avoid being a sitting duck for prep?

[JustinHorton]

5 0-0 Nd4 is interesting in that it’s often touted as an efficient equaliser for Black but our betters often allow it as White and don’t play when given the option as Black.

Reminiscent of this line: the top players seem to know (or suspect) something, even if the rest of us don't know what it is yet!

[Mick Norris]

I know it sounds strange after lots of discussions about law suits and (lack of) quality of coverage, but there is actually some chess being played today starting from noon

Karjakin (2) - Anand (2)
Svidler (1.5) - Aronian (2)
Nakamura (1) - Giri (1.5)
Caruana (1.5) - Topalov (0.5)

[MJMcCready]

Indeed there is. Nakamura will have to do something with white soon or risk being left behind. But seeing as Giri probably has a better chance than anyone of giving Carlsen a real match, let's hope Naka self-destructs today.

[MartinCarpenter]

Something of a pleasing madhouse in the openings

[MJMcCready]

Svidler with triple isolated pawns only 13 moves in.

[JustinHorton]

Something of a pleasing madhouse in the openings

Karjakin-Anand took my eye, anyway

[NickFaulks]

Looks like absurdly deep prep in Naka - Giri, so bound to be a draw.

[MartinCarpenter]

Quite prescient Nice drawing finish at least.

It looks like an incredibly scary game but if you've got the sort of memory these people clearly have and have put the work in beforehand then I guess it feels fairly safe somehow?!