English Chess Forum

(as they don't know all the Roman numerals for 960...)

https://www.uschesschamps.com/2020-cham ... /the-field

Guy seeded 10 used to be quite good...

Here is the text of the full Press Release, also covering the (Online) St Louis Rapid & Blitz which follows on immediately. Apologies for the formatting issues.


For Immediate Release


Saint Louis Chess Club To Host Two Online Tournaments In September - Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX &The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

The World’s Best Grandmasters Will Compete For A Total Prize Fund of $400,000 In These Upcoming Events


For more information, please contact:

Rebecca Buffington
Saint Louis Chess Club
(314) 277-3930
[email protected]



SAINT LOUIS, August 21, 2020 - The top international chess superstars are set to battle online from September 11-19 in two exciting tournaments hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Champions Showdown:Chess 9LX will feature the world’s top grandmasters including legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov, the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana. The ten grandmasters will be competing online from September 11-13 and the matches will be played in Chess 9LX style, also known as Fischer Random, with a $150,000 prize fund.

Chess 9LX is another term for Chess 960 or Fischer Random. Chess 9LX is a variant of chess created by Bobby Fischer in the late 1990s in which the pieces on the home rank are randomized, with 960 representing the number of possible starting positions. Players will not know the order of the home rank pieces until they arrive before the start of the round and will have to rely on their creativity in rapid and blitz games.

The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will be held September 15-19 online and will showcase some of the world’s top rapid and blitz players including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and a few of the American favorites - Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong. The ten players will be competing for a $250,000 prize fund in nine rapid games and eighteen blitz games over five days of play. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is typically one of the Saint Louis legs of the famed Grand Chess Tour, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s tour was canceled.

“We are thrilled to bring these two fan-favorite tournaments to our global audience this September. While in-person tournaments are still not possible, we know that these upcoming events will intrigue and excite fans around the world,” said Tony Rich, Executive Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club.





Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX Field


Player

URS Rating


GM Magnus Carlsen

2855


GM Hikaru Nakamura

2801


GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

2797


GM Fabiano Caruana

2794


GM Wesley So

2783


GM Levon Aronian

2773


GM Leinier Dominguez

2754


GM Peter Svidler

2740


GM Alireza Firouzja

2726


GM Garry Kasparov

2632







Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Field


Player

URS Rating


GM Magnus Carlsen

2855


GM Hikaru Nakamura

2801


GM Wesley So

2783


GM Ian Nepomniachtchi

2777


GM Alexander Grischuk

2776


GM Levon Aronian

2773


GM Leinier Dominguez

2754


GM Alireza Firouzja

2726


GM Pentala Harikrishna

2714


GM Jeffery Xiong

2687




Games will start daily at 1:00pm CDT (GMT-5) from September 11-13 for Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX and from September 15-19 for Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.

Both tournaments will include expert commentary featuring GM’s Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade. Viewers can watch both exciting tournaments on uschesschamps.com or on the Saint Louis Chess Club's Youtube and Twitch.tv channels.

About The Saint Louis Chess Club
The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit saintlouischessclub.org.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... -encounter

Round 1 NOW Firouzja v Kasparov

Round 2 (approx 8.30) KASPAROV v CARLSEN

Alireza 0-1 Kasparov!

Kasparov v Carlsen soon...

and Kasparov draw Carlsen! (really interesting R+P ending)

An unfortunate mouseslip for Kasparov against Caruana in round 4.

Are the players allowed to see the other games? In 960 especially, it might be worth sacrificing a few minutes to see how others are handling the early opening. In OTB chess, an arbiter would take steps to prevent this happening if he/she saw a player copying another game.

LawrenceCooper wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:49 pm

An unfortunate mouseslip for Kasparov against Caruana in round 4.

Strange to explain as mouse slip, though. What was the intended move if it was a mouse slip? The only explanation is clicking on the wrong piece (queen rather than bishop), dragging it accidentally and then letting go of it. That would be a sort of double mouse slip on the same move.

Martin Benjamin wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:53 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:49 pm

An unfortunate mouseslip for Kasparov against Caruana in round 4.

Strange to explain as mouse slip, though. What was the intended move if it was a mouse slip? The only explanation is clicking on the wrong piece (queen rather than bishop), dragging it accidentally and then letting go of it. That would be a sort of double mouse slip on the same move.

A suggestion on chessbomb is that he intended to play 34.Qc2, inadvertently released the queen on d3 and then tried to correct it to c2. That got registered as an actual move of 34.Qc3 and a premove of 35.Qc2.

Yesterday, Maurice Ashley abandoned his usual scream of "TOUCHDOWN!!!" when someone was about to queen a pawn. Instead, he said, "play c3-c2, I'm about to make a girl."

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:26 pm

Martin Benjamin wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:53 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:49 pm

An unfortunate mouseslip for Kasparov against Caruana in round 4.

Strange to explain as mouse slip, though. What was the intended move if it was a mouse slip? The only explanation is clicking on the wrong piece (queen rather than bishop), dragging it accidentally and then letting go of it. That would be a sort of double mouse slip on the same move.

A suggestion on chessbomb is that he intended to play 34.Qc2, inadvertently released the queen on d3 and then tried to correct it to c2. That got registered as an actual move of 34.Qc3 and a premove of 35.Qc2.

Which was the correct explanation - https://twitter.com/STLChessClub/status ... 7210549249

And in the last round, MVL draw Kasparov, where MVL defended R v RB for 50 moves, ending on move 123, not bad going for a 20 m + 10 s game.

"Are the players allowed to see the other games? In 960 especially, it might be worth sacrificing a few minutes to see how others are handling the early opening."

Good point - I have just started a CC 960 event. In CC, you get the pairings a couple of weeks ahead, and usually try to build up a bit of time by playing the opening few moves in zero days (as the clock doesn't start). Only two opponents started before the start date, so I replied to them, but other than that, we all waited for the official start date (today), as we didn't want to give loads of free time to the opponents, or teach them what to do. Sadly, none of the St Louis start positions matched the 7 I have. Time limit is 10 moves in 30 days which is a bit quick, when you have to think from move 1. Interesting to hear that computer told Caruana that he blundered on move 2 in one game.

Anyway, the Rapidplay normal chess started today, Carlsen beat Nakamura in round 1, but then lost to Nepo. Aronian leads after 3 rounds.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:53 pm

Anyway, the Rapidplay normal chess started today, Carlsen beat Nakamura in round 1, but then lost to Nepo.

Due to disconnecting in a position the computer said was slightly better for him.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:53 pm

when you have to think from move 1. Interesting to hear that computer told Caruana that he blundered on move 2 in one game.

I'm slightly surprised no one appears to have let engines loose on the 960 initial positions with a view to discovering any instant wins. Perhaps they have and have kept the results of the analysis under wraps.