Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

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Paolo Casaschi
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:13 pm

Richard Bates wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:49 pm
In addition to a simple principled point about the contract that the tournament was being played under. Defaulting therefore reduced his chances in the tournament, but didn’t jeopardise his rating and playing with a mask was contrary to contractual agreement.
I find questionable the argument about the contract with the supposed guarantee that players would not be required to wear a mask. Dubov's version of the events does not make sense to me: "contractually I'm entitled to play without a mask, but the organisers really want me to wear a mask so I forfeit the game". Did the tournament organisers actually confirm that they demanded Dubov to wear a mask despite the contract guaranteeing the opposite?
Last edited by Paolo Casaschi on Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Paolo Casaschi
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:18 pm

Richard Bates wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:52 pm
Also he didn’t (I assume) contract Covid as a result of not wearing a mask.
If you assume so... then it might be just karma. I repeat myself: nothing surprising that someone contracted covid after publicly showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease. He tried the Djokovic gambit and lost 4 games (and possibly next week FIDE Grand Prix).

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:26 pm

Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:13 pm
Did the tournament organisers actually confirm that they demanded Dubov to wear a mask despite the contract guaranteeing the opposite?
So far as I have seen, they have confirmed nothing. It is obviously helpful to them that spectators are barred, but these things always come out in time.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Ian Thompson » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:32 pm

Peter Shaw wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:10 pm

This seems unnecessarily harsh on Dubov, see the picture at the top of this article:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/daniil ... el-masters
I don't think that photo changes anything - see Round 7's chess.com report which says:
the general rule at the tournament is that face masks are obligatory everywhere except when sitting at the board.

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Paolo Casaschi
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:41 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:26 pm
Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:13 pm
Did the tournament organisers actually confirm that they demanded Dubov to wear a mask despite the contract guaranteeing the opposite?
So far as I have seen, they have confirmed nothing.
If I have to guess, I suspect the contract might say that "the players are not normally required to wear a mask while at the board, however under exceptional circumstances the organisers, at their discretion, might override such a rule for the best interest of the event and their participants". Something like that would makes sense, it would somehow explain Dubov's expectations while at the same time allowing the organisers enforcing the use of the mask at the board.
Last edited by Paolo Casaschi on Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:07 pm

I wasn't entirely paying attention, but Dubov joined Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler (remotely) to commentate on today's games. At one point Jan said something like, "thanks for joining the commentary team on your day off, but I suppose you can't really go anywhere," which seemed a bit harsh.

Peter goes up even further in my estimation. He uses words like "shenanigans" and quotes Tom Lehrer and Nick Cave.

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:13 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:07 pm
Peter goes up even further in my estimation. He uses words like "shenanigans" and quotes Tom Lehrer and Nick Cave.
I drew Peter's attention to Nick Cave many years ago. It would be nice to think that he remembers...
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Richard Bates
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Richard Bates » Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:33 am

Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:18 pm
Richard Bates wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:52 pm
Also he didn’t (I assume) contract Covid as a result of not wearing a mask.
If you assume so... then it might be just karma. I repeat myself: nothing surprising that someone contracted covid after publicly showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease. He tried the Djokovic gambit and lost 4 games (and possibly next week FIDE Grand Prix).
I meant “not wearing a mask... at the board”. Ie. He didn’t catch it off one of the other players.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:24 am

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:55 pm
Carlsen draws, and leads. I would be very interested to know if he was winning that endgame
The instant analysis on Chessbase seemed to suggest 36 d7 was his critical error, and 36 Re7+ would have won.

Don't ask me to explain why, though.

An endgame that might well turn up in books on that topic in the future.
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JustinHorton
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:43 am

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:24 am
The instant analysis on Chessbase
Mmm, I don't want the instant analysis though, I want pages of analysis in chess magazines in a debate lasting months and years
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Peter Shaw
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Peter Shaw » Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:06 am

Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:18 pm
Richard Bates wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:52 pm
Also he didn’t (I assume) contract Covid as a result of not wearing a mask.
If you assume so... then it might be just karma. I repeat myself: nothing surprising that someone contracted covid after publicly showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease. He tried the Djokovic gambit and lost 4 games (and possibly next week FIDE Grand Prix).
When has Dubov 'publicly shown little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease'? Until he appeared on the chess24 broadcast yesterday I don't recall him saying anything publicly on the subject.

Some actual quotes from the man himself here. His comments make perfect sense to me.

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by MartinCarpenter » Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:17 am

Completely sane, yes.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:41 am

JustinHorton wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:43 am
Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:24 am
The instant analysis on Chessbase
Mmm, I don't want the instant analysis though, I want pages of analysis in chess magazines in a debate lasting months and years
Appears to be because in the game Vidit was able to play Kf8 after Re7+ when it was played a few moves later. 36...Kf8 if Carlsen had played 36.Re7+ presumably allows a rook manoevre via e6 or e5 to force the pawn through. And the Black king is too far away to support the two connected Black queenside pawns.

This position also seems critical (don't ask me why Black has grabbed the White g pawn instead of starting to roll his queenside pawns forward, maybe it allows a drawing line later as Black's kingside pawns can join in?):



Instead of queening his d-pawn, White wins here with 45.Rf7, ensuring the intermezzo Re7+ will drive the Black king over to the kingside, and White now has the optimum setup to win all four Black pawns after queening the e-pawn to go a rook up.

Not pages and pages of analysis, but I think that is part of the answer.
Last edited by Christopher Kreuzer on Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:25 pm

Just checking out the Challengers (which I'd like to have looked at a bit but the chess in the top tournament has been too interesting) I see that after losing to Erigasi in round eight Bjerre has won three games in a row and is a point and a half behind, so it's not yet over. Nguyen is also on the same score, and is black against Erigasi today.

(I am probably going for a walk this afternoon, by the way, so probably no updates from me.)
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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:17 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:43 am
Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:24 am
The instant analysis on Chessbase
Mmm, I don't want the instant analysis though, I want pages of analysis in chess magazines in a debate lasting months and years
As I said, good chance you will get your wish in due course. People are still probing that Botvinnik v Fischer ending some 60 years on.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

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