World Blitz.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Far be it from me to criticise a 2700, but I did get the impression from watching some of Nakamura's games that he sometimes seems to be trying to beat his opponent simply by moving faster than him.

Well, he is the co-author of a book on bullet chess (the book is very good, btw), and he is famed for being the highest-rated player on ICC and having learnt his trade playing internet chess, so I'd expect some of that to show through. Of course, in a real-life blitz game, you can't pre-move...

[Eoin Devane]

Well, he is the co-author of a book on bullet chess (the book is very good, btw), and he is famed for being the highest-rated player on ICC and having learnt his trade playing internet chess, so I'd expect some of that to show through. Of course, in a real-life blitz game, you can't pre-move...

Yes, so he should be able to move faster than his opponent even while stopping to think about his moves. But in some games (such as that Aronian one) he seemed to me to be taking it too far. Sure, he might be able to play better than anyone else when he's got virtually no time for each move, but when you've got 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move it seems foolish to be playing like this against 2700s and 2800s. He still came in pretty well up overall, but really he needs to look at how he can actually be winning these things. I believe he can.

[John Saunders]

Anyone spot Magnus Carlsen's big blunder and brief attempt to take a move back in round 16?

http://video.russiachess.org/browse/index/day/23 - go to 15:27:45

Here's the complete score of the game...

[Event "VI World Blitz"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2010.11.17"]
[Round "16.1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Savchenko, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B37"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2632"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2010.11.16"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nc2 Nf6 7. Nc3 d6 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. Be3 Qa5 11. Rb1 Rfc8 12. f4 Nd7 13. Nd5 Qxa2 14. b4 Qa4 15.
Qd2 Nf6 16. Nc3 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Bd3 a5 19. b5 Nb4 20. Nxb4 axb4 21. Rxb4
Qa3 22. Rbb1 Ra4 23. Rfc1 d5 24. Nf2 Bxd3 25. Qxd3 dxc4 26. Qxa3 Rxa3 27. Bb6
f5 28. Kf1 e5 29. fxe5 Bxe5 30. h3 Kf7 31. Rc2 Rb3 32. Rd1 Rxb5 33. Bd4 Bg3 34.
Be3 Re5 35. Bb6 Rc6 36. Rd7+ Re7 37. Rxe7+ Kxe7 38. Ba5 b5 39. Rb2 c3 40. Rc2
Be5 41. Nd1 Kf7 42. Ke2 Rc4 43. Bxc3 b4 44. Kd3 Rxc3+ 45. Nxc3 Bxc3 46. Ra2 h5
47. Ra6 Kg7 48. Kc4 Kh6 49. Rb6 Kg5 50. Kd3 Be1 51. Kd4 {(Carlsen tried to
retract this and play 51 Kc4 but his opponent insisted that it stood - at which
point Carlsen resigned)} 0-1

[Jonathan Rogers]

Can one give Carlsen the benefit of the doubt here? He hadn't pressed his clock, and I am under the impression (without having bothered to check) than in blitz - as opposed to rapidplay - the move is only complete when the clock is pressed. ("Touch-move" may still apply but then he was happy to move his king to another square). So either he was allowed to change his move or at least thought he was entitled to do so.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Can one give Carlsen the benefit of the doubt here? He hadn't pressed his clock, and I am under the impression (without having bothered to check) than in blitz - as opposed to rapidplay - the move is only complete when the clock is pressed. ("Touch-move" may still apply but then he was happy to move his king to another square). So either he was allowed to change his move or at least thought he was entitled to do so.

Was the position already losing?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Well, he is the co-author of a book on bullet chess (the book is very good, btw), and he is famed for being the highest-rated player on ICC and having learnt his trade playing internet chess, so I'd expect some of that to show through. Of course, in a real-life blitz game, you can't pre-move...

Yes, so he should be able to move faster than his opponent even while stopping to think about his moves. But in some games (such as that Aronian one) he seemed to me to be taking it too far. Sure, he might be able to play better than anyone else when he's got virtually no time for each move, but when you've got 3 minutes + 2 seconds per move it seems foolish to be playing like this against 2700s and 2800s. He still came in pretty well up overall, but really he needs to look at how he can actually be winning these things. I believe he can.

I was very impressed that Aronian saw that queen trap in the Nakamura game. Look at how much time Aronian had at that point. I would take at least 10-20 seconds to be able to check that the queen had run out of squares, but Aronian either saw it much earlier, or realised instantly (1-2 seconds) that the queen had run out of squares.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Can one give Carlsen the benefit of the doubt here? He hadn't pressed his clock, and I am under the impression (without having bothered to check) than in blitz - as opposed to rapidplay - the move is only complete when the clock is pressed. ("Touch-move" may still apply but then he was happy to move his king to another square). So either he was allowed to change his move or at least thought he was entitled to do so.

Was the position already losing?

Possibly tenable (in blitz at least). At any rate I would be very surprised if he resigned because "he was lost anyway"

[benedgell]

Trying to watch Aronian- Nakamura on
http://www.youtube.com/user/bumblebee16 ... 3qX5BdfFK8

for some reason it keeps stopping at 20 secs. Does anyone else have this problem?

Also, I think Kosteniuk's site had a video with Carlsen doing something similar in the past. Some of these top players severely lack etiquette/ class. I mean making a move and then noticing it's a blunder and trying to re-move is cheating, and making over-the-top gesticulations which put your opponent off is at best bad sportsmanship.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

for some reason it keeps stopping at 20 secs. Does anyone else have this problem?

Worked for me yesterday. Give it time (a couple of minutes) and it might restart. Some video clips do freeze for a long time, partially, I suspect, due to failure of the ad-serving side of things.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Trying to watch Aronian- Nakamura on
http://www.youtube.com/user/bumblebee16 ... 3qX5BdfFK8

for some reason it keeps stopping at 20 secs. Does anyone else have this problem?

Also, I think Kosteniuk's site had a video with Carlsen doing something similar in the past. Some of these top players severely lack etiquette/ class. I mean making a move and then noticing it's a blunder and trying to re-move is cheating, and making over-the-top gesticulations which put your opponent off is at best bad sportsmanship.

Clearly they all learnt from Kasparov!

[Eoin Devane]

Also, I think Kosteniuk's site had a video with Carlsen doing something similar in the past. Some of these top players severely lack etiquette/ class. I mean making a move and then noticing it's a blunder and trying to re-move is cheating, and making over-the-top gesticulations which put your opponent off is at best bad sportsmanship.

This one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeyXKTVYenA

[Maria Yurenok]

... Ian Nepomniachtchi (I still can't work out how to pronounce his name - what the Russian commentators seemed to be saying had many fewer syllables than that name looks like it requires)...

Yes, it maybe a little overkill putting so many letters "chtch" to represent just one in Russian - "щ": Ян Непомнящий. The trouble is, there is no equivalent letter or sound in English. This sound is something between sh and ch, or in other words a softer version of sh. So, it's probably more correct to use the spelling as used in GM Shcherbakov's case. Incidentally, Nepomnniachtchi means forgetful. I wish I was as forgetful when playing chess!

Anyway, well done to Aronian! I'm glad it wasn't one of the expected winners like Carlsen or Nakamura, though I would have preferred one of the Russians to win.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Can one give Carlsen the benefit of the doubt here? He hadn't pressed his clock, and I am under the impression (without having bothered to check) than in blitz - as opposed to rapidplay - the move is only complete when the clock is pressed. ("Touch-move" may still apply but then he was happy to move his king to another square). So either he was allowed to change his move or at least thought he was entitled to do so."

No. 4.6 still applies "When, as a legal move or part of a legal move, a piece has been released on a square, it cannot then be moved to another square. The move is considered to have been made when all the relevant requirements of Article 3 have been fulfilled"

That isn't overridden in RP or Blitz Laws. Presumably Carlsen's move was legal?

FIDE have tried to make all the forms of chess as similar as possible. Admittedly, I think it changed fairly recently and most people would think it was ok to change the move if you hadn't pressed the clock. And it is difficult to get out of the habit!

[James Pratt]

Incidentally, Nepomnniachtchi means forgetful quoth Maria.

I'm sure Bernard Cafferty told me it meant 'I don't have a name'

[Alex Holowczak]

"Can one give Carlsen the benefit of the doubt here? He hadn't pressed his clock, and I am under the impression (without having bothered to check) than in blitz - as opposed to rapidplay - the move is only complete when the clock is pressed. ("Touch-move" may still apply but then he was happy to move his king to another square). So either he was allowed to change his move or at least thought he was entitled to do so."

The move is made when you've let go of the piece.
The move is completed when you've pressed your clock.

So in this case, Carlsen made an illegal move.