Gashimov Memorial

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Colin,

At work, could not see the game so rely on what is drip feed to me through this forum.
(The IT guys allow me this and RHP. I flicked across to chessgames and followed it at my
desk on my tablet - but if I get caught again doing this I'm on the carpet.)

If I could have seen the game I would not have been hawking around this forum.

You have to agree that a stream of analysis with a +001 or what ever with no diagram is totally pointless.

You posted this:

"Looking at very small matters of chess technique, it is interesting to note that after 16...h6 17.Be3,
Mamedjarov spent only 12 seconds in redeveloping his knight with 20...Ng6. He had evidently decided
beforehand that this was the most natural developing move."

And nothing else. That tells no one anything. A wee simple diagram would have worked wonders.
Or maybe not - 16...h6 17.Be3 then 20...Ng6 What happened to moves 18 and 19?

I hope you don't miss out moves in your Everyman Book on Carlsen or am I too weak to buy it
because it will have moves missing and I'll see instead:

""Stronger players than yourself would be able to see the position and game."

Missing out moves in a book so the stronger players can fill them in is a novel
idea Colin But I don't think it will catch on.



This note:

"Carlsen has gained something, but also risked something, and Mamedjarov has ensured
that he has good counterplay on the queenside (if Carlsen were to play the aggressive
19.cxd5, rather than the quieter 19.Rxd5)."

added with:

2r1r1k1/p2n1ppp/1p6/2ppP1B1/q1P5/b4N2/P1R1QPPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 19

Is now just perfect.
We now know and can see exactly what you are saying.

Now I can see the position I like Rxd5 (it what MC played) it keeps the Bishop bad,
The Knight will not have c5 (after Black plays c4) and the c-pawn is not a runner.

But this bit?

"I do wish to note that I am completely fed up when players of extremely moderate
strength start shouting off that an IM is a weakie."

Er...I think you will have to read my post again - I never even hinted at that.
I've no idea where you got that from.

I cannot see what is outrageous about asking for a simple diagram to go along with analysis.
Without it the post was a string of meaningless gumph and with you being a GM what you
would have to say about a diagrammed position would or could be of some value.

It's not just you, I have asked others to supply diagrams when posting analysis.
If you check any post by me where I suggest something you will always see a diagram.

No need to stick up for me Carl.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Geoff, Colin is an IM, not a GM. I agree diagrams are useful, but sometimes adding them breaks the flow of thought. Sometimes this forum is a quasi-live commentary while the games are in progress. Having said that, if you know how to do it, adding diagrams is very easy and quick. I would suggest that Paolo offer to help show Colin how to add diagrams from the live games he is talking about, but that idea may not work out too well. FWIW, I have Colin's book on Carlsen (and have read it) and though it was hard going at times it is very readable for the most part and I would recommend it, though the other books on Carlsen's games should be read as well.

[Mick Norris]

Hi Colin,

SNIP

This note:

"Carlsen has gained something, but also risked something, and Mamedjarov has ensured
that he has good counterplay on the queenside (if Carlsen were to play the aggressive
19.cxd5, rather than the quieter 19.Rxd5)."

added with:

2r1r1k1/p2n1ppp/1p6/2ppP1B1/q1P5/b4N2/P1R1QPPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 19

Is now just perfect.
We now know and can see exactly what you are saying.

Now I can see the position I like Rxd5 (it what MC played) it keeps the Bishop bad,
The Knight will not have c5 (after Black plays c4) and the c-pawn is not a runner.

SNIP

Chessvibes suggest that cxd5 wasn't aggressive, just wrong, as

19. cxd5?! would be a mistake of course: 19... Nxe5! 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 21. Qxe5 Qxc2 22. Re1 although Black still needs to be careful. The computer's 22... Rf8! might well be the only move here.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Carlsen took 2 m 12 sec to play 6 Be2 and 1 m 39 sec to play 7 Bd3

Thanks. So I suppose preparation rather than over the board inspiration, but who knows with Maggie.

[Roger de Coverly]

Sometimes this forum is a quasi-live commentary while the games are in progress. Having said that, if you know how to do it, adding diagrams is very easy and quick.

To add a diagram you set it up in FEN notation and enclose it with pos tags. But if you are following a live game, what's the short cut to getting the game into FEN? Some sites will allow a pgn download of a game in progress, but it's a messy solution to import the game into a database and export a diagram. The "F" in FEN stands for Forsythe, which was a long established way of jotting down positions. That's something you needed to be able to do in the dim and distant past (for many of us) of adjudications and adjournments. The trouble is that though I could remember the method, the conventions are arbitrary. So do you start on a1 or a8 and which of White and Black pieces are upper or lower case?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Sometimes this forum is a quasi-live commentary while the games are in progress. Having said that, if you know how to do it, adding diagrams is very easy and quick.

To add a diagram you set it up in FEN notation and enclose it with pos tags. But if you are following a live game, what's the short cut to getting the game into FEN? Some sites will allow a pgn download of a game in progress, but it's a messy solution to import the game into a database and export a diagram. The "F" in FEN stands for Forsythe, which was a long established way of jotting down positions. That's something you needed to be able to do in the dim and distant past (for many of us) of adjudications and adjournments. The trouble is that though I could remember the method, the conventions are arbitrary. So do you start on a1 or a8 and which of White and Black pieces are upper or lower case?

I was assuming most sites had an option like the one in Paolo's pgn4web set-up:

http://pgn4web.casaschi.net/home.html

If you click b8, you get the FEN string for the position. I can't remember where the full list of those click options are, though if you hover over the board you will see most of them. It would seem shorter to list the squares that don't do something.

[Paolo Casaschi]

To add a diagram you set it up in FEN notation and enclose it with pos tags. But if you are following a live game, what's the short cut to getting the game into FEN? Some sites will allow a pgn download of a game in progress, but it's a messy solution to import the game into a database and export a diagram. The "F" in FEN stands for Forsythe, which was a long established way of jotting down positions. That's something you needed to be able to do in the dim and distant past (for many of us) of adjudications and adjournments. The trouble is that though I could remember the method, the conventions are arbitrary. So do you start on a1 or a8 and which of White and Black pieces are upper or lower case?

The FEN standard is explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsyth%E2 ... s_Notation
It's easy to do mistakes writing a FEN string manually, but any chess software and many of the online board display allow for export in FEN format (or in PGN format, that uses FEN to assign a non standard starting position).

[Geoff Chandler]

When the show the live game they show the moves.

Copy the moves. paste into a bog-standard pgn player. (Chesspad or Winboard) Bingo.

Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen, Gashimov Memorial 2014.

1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nh5 7. Nh3 f5 8. e3 d6 9. Be2 c5 10. O-O Nc6 11. g4 fxg4 12. fxg4 Nf6 13. Nf2 *

Moves copied from chessgames.
(and they too have been getting it in the neck for not using diagrams...some have started doing it.)

r1bq1rk1/pp4pp/2nppn2/2p5/2PP2P1/P1P1P3/4BN1P/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 0 13
Diagram created by Chesspad - took less than 15 secs.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Diagram created by Chesspad - took less than 15 secs.

Actually, you are not copy-pasting a diagram. You are using a FEN string generated by the software you are using and then placing it in your post here within 'pos' (position) tags. That is an important distinction to those who may not have tried doing this before. It is obvious once you have done it once, but really (seriously) a step-by-step video tutorial with screencaps may really help some people here.

[Paolo Casaschi]

It is obvious once you have done it once, but really (seriously) a step-by-step video tutorial with screencaps may really help some people here.

Good idea, feel free to go ahead and post such a step-by-step tutorial.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It is obvious once you have done it once, but really (seriously) a step-by-step video tutorial with screencaps may really help some people here.

Good idea, feel free to go ahead and post such a step-by-step tutorial.

Er, yeah. Playing through the games is much more enjoyable... (Carlsen's just won a piece, but looks to be petering out to a draw).

[Chris Rice]

FWIW, I have Colin's book on Carlsen (and have read it) and though it was hard going at times it is very readable for the most part and I would recommend it, though the other books on Carlsen's games should be read as well.

Colin's book is on the ACP shortlist for 2013 Book of the Year award which suggests its very highly rated by GMs. Given that fact I guess any book on this shortlist is worth buying.

The nominees for Book of the Year 2013 are:

100 Chess Master Trade Secrets - Andrew Soltis - Batsford

Estrategia Dinámica en Ajedrez - Mihai Suba - Chessy

From GM to Top Ten - Judith Polgar - Quality Chess

Magnus Force - Colin Crouch - Everyman Chess

Mastering Endgame Strategy - Johan Hellsten - Everyman Chess

Nunca olvides que...¡tienes un rival enfrente! - Mark Dvoretsky - Chessy

Pump up your Rating - Axel Smith - Quality Chess

Study Chess with Tal - Mikhail Tal, Alexander Koblenc - Batsford

[Geoff Chandler]

Looking at that list then Colin's book does seem the most attractive.

Let this Moron do a quick review based on the title.

I'm standing outside the Chess Shop, all I can see is the covers and I have to pick a Christmas present.

100 Chess Master Trade Secrets - Andrew Soltis - A pot boiler

Estrategia Dinámica en Ajedrez - Mihai Suba - ?

From GM to Top Ten - Judith Polgar - (if this is her best games then possibly)

Magnus Force - Colin Crouch - this or the one above.....does it have diagrams?

Mastering Endgame Strategy - Johan Hellsten - The planet does not need yet another book on endgames.

Nunca olvides que...¡tienes un rival enfrente! - Mark Dvoretsky - (?)

Pump up your Rating - Axel Smith - (anything with 'grade' or 'rating' in the title I won't have. Point of principle.)

Study Chess with Tal - Mikhail Tal, Alexander Koblenc - (a reprint?)

No idea about the foreign jobs.
Master Chess which I co-authored in 1983 was translated in Spanish.
It's very strange looking at a book you wrote and not being able to understand one word of it.

[AustinElliott]

Wow - is the World Champ human after all?

Speaking from my ECF 160-ish perspective, it looks as if Carlsen missed a relatively simple pawn-winning tactic from Caruana (25. Nxc7!) and is now dead lost...

[MartinCarpenter]

Maybe he was shell shocked at not winning his game yesterday It did look like the sort of thing he wins quite often, but suppose super GMs have to be allowed to defend it at times!