Stavanger 15-26 June 2015

[LawrenceCooper]

Two early draws by repetition, it looks like Grischuk's clock may provide the main focus of the round.

[Matt Mackenzie]

All draws today - I suppose we can't have thrills 'n' spills every round

[Chris Rice]

Not the most exciting day.

Round 7 Standings:
1 Topalov 6
2= Nakamura, Anand 4.5
4 Giri 4
5= Vachier-Lagrave, Aronian, Caruana 3
8= Carlsen, Grischuk 2.5
10 Hammer 2

Round 8 pairings Wednesday 24th June 2015 3pm BST

Grischuk-Caruana
Giri-Topalov
Anand-Hammer
Carlsen-Aronian
Nakamura-Vachier-Lagrave

[Mick Norris]

"I'm really not very ambitious now." Topalov. Repeats statement he's not motivated to quality for the Candidates after bad result last time.

I wonder what would happen if Topalov refused to take part in the Candidates 2016, won all the Grand Chess Tour events, and established himself as clear number 2 in the world? Would he then see himself as a potential challenger to Carlsen?

Just seen a new quote after he had beaten Hammer

“I had a very bad experience with the Candidates,” said Topalov. “I spent much of 2014 preparing, and then it was a distaster. Even if I qualify I will check the contract, where it will take place... The fact that I qualify is not a big goal.”

This suggests to me that he might qualify, which would mean he will play the World Cup - if he doesn't, even if he is clear number 2, it wouldn't be the first time the Challenger isn't the "obvious" one (e.g. Gelfand)

[Barry Sandercock]

Good win for Magnus today (a bit lucky at the end though )

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If Topalov loses (depending on how good Giri's technique is), then first place is still up for grabs as Anand will only be half a point behind and has Black against Topalov tomorrow.

[Mike Truran]

Good win for Magnus today (a bit lucky at the end though )

The Stockfish evaluations seem to wobble about quite alarmingly. Time and again they show +/-0.5, then back to 0.0 (after the move was played that gave rise to the +/-0.5 in the first place), then back to +/-0.5 - and so on and on.

I expect a variance of 0.5 isn't hugely statistically significant, but how can the assessment change so much (and so consistently) after a single move?

[Roger de Coverly]

I expect a variance of 0.5 isn't hugely statistically significant, but how can the assessment change so much (and so consistently) after a single move?

Horizon effects probably. It's the computer equivalent of thinking a position must be good and then spotting something for the opponent when you look a bit deeper. The multiple engine coverage that some sites offer can be more illuminating. You get positions where the engines choose different moves, but give them all the same 0.00 or thereabouts evaluation. In more unbalanced positions they don't even agree amongst themselves.

[MartinCarpenter]

Don't often see horizon effects nowadays as they search so deep, but with these online engines they often get basically no time at all before they have to produce their answer So they come back.

[Chris Rice]

Well alright then, we're set for a grandstand finish for first place. Giri beats leader Topalov and its a direct battle for tournament victory between Topalov on 6 as White vs Anand on 5.5. Who knew?

Round 8

Grischuk Alexander 2781 ½-½ Caruana Fabiano 2805

Not particularly interesting.

Giri Anish 2773 1-0 Topalov Veselin 2798

Giri of course didn't miss a chance to rub Carlsen's face in it. "I wasn’t going to lose this game because first, my position is extremely safe & second, I’m aware of all the rules in the tournament"

His fiancée, Sopiko also revealed she's marrying Giri in Tbilisi on 18 July.

Anand Viswanathan 2804 1-0 Hammer Jon Ludvig 2677

Hammer: “I don't understand why people are playing English against me. It's a bad opening.”
Carlsen: “Everyone will [be] playing it against you.”
Hammer: “No, not Anand. He doesn't play bad openings.”
To Carlsen's joy, Anand did start with 1.c4.
“You have to play the English with Jon. I didn't want to be the only one not to do it,” said GM Vishy Anand.

Carlsen Magnus 2876 1-0 Aronian Levon 2780

Might have been all so different if Aronian had spotted 36...Qb8! but it was a really hard move to see. Carlsen: "Sorry, I didn't see any of this. I played terribly, and spent too much time. Maybe my worst game in the event. I had a lot of games like this against Levon,” the world champion continued. “He has outplayed me more times than anyone in the world but I keep on escaping and this is what happened today.”

Nakamura Hikaru 2802 ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2723

In the confession box, MVL said he played ...b5 too early, and continued to believe this after the game. Grischuk, who joined him in the port-mortem, said: “You're like me against Magnus. You played ...b5 at the worst possible moment” Unfortunately for Naka he couldn't take advantage of it otherwise he would have been in the running for first as well.

Round 8 standings:

1 Topalov 6
2 Anand 5.5
3= Giri, Nakamura 5
5= Caruana, Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave 3.5
8= Aronian, Grischuk 3
10 Hammer 2

Round 9 pairings:

Vachier-Lagrave-Grischuk
Aronian-Nakamura
Hammer-Carlsen
Topalov-Annad
Caruana-Giri

Reports:

TWIC: http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... ss-round-8
ChessBase: http://en.chessbase.com/post/norway-08- ... efines-all
Chess.com: http://www.chess.com/news/norway-chess- ... loses-3916
Chess Mind: http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2015/6 ... st-ro.html

[NickFaulks]

Good win for Magnus today (a bit lucky at the end though )

The Stockfish evaluations seem to wobble about quite alarmingly. Time and again they show +/-0.5, then back to 0.0 (after the move was played that gave rise to the +/-0.5 in the first place), then back to +/-0.5 - and so on and on.

I expect a variance of 0.5 isn't hugely statistically significant, but how can the assessment change so much (and so consistently) after a single move?

I came to feel a long time ago that the version of Stockfish used on that site is just rubbish.

[Barry Sandercock]

Topalov-Anand draw in 18 moves.

[Ian Kingston]

Any idea what Carlsen is up to? They left theory (such as it was) with his 5th move and Stockfish 6 is giving Hammer something like +0.8 at 30 ply.
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "*"] [PlyCount "14"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Bg5 f6 5. Bd2 dxc4 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bxc4 Bd6 *

[Mick Norris]

Great result for Topalov +4

Anand will be pretty happy with +3

Both 2900+ performances

Live ratings - Anand up to no 2 at 2816.1, Topalov no 3 at 2816.0

[LawrenceCooper]

Any idea what Carlsen is up to? They left theory (such as it was) with his 5th move and Stockfish 6 is giving Hammer something like +0.8 at 30 ply.
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "*"] [PlyCount "14"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Bg5 f6 5. Bd2 dxc4 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bxc4 Bd6 *

It looks like he wanted to get Hammer out of theory which seems to be quite a common theme in the event. I doubt we'll be seeing him (or anyone else) repeating this line with black anytime soon though.