Qatar Masters Open 20-29 December

[JustinHorton]

Anyway it's back on! But the clock, the clock...

[JustinHorton]

And he's done it! Fantastic effort.

[Tim Harding]

The playoff, Yu Yangyi against Magnus, they say, will start at or just before 3pm GMT,

[Mick Norris]

And he's done it! Fantastic effort.

Absolutely, hopefully he will recover for the playoff

Pity David didn't hang on for the win, and that Ravi lost - tough tournament

7.5/9 - Carlsen & Yu Yangyi
7 - Kramnik, Ni Hua, Sjugirov, Karjakin, Ivanchuk

[Steven DuCharme]

Carlsen rules the desert

[Carl Hibbard]

I get home and back to work and it's already over.

[Roger de Coverly]

I get home and back to work and it's already over.

Game 2 showed the tactical danger of combining a Knight on a4 with a Bishop on f4.

[FEN "r2q1bk1/p2p1ppp/1p3n2/3P4/N3rB2/P2Q4/1P3PPP/R4RK1 w - - 1 17"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Na4 cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Bf4 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nc6 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Ne5 15. Qd1 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Re4

[Carl Hibbard]

I get home and back to work and it's already over.

Game 2 showed the tactical danger of combining a Knight on a4 with a Bishop on f4.

[FEN "r2q1bk1/p2p1ppp/1p3n2/3P4/N3rB2/P2Q4/1P3PPP/R4RK1 w - - 1 17"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Bb7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Na4 cxd4 9. exd4 Re8 10. a3 Bf8 11. Bf4 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nc6 13. d5 exd5 14. cxd5 Ne5 15. Qd1 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Re4

Oh that one is bad.

[Tim Harding]

Very anticlimactic playoff, but this is the second tournament in a row that Magnus has benefited from a long rest before a playoff against an exhausted opponent. Yu Yangyi in the first game obtained a good position with Black but just couldn't adjust to the tempo of a 5-minute game so soon after his epic win against So.

Meanwhile in an earlier post I mentioned the Al-Ain Classic in the Emirates which ends tomorrow.
26-year-old Chinese GM Wang Hao has won with a round to spare. He has 7.5/8. In round 6 he drew with Black against Shirov.
There are four players including Shirov on 6 points.
Tomorrow Wang Hao has Black against top seed GM Kryvoruchko (Ukraine) who lost his second round game.
The top eight boards will be live on chess24.

In Stockholm, round 4 of the Rilton Cup starts at 2pm tomorrow. Six players are on 100%.
Board 1 could be fun: Tiger Hillarp Persson v Jon Ludvig Hammer.
I think there will be some live commentary

Naiditsch is sole leader with 5.5/6 in the Zurich tournament (9 rounds, ends Thursday). Round 7 tomorrow morning.

[Mick Norris]

Thanks Tim for the round up

Do we have anyone playing in those events?

[Mike Truran]

Very anticlimactic playoff, but this is the second tournament in a row that Magnus has benefited from a long rest before a playoff against an exhausted opponent.

And how exactly is that Magnus's fault? And how exactly do you know how exhausted Magnus was compared with Yu Yangyi?

[Alasdair MacLeod]

Thanks Tim for the round up

Do we have anyone playing in those events?

There's also Groningen where Akshaya Kalaiyalahan is currently playing. So far she has 4.5/8 with a TPR of 2255. Today's the final round I think.

[Mick Norris]

Rilton Cup - we have Ian Thompson

[Mick Norris]

Naiditsch is sole leader with 5.5/6 in the Zurich tournament (9 rounds, ends Thursday). Round 7 tomorrow morning.

Naiditsch has won outright, as he did last year, with a 14 move draw with black against Bauer

We also have James Plaskett & Bogdan Lalic playing in the Lorca Christmas tournament that ends today
results

[JustinHorton]

Very anticlimactic playoff, but this is the second tournament in a row that Magnus has benefited from a long rest before a playoff against an exhausted opponent.

And how exactly is that Magnus's fault? And how exactly do you know how exhausted Magnus was compared with Yu Yangyi?

It's reasonable enough to surmise that a player who took a draw in the minimum number of moves permitted was probably less tired than one whose game lasted another fifty more.