Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017

[Nick Grey]

I forgot the last round starts early rule.
Looks like I have missed the controversy. Not talking about Joshua.
Ought to pay no prize money to anyone that throws a game (also not pay their expenses).
Was it just throwing toys out of pram?

[Joshua Gibbs]

Moderator: please delete that disgusting unfunny image above and ban the poster for a week?

Look: Im sorry you dont like me.

1 People tell me in real life they enjoy my posts on here
2 I really like chess and enjoy discussing it
3 I learnt the game to Beating several Fide Masters Online and drawing with a GM in a simul standard as an adult I think that should be respected.
4 I do not come on here on a false name everyone knows who I am. Ok ive made myself look like an idiot, but I dont delete my posts and i say it under my real name

[JustinHorton]

The organisers (or appeal committee) already over-ruled a protest over tournament leader Anton getting six whites including in the crucial last round,

Yes, that was odd: anybody know the ins and outs of this? (I imagine I know less about pairing rules than most people on here.) Do we know who complained?

[JustinHorton]

Also - is Edouard a known time-trouble addict? ( I ask because of his adventures yesterday, and because he's down to about twenty minutes for more than twenty moves today, after apparently arriving fourteen minutes late.)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Anyway, some people have compared Anton's play with Michael Adams (and there is a superficial similarity in their demeanour, at least in photos and in other impressions I have). Are there similarities in their style, and would a draw be the least surprising outcome?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Adams colours so far: WBWBWWBBW
Anton colours so far: BWBWWBWWB

Both 5-4 colour splits, so we look back down the rounds to find the first round where they differ. In round 9, Adams had white and Anton black, so the correct colours for a pairing between them give Anton white.

Thus the colours were correct in the context of the pairing itself. (I'd need to examine the scoregroup more closely to see whether the pairing itself was the correct one.)

[Roger de Coverly]

Was it just throwing toys out of pram?

If push came to shove, I expect the organisers or any arbiter with the software could reproduce the pairings as published. There may have been the usual minor tweak to prohibit pairings between ISR players and those who might or would kick up a fuss.

There is a valid issue for pairing rules as to the extent, if at all, they should prohibit pairings between family members or even those known to work as a team, such as a world championship contender and their second. Just preventing such pairings in the last round would be an approach. The moral risk is that where such players pool their financial resources, a particular result might be beneficial for their combined income.

[Joshua Gibbs]

Anyway, some people have compared Anton's play with Michael Adams (and there is a superficial similarity in their demeanour, at least in photos and in other impressions I have). Are there similarities in their style, and would a draw be the least surprising outcome?

it might be because Im younger but Adams is much more active on twitter and is also much older and has beaten more grandmasters. I would actually be lost for words if I ever met him, I cant say the same for anton

[Christopher Kreuzer]

With an even number of rounds, you will always get discrepancies like this (6-4 split versus 5-5 split). With an odd number of rounds (such as 9) it would be 5-4 or 4-5 split. Not sure if it could ever be 6-3 split. Maybe some 11-round events throw up strange colour splits. Has Gibraltar always been 10 rounds?

[IM Jack Rudd]

The British Championship has thrown up 7-4 splits on occasion. They're much rarer than 6-4 splits in 10-rounders, though.

[Roger de Coverly]

The British Championship has thrown up 7-4 splits on occasion.

You cannot blame that on computerised pairings.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I don't begrudge Anton his luck in having six whites, presumably in accordance with pairings rules. And he still has to decide how hard to play for a win. Yu Yangyi is winning already, so there is no question of drawing his way to overall victory.

[Jonathan Rogers]

It is a widespread Michael Jackson popcorn-eating meme:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/popcorn-gifs

It is not particularly offensive. It is a bit old and past its sell-by-date.

I believe it is from Thriller, the dance movements in which, according to my partner, sent teenage girls across Europe wild in the mid-1980s.

Of course, I myself was playing chess and did not notice.

Bit easily offended, aren't you, Tim?

[Roger de Coverly]

Returning to the actual chess, I found the fourth move of the Adams game a surprise. The game started 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 and now 4. .. a6 was played. Checking against a database, it appears to have been first played by Staunton against St Amant in 1843 and had also been played against Capablanca. It's very rare in the UK, explaining perhaps why I had never seen it.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Check whether Naka played it earlier in this event? (Someone did)