Legends of Chess: V for Vishy as he gets first win
Vishy Anand was in vintage form as he tore apart fellow legend Boris Gelfand today in the $150,000 chess24 Legends of Chess. The 51-year-old Tiger of Madras gave his Israeli opponent a 2.5-0.5 mauling to polish him off with a game to spare. The match was a replay of the pair’s 2012 world title match which went to rapid games after the classical section before Anand retained his crown. This time, however, Gelfand was never in the running. Anand has started slowly in this event yet the legend from Chennai picked up points in the last two rounds after taking his opponents to Armageddon tiebreaks. Today Anand improved further and picked up a three-point maximum. He said: “Obviously it’s not been quite so disastrous the last three days as the first three, but it’s nice to get a win.” He added: “I simply forgot about Armageddon because I forgot what it’s like without increment… In normal chess the clock can intervene – in Armageddon the chess can intervene.” Meanwhile, Carlsen, the reigning World Champion, continued his imperious form to record a seventh straight match-win against Russia’s eight-time champ Peter Svidler. Carlsen’s first two games against Svidler were drawn but in between the champion found time to tweet his congratulations to the winner of the Premier League fantasy football. In a reply to his rival Aleksandar Antonov, the Norwegian said: “Bossed it on the final day. Congrats, TooGood indeed!” Carlsen, who was in with a chance of winning, finished joint 11th in the fantasy football – but is going far better in chess. After a third draw, Carlsen hit Svidler in the fourth game with the White pieces to take the match 2.5-1.5. It was hard on Svidler who battled hard. Meanwhile, the in-form Ian Nepomniachtchi – who has been Carlsen’s biggest threat in the tournament table – was taken to an Armageddon by Peter Leko. But Leko was outclassed in the faster tiebreak match as Ian picked up 2 tournament points to keep in touch with Carlsen. In the other matches, mercurial legend Vasyl Ivanchuk beat former world champ Vladimir Kramnik 3-1. Ding Liren’s woeful form, punctuated by disconnections because he is playing in China, continued as he went down 2.5-0.5 to Anish Giri. Today was day seven of the round-robin battle for four places in the Legends of Chess semi-finals. The event, the fifth leg of the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, runs until August 5 and will carry a $150,000 prize fund. The winner will scoop a top prize of $45,000 and the last of the coveted spots in the tour’s Grand Final in August. Tournament rules and schedule The time control is a rapid 15m + 10s from move 1 played in the chess24 Playzone. There will be two stages starting with a 10-player round-robin (July 21-29) with each round consisting of 4-game matches and Armageddon tiebreaks if needed. The top four will advance to the knockout semi-finals (July 31-August 2) and two will go through to the final (August 3-5). July 30 is a free day. All sessions will begin at 16:00 CEST. Highlights in English:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rmx6IFrFYxYPrNhZVtxZbRWTiMAIICvc?usp=sharingNew files at around 23.00 CEST Rough edit highlights:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SItw6DwCyoTsZ0WiVAjw4BkVHEaGQFDI?usp=sharingNew files ready around 02.00 CEST FOR MORE INFORMATION:Leon Watsonleon@chessable.com+447786 078770
Legends of Chess: Magnus chess if not Fantasy king
Magnus Carlsen played Ding Liren four hours earlier than usual to be able to “sweat” the final day of the Fantasy Premier League, and while the football didn’t go so well Magnus racked up a 6th match victory in six with a 2.5:1.5 win over the world no. 3. Ian Nepomniachtchi has won as many matches but fell a point behind as he could only beat Vishy Anand in Armageddon, while Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler also won in sudden death. Anish Giri was the other player to win in four games as he and Peter Leko defied the haters with the day’s lowest number of draws. World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen went into the final day of the English Premier League season, and therefore the Fantasy Premier League season, ranked no. 4 out of more than 7.5 million players of that game. The media interest was high, especially in Norway, which brought with it some obligations. It was agreed a couple of weeks in advance that Magnus would play this round four hours earlier, with Ding Liren happy to agree to the chance to start playing at 6 pm rather than his usual 10 pm. In football, as in chess, Magnus is all about taking calculated risks that maximize the upside for him, and in this case, it wasn’t impossible that he could top the table: “It’s a long shot, but as long as there is a chance that’s cool and I would like to thank Ding for agreeing to play at an earlier time today so that I can sweat the games properly later today”. It did not work in football, but on the chessboard Magnus went from strength to strength. He described the first game of the day against Ding Liren as “uneventful”, with the 31-move draw most remarkable for the fact that the world nos. 1 and 3 managed to create a position never seen before at the top level by move 4. The second game was no offbeat theory, however, with Magnus navigating straight into the shark-infested waters of the Anti-Moscow Gambit where he proved his prowess winning on move 33. Magnus felt the result of the match hinged on Game 3, where he went for some bold defense after getting into a difficult position in the opening. Ding Liren decided to go for a technical position a pawn up, but although Magnus described it as “really, really ugly for Black,” he also felt his drawing chances were good. Ding Liren rushed his winning attempt and a draw was reached in 60 moves. In the final game, Ding had to win on demand with the black pieces, and at the price of a pawn he did manage to marshal his pieces for a kingside assault. It never looked like being enough, however, and Magnus safely defused the situation to claim the full three match points. He’s now won all six matches so far, dropping a match point only to Vasyl Ivanchuk, who took their encounter to Armageddon. Leko – Giri was the only other match that a player won without the need for Armageddon. After exchanging blows in games two and three, Dutch no. 1 scored a crushing win in the final encounter to clinch the match. Grischuk said Leko had suffered, “an old-fashioned opening catastrophe,” where you find yourself totally lost, unlike the more modern “catastrophes” where you just have no advantage or a slightly worse position. Ian Nepomniachtchi also managed to win sixth match in a row, but not without some difficulties. He failed to convert a close to winning position in the first game and also thought he’d missed chances of a masterpiece in the 3rd game. Between those, however, he’d won the second game after a hyper-sharp opening didn’t go Vishy’s way. Needing to win with the black pieces in Game 4, most people had written off Vishy’s chances, but that’s just when he’s at his most dangerous as, for instance, the 2014 Candidates Tournament proved. Ian confessed he got “over-optimistic” when he tempted Vishy to grab material in the opening. Anand didn’t need to be asked twice and went on to convert his advantage brilliantly. That meant a 3rd Armageddon in a row for Vishy, and it proved to be a 3rd Armageddon in which he was just too slow. It may be purely a technological issue – if, for instance, he doesn’t have a good mouse – but Grischuk also saw some historical “revenge” on behalf of all the people Vishy had blitzed in his long career. Gelfand – Kramnik match was a fantastic brawl between two players who first met 27 years ago in Linares 1993. Nowadays it’s 7-year-older Boris who’s working harder on chess, and he managed to catch Kramnik out in the opening in the first game until by the end it was already high time to resign. After a tense second game, it looked as though Gelfand was about to win the match with a game to spare, but Kramnik managed to muddy the waters in a position where he was an exchange down and level the score. In the final rapid game, it was Vladimir who was pushing for a win, but Gelfand held to take the encounter to Armageddon. Vladimir had White and had to win, which he duly did, in a sparkling game in which he quickly saw that he could exchange off all the pieces to force a won pawn ending. Vasyl Ivanchuk had tortured Magnus Carlsen the day before and he showed exactly the same hunger and talent against Peter Svidler. He took the early lead and it looked like Vasyl would storm to an almost unassailable 2:0 lead but by making two mistakes in a row he allowed Peter to completely turn the tables. Vasyl could again have finished off the match in the final rapid game, but instead, after draws in Games 3 and 4, we got yet another Armageddon. What followed was a great battle with mutual mistakes, but starting with Black and a
Base Division: Day 2 Round-up
On July 26 the teams in all three pools of Base Division continued to fight for the spots in Division 4. Although there were no big surprises on Sunday, some results might be crucial in deciding what teams advance to Division 4. Pool A The matches in this pool have followed a predictable script – after the first-round clash of favorites, Myanmar and Brunei, both teams have been dominating all their matches. However, it was not just an easy ride for the two strongest teams in this pool. For example, Myanmar suffered two defeats on junior boards vs. Pakistan, whereas Brunei unexpectedly conceded two points to Laos and Macao. On the other hand, in the most important match for Brunei with team Macau, the former scored a confident victory 4.5:1.5 thanks to total domination on women’s boards. The key match in terms of 3d and 4th positions in tournament leaderboard was played in the fourth round: Oman beat Fiji with a minimal margin and now has a fair chance to qualify for Division 4. The seven-round match Fiji – Pakistan will be of paramount importance for both teams. Most likely Pakistan will be OK with a draw. Two matches in this group were postponed to Monday due to connection issues in Somalia, but they will hardly affect the final standings. Standings After Day 2 (Rounds 1-6): 1. Myanmar – 12 (30.5)2. Brunei – 10 (26.5)3. Oman – 9 (23)4. Fiji – 8 (21,5)+1 extra match5. Pakistan – 7 (20) + 1 extra match6. Guam – 4 (17)7. Laos – 4 (10)8. Macau – 1 (8,5)9. Somalia – 1 (5) + 2 extra matches10. Bhutan – 0 (4) Pool B Will Lebanon, one of the two strongest teams in Base Division, lose a single point? That was probably the most interesting question of the second day in this pool. On the first day, Lebanon players won all their games but on the second day, they conceded to their opponents five half-points (Bahrain scored 1.5 points, Qatar – 1). One way or another, Lebanon remains the only team in Base Division not to lose a single game. It will be interesting to watch this squad in action in a stronger Division 4. Despite losing to the leader Bahrain and Qatar are bound to advance to the next stage. Even unexpected draw with Mali (notable because only four players played in the African team) should not prevent Qatar from qualifying for the Division 4. It was not the best day for Qatar’s leader IM Husein Aziz Nezad. Burundi found itself in a bind – formally speaking, this team from East Africa occupies the third position, but it is playing three difficult matches today with Lebanon, Qatar, and Bahrain. It means that Liberia which won a very important match against Gabon has a good chance to catch up with Burundi. Standings After Day 2 (Rounds 1-6): 1. Lebanon – 12 (33,5)2. Bahrain – 10 (27,5)3. Burundi – 10 (24)4. Qatar – 9 (24,5)5. Liberia – 6 (18,5)6. Gabon -5 (15)7. Mali – 5 (12)8. Gambia – 2 (6,5)9. San Marino – 1 (10,5)10. DR Congo – 0 (2) Pool C Unlike Pools A and B where things shaped up quickly enough, in Pool C we can expect a surprise in any match. After a disastrous first day, team Haiti, the rating-favorite of this group, rolled up the sleeves. Three confident victories over Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Cape Verde catapulted Haiti to third place but since in Round 7 it is facing the leader, team Cyprus, Haiti has not secured its spot in the top-4 yet. Cyprus is in a much more comfortable situation – after the victories over Aruba and Libia the Mediterranean team punched its ticket to the next stage. Team Aruba already can prepare for tough matches in Division 4 as well, as it prevailed in a key encounter vs. Mauritania. With 2:3 on the scoreboard Ahmed Taleb Mohamed was desperately trying to win a drawing ending vs. Octavio Croes, but eventually had to take a draw. Aruba owes its triumph to Thamara Sagastegui playing on the Women U20 board – she won all her six games which is the absolute best result in Base Division. Team Libya complicated its task of advancing to Division 4 after giving up points in two matches with weaker teams including the Round 6 encounter with the Cayman Islands. Now Libya has everything at stake in the decisive match with Mauritania in Round 7. Saint Lucia and Cape Verde are still in the contest. Under certain circumstances, one of these teams also might progress to the next stage. Standings After Day 2 (Rounds 1-6): 1. Cyprus – 12 (30,5)2. Aruba – 9 (21)3. Haiti – 8 (25)4. Libya – 8 (19)5. Mauritania – 6 (24)6. Saint Lucia – 6 (18,5)7. Cape Verde – 5 (18,5)8. Cayman Islands – 3 (10,5)9. Antigua & Barbuda- 3 (10)10. Grenada – 0 (3)