Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
As usual, all eyes are on Magnus Carlsen, the owner of a stratospheric 2986 blitz rating, a full 100 points ahead of his competition. For many the question is not even if Magnus can win the tournament, but whether he can get to a 3000 rating in the process.
Eleven rounds in, and it looks anything but. Carlsen struggled mightily, mainly with blunders, and he should have considered himself lucky to get to 7 / 10 before the concluding round of today's session. See for yourself.
All smiles before the first round game | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
It was topy-turvy to say the least, right from the word go. Magnus' game with Inarkiev had the strangest finish you will see in professional chess. And you'd never know it just by looking at the game in isolation.
In the final position, with both sides having seconds on the clock, Inarkiev was in check, but he didn't see it and instead played Ne3+ — an illegal move — checking Carlsen's king! Somehow Magnus himself didn't register that this move was illegal, even though he had just put his opponent in check on the prior move. He should have stopped the clock and claimed the illegal move. But he played Kd3. Suddenly, Inarkiev realized what happened, and stopped the clock himself to summon the arbiter, claiming a win by virtue of Magnus' making an illegal move! And after a brief discussion at the board, the arbiter ruled the game a black win!
Watch:
Starting from 24.f3... | Source: Chess Cast
Inarkiev was interviewed shortly after the game, when the point was still his, and seemed sincere, if surprised by his incredibly good fortune — he notes that in the position on the board he is basically lost.
Ernesto Inarkiev speaking with Anastasia Karlovich | Source: ChessCast
However, after the game, a discussion took place between rounds, and it emerged that the arbiter's ruling was wrong. The chief arbiter, Takis Nikolopoulos, ruled that the game should continue from the illegal position. But Inarkiev could not believe it. The conversation between Nikolopoulos and Inarkiev was captured by an NRK video crew and subsequently shared on social media by Tarjei Svensen. It's surreal:
EI: I stopped the clock in the moment he made illegal move
TN: Yes, you have the right to stop the clock. But the move he made is not illegal!
EI: But you talk about arbiter, It's not arbiter I stopped the clock and claimed illegal move.
TN: But it's not illegal move.
EI: You say Kd3 is illegal move in this position.
TN: Your king is illegal move.
EI: You said Kd3 is illegal move.
TN: Kd3 is not illegal move. You are saying this. It’s legal. By going there, it created an illegal position. Now it’s your turn to play, you can correct the illegal position by moving your king. Or if you don’t move your king, then the illegal position remains and we declare a draw. This is the case. (Inarkiev reads rule book)
EI: Yes, okay. I will make an appeal. Because here it writes arbiter observes. But I stopped the clock and said it’s illegal move. Because I think when my king is under attack he can not make Kd3.
TN: He can make!
EI: This is not illegal move! You said Kd3 is illegal move.
TN: He made a move. The previously illegal move stands. He didn’t claim for illegal move.
EI: But I claimed.
TN: Claim for what? Your illegal move?
EI: No, claim for his illegal move!
TN: The move he played was legal!
EI: Not legal!
TN: Yes!
EI: You said in that position Kd3 is possible move.
TN: Yes!
EI: No, it’s not posisble.
TN: Yes, it is. It produces an illegal position, this is the difference.
EI: Yes, but the move is illegal.
TN: The move is not illegal! The move is not illegal! This is the point.
EI: (inaudible)
TN: Okay, you continue the game or not?
EI: No, I want to make an appeal for this game. I am not continuing.
TN: Okay.
And so the result was completely reversed. Carlsen was awarded the point! Remarkable!
At this point, all one can do is shrug | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
Inarkiev appealed the ruling, and later in the day, IM Malcolm Pein, a member of the appeals committee, described Inarkiev's appeal, and the decision of the committee. He amusingly noted at the outset that, "the appeals committee is traditionally a bit of a joke. Whoever is invited is just meant to be sitting down and not doing very much." But this time they actually had a serious case to deal with.
IM Malcolm Pein on the Inarkiev appeal | Source: Chess Cast
Such an incident would be tough to shake, and in fact Carlsen lost his very next game against Sanan Sjugirov. Inarkiev finished the day on 5 / 10. Replay Carlsen's key games:
Replay six of Magnus Carlsen's games — click or tap the game in the list to switch
Following the action on giant video screens, the action was easy to follow, even if understanding the action might be less so | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
A Black Repertoire against Offbeat Openings
Many club players have their favourite pet opening variations which aren’t necessarily main lines. It’s important to know how to handle these variations as your opponent will likely know his systems well. In this DVD, GM Nicholas Pert provides a detailed Black repertoire against many of these Offbeat Opening choices.
To make matters even worse, Magnus lost in Round 11 to Yu Yangyi in the manner that is becoming alarmingly common. Once again, a random opening, this time the Vienna Game, led him to a decent middlegame position. Then things went wrong, terribly wrong.
At the intermission Carlsen stands two points behind the leader, and faces a mountain to climb.
Enjoying some rest time between games: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Kateryna Lagno, Alexandra Kosteniuk, and her husband Pavel Tregubov | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
The heroes of the Rapid Championship, Anand and Fedoseev, experienced a somewhat expected letdown. On the contrary, those who didn't do too well in the past three days seem poised to make their statement now.
Vladimir Fedoseev's first day in the Blitz was lukewarm | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was the man who kept pace with Carlsen at the rapid and blitz events of the Grand Chess Tour last summer, and he showed his chops today, succeeding in both attack and endgame play.
One of the surprise early runs came from none other than 15-year-old Andrey Esipenko, author of the queen sac against Karjakin that has been making waves in the chess world. After eight rounds he was actually tied for first (with four others), after beating Ivanchuk and then Grischuk. His nemesis in round nine was …. Sergey Karjakin, who exacted his revenge for his Rapid loss. He then drew against Harikrishna and then lost to Le Quang Liem, and is now 14th with 7.0/11. Another name to watch for.
The purpose of this DVD is to explain the viewer all main methods of defence: exchanging pieces, creating a fortress, eliminating dangerous enemy pieces, escaping the danger zone with the king, improving the position of the pieces.
The only guy who bested MVL today was the defending World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin. He wasn't able to completely avoid blunders, which is next to impossible, but overall Sergey was very consistent. It's interesting how much better Karjakin looks in blitz as opposed to Rapid. In live rating lists he's now #2 in Blitz and #39 in Rapid. Go figure.
The biggest story of the day did not come out of the open section. The Women's tournament saw veteran Pia Cramling posting an unbelievable score of 9½ / 11 to lead the field by a full point. Amazingly, Pia started off with a loss to Gunina, so it's a 9½ / 10 streak. Wow.
With peerless passion and fighting spirit, Pia Cramling bounced back from a first round loss | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich
Ten rounds will be played tomorrow to bring to a close a very eventful year of chess.
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Karjakin Sergey | 2854 | 9,0 | 0,0 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2853 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 3 |
|
GM | Svidler Peter | 2797 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 4 |
|
GM | Wang Hao | 2737 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 5 |
|
GM | Ding Liren | 2837 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 6 |
|
GM | Yu Yangyi | 2701 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 7 |
|
GM | Le Quang Liem | 2771 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 8 |
|
GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2770 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 9 |
|
GM | Kravtsiv Martyn | 2692 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 10 |
|
GM | Andriasian Zaven | 2755 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 11 |
|
GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 2810 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 12 |
|
GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2757 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 13 |
|
GM | Grischuk Alexander | 2725 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 14 |
|
FM | Esipenko Andrey | 2581 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 15 |
|
GM | Amonatov Farrukh | 2628 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 16 |
|
GM | Kryvoruchko Yuriy | 2596 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 17 |
|
GM | Dreev Aleksey | 2640 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 18 |
|
GM | Rapport Richard | 2600 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 19 |
|
GM | Amin Bassem | 2655 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 20 |
|
GM | Carlsen Magnus | 2986 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
| 1 |
|
GM | Cramling Pia | 2326 | 9,5 | 0,0 |
| 2 |
|
GM | Dzagnidze Nana | 2453 | 8,5 | 1,0 |
| 3 |
|
GM | Gunina Valentina | 2543 | 8,5 | 0,0 |
| 4 |
|
GM | Lagno Kateryna | 2619 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 5 |
|
WGM | Buksa Nataliya | 2368 | 8,0 | 0,0 |
| 6 |
|
WGM | Mammadzada Gunay | 2037 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 7 |
|
GM | Tan Zhongyi | 2543 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 8 |
|
GM | Lei Tingjie | 2461 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 9 |
|
IM | Gaponenko Inna | 2421 | 7,5 | 0,0 |
| 10 |
|
WGM | Michna Marta | 2393 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 11 |
|
IM | Bodnaruk Anastasia | 2432 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 12 |
|
IM | Charochkina Daria | 2345 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 13 |
|
GM | Kosteniuk Alexandra | 2526 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 14 |
|
IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | 2417 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 15 |
|
GM | Krush Irina | 2451 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 16 |
|
IM | Paehtz Elisabeth | 2467 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 17 |
|
GM | Ushenina Anna | 2457 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 18 |
|
GM | Socko Monika | 2357 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 19 |
|
GM | Zhukova Natalia | 2372 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
| 20 |
|
IM | Nechaeva Marina | 2348 | 7,0 | 0,0 |
Macauley Peterson contributed additional reporting on the Carlsen-Inarkiev game
