Showing posts with label Champions Showdown 2017. Show all posts

2017-11-15

Champions Showdown 2017 - Day 6 Recap

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by GM Alejandro Ramirez

The sixth and final day of the Champions Showdown was a formality for the players, since Magnus Carlsen's crushing performance on days four and five already sealed the deal in his favor. Despite speculation that the World Champion would push hard for a 3000 blitz rating, arbiter Tony Rich informed us early on that none of day six's games count towards ratings. Official FIDE rules indicate that once a match winner has been determined, the remaining games of the match cannot count for rating. Since Carlsen clinched yesterday with a round to spare, neither that last round nor today were officially counted for FIDE ratings.

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Photo by Lennart Ootes.

With honor on the line, and as competitive as these players are, there was no lull in the action despite the lack of outside incentive. Indeed, the players' games today can be described as blazes of fury, one after another; though, unfortunately for Ding Liren, he was again in the receiving end of the great majority of these games.

In another funny series of results, it seemed like the white pieces were simply unable to perform! Ding Liren had real chances in his first game with black, but Carlsen managed to get out of trouble, and immediately after struck a win with a nicely timed queen sacrifice for a tremendous outside a-pawn. Ding Liren seemed to be in gear as he spurred a repetition to convert a winning endgame. And, more or less like yesterday, after Ding Liren's one win, the fun stopped.

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Carlsen's resourcefulness in the hedgehog proved to be too much for his opponent and Ding Liren was out in 24 moves. The Chinese player was winning the next game, but he was simply too slow and was flagged in king and rook vs. king, resulting in a draw. Ding Liren had many more opportunities to win games, but his spirit wasn't there and he was playing against machine-like defense when things got tough. The World Champion was ruthless, even being somewhat dissatisfied with his play:

"I'm not 100% thrilled with the way things went today - he had so many chances!” remarked Carlsen, who also had an explanation of how he saved so many games today. "In blitz, a winning position is not enough. If there’s no clear way to win it, it doesn’t really matter that much!"

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

This was the most one-sided match of the event, even surpassing Nakamura-Topalov by quite a big margin.

The players will gear up for their following commitments: Ding Liren immediately departed for the Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca, while Magnus Carlsen will be headlining the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour in London.

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Further Information:
Web: U SChessChamps.Com | Twitter: @STLChessClub
#ChampionsShowdown

Venue:
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
November 9-14, 2017

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Kiley Herndon
kherndon@saintlouischessclub.org

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Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2017-11-14

Champions Showdown 2017 - Day 5 Recap

Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

by GM Alejandro Ramirez

With the other matches decided and finished, it was a two-man show at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis as Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen entered their day three. Well, one could argue that it was really a one-man show, as Ding Liren was simply wiped off the board despite winning the first game.

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Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Things started off with fireworks as the Chinese super star crushed the World Champion in the black side of a Paulsen Sicilian. His play was fast, accurate and remarkable – it was a good quality game if it was a correspondence time control, and almost unbelievable in a 10 minute game! Unfortunately for Ding Liren's fans, that's basically where the fun ended.

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Carlsen came back with a vengeance, winning game after game after game. His style was fluid and solid, and his mistakes minimal. His precision was coupled with better time management than his opponent. It wasn't that Ding Liren played particularly slowly, but his opponent was just playing moves at rocket speed. Every mistake that Ding Liren played was almost immediately punished. To say that Ding Liren played badly today would be an exaggeration, he was certainly playing below his usual level, but he was also facing a machine.

Photo by Spectrum Studios.

Carlsen won a few games in his typical style: pressing positions from minimal advantages. This caused his opponent to crack on the fourth game and flag in the seventh, while game five was simply complete annihilation. Ding Liren managed a sole draw after the initial bout of the day, and the match was over after the seventh game of the day.

Tomorrow the players will play for honor, as the match has been completely decided. The score is currently an insurmountable 50-18 in favor of the World Champion.

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Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

2017-11-13

Champions Showdown 2017 - Day 4 Recap

Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

by GM Alejandro Ramirez

It was the final day for three of the matches, while Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen battled it out in the g/20 day. Two of the finishing bouts went basically down to the wire, while Nakamura against Topalov was a very one-sided affair. The action of the blitz was very tense, and blood was, literally, spilled over the board!

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Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Caruana vs. Grischuk

Caruana entered the last day with a two game deficit, but had momentum going for him. He scored heavily toward the end of day three, and he came in with fire on the board. Caruana won his two first whites, tying the match very early. Grischuk was not about to be left behind, and retaliated immediately. The tension built up increasingly with every game, but it was Caruana that kept the better nerves and kept delivering blows. He was unstoppable with the black pieces and won three in a row with that color. Grischuk found himself needing to win the last two rounds to equalize the match, but was unable to do so. A fabulous day for Fabi, as he wins the 5-minute portion by a huge score of 8.5-3.5 (with points counting for two, that gave him 17 points against his opponent's 7) which was enough to catapult him to the win.

Photo by Austin Fuller.

So vs. Dominguez

It seemed like Caruana's comeback story would be the focus of attention today, but So had something to say about that. Trailing by 16 points with three games to go yesterday, So was simply a complete monster in the second half of the g/10 and all throughout today. Obtaining huge advantages on the clock and combining it with powerful and precise play, So turned the match around and even won the head-to-head with a full round to spare. Dominguez proved superiority in the rapid, but it was all So in the blitz.

On an interesting note So was so focused on banging the clock and putting that pressure on his opponent, that Carlsen requested that this match be played as far away from his board as possible, since it was distracting! So at some pointed even started bleeding from hitting the clock so hard, which forced the arbiters to pause the game and wipe the clock.

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Nakamura vs. Topalov

One can very strongly argue that the result of the match did not reflect how close the games were, as we saw combative and active chess. That being said, Nakamura finished the day with double the amount of points of Topalov, clinched the match after only three of today's twelve rounds, and proved very clearly who was the better player. Nakamura's resourcefulness and speed in the fast time controls simply smashed his opponent all day.

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Carlsen vs. Ding Liren

The lion roars! Carlsen was absolutely relentless, playing fast, confident, and precise chess. Ding Liren was unable to keep pace and lost several positions that perhaps shouldn't have been. In the second round, a relatively equal endgame finished in favor of Carlsen, and it seemed to be what opened the floodgates. The World Champion simply annihilated his opponent in the fourth and fifth games, and takes a huge advantage going into their third day of play.

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2017-11-12

Champions Showdown 2017 - Day 3 Recap

Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

by GM Alejandro Ramirez

The third day of the Champions Showdown brought much more action to the fray. The three matches already in progress played eight games of g/10, an incredibly fast time control that saw both great brilliancies and fantastic blunders. On top of these already exciting matches, two more players joined the event: Magnus Carlsen faced off in his g/30 rounds against Ding Liren. The inclusion of the World Champion is always welcome, and facing off against China's #1, and one of the players of the upcoming Candidates Tournament in March, only adds excitement to the Showdown.

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Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Caruana vs. Grischuk

This was a very streaky one! Caruana was outplayed in game one, and after drawing game two, he also went down in games three and four, one of them included a big advantage blundered away by missing a simple mate in two sequence. It seemed that Grischuk was simply running away with the match, but the American wasn't done yet. The streak was broken in a surprising way: Caruana was completely against the wall, but in these fast time controls the clock plays a huge role! Caruana flagged Grischuk, and then won two nice games to remain in striking distance.

Photo by Lennart Ootes.

Topalov vs. Nakamura

In a strange series of results, the black pieces won the first four games of this match on the third day! Aggressive play prevailed throughout, with many exchange sacrifices being thrown around and Nakamura's pawns seeming to roll down the board when he wasn't getting mated! In a fabulous display of sportsmanship, Topalov, in a drawn position, offered to split the point in game five when Nakamura only had one second left, while Nakamura returned the favor soon after! The day was split, and Nakamura continues with a huge advantage going into the blitz.

Photo by Austin Fuller.

Dominguez vs. So

The Cuban grandmaster entered the third day with a large advantage and, even though he keeps it after day three, it certainly has decreased a bit. After splitting the first three games of the day, Dominguez struck first and it, like the Grischuk-Caruana match, seemed to be a one-sided affair. But just like the other match, So scored three wins in a row to finish the day and So has a realistic chance of turning the match around in the final day.

Photo by Austin Fuller.

Carlsen vs. Ding Liren

When you play the World Champion, chances are that if you get one striking opportunity in a match, it might be your only one. Ding Liren had a winning position in the first game with the black pieces, but it was very far from trivial and Carlsen found a very nice trick to retain the balance. After splitting the second game, Carlsen played a fantastic sequence in game three that gave him a winning advantage, playing a razor sharp variation. However, he missed the killing blow, and Ding Liren escaped with a draw. The fourth game was the one in which Carlsen finally struck a blow. Playing with the black pieces, he put on the squeeze against his opponent and finished off with gorgeous tactics to force his pawns through.

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Watch the games of the Champions Showdown 2017 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.