FIDE Candidates’ Tournament 2016
Posted: 25 February 2016 09:04 AM  
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The most awaited chess event of this first part of 2016 is here. After a long cycle to define the line-up with the “hateful eight”, the battle to get a seat at the board with the Norwegian who came from Mars to play for the World Champion title is eventually going to happen, from March the 11th to March the 28th. The tournament takes place in Moscow, Russia. Games start at 7AM EST the first two rounds, and at 6AM EDT from round 3 onward. U.S. switches to DST on March the 13th, whereas Russia doesn’t use Daylight Saving Time. It is a 14-round Double Round Robin tournament. All play all twice.

Read ICC’s article HERE

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Posted: 11 March 2016 06:32 PM   [ # 1 ]  
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Round 1

Vishy, Vishy, Vishy! Yes, the first round of the Candidates’ 2016 is all about the great Indian player, who swiftly beat Topalov in a fantastic game, to take the early sole lead. Again, everyone had Anand as the least probable winner of this event, and the “Tiger” shows once again that nobody should ever underestimate his immense class. The tournament is long - 14 rounds - and obviously it’s not the case to start celebrating Anand, but it’s just too good to see Vishy fight like a young stud, and reminding all his foes that he’s there, and it won’t be easy for them. The US duel finished in a draw, with Nakamura apparently missing a good chance to get an advantage. Aronian and Giri played an interesting game, also drawn. the all-Russian match between Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin was draw. After the first round, Anand leads, followed by everyone else half a point behind, and Topalov at one full point. Tomorrow Round 2: Svidler-Topalov, Aronian-Anand, Caruana-Giri and Karjakin-Nakamura.

GM Yasser Seirawan’s video recap

The winner of the Guess The Result Contest is Pancake, who guessed all the 4 results. Bravo! He wins three FREE months of membership.

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Posted: 12 March 2016 06:50 PM   [ # 2 ]  
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Round 2

Today two games ended in a fairly quick draws. Svidler wasn’t able to get anything going in the anti-Berlin against Topalov, who - probably trying to recover after yesterday bad start - opted for a solid game. Levon Aronian chose a line in the QGD against Anand that is not the most challenging one, and Anand was able to equalize comfortably with black. Caruana and Giri, the youngest participants and for sure among the favorites for the final victory, fought hard over the board. The final draw was not boring shuffling at all. The only decisive game was Karjakin’s win over Nakamura. The game was interesting, with opportunities on both sides after the opening. In a very uncharacteristic way, Nakamura blundered at move 29, sacrificing a knight for the attack. The sac was not sound though, and after a few moves the USA hero realized he would have finished the forced variation a piece down, and resigned in a hopeless position. After two rounds Anand and Karjakin lead with 1.5, half a point ahead of the pack with Caruana, Giri, Aronian and Svidler. A full point behind the leaders Nakamura and Topalov. Tomorrow round 3: Nakamura-Svidler, Giri-Karjakin, Anand-Caruana, Topalov-Aronian. Games start at 3PM local time, 8AM EDT (US is switching to Daylight Saving Time tomorrow morning), 12 noon GMT and 1PM CET.

Gm Alex Yermolinsky’s video recap

Winner of the Guess The Result contest is Corocotta. Congratulations! He wins 3 FREE months of membership.

Winner of the GOTD TRIVIA for Round 1 is MOM1. Congratulations! He wins 3 free months of membership.

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Posted: 13 March 2016 06:17 PM   [ # 3 ]  
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Round 3

What a game! Svidler and Nakamura today kept all the chess world glued to their computer screens for six hours. Nakamura went all out for an attack, but didn’t calculate everything perfectly, and found himself in muddy waters. Hikaru had to call all his stamina and great creativity up, but he did manage to play well and force Peter to settle for a draw. An exciting and entertaining game, which has been followed by enthusiast kibitzers all over the cyber world. Giri played a startling attacking game against Karjakin, showing that he doesn’t fear any of these “big guys”. Anish, in the heat of his furious attack, overextended his position a bit and, realizing he was two full pieces down(!), had to curb his attacking impetus and force a draw by perpetual. Anand and Caruana played very solid, without any real thrilling moment, and went for a “quiet” draw. Topalov sacrificed a pawn in the opening, to give his pieces more mobility. Unfortunately for Veselin, Aronian was able to continue his development while defending the extra pawn. Out of the opening - showing that his level of form is not at its best - Topalov lost a second pawn, missing that his Queen was pinned by Aronian’s rook. Levon’s duty at that point was to keep the huge advantage of two pawns, and so he did, entering quite easily into a totally won endgame. A bad blow for Topalov, who is now at -2 after three rounds. The tournament is long, with 11 rounds to go, but Veselin will have to find somehow his best chess to try a come-back. With today’s win, Aronian joins Anand and Karjakin on top of the standings, with 2 points. Half a point behind another trio with Giri, Caruana and Svidler. With 1 point Nakamura, and Topalov close the list with 0.5 points. tomorrow is the first rest day. Plays resumes Tuesday at 8AM EDT - 12 noon GMT or 13:00 CET.

GM Lars Bo Hansen’s video recap

Today we have 8 winners for the Guess The Result contest:  bennywins, TwoEqualsOne, nikenwidiartto, ECP, TiredDad, AbsoluteZero, Radja, Tom. Congratulations! they all win 2 weeks of FREE membership.

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA for Round 2 is MOAK! Bravo!

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Posted: 15 March 2016 08:04 PM   [ # 4 ]  
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Round 4

Nakamura vs. Giri was the first game to finish today. The preparation of the two contenders looked incredibly strong, and they played fast and furious in positions that would have taken hours to be analyzed by “normal” players. During the press conference, Nakamura said “well, it’s a pretty normal line”. Chess in the era of computers, at its best. Aronian and Svidler reached an amazing position out of the opening, with 4 pawns on the same file. the game went on to be a draw, but you don’t see something like this very often at this level. ICC’s commentator GM Lars Bo Hansen tweeted: “They should put a sign on Nakamura-Giri and Svidler-Aronian: don’t try this at home!”. Karjakin is Hero Of the Day. He won his first classical game against the great Anand, in Rubinstein style: get better pawn structure, tie defensive pieces down and circle from behind. After a number of years, Anand is not the first Indian player in the live rating list. Is it the inevitable sign of time going by? We’ll see: it’s not the first time that Anand is declared finished, too old, only to bounce back every time. Caruana apparently missed a gold opportunity to win his game against Topalov. They went for a classical Giuoco Piano, with a lot of maneuvering to control the center.  At move 37 Topalov gave up a whole piece. People watching the game were amazed and Topalov looked totally lost. But Fabiano wasn’t able to see a path to the victory and - probably out of bad nerves - played an inexplicable rook move, that gave Veselin breath and eventually the draw. A interesting round, with some wild play and a new leader: Sergey Karjakin, solo on top after 4 rounds. Tomorrow round 5: Giri-Svidler, Anand-Nakamura, Topalov-Karjakin, Aronian-Caruana. Games start at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT, 13:00 CET and 15:00 Moscow.

Today we have a SPECIAL EDITION of Game Of the day!
GM Alex Yermolinsky and IM Vojislav Milanovic recap the round

We had again lots of people guessing 4 draws today, and nobody predicted all the 4 games rightly.
We have 6 winners for the Guess The Result Contest: TwoEqualsOne, ECP, dietcoke, Radja, Corocotta, nikenwidiartto. they win 2 weeks of FREE membership each.

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest for Round 3 is PEB216. Well done!

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Posted: 16 March 2016 07:13 PM   [ # 5 ]  
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Round 5

For the first time in the Candidates’ tournament, all the games finished in a draw. But it wasn’t a dull day in Moscow. Aronian vs. Caruana was quite an interesting game. Fabiano finally got to play his Benoni, which seems like he’s been trying to for a while, according to what he said in a post-game interview: ” I’ve been trying to play the Benoni for a while, but nobody lets me!”. Aronian let him, and the game went on following the classical variation for the Benoni, with 9…Re8, 10.Nd2. Later in the game Aronian sacrificed a pawn, but it seemed at least dubious. Caruana had to allow a repetition, when Aronian was a whole lot of material down after going all-in for the attack, sacrificing material for the center. Probably Fabiano didn’t find a safe way to avoid it. Topalov put up a stubborn fight against the leader Karjakin, but the game didn’t offer much for neither player to try, despite the exciting play. Giri found himself with a slight edge against Peter Svidler, but it took the young Hollander a bit too much time, and he allowed a repetition at move 26. Anand wasn’t able to get anything out of the opening, and his game vs. Nakamura drifted rapidly to be a rather “normal” draw. Tomorrow Round 6: Anand-Svidler, Topalov-Giri, Aronian-Nakamura and Caruana-Karjakin. The four draws leave the standings unchanged, with Karjakin leading by half a point over Aronian; Caruana, Giri, Anand and Svidler share 3-6 a full point from the leader; Nakamura and Topalov trail way behind.

Today we have a SPECIAL EDITION of Game Of the Day video, with GM Speelman and IM Watson one hour feat to recap the round

We have 5 winners for the Guess The Result contest: Pancake, TwoEqualsOne, ECP, Radja and bennywins.

wstaylor is the winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest!

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Posted: 17 March 2016 08:29 PM   [ # 6 ]  
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Round 6

A round full of action, drama and a bit of comedy. Without doubt the most interesting round in the Candidates’ so far. Anand outplayed Svidler in a Ruy Lopez. Like in the old days, the great Vishy was able to set up a crisp attacking plan, after Svidler’s 18 ...Nb2, which in post-mortem looked like a fatal mistake. “0.Ng5 is already winning. Peter didn’t feel like giving his Queen away to try to resist the attack, but his choice led to a crushing loss in a few more moves. A game that could sign the path of the two players in the Candidates’: Anand is back at +1, with a great spirit now, whereas Peter got whipped off the board in 20 moves, and that’s not something that helps your morale. Caruana-Karjakin was a rollercoaster. At move 20 Karjakin decided to renounce to his Queen to open the game and find attacking chances. After some maneuvering, where it didn’t seem that either played had the advantage, Karjakin sacrificed his knight, to give the “d” pawn mobility and have it reach the second row, backed-up by a rook. But it wasn’t enough, and Karjakin had to defend brilliantly to survive. Caruana was forced to give back his Queen, and the players eventually reached a drawn position. An amazing game. Aronian-Nakamura was a dramatic piece of chess. Nakamura fought hard, avoiding subtle traps and pushing for the advantage. The players entered an equal endgame after an intense game. At that point, Hikaru grabbed his King, but then realized he could not move it, and let it go. Unfortunately for him, the rules of chess state that once you touch a piece, you have to move it. And moving the King in that position meant mayhem for the US number two. A bad experience for Nakamura, especially after such a hard-fought 6-hour game! In the live rating list, Karjakin is back in the top 10, and at the moment he seems to be the favorite for the final victory in this event. Tomorrow is the second rest day. Play resumes on Saturday, at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT, 13:00 CET, with live commentary in ICC.

Today we have a SPECIAL Edition of Game Of the Day! GMs Ronen Har-Zvi & Larry Christiansen recap the round

The winner of the Guess The Results contest is doaremon7, who got all the 4 resuits right. Well done!

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is Forgetful. congratulations!

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Posted: 19 March 2016 06:56 PM   [ # 7 ]  
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Round 7

Another interesting round today, with the leaders facing each other. Aronian started strong against Karjakin, running his “a” pawn quickly to a5 and then a4, in an unusual way to play the opening. Karjakin had to stop the bold little fellow by playing a3. Sergey, in the French-type structure of the center, strangely enough did not go for the committal 10…e5 but instead played h4. Aronian saw this as a possibility to make the game a bit more positional, and exchanged in the center, equalizing the position. Aronian, however, want’s able to push decidedly on Karjakin’s king side, and gave the Russian way to liquidation. Aronian then decided to exchange his bad bishop and the game drifted shortly into a draw. Anand was able to equalize quite easily after the opening. There was nothing Giri could do against Anand’s calm and precise management of the game. A solid draw for the Indian genius, especially because he had black in this game. Svidler Caruana was an amazing game. They started with an English opening. Svidler played a new move with 9.Nge4 instead of the canonic 9.Bd2. After black castling, Svidler played h4. Enterprising chess, trying to walk off the usual paths. Peter started posing problems to Fabiano already at move 13, with Bg5. Caruana realized he was under some serious pressure on the king side. He had to defend patiently and very precisely not to succumb under Svidler’s vehement hammering. Despite Caruana’s excellent defense, the players entered an endgame that looked only a matter of technique for Svidler to bring home the full point. But the Russian missed a couple of clear chances to win the game. At move 41 the most pristine one: Caruana made a serious mistake by playing c4?, giving Svidler an easy win. Unfortunately for Peter, he played 42.Bd5+??, instead of the immediately winning 42.a4. After these two mistakes in a row, the game went ahead a few more moves and then the players agreed to a draw. A huge missed opportunity for Svidler and a great (if not lucky) save by Caruana, who keeps his hopes alive for the final result. Nakamura Topalov was another thrilling encounter. In a Slav, Topalov congealed the center with 12…e4, and Nakamura started organizing an attack on the Queen side. Topalov, trying to create counter-play on the king side, sacrificed a pawn and then played the fantastic sac 21…Bxc5, prying the position open and centralizing his queen. Nakamura found a way to unpin his queen on the open “d” file, but Topalov calmly reacted to Naka’s threats, and Hikaru had the get back with his queen, to keep under control the checkmate threats Veselin was posing on the king side. Unfortunately for Topalov, Nakamura was able to avoid all the tactical traps and Topalov’s attack faded out, leaving the Bulgarian a piece down, hopeless. Nakamura bounces back after round 6 loss. Topalov now dwells alone at the bottom of the list, in a tournament that so far has been really bad for the former World Champion. Tomorrow Round 8 at 8AM EDT, 12 Noon GMT, 13:00 CET, with ICC’s live commentary.

GM Ron W Henley’s video recap

We have 4 winners for the GTR contest: Pancake, ECP, Frankly and beenywins. Well done!

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is AstroChessPilot. Congratulations!

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Posted: 20 March 2016 06:38 PM   [ # 8 ]  
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Round 8

Again only one decisive game in Round 8. Aronian-Giri was a quiet draw, with Giri drawing his eighth game in a row, And Aronian maintaining the lead. Anand-Topalov finished in a draw too. Anand seemed to have a slight edge, but there was no way for the Indian chess genius to break through, and he had to settle for a draw. Topalov, whose tournament has been horrible so far, managed to draw a game, which may help his morale. He can’t win the event, of course, but for sure Veselin is able to play better chess. Svidler-Karjakin was a very interesting game. Svidler, once again, had the advantage, but could not capitalize it, and Karjakin defended with nails and teeth not to lose the leadership he continues to share with Aronian, after this hard-earned draw. Caruana and Nakamura played an enthralling game. Caruana castled long in a Berlin Defense, and the players started attacking full force, almost splitting the board in two. Nakamura pushed his pawns deep into Caruana’s defensive field, but in doing so, he left his kingside without the needed protection. Caruana organized his attack coordinating very well two rooks, Queen and a knight, leaving his fellow countryman hopeless after Nakamura’s attempts to defend his position. Caruana with this important win keeps up with the leaders, being only half a point behind now, whereas Nakamura, again at -2, unfortunately is not anymore among the players who can still grab the seat in front of the World Champion in November, to play for the title. tomorrow Round 9: Topalov-Svidler, Anand-Aronian, Giri-Caruana and Nakamura-Karjakin. Play starts at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT, 13:00 CET, and 14:00 local time in Moscow.

GM Joel Benjamin’s video recap

Today we broke all records, with NINE winners for the GtR contest: Pancake, TwoEqualsOne, TiredDad, chesskid2007, ECP, Daccord, Radja, nikenwidiartto and bennywins!

The winner of GOTD TRIVIA for round 7 is blunderville. Congratulations!

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Posted: 21 March 2016 08:13 PM   [ # 9 ]  
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Round 9

Anand takes one of the leaders and wipes him off the board. Is there still someone out there who says that chess is a sport for very young guys? Well, if so, this can only mean that Anand is still very young indeed! Anand played a fantastic rooks endgame with surgical precision, showing once again he’s not to be called off for the final victory. Nakamura and the other leader, Sergey Karjakin, played an interesting game, with both players trying to get the advantage, to no avail. Giri and Caruana fought an epic battle for over 7 hours and 96 moves. Giri seemed to be on the verge of interrupting his incredible 8/8 draws streak. Caruana found again himself playing with an enemy’s pawn very close to his king. Fabiano went for a double pawn sac, most likely part of his preparation. Giri was able to put Caruana under heavy pressure, but Fabiano showed a terrific resilience, playing on and getting slowly into the game. After over 7 hours, and some imprecisions mostly due to tension and tiredness, the two young gladiators agreed on a draw. Luckily for Fabiano and Anish tomorrow is a rest day. After such a tiring battle, a day off is surely welcome. Peter Svidler, who today had a fight with his hairdo, drew Topalov . After today, the next 5 rounds will be really a thrill, with 5 players still there contending the spot to play Carlsen in November: Anand, Karjakin, Aronian, Caruana and Giri. Play resumes Wednesday, after the rest day, at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT, 13:00 CET.

GM Larry Christiansen’s video recap

Winner of the GTR contest is Biscuetz, who guessed all the 4 results. Well done!

Winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is Gladiator46. Congratulations!

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Posted: 23 March 2016 06:58 PM   [ # 10 ]  
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Round 10

There are a number of special days, such as father’s day, mother’s day, and even a Pi’s day, for the math’s freaks. Today in Moscow the eight gladiators celebrated the “c4” day. Three out of four games started with 1.c4, and in the fourth game, c4 was played at the third move. It was a big day, although only one game really stole all the attention of the many chess lovers who follow this amazing event. Giri collected his tenth draw, in an uneventful game against Karjakin. Svidler and Nakamura drew, doing little for either’s tournament chances. Nakamura, in an interview after the game, said that this has been a rough event for him, and honestly called himself out of the competition for the final victory. Aronian-Topalov was a bit more interesting, but there were not intense moments, and it ended in a draw. the big game was Caruana-Anand. Caruana, conducting his army in an attack that will most likely make it in GM Larry Christiansen’s weekly show, beat Anand to join Karjakin in the lead. Nothing is yet lost for the great Indian though, as he plays white against Karjakin tomorrow, and that will be one of the key-games of the whole event. Back to today, Fabiano is demonstrating all his will-power. After the epic battled he played with Giri in the last round, struggling for over 7 hours to stay alive, today the US number 1 unleashed a fantastic attack, with a piece-sac aimed at opening Anand’s defense, posing serious problems for Vishy to solve. The Indian champion found a way to avoid getting checkmated, but then he played some imprecise moves, whereas Caruana was in full Komodo-style, precise and ruthless. A brilliant victory for Fabiano, which raises the hopes of all his fellow countrymen to see an American challenge Magnus Carlsen in New York, later this year. Tomorrow Round 11. Now every round is decisive, and it’ll be a thrill to keep following the most important tournament of the year. Play starts at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT, 13:00 CET.

GMs Speelman’s and Fedorowicz’s video recap

Today we have again multiple winners for the GTR contest: Speiretti, TiredDad, ECP, bennywins, TwoEqualsOne, Biscuetz, spoks7th and Corocotta

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is GreyWarden. Congratulations!

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Posted: 24 March 2016 08:14 PM   [ # 11 ]  
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Round 11

Continuing with our “special day” story, today in Moscow was “Black Thursday”: easy wins being given away at incredibly low prices. So many winning chances thrown away, in a thrilling and unnerving round. For the first time in 11 rounds, today we could have had 4 decisive results; but nerves, pressure and tension played a fundamental role, and the players showed their human side, blundering like beginners. This is one of the many reasons that make our beloved game so interesting: the human fragility that can surface at any moment. Let’s see what happened. Aronian collapsed against Svidler, giving a bad blow to his hopes to qualify for the World Championship match. Caruana, in serious time trouble before time control, was not able to find the right plan in a position that saw him holding quite big an advantage, and had to settle for a draw with Topalov. 39…Rc2? was the decisive blunder. It was clear that Fabiano had lost control of the position, and offered a draw in a position with still some play left, but Topalov’s bishops were ready to harass Caruana’s rook in the middle of the board. A clear winning chance thrown away by the American and, given how the other games went, possibly Fabiano spoiled a real chance to win the whole tournament. Giri, in a winning position against Nakamura, got too excited sniffing his first win in this event, and played 50.Nxg7? Nakamura replied Qxg7 and Giri realized that 51.Rg3 is met by Rg5!, and the game is irremediably drawn. So, eleventh draws by the young Hollander, which most probably exclude him from the final victory. Anand is the hero of the day. He started with his pet first move 1.e4, entering a Berlin Defense. Vishy loves this kind of structures, where he can safely develop his pieces and gain space. Karjakin went for the 9…d5 variation, probably hoping to pry the center open, but Anand reacted calmly, and the position got to be quite symmetric, with white being only marginally better. At that point the game seemed to drive toward a quiet draw, but instead Anand kept pressing, and the players arrived to play an opposite color bishops ending, but with two rooks each. Anand kept nagging Karjakin with small threats, while advancing his pawns on the Queen side. A fantastic endgame played by Vishy. The maneuvering led Anand to be able to plant an all-important protected pawn in f6. For some time it almost looked like Karjakin could hold, and pull off a miraculous draw, Houdini-style (the magician, not the chess engine). But the great Indian did not let it go, and slowly strangled his opponent, to eventually win a very important game. Now Anand joins Caruana in the lead; however, Vishy needs half a point more than the American, because the tiebreaks are favorable to Fabiano. With three rounds to go, this nervous and thrilling event is still open to a lot of solutions, though Caruana is to be considered the favorite number one. Tomorrow Round 12: Giri-Svidler, Nakamura-Anand, Karjakin-Topalov and Caruana-Aronian. Play starts at 8AM EDT, 12 noon GMT and 13:00 CET.

GM Lars Bo Hansen & IM Christof Sielecki’s video recap

Four winners for the GTR contest: Pancake, ECP, Biscuetz, nikenwidiartto. Well done!

Thw inner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is SlimeDog2. Congratulations!

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Posted: 25 March 2016 09:22 PM   [ # 12 ]  
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Round 12

Another exciting round in Moscow with two decisive games, which is a good improvement over the quasi-standard only-one-decisive-game trend. Entering round 12, Anand and Caruana were in the lead, followed by Karjakin half a point behind and Aronian at 1 point from the lead. After today’s round, we have again a change in the lead, with Karjakin back up together with Caruana. Let’s see how the round went. Aronian, like in the last two Candidates’ tends to collapse in the second part of the long tournament. Today Caruana opened with e4 and the players went into a Ruy Lopez, but not a Berlin defense, which is quite uncommon these days, to say the least. Both players needed to win, but this wasn’t enough to make the game go wild. On the other hand, losing today would have probably meant to put a gravestone on the chances to win the tournament. By move 20, like it seems to be the rule in modern chess, the players were already into an endgame, that for a while seemed to be favorable to Aronian. But Fabiano defended with precision and the players settled for a draw. A Sicilian Najdorf opened the game Karjakin-Topalov, with Sergey going for a sort of Keres attack, with g5, h4 and h5. The Russian went all-in for the attack, in the best Sicilian with opposite sire castle tradition. Topalov did not find the best defense, and found himself in dire straits, risking to get checkmated pretty early into the game. A nightmarish event for the former world champion. At least now he will be able to play the last two rounds without any pressure, since he can’t win the event anyway. Giri drew his twelfth game in a row, and pretty uneventfully this time. During the 85 moves of the game, the engines have never given an evaluation of more than a few tenth of pawn in favor of either player. Seventh decisive result for Anand in this tournament, that has been a true rollercoaster for the great Vishy. Today he faced a different Nakamura from the one we’ve seen playing in Moscow so far. Hikaru was able to pose incredibly complicated problems to Anand to solve already in the opening, at a point that the public wondered if Vishy had been caught out of preparation. We all know how deep and strong Anand’s preparation is, but today the old tiger could not find a suitable defense, and got into serious trouble pretty quickly. Nakamura kept the pressure at high levels, with very good moves like 10.e3! and shutting all the doors to Vishy’s attempts to turn the tables. At move 15 Anand found himself out of breath already, trying to dodge Naka’s bullets (pun intended). Nakamura played brilliantly, winning in a convincing way in 26 moves. tomorrow is a rest day. Play resumes Sunday at 8AM EDT, 14:00 CET. ICC will have LIVE commentary for the last two rounds!

GMs Yermolinsky and Christiansen’s video recap

Today we have TWO winners for the GTR Contest: Activekids and Radja, who got all the 4 results right. Bravo!

greenlantern is the winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest. Congratulations!

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Posted: 27 March 2016 07:34 PM   [ # 13 ]  
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Round 13

Nakamura beat Topalov in Round 13, getting back to 50%. It’s a good thing for Hikaru, but neither he or Topalov are fighting for the spot in NYC. The three draws in Caruana-Svidler, Anand-Giri and Aronian-Karjakin have determined the following situation: Karjakin and Caruana share the lead, with 7.5 points; Anand follows with 7 points. This means that Anand is out of the play, because even if he can catch the other two tomorrow, his head-to-head score is the worst (he lost with both the possible co-leaders). Yet his game with Svidler could be what decides the Candidates’. Let’s see the possible scenarios: If either Karjakin or Caruana win their game against each other tomorrow, the winner takes it all, obviously. If they draw, then it depends on what Anand is going to do: if Anand wins, he joins the two in the lead, but at that point Caruana is the Candidate, because he has the best head-to-head score of the three; if Anand draws or loses, then Karjakin is the Candidate, because he’s won 3 games, whereas Caruana only 2. It will be a very thrilling last round, and ICC is having LIVE commentary, with GMs Alex Yermolinsky and Larry Christiansen. Play starts at 8AM EDT, 14:00 Central Europe.

Today we have three winners for the GTR contest, who were able to get all the 4 results right: chesskid2007, bennywins and Radja. Bravo!

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest for Round 12 is pandit22. Congratulations!

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Posted: 28 March 2016 07:06 PM   [ # 14 ]  
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Round 14

Eventually, after all the speculations, Karjakin is the clear winner of the FIDE Candidates’ 2016. He beat Caruana in a thrilling game, to qualify for the World Championship Match to be held in November in New York City. Kudos to the American number 1, who tried hard to pose problems to the Russian. Anand and Svidler drew, leaving everything in the hands of the two possible winners. Of course, playing white with draw odds is a huge advantage, but Karjakin showed the right nerves and attitude to be a worthy challenger to Magnus Carlsen. He had the chutzpah to sac a rook, though it was clearly a winning line after Caruana’s blunder in time trouble and under an unfathomable pressure, as brilliantly anticipated by our commentator GM Larry Christiansen during the ICC live commentary. Congratulations to Karjakin!

GM Alex Yermolinsky’s video recap

Today we had two winners in the GTR contest: Speiretti and TiredDad, who got all the 4 results right. Bravo!

The winner of the GOTD TRIVIA contest is Pancake. Congratulations!

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