Chess The Candidates

[pgardn]

SR21

I quickly checked current positions and at the time of this posting Nepo is in bad shape against the American kid with glasses (the one who could not close out a game against a really good defensive opponent (the oldest guy in the tourney)

You might want to look in on this game if you can. Im out.

[spurraider21]

looks like nepo is gonna sleepwalk to another win in the candidates in all likelihood. with caruana losing today he now holds a 1.5 point lead with 4 rounds to go.

[SpursforSix]

Is Vagina DeHoffa still in the mix?

[spurraider21]

if nepo can hold a draw tomorrow, its basically good night. he's playing the black pieces against Firouzja, who came into the event as the big story, young prodigy, but has largely struggled in the tourney. if firouzja can beat nepo, it gives nakamura/caruana/ding an opportunity to close the gap within half a point.

but if nepo holds a draw, its very unlikely he loses his lead

[Millennial_Messiah]

Magnus isn't playing? \_/.

[pgardn]

If you want to catch the rerun of the live stream I highly suggest watching it with Judit Polgar and Jan Gustafsson.
They do an very good job, even for the people like me who cant see many moves ahead.

These two analysts really enjoy the games as well. If they see a game they dont find interesting they will switch games. Also they can immediately analyze positions once they see the board unlike the younger American goofballs on the other stream. I actually am beginning to understand (does not mean I would become any better at playing) the matches better because these two are very good at explaining the different phases of a game. And they are actually humble and really give kudos when they dont understand a move and then a few moves later it makes sense and they applaud the play. They tell you when a situation is very unique or when they go back to their old days and say "this reminds of when I was playing; or this is similar to the game when so and so played so and so" The fkn memory on these people and the extremely rapid analysis of a new board is mind boggling. Polgar is very, very good and the German guy gladly lets her explain her thoughts and then gives kudos and vice versa. And they appear to be relentless as well. Polgar will not let them take a break if there is a sequence of play that is important. The German guy says I have to pee and she wont let him go. "Critical situation here... hold it" paraphrased.

So if you want to go back and skip around I would definitely go with these two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HceAmeNrb4

Today's commentary above.
I have no clue how these people have so much mental stamina, the analysts included. And the analysts are retired from the big stage.
It was also funny to me to read the comments as there was a very interesting trend I noticed. Just like this board, their are people who just want to screw proceedings up. The comments from the people with Indian names with very bad English were extraordinarily harsh on Judit Polgar. "Women cant play chess and such" So I looked up Polgar and she was probably the best woman ever to play including:

Polgár is the only woman to have won a game against a reigning world number one player, and has defeated eleven current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Magnus Carlsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen), Anatoly Karpov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov), Garry Kasparov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov), Vladimir Kramnik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik), Boris Spassky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky), Vasily Smyslov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Smyslov), Veselin Topalov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veselin_Topalov), Viswanathan Anand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand), Ruslan Ponomariov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Ponomariov), Alexander Khalifman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Khalifman), and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustam_Kasimdzhanov)

And these people would automatically say she did not know the game? Its like they are programmed to think women automatically cant play chess. I found it very revealing. Also the people with what looked like more Arabic names with bad English made these comments. I found it funny because the moderators admonished people for speaking about the war, making xenophobic comments, but nothing when they attacked Polgar. The "posters" , who wrote English a bit better, usually had to tell these people that she would wipe the floor with them. It happened during one particular period and was pretty bad. Then of course all these people claiming to have 2400 ratings and such... reminds me of this board.

And both the announcers like the Chinese guy immensely. This is the one thing I have not figured out. Maybe he has made some astounding play at times and they see the potential but he cant get to a world championship? They also like the one American who will explain his games every day on Youtube. Even after he takes a bad loss or draw. But they dont seem to consider him.... like top 5... it seems. Just like an entertainer who is very good.

Anyways good stuff when there is not a lot of sports.

[pgardn]

Magnus isn't playing? \_/.

He is the champion.
this is the tourney to see who gets to play him.
Its apparently the most important chess tournament round robin in the world because it determines the champions next opponent.

[Millennial_Messiah]

He is the champion.
this is the tourney to see who gets to play him.
Its apparently the most important chess tournament round robin in the world because it determines the champions next opponent.

Awesome.

I'll watch when he plays.

Im in Detroit (west Wayne county actually) until July 31st and I'm going to Cedar Point with my fiance Marissa for the next 5 days consecutively. It's going to be amazing.

[pgardn]

Awesome.

I'll watch when he plays.

Im in Detroit (west Wayne county actually) until July 31st and I'm going to Cedar Point with my fiance Marissa for the next 5 days consecutively. It's going to be amazing.

You should watch this stuff as the players are very different and the announcers are very good. The 2nd phase of the round robin just got started.
Like SR21 said, the leader is in tremendous position. But you get variety. Also there are rumors that Magnus will not play the Russian guy who leads this tourney. Magnus already played him. they had six draws in a row and then the Russian lost one game and completely fell apart and got crushed. SR21 explained this was very bad form for players this good. They are NOT expected to fall apart. In this particular tourney the Chinese guy had a really bad day and the next day game back he was able to achieve an incredible draw from a very bad position. Apparently chess fans expect this.
Mental toughness.

[Millennial_Messiah]

You should watch this stuff as the players are very different and the announcers are very good. The 2nd phase of the round robin just got started.
Like SR21 said, the leader is in tremendous position. But you get variety. Also there are rumors that Magnus will not play the Russian guy who leads this tourney. Magnus already played him. they had six draws in a row and then the Russian lost one game and completely fell apart and got crushed. SR21 explained this was very bad form for players this good. They are NOT expected to fall apart. In this particular tourney the Chinese guy had a really bad day and the next day game back he was able to achieve an incredible draw from a very bad position. Apparently chess fans expect this.
Mental toughness.
Do any of them play like say Mikhail Tal or all they all Tigran Petrosian types who go for a draw almost every game. Nowadays 7/8 games are boring draws where everyone trades all the pieces and they agree to a draw before the endgame.

[spurraider21]

lmao nepo winning as black again. firouzja has completely collapsed under the pressure of this event, not unlike nepo in last year's championship match

[BD24]

Hasn’t magnus said he would only play in the championship if it was firouzja that made it?

[spurraider21]

Hasn’t magnus said he would only play in the championship if it was firouzja that made it?
he has said that but most of the chess world doesnt think he'd actually follow through with that

and considering how firouzja has been completely shitting himself in the candidates, that seems like a really bizarre demand in hindsight :lol

[spurraider21]

while Nepo's resurgence is a cool story, its still kinda underwhelming to have the same challenger again after how one sided the championship was last year. hopefully ding liren pulls off a miracle. would make for a much better championship match if it was magnus vs ding tbh. but nepo has a 1.5 point lead with 3 games to go. ding has won 3 straight though including 2 with black

Nepo's 3 remaining games:

white pieces vs nakamura
white pieces vs rapport
black pieces vs duda


ding's 3 remaining games:

white pieces vs radjabov
black pieces vs firoujza
white pieces vs nakamura


even if ding continued his great run and say, wins 2 of those and draws one, nepo still would skate by if he just drew all 3 games. ding losing with the white pieces to nepo in round 1 was massive

[pgardn]

Deng just got his butt kicked in the shortest game of the tourney.
By the 35 yo throw in Teimour Radijabov.
It honestly looked like Deng was getting watery eyed.

Radjiabov is clearly playing a lot better than in the start. He had not won a game in 3 years (he did not play much apparently)
For Deng; its time to again show resilience after getting crushed. Next game bring it.
I still find the reruns and skipping around the replays on Youtube entertaining.
I like the round robin stuff.

For MM: A draw game can be incredible if a player extricates himself from a horrible position with a flawless defense after getting in a bad position. Deng already did this. And clearly some games are just poorly played, but then some games with with two players that are not so popular can be quite impressive with unique play back and forth that has the analyzers mystified until after they go over it and realize how good it was. All of these players can produce single games of genius. Its the grind that gets them imo. I am perfectly horrible at chess but you can get the general feel if you read and watch certain parts of the Youtube replays. I would rather watch this than two players playing each other game after game tbh.
I look forward to falling asleep to the replays now. Thankfully it ends soon and I will go to sleep earlier.

[pgardn]

Also winning material vs. getting position is well beyond me at this level. Lets go further, at any level its difficult if you dont play much and are naturally suck at the game like I do.

[spurraider21]

Nepo needs 1 more draw to clinch his win in the tourney. but if Magnus is serious about not defending his title (i doubt it), then 2nd place in this tourney has some real stakes

[spurraider21]

Also winning material vs. getting position is well beyond me at this level. Lets go further, at any level its difficult if you dont play much and are naturally suck at the game like I do.
read up on the alpha zero vs stockfish games

stockfish is widely considered to be the best open-source engine out there, and the pros use it when they want to study lines. google developed their own chess ai called alphazero, which is not publicly available. but the two engines played a bunch of matches vs one another, and those games were published/released. alpha zero dominated. one of the recurring themes was alphazero seemingly not caring as much about material count. ie i dont care if my opponent has an extra bishop if the bishop is blockaded to the point where it is effectively inactive.

[spurraider21]

they published 10 of its games*

[pgardn]

I just dont have the ability to concentrate hard enough on this game to take deeper dive at this time.
But I do like the overall etiquette of the game and playing and preparing so much if one does have the ability.

The Japanese-American took a draw with Nepo... I really like the idea of playing each game individually and worry about the final results at the end of the tourney.
He copped out imo. I dont like his excuse. He just admits he has black and he cant beat the guy based on the opening.
I say then make Nepo work for the draw. Part of the appeal here for me is there are people who put everything into a game. That should be a part of the rankings imo. Its obvious to them when a draw is clear and resigning is inevitable. Too early in a game imo. Maybe the players get jaded when they lose sight of the possibility of making a set of great moves. If a computer/engine (or whatever they call them) would not give up, then hang in.

I know these guys probably dont make the money most other entertainers do but it seems there is a pureness of purpose to this game (if you are all in and have the capability and will). If you lose the will, take time off or quit imo... Easy to say when I would not touch it even if I could.



I like knowing there are people out there that care this much, I just dont want to be one of them. And not only because I am not capable. I am not willing to put my efforts into something so fully. These guys seem almost like really serious Monk level hard core.

edit: I see I am not the only one who feels this way about the early draw they both accepted.

[SpursforSix]

I just dont have the ability to concentrate hard enough on this game to take deeper dive at this time.
But I do like the overall etiquette of the game and playing and preparing so much if one does have the ability.


This. I feel like I was way better when I was in my teens. I'd take the time to think several moves ahead. Now, I've gotten lazy or less creative or both. I still enjoy playing but I find myself never looking 10 moves (even 5 moves) ahead.

[spurraider21]

This. I feel like I was way better when I was in my teens. I'd take the time to think several moves ahead. Now, I've gotten lazy or less creative or both. I still enjoy playing but I find myself never looking 10 moves (even 5 moves) ahead.
i was probably at my best near the end of college. i dont think i really touched chess between then and the queen's gambit series tbh :lol

now when i do play its just 3 minute games on chess.com and those arent ones that let you put much thought in or improve, really

[pgardn]

This. I feel like I was way better when I was in my teens. I'd take the time to think several moves ahead. Now, I've gotten lazy or less creative or both. I still enjoy playing but I find myself never looking 10 moves (even 5 moves) ahead.

My dad taught me to play.
That was probably part of the problem.

I do remember playing other people and we were all bad enough that actually having an end game was extremely difficult. We would not quit because we were not good enough or tutored enough to know when to quit. The games were basically clear the board as much as possible of pieces so it was easier to see what was going on. And then know a few signature early moves to checkmate someone who had no clue. Knights out, pawns out and protected, bishops out and then it all became muddled. I got so exacerbated by not being able to get the rooks out early on. I wanted them out so bad. And the queen was so important to me I would use her carefully and then carelessly. I just changed based on how strong I felt the opposition was.

I basically felt like I always wanted to put the opposition under some sort of pressure to always get to take a piece. Exchanging was fine for me because it cleared the board. I also remember getting frustrated about getting my pawns in the way of my own play. Its like I dont even want to go down that shallow hole that I once visited in middle school and then occasionally later. I guarantee I am worse than both you and SR21. Easily.

I really dont even know anyone who was very good iirc.

But this tournament was sort of an awakening into just looking at a board and realizing who was in better shape. I just could never actually get to the point of taking the path to get to that point. I will keep watching to see who gives up and who fights. Probably read about it first and then run through the youtube rapidly until I find the game. Its good being able to fast forward through some of these players who take so long to move.

I would never watch it if I could not read about it first and if the analysts stayed silent. I must have input to guide me.

[pgardn]

i was probably at my best near the end of college. i dont think i really touched chess between then and the queen's gambit series tbh :lol

now when i do play its just 3 minute games on chess.com and those arent ones that let you put much thought in or improve, really

I really liked that movie.
I like how she just stayed in the park playing people at the end.
iirc she dumped some press guy and just played chess for "fun" at the end.

Now on youtube Im getting all this stuff just pop up with pretty girls trying to display a little chest (got that side angle)while playing various "pick up" games.
I mean pick up like in bball. This is what I deserve. Back to the fishing videos. My wife is wft...? She sees all this fishing equipment displayed on my computer and out of nowhere comes the girl with the lowcut blouse playing some "hustler"

[SpursforSix]

My dad taught me to play.
That was probably part of the problem.

I do remember playing other people and we were all bad enough that actually having an end game was extremely difficult. We would not quit because we were not good enough or tutored enough to know when to quit. The games were basically clear the board as much as possible of pieces so it was easier to see what was going on. And then know a few signature early moves to checkmate someone who had no clue. Knights out, pawns out and protected, bishops out and then it all became muddled. I got so exacerbated by not being able to get the rooks out early on. I wanted them out so bad. And the queen was so important to me I would use her carefully and then carelessly. I just changed based on how strong I felt the opposition was.

I basically felt like I always wanted to put the opposition under some sort of pressure to always get to take a piece. Exchanging was fine for me because it cleared the board. I also remember getting frustrated about getting my pawns in the way of my own play. Its like I dont even want to go down that shallow hole that I once visited in middle school and then occasionally later. I guarantee I am worse than both you and SR21. Easily.

I really dont even know anyone who was very good iirc.

But this tournament was sort of an awakening into just looking at a board and realizing who was in better shape. I just could never actually get to the point of taking the path to get to that point. I will keep watching to see who gives up and who fights. Probably read about it first and then run through the youtube rapidly until I find the game. Its good being able to fast forward through some of these players who take so long to move.

I would never watch it if I could not read about it first and if the analysts stayed silent. I must have input to guide me.

I feel that. I only play a couple of people on chess.com. If I ever feel like I have any advantage, I’ll trade pieces until I can promote a pawn. I’m so lazy that I won’t even try to mate with adequate material. When I look at my game report, it always shows a few mistakes and often a missed win. I’d love to go back in time and really study the game. Same with hold’em. I’d also like to learn Spanish. But I’ve kind of accepted that I’m probably too old and definitely too lazy.

[SpursforSix]

i was probably at my best near the end of college. i dont think i really touched chess between then and the queen's gambit series tbh :lol

now when i do play its just 3 minute games on chess.com and those arent ones that let you put much thought in or improve, really

Searching for Bobby Fishsr is my favorite chess movie. I’d also recommend the doc on the game, Go. In the west, we always think of chess as the end all of games. But Go is exponentially more complex.

[spurraider21]

Searching for Bobby Fishsr is my favorite chess movie. I’d also recommend the doc on the game, Go. In the west, we always think of chess as the end all of games. But Go is exponentially more complex.
That’s a solid movie with an impressive cast for what it was. Pretty good acting all around. But i can’t deal with the kids accent

[pgardn]

Searching for Bobby Fishsr is my favorite chess movie. I’d also recommend the doc on the game, Go. In the west, we always think of chess as the end all of games. But Go is exponentially more complex.

YOU were the dude!

YOU Recommended Alpha Go documentary. That was fantastic. So much in that.

I had played Go (and then watched the doc) and it’s very easy to learn but I found it impossible to figure out how well I was doing. I thought I had a plan and the next thing I’m getting killed. I suggest playing the small board version first because the whole board game takes too long.

I wonder if any of those chess top players have tried it. Or maybe they think it will screw up their chess prep?

That documentary really had a lot of personal interest for me. I recommend that to everyone I knew who was into the AI stuff. It blew many of them away. The way the programmers felt about what they had done was extraordinary. Big sighs of relief that it actually worked. And then pity for the champ that the program was so good when it beat the crap out of him like 5 out of 6 times iirc.

[DMC]

Is Vagina DeHoffa still in the mix?

Lost due to a brilliant en pissant move and and capture of 3 checkers near the middle game, iirc.

[SpursforSix]

That’s a solid movie with an impressive cast for what it was. Pretty good acting all around. But i can’t deal with the kids accent

Yeah. I get that. But I’ll watch anything with Ben Kingsley. Then you get Fishburne and Mantegna. I always enjoy it.

[SpursforSix]

YOU were the dude!

YOU Recommended Alpha Go documentary. That was fantastic. So much in that.

I had played Go (and then watched the doc) and it’s very easy to learn but I found it impossible to figure out how well I was doing. I thought I had a plan and the next thing I’m getting killed. I suggest playing the small board version first because the whole board game takes too long.

I wonder if any of those chess top players have tried it. Or maybe they think it will screw up their chess prep?

That documentary really had a lot of personal interest for me. I recommend that to everyone I knew who was into the AI stuff. It blew many of them away. The way the programmers felt about what they had done was extraordinary. Big sighs of relief that it actually worked. And then pity for the champ that the program was so good when it beat the crap out of him like 5 out of 6 times iirc.

Glad you liked it. I’ve never played but it seems like a much more
complicated version of Othello. I do remember Nash played it in Beautiful Mind. I don’t know enough to say for sure it’s more complicated than Chess. But the amount of iterations makes me think it is. Anyway, I love a good documentary. That’s a good question about whether top chess players also play go. My guess is that most have and probably kick the crap out of most players. But probably couldn’t compete against the best. In my simple mind, it looks like two different disciplines. Although both related to looking moves ahead

[spurraider21]

Yeah. I get that. But I’ll watch anything with Ben Kingsley. Then you get Fishburne and Mantegna. I always enjoy it.
His school teacher was Wendy Byrde

[SpursforSix]

His school teacher was Wendy Byrde
Don’t remember that. Weird. I always thought that Joan Allen (the kid’s mom) was Laura Linney light.

[pgardn]

Judit Polgar (retired) beat Magnus in the park in Madrid. Timed game.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Judit Polgar (retired) beat Magnus in the park in Madrid. Timed game.

:wow :wow :wow

I guess that giant leap for womankind cancels out Roe v Wade decision, tbh :tu

[pgardn]

:wow :wow :wow

I guess that giant leap for womankind cancels out Roe v Wade decision, tbh :tu

She has beaten him before. But now as he sits back as world champion waiting for the winner here.
It just shows she is not willing to go through the rigors this game requires, but she is damn good.

If you dont know who this lineup of wins look it up. She has beaten the best. Not necessarily at their best but the woman is a boss and a fantastic analyst for the general public imo. And it is notable because girls are really rare in this game.

Polgár is the only woman to have won a game against a reigning world number one player, and has defeated eleven current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Magnus Carlsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen), Anatoly Karpov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov), Garry Kasparov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov), Vladimir Kramnik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik), Boris Spassky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky), Vasily Smyslov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Smyslov), Veselin Topalov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veselin_Topalov), Viswanathan Anand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand), Ruslan Ponomariov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Ponomariov), Alexander Khalifman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Khalifman), and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustam_Kasimdzhanov).[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r#cite_note-JPolgarSite-7)

[pgardn]

More notable she is a fantastic analyst along with the guy she is paired with.
They are a good team imo to explain and for overall attitude this game requires.
And she tirelessly analyzes games. She does not go on to chit chat about herself near as much as the other male announcers.
ie she really loves or is zeroed in on her task as an analyzer for the public.
Mark me as very impressed.

[pgardn]

Nakumura just beat Duda.
Duda apparently made a very poor move.
Duda was shaking his head in disgust.
Polgar explained that Duda is very good and is ashamed at giving Nakumura an easy win as the other competitors have to expect more from him.
Nakumura and Ding tomorrow is big.

[Millennial_Messiah]

She has beaten him before. But now as he sits back as world champion waiting for the winner here.
It just shows she is not willing to go through the rigors this game requires, but she is damn good.

If you dont know who this lineup of wins look it up. She has beaten the best. Not necessarily at their best but the woman is a boss and a fantastic analyst for the general public imo. And it is notable because girls are really rare in this game.

Polgár is the only woman to have won a game against a reigning world number one player, and has defeated eleven current or former world champions in either rapid or classical chess: Magnus Carlsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen), Anatoly Karpov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov), Garry Kasparov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov), Vladimir Kramnik (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik), Boris Spassky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky), Vasily Smyslov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Smyslov), Veselin Topalov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veselin_Topalov), Viswanathan Anand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand), Ruslan Ponomariov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Ponomariov), Alexander Khalifman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Khalifman), and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustam_Kasimdzhanov).[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r#cite_note-JPolgarSite-7)

Judit Polgar and her sister Susan (Zsuzsa) are widely considered the GOAT female players.

[pgardn]

Judit Polgar and her sister Susan (Zsuzsa) are widely considered the GOAT female players.

Hungarian.

Interesting.

[spurraider21]

Nakumura just beat Duda.
Duda apparently made a very poor move.
Duda was shaking his head in disgust.
Polgar explained that Duda is very good and is ashamed at giving Nakumura an easy win as the other competitors have to expect more from him.
Nakumura and Ding tomorrow is big.
Ding cleaned hikarus clock and stormed back to secure second place after having no wins at all in the first half of the tournament

if magnus is serious about not defending titles id favor ding over Nepo despite that round 1 disaster

[pgardn]

Ding cleaned hikarus clock and stormed back to secure second place after having no wins at all in the first half of the tournament

if magnus is serious about not defending titles id favor ding over Nepo despite that round 1 disaster

Looks like Magnus is out.

Ukraine women just won the Chess Olympiad.

[pgardn]

Mangus will not defend is Classical title so its China (Ding )v. Russia (Ian Nepomniachtchi )
Meanwhile, Magnus goes to play in a rapid tournament and wins it in pretty spectacular fashion against some younger GMs that are very good at rapid games. And not as good as the long grinding Classic games
Magnus has again wowed all the chess experts.
Some of the moves he made in a very short time period were apparently incredible.

I had no idea wtf was going on they played so quickly. The commentators could not keep up with the players thinking.

[pgardn]

Magnus won the tournament but lost today to an 18 yo Indian grandmaster today.
This same Indian grandmaster lost to a fairly young grandmaster from Poland on the following move:

(Note the Indian kid was totally winning and he made ONE move and was checkmated. Skip to 53 to 55 second.
One rook move by black, checkmate. It was a stunningly horrible move. It shook the Polish GM that he had actually won.
This of course was a very quickly played game but still... And the Indian kid had basically lost the entire tourney on this one move even though he came back today to beat Carlsen. Also this Polish Grandmaster beat Carlsen but lost his first 3 matches so he was way out of this tournament when he started beating the tournament leaders.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC0dlE4YA5s

Pause it at 55 seconds or 56 to look at the checkmate from nowhere that was seen by everyone but a grandmaster.
The bar on the left side of the board drops from white winning to completely black as calculated by a computer program.

[pgardn]

You guys need to check out what happened in the World Championships between Ding and Nepo

Ding literally froze and lost a game early, looked in horrendous shape.
The dude then clutched out and made super accurate moves after they were tied and had to play rapid chess.

China owns the World Championship for the first time.

I will try to find some piece that captures the entirety of this … I think it can safely be called incredible turnaround.
No Magnus, so it was unknown territory.

[pgardn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPfZNqWzng8

This was the ONLY time Ding was ahead the entire series of 14 classical games and four rapid games.
And Ding literally broke down and could not move in one of the classical games.

[Millennial_Messiah]

China owns the World Championship for the first time.

Time to raise the Chinese flag over the White House. And the St. Louis Chess Club, for good measure.

[pgardn]

Time to raise the Chinese flag over the White House. And the St. Louis Chess Club, for good measure.

Magnus is Finnish. Thats the only flag to be raised

Nepo is Russian but he did not play under that flag.
Both Nepo and Ding want as little to do with politics as possible.
they will do what it takes to play the game they excel at.

I imagine both of them would become Western citizens if they could get all their family and friends to be unbothered by the respective countries they were born in.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Magnus is Finnish. Thats the only flag to be raised

Nepo is Russian but he did not play under that flag.
Both Nepo and Ding want as little to do with politics as possible.
they will do what it takes to play the game they excel at.

I imagine both of them would become Western citizens if they could get all their family and friends to be unbothered by the respective countries they were born in.

Magnus didn't play, though.

The CCP will claim Ding like they did with Yao, whether he likes it or not he kind of has to embrace it to save face or risk being a pariah which in China has far more severe consequences than getting kicked off Twitter.

I have no doubt that Nepo/Ding don't "want" to be part of the second world and would prefer to be in a first world, democratic country if they had their druthers. But it would also make them targets long term and they would have to forfeit a lot of amenities. Sometimes you just gotta play the hand you're dealt the best

[Millennial_Messiah]

It's hard to deny though that the Second World is fairly rapidly gaining ground on the First World... the Second World is winning Cold War II... just look at all the rapid yuanization from the Middle East to South Asia, South America and South Africa.

Forget about going back to the gold standard... the USA to survive economically going forward at some point may need to set the US Dollar to the Yuan standard.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Not to mention the Yuan, not the ruble nor the dollar, is now the primary currency of Russia... the people that don't think that China and Russia are in full alliance are kidding themselves.

However, Xi and China are clearly calling the shots and taking advantage of Putin's aggressive tendencies. Zero doubt that China has leveraged Russia's Ukraine invasion as a deflection and distraction tactic for China to slowly but surgery tighten their grip and global reach far beyond Taiwan.

At this rate... before this past weekend's class of NFL Draftees all retire, NFL salaries will be paid in yuan

[pgardn]

Not to mention the Yuan, not the ruble nor the dollar, is now the primary currency of Russia... the people that don't think that China and Russia are in full alliance are kidding themselves.

However, Xi and China are clearly calling the shots and taking advantage of Putin's aggressive tendencies. Zero doubt that China has leveraged Russia's Ukraine invasion as a deflection and distraction tactic for China to slowly but surgery tighten their grip and global reach far beyond Taiwan.

At this rate... before this past weekend's class of NFL Draftees all retire, NFL salaries will be paid in yuan

You...

are nuts.

The Chinese want their economy to work.
They do not need or want wars.

[pgardn]

Magnus didn't play, though.

The CCP will claim Ding like they did with Yao

Magnus did not play because he is bored.
He is the best in the world. Ding and Nepo would tell you that as will as the rest of the Chess world.

Who cares what China claims. Ding is playing games and making money in the West.
All he has to do is steer clear of political shit. The players all like him, hes a good kid apparently. And thats cool.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Magnus did not play because he is bored.
He is the best in the world. Ding and Nepo would tell you that as will as the rest of the Chess world.

Who cares what China claims. Ding is playing games and making money in the West.
All he has to do is steer clear of political shit. The players all like him, hes a good kid apparently. And thats cool.
Magnus didn't play because he was afraid of losing. He outright lost a blitz armageddon match to Hikaru Nakamura earlier this month who is more of a podcast personality than a chess player and despite being a GM isn't seen as one of the best.

[Millennial_Messiah]

You...

are nuts.

The Chinese want their economy to work.
They do not need or want wars.
Not in disagreement there that they don't necessarily want to use military force, at least not to be seen as an aggressor at the world stage at this point... but they will if it comes down to it. They used batons, smoke bombs, and tear gas to turn Hong Kong communist just before the pandemic started... convenient, no? They will easily annex Taiwan without much Western resistance. All China has to do is play the "M.A.D." card and Biden and Co. will fold.

China not just wants their economy to work... but they want world economic and socio-cultural domination. Mass mushroom clouds maybe not, but no question world domination is their ultimate goal.

[spurraider21]

You guys need to check out what happened in the World Championships between Ding and Nepo

Ding literally froze and lost a game early, looked in horrendous shape.
The dude then clutched out and made super accurate moves after they were tied and had to play rapid chess.

China owns the World Championship for the first time.

I will try to find some piece that captures the entirety of this … I think it can safely be called incredible turnaround.
No Magnus, so it was unknown territory.
i'd still been following the match but frankly its hard to take this as a championship at face value when everybody knows the best player in the world isnt here. great comeback for Ding though

the craziest storyline in the match was that after one of the games it kinda became clear that a lot of Ding's prep was online so there was a huge leak that he had to overcome

[Barfunk]

Was rooting for Nepo but Ding earned the crown. This championship was a bloodbath. Lots of decisive games.