Chess World Championship

[Skybird]

Its the 5th match of the chess world championship between Viswanathan Anand and Swedish Wunderkind Magnus Carlson, I'm currently following the match live since it began this morning, and I think we are about to see the first victory of this championship, the first four matches all ended as draws. Carlson with white pieces leads by one pawn and now has the chance to win a second, entering a favorable end game, Anand made one, maybe even two weak moves after the time control for 40th move.

Nice way to spend the evening, since I am installing X Rebirth from DVD currently, and - see my complaint in the games forum - have to endure an endless Steam download, since the publisher decided to burn the incomplete version of the game onto DVD - knowingly and intentionally. One hour done. Another hour to follow. While I wait, I follow the match, it is a nice duel today.

[Skybird]

Yep, there goes the second pawn. End game 3 pawns + rook against pawn and rook. Anand needs a miracle or Superman powers to save himself from his first defeat.

[Aktungbby]

kp 2 e4:Kaleun_Wink:

[Skybird]

The final decision, probably. It'S the 47th move, Carlson (White) has just moved Bh7, threatening Bg8+ and striking b3.

And in this position Anand answers with Rc1+, allowing the white King to move Kb2, covering a3. I think Carlson will win the end game, and I think this is the position that decided the match:

http://www7.pic-upload.de/15.11.13/4zviaskmt9pr.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21341099/2.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

It's over, I think. 52nd move, White now has free pawns on a- and h-line, Black cannot stop them both (I could not, at least). I think Anand just needs some more time to admit his defeat to himself.

[Skybird]

Commentator writes Carlson moves currently without spending time to think. Indicates that he has analysed all variation to the end and is sure of the outcome.

[Skybird]

Anand resigns. Carlson leads the championship 3:2, (1 victory and 4 draws).

Next match tomorrow, I think starting at 10:30 German time.

Edit: and right in the same minute the damn Steam download is completed. Off into space!

[flostt]

It's Carlsen, not Carlson...and he is from Norway, not Sweden...

[Skybird]

Ah, those Scandinavians are all the same. :O:

[Skybird]

The 6th match is running, Anand plays White. It will be interesting to see whether he is capable to score an immediate counterstrike after Carlson's, no Carlsen's victory yesterday. They played the Ruy Lopez, a repetition of a tournament match Anand already played earlier this year. In this opening, the tactical depth and the risks for the unaware are immense, although probably no other opening has been analysed to death that much. With 10.Bg5, Anand leaves the path he followed earlier this year, and Carlsen seems to have been thrown out of his preparations:

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/erus31jbkykj.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21348335/1.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

After 16. Rdf1 - look at that white king's castle! :) All the horses are in their stables!

The position is totally even, it seems to me. Both sides "lavieren" to consoldiate their position. Are these the last strokes of breath before the storm breaks loose?

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/6mek825ucthn.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21348591/2.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

The white manouvers with the knights are anything but defensive. White wants to prepare a cavalry attack into Black's centre and flank via e3 and then f5 and/or d5.

[Skybird]

Carlsen managed to open the a line, Anand got rid of his double pawn on the b-line. I still cannot smell anything that could indicate a dangerous attack on the black castle. Anand may be able to move his knights as described - but whether that leads to anything, is a different story. The defensive position of Black looks very strong to me. And if Anand follows the plan to send the cavalry, he needs time for that, allowing Carlsen to exploit the a-line, maybe.

Edit. A quick recheck with Fritz 11 engine. Calculation depth is 21 moves, psoition rating is exactly 0.00.

[Skybird]

First major exchnage at the gates to the black castle, white loses 1 bishop and 1 knight, black 2 knights. In essence: a simplification that imo works for the benefit of Carlsen's defensive position - the tactical intricacies of multi-pieces-combinations have been reduced. By loosing pieces, White has lost options for threatening combinations to attack the black king directly. I think Carlsen feels comfortable currently.

Edit. More exchanges, Carlsen chnages bishop for knight, White earns a double pawn on the e-line but also the opening of the f-line. Maybe he can start firing at the black castle using that firing slot.

After 25.Rf1:

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/rjzn4ghdin3m.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21348927/3.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

Carlsen's infantry marching forward on the queen's wing. Ananf refuses a fight dxc4, but mvoes forward in the centre: d4, offering Black to relieve him from the double pawn . I would not take the invitation.

It all looks very blocked to me now, and I think it will become a draw. White can try to open the psoition, but only at the cost of accepting to expose his vulnerability on the e-line. Double pawns are not easy to play.

[Skybird]

Fast moves now, wait for me! Black strikes on a1, exchanging rooks, then moves the queen to b7, preparing to exchange the remaining rooks, also targetting the weak spot at e4. If Anand continues to play this match longer, he really risks to get into trouble: Carlsen is said to be a formidable attack player in positions like this, often finding the hidden turn, the secret plan, the sudden surprise.

The position is shifting currently, in Black's favour. Anand must take care.

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/nz2vohjeale6.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21349059/4.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

Carlsen just moved 29.../Qc6, provoking d5 maybe? Is this a hidden invitation for Anand to accept a draw? The tactical fire is gone in this position, what comes now can only be theoretical intricacies of traditional endgame. And that outlook I also would rate as most likely ending in a draw, I think. Carlsen, as said above, can find moves in apparently calm positions that tiny bit by bit accumulate advantages for him - and then suddenly the match has shifted in his favour. Anand risks right this.

[Skybird]

Carlsen played exd4, isolating the double pawn on the e-line. He then repositions his queen so that it keeps pressure up on that line, but also can easily guard the black king's position.

White has run out of plans here. Black has an objective to mount pressure against. Anand has nothing to win anymore - but everything to lose, if he is not careful. The sooner he brings this match into the harbour of a draw, the better for him. He is playing against a very dangerous opponent.

[Jimbuna]

Watch it live:

http://www.geekosystem.com/2013-chess-championship-live/

[Skybird]

Fritz 11 reflects the slow but continues shift in favour of Black. Where in the beginning it rated the match around 0.1 in favour of White, and 0.00 just some moves ago, it has added percentiles and percents for Black in each of the last moves, now rating it -0.30 and more in favour of Black. Not decisive, but an indication that the balance has shifted.

37.../Re6

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/1e3ol5d5nrp.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21349387/5.jpg.html)

[Skybird]

Micro-movements only now, they are moving their kings and queens back and forth squarewise. Seems to me Anand needs some time to accept that he has lost today's chance for an equalizer, and that Carlsen just waits for Anand to accept it and agrees to finish for today.

[Skybird]

Hooopsala - after 38.Qg3, Fritz rating (26 moves deep) jumps upwards to almost -0.6 for Black playing Rxe4 now, and Carlsen seems to have seen it, he starts to take time again.

Possible variation: Fritz 11: 38.../Rxe4 39.Qxd6/Rxe3 40.Qxe7/Rxe7

[Skybird]

And that ^ is exactly what they did:

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/8e2sthqho6b2.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21349509/6.jpg.html)

Fritz says 0.5 in favour of Black. Black has one pawn more.

[Skybird]

Possible that Anand will regret at the end of the day that he did not offer a draw some moves ago, but was wasting time, waiting for Carlsen doing it. Carlsen no longer plays only for a draw with Black - he now plays for the full point.

Told you so, Anand! :03:

And Carlsen really looks deep and long into it now...

[Skybird]

4 moves later now, slow match currently. They spend a lot of their time reserves. Blacks tries to find a way to exchange the rooks. White tries to destroy Black's pawn structure, at the price of giving another pawn himself. But it is clear that Anand is clearly in the defensive. Winning this he cannot - as long as Carlsen does not make a big mistake.

I think Anand just wants Carlsen being the one offering a draw.

And I think Carlsen will let him wait a much longer while - if he even does it. He is said to be a specialist for rook endgames.

[Skybird]

after 47 moves

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/t835mpxq71sa.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21350078/7.jpg.html)

Next happened Kh4/Re6. Black gives back one pawn in exchange for reactivating his rook and bringing it back into action.

[Skybird]

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/duxtfg3fygk.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21350301/8.jpg.html)

Black has just moved 57. Kf4, allowing Rc8 followed by Rxc4. Has Carlsen really seen a compensation for that loss, regarding the pawn transformation he is fighting for? Or is it just a blackout, or a desperate attempt to avoid the draw?

Fritz 11 rates Rc8 as -0.06.

The diea obviously is to march forward with the F- and h-pawns, and supporting the f-pawn with his king, so a blackout it probably is not. The draw he has safe, he just tries to get some more, and takes a calculated risk.

[Skybird]

Fritz smells something, after pawns got exchanged on h3 just a couple of moves later: -2.27...!!!
Looks like a little sensation! Carlsen obviously had a plan.

[Skybird]

I watched the Fritz variation on the second board. It's true, the moves are enforced and lead to Black with one rook and one pawn against White two pawns, and Black winning the race. Question is whether Carlsen really can calculate the full variation, it is very very deep. Computers have the edge on stuff like this - usually.

I dare to believe Carlsen indeed sees it. If so: brilliant, absolutely brilliant! :yeah: :shucks:

[Skybird]

Anand is done. He did not follow the ideal replies in the Fritz variation, making things worse. Fritz now rates it -5.25

I still cannot believe this Blitz I just witnessed.

[Skybird]

It's over! Anand quits. This match was an exemplary demonstration why Carlsen is the favourite in this championship in many people's opinion.

Carlsen leads 4:2, 2 victories 4 draws. Tomorrow is a free day. Anand will not enjoy it. After the first half of this competition I do not see him having the weapons to fight himself back into the duel against this fearsome calculator. Worse, Anand made two weak moves in two matches - and they got punished in both matches.

http://www7.pic-upload.de/16.11.13/36ba5wwztng9.jpg (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-21350692/9.jpg.html)

[Aktungbby]

Another victory I'm afraid:shucks: Anand does not appear to maintain aggressiveness against 'der wunderkind' with white(first move advantage) when initiative and offense( not stabling the horses) in the opening game is critical. Carlsen can destroy anyone in the middle game and, as you observed, plays without pause in the end game; indicative of total confidence in the outcome...and you're right; 'those Scandinavians are all alike'; the old Vikings used to plan their battles beforehand using chessboard and pieces...but then I'm a little biased as I attended a Norwegian Lutheran college:D

[Aktungbby]

can find moves in apparently calm positions that tiny bit by bit accumulate advantages for him
"a succession of slow advantages" a wonderful and demoralizing technique to a lesser opponent who knows full well that he can make no mistakes of position, tempo or material. Carlsen knows more games are lost than are won at this level and waits for Anand's eventual error to take advantage while avoiding an error himself. Rather the python than the cobra...

[Skybird]

I do not think that it is Carlsen's style to sit and wait until his opponent makes a mistake. He patiently and very competently analyses any apparently calm position so long that finally he squeezes one single drop out of it - and that often already is one drop too much for his opponent. That is his big strength, I think. One could see it in this match again, too. He massaged he position until he finally found a small opening, no matter how small it was. That Anand made a single weak move in each match he lost, helped, of course.

He has an extraordinarily strong CPU built into his biological hardware. :) Brute calculation power. If understanding calculation power as strength, your comparison with a python somehow matches indeed.

A very gifted player. I think he can be come one of the very very best ones ever: Fisher, Kasparov...

If he does not lose interest and quits chess, which I think also is a possibility with him, because he does not seem to be a chess fanatic. That is healthy an attitude. Too many of the great chess geniusses were indeed neurotics and psychotics. Not just Fisher, but quite some more.

[Aktungbby]

Too many of the great chess geniusses were indeed neurotics and psychotics. Not just Fisher, but quite some more.
Yes; but our mothers still loved us...or pretended to and the queen (or both rooks in concert) is the most powerful piece on the board! :D

[Skybird]

I just arrived in time to see the final last moves of match 7 before they agreed on a draw. Looks as if it has been a boring match. Anand with the white pieces did not show signs of resistance against Carlsen's march to the title.

First time ever the official live stream worked for me - with constant interruptions, however.

Anand - Carlsen 2.5 : 4.5 now, 5 more to play.

[Skybird]

Today's 8th match was lame, dull, boring.

Nuff breath wasted.

:hmph:

[Aktungbby]

Carlsen can march it out drawing over the remaining games; no need to waste cerebrum depreciation to win it all; just make no mistakes and leave initiative to Anand who will commit errors trying to overcome the point deficit ie get 'hot under the collar.' As with the 'succession of small advantages' in a game tactic so with the 'succession of small draws' in games strategy when the points lead is attained beyond a 1 game buffer advantage. Carlsen not only reads the board, but also his man...and he's got 'im. "UM YA YA" :D

[Skybird]

Chess can be brutal, and this time the defender of the title got an ice-cold shower.

Playing the white pieces, he played a strangling frontal attack against the black king in an effort to check-mate him (although Carlsen said in the press conference he did not see any check mate possibility there - and who wants to argue with him? :) ). Black seeking compensation on the other side of the board, by tansforming a free pawn. And then - Anand makes a terrible error that loses him a whole rook. He immediately resigned after moving that. A terrible mishap. Blackouts happen.

Carlsen leads 6:3, the championship is over. One never should say never, but with just three more matches to go, Anand would need to win all three to keep his title with 6:6. I cannot see that coming.

Anand's era is over. The new era of Carlsen has begun. The championship was played on a mediocre performance level only. Nevertheless, I think he is a very worthy and very capable champion, whose maturity as a chess player is far ahead of his young age. He already is the highest-rated chess player in history with an ELO of 2872, which is the same or even slightly higher than Kasparov's historic record mark (what was Kasparov? 28-sixty something, I think), and is said by some to have a photographic memory, allowing him to suck in huge amounts of theory in short time. He is also the most athletic and probably physically fittest player in the world elite, that's why he does not become tired even in very long matches, almost never suffering from degrading concentration therefore. Finally, his playing style sets him apart a bit from the style that is common in the world elite today.

The reign of Anand I somehow have missed completely. All matches I saw by him, showed his strong attack power and discipline, but I also missed the spark of true originality. He is a very strong player, no doubt. You do not become world champion three times for no reason. But almost all players can, if they want and put some hard work into it, get rating of 2000 or so. But to make it into the world elite, it takes more than hard work. You need inbred talent. Lacking that you cannot compensate by hard work alone. Its like that with all sports at the absolute top levels, I think. Genetic dispositions decide whether you have the needed increased cellular oxygen processing that separates the world class athlete from the good one. I am certain that you also need certain genetic dispositions to make it into chess' elite ranks. This may come at a price, a change in neural "wiring" - that not only enables you to play better chess, but also makes your psyche more "different" in the widest sense of the world. It is a striking fact that amongst the very greatest in chess you have an extraordinary cumulation of psychic problems, ranging from neurosis over paranoia to psychosis, with Bobby Fisher just being the most famous and obvious example - but by far not the only one. Carlsen shows none of these so far, at least to the cameras. Which speaks for the man!

[Aktungbby]

Chess can be brutal... I am certain that you also need certain genetic dispositions to make it into chess' elite ranks... to psychosis, with Bobby Fisher just being the most famous and obvious example - but by far not the only one.
AHH! the Teutonic myth of the supermann conveyed to the chessmatch with Fischer the Jewish psychotic, somehow inferior...Don't trust Carlsen ("at least to the cameras") too much: Norwegian Viking King Magnus famously killed his opponent with the chessboard when about to lose a game! But it will go as I stated in my previous post; And Anand is making the predicted errors. Having played out all of the Spassky/Fisher games in my own training...and their respective games against Petrosian, considered a master defender as well, chess at this level is more toward paranoid punch drunks with severe tunnel vision than real brilliance. You just bring your best game and make fewer mistakes than your equally inept opponent; Carlsen misses a few and Anand certainly does. The buffer increases, and Carlsen is on the glide-path to victory. Alles Kaput! And they all have photographic memories at this level; know all the openings, variations and have played out all their oponent's previous games from both sides before even entering the arena! A lot of them now play poker to learn to 'read the man' as an integral part of the game! Always bear in mind that your opponent is as scared of you as you are of him and use that to your advantage...before he does...

[Skybird]

Blindfolded chess playing and photographic memory are two totally different things. ;) I can read a chess book without needing a board to figure the moves and variation. When I was young and played tournament chess a lot, I could play one blindfold match without board from beginning to end (no more these days...). And I also had plenty of theory and variation stuff cramped in my head.

But that is no photographic memory at all, nor is it a special intentional technique to store your memories "better". You next have to separate between the iconic and eidetic photographic memory.

It means in the end that you just look at a book page without needing to read it line by line in order to know its content: you just make a mental photo of it, without reading it line by line. When you need it, you pick it up in your head and THEN access the encoded information on it. Think of it like a camera, and you make a shot of a document, but you do not read it, and store the camera away. Just when you need it, you take the camera, call up the shot and see what it reads in the words and lines. Photographic memory means you can do that in an unbelievable short amount of time - almost zero time. Witnesses usually do not note you doing it this way, and to yourself, it is just natural and ordinary. It's not just writing, but just any visual perception stored: images, maps, diagrams...

All people get born with an ultrashort-lasting short time memory (=iconic), preserving visual information for milliseconds only. The long lasting storing ability associated with the term "photographic memory" is called the "eidetic" memory. About every tenth to every twentieth human gets born with that ability as well, but it gets lost during childhood in most humans.

Real eidetic photographic memory beyond early childhood is much rarer then popular opinion believes. The term mostly gets used and understood wrong. When they claim ten people being gifted with a "photographic memory", I bet it is only one or two for which it actually is true. Considering that only every 10th to every 20th gets born with it and has it still after his childhood, this gives you an idea of how rare it is. One in a hundred, or less.

So again: blindfold chess has nothing to do with the eidetic memory storing of the socalled photographic memory". The first can be learned and trained, by everybody. The latter cannot.

[Skybird]

And next time save me from your idiotic Teutonic-Jewish nonsense stuff.

The claim on statistically significant clusters of psychological aberrations in players of the very top level, is being described in not little biographic books on chess masters. It's common knowledge nowadays.

Neither Nietzsche nor the fact that I am German and Fisher was Jewish, has anything to do with it. Have you ever cared to actually read and see a bit on Fisher's biography? I have. Do that - and then tell me that he was not a bit over the loop. He was.

[Aktungbby]

Blindfolded chess playing and photographic memory are two totally different things. ;) I can read a chess book without needing a board to figure the moves and variation. When I was young and played tournament chess a lot, I could play one blindfold match without board from beginning to end (no more these days...). And I also had plenty of theory and variation stuff cramped in my head.

But that is no photographic memory at all, nor is it a special intentional technique to store your memories "better". You next have to separate between the iconic and eidetic photographic memory.

It means in the end that you just look at a book page without needing to read it line by line in order to know its content: you just make a mental photo of it, without reading it line by line. When you need it, you pick it up in your head and THEN access the encoded information on it. Think of it like a camera, and you make a shot of a document, but you do not read it, and store the camera away. Just when you need it, you take the camera, call up the shot and see what it reads in the words and lines. Photographic memory means you can do that in an unbelievable short amount of time - almost zero time. Witnesses usually do not note you doing it this way, and to yourself, it is just natural and ordinary. It's not just writing, but just any visual perception stored: images, maps, diagrams...

All people get born with an ultrashort-lasting short time memory (=iconic), preserving visual information for milliseconds only. The long lasting storing ability associated with the term "photographic memory" is called the "eidetic" memory. About every tenth to every twentieth human gets born with that ability as well, but it gets lost during childhood in most humans.

Real eidetic photographic memory beyond early childhood is much rarer then popular opinion believes. The term mostly gets used and understood wrong. When they claim ten people being gifted with a "photographic memory", I bet it is only one or two for which it actually is true. Considering that only every 10th to every 20th gets born with it and has it still after his childhood, this gives you an idea of how rare it is. One in a hundred, or less.

So again: blindfold chess has nothing to do with the eidetic memory storing of the socalled photographic memory". The first can be learned and trained, by everybody. The latter cannot.
Actually I agree with you here! Eidetic memory from the Greek "eidos"-seen is extremely rare. American cognitive studies expert Marvin Minsky, The Society of the Mind considered reports of eidetic memory to be an unfounded myth and that chess players in particular, after initial photographic capability, relied on the certain in game arrangement of the pieces and Mnemonic devices rather than actual innate eidetic memory. As with you, when I was younger, 'the pieces just 'danced of their own accord' , enough to beat one nasty grandmaster, but alas, now I gotta' think about it but I don' let the nephews beat me yet!:up: The python still operates but there is seldom the cobra at 60 + ie.("no more these days")! Kudos to you if your still doing tournaments!:salute:

[Aktungbby]

And next time save me from your idiotic Teutonic-Jewish nonsense stuff.The claim on statistically significant clusters of psychological aberrations in players of the very top level, is being described in not little biographic books on chess masters. It's common knowledge nowadays.Neither Nietzsche nor the fact that I am German and Fisher was Jewish, has anything to do with it. Have you ever cared to actually read and see a bit on Fisher's biography? I have. Do that - and then tell me that he was not a bit over the loop. He was.
Sorry about that; thought you'd get the jest (or at least the Fritz variation)! My Great grandma' was from Bavaria and married in the temple in Brooklyn...my birthplace natch! Since the rest of the Koenigs vaporized between 1939 und 1945, I'm grateful for her foresight in immigrating! Salomon Shereshevski and Kim Peek who have alleged eidetic skills beyond the normal age of six are examples of the case that keen memory skills not relating to intellect can impair social skills. Ol' Bobby Fischer, that other notorious Brooklyn boy, was probably somewhat autistic or at least suffered from Asperger's Syndrome-a classification now amended to a form of autism: And his anti-semetic comment(s) that "America is run by 'dirty Jews'"!!? certainly speaks to his unsociability beyond 64 checkerboard squares. He probably had Fruit Loops for breakfast...but we must not sprechen ill of the dead... Ein bit über der loop indeed! :nope:

[Skybird]

Mist - die spielen ja...!

I completely missed the fact that today is matchday, not a break. Just found out. :doh:

[Skybird]

He did it! Magnus Carlsen is the new, undefeated, undisputed chess champion of the world.

I missed the first half of the match, but still: it was a fighting match, Carlsen ignored two opportunities where he could enforce a draw (making him the champion), but pushed for the win. In the end, it was not a win, but a fighting draw, and one both really negotiated to the uncompromised very end: there were only two kings and one knight on the board in the end.

6.5 : 3.5, with no defeats suffered: a very clear win for Carlsen.

Chapeau! Let's see how big the boost will be for chess in Norway

[Skybird]

Just saw a report from Norway on TV. They said that the matches had audience rates of over 40% :o and that currently you cannot buy any more chessboards and pieces in stores anymore - nation-wide sold out. :D

:woot:

And a quote from Carlsen when he was a bit younger: "I hate to lose. It's like war. When I lose, I want bloody revenge."

That's the spirit! :up: He just doe snot like to play draws, and he showed it. He wants to win. In a time when many grandmasters in tournaments already consider themselves successful when they play a draw with the black pieces, this sets Carlsen apart some more. Reminds me of fisher, who also was very aggressive by his basic attitude in chess.