May-08-11
 | | Open Defence: so is Gelfand through?! |
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| May-08-11 | | just a kid: Yeah. |
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| May-08-11 | | dumbgai: Not the best try by Mamed in a must-win situation |
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| May-08-11 | | dagwood2005: not sure why shak called it quits here. sure, white is a little better---but the position is still unbalanced. agreeing to a draw means you home go home for sure so why not play it out to the bitter end and see what happens? |
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| May-08-11 | | Astardis: Maybe he just had enough trust in Gelfand's ability to hold this position.
Frankly, it looks un-losable for White. But hey, I just took a quick look at the final position without doing any analysis. |
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May-08-11
 | | HeMateMe: Certainly pathetic to resign an elimination game, with no clear advantage for either player. I like the 30 move minimum rule. |
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| May-08-11 | | Pygeum Lycopene: <so is Gelfand through?!> they both are, so to speak. |
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| May-08-11 | | arnaud1959: White can play Rb3,Nc4 and Rb6 while blacks h4 seems to be harmless after g4 even with a N on f4 or h4 after playing h3. |
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| May-08-11 | | BobCrisp: Disgraceful. Disgusting. Disquieting. Disappointing. Dispiriting. Disenchanting. Disennobling. Dissatisfying. Disinteresting. |
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| May-08-11 | | Prugno: Mamed's mistake wasn't to offer a draw in the final position (which Gelfand was almost too kind to accept, since at this level there are only two possible results: a draw or a win for White). Black's real problem were the absurdly risky and anti-positional moves played BEFORE the draw offer which, trying to unbalance the game at all costs, succeeded so well that the final position is indeed unbalanced, but completely in favour of White (who is a pawn up and dominating all over the board!). In a must-win situation you must keep control of your nerves and avoid lashing out wildly: think of game 24 of the 1987 Kasparov-Karpov match... |
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May-08-11
| | HeMateMe: <Prugno> Look at the Kamsky/Topalov game. The engines had Topalov up +6, near the end. That means white had a forced win, which Topalov missed. Kamsky got a draw, and the match. You keep playing, especially in an ELIMINATION game. |
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| May-08-11 | | Prugno: <HeMateMe> Sorry, but I disagree with your analogy. Instead, imagine KAMSKY was the one behind in the standings, needing a win in order to tie the match: would you have blamed him for offering a draw with Black in that horrible position? The maximum he could possibly have hoped for, and which indeed he got, is half a point, so why risk losing without any chance of a win? (Of course, this is because he was playing against another strong opponent, maybe in Topalov's place I would have fallen into a mate at the end...) |
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May-08-11
| | HeMateMe: The final game with Mamed was double edged; not won for either player. You can't win a match by resigning the final game.
I would have the same opinion for any players in the deciding game of a match. If there is some chance of your opponent going wrong in complications, then keep playing. We aren't talking about a K + P engame here. It was still the middle game. Why even show up, if you can't give 100%? |
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| May-08-11 | | hedgeh0g: Mamedyarov just seemed finished after yesterday's beating. He played horribly here and was fortunate that Gelfand was content with a draw, otherwise it could have developed into another torture session. After Black plays ...h4, White can probably simply play g4 to close the position. In the meantime, White can get something going on the queenside with Rc3 and b4. |
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| May-08-11 | | dagwood2005: would carlsen or topalov or kamsky have taken a draw as black in this position? no way. a draw and a loss are the same result for black, so therefore he had absolutely nothing to lose by playing on. nothing to lose whatsoever. i really like shak and his playing style, but he didn't show any grit. he didn't show the heart of a champion. |
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| May-08-11 | | Blunderdome: Up to Mamedyarov what he wants to do. He's the one giving up a title shot, not you. |
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May-08-11
| | HeMateMe: weak draws are bad for international chess. Every player has some responsibility to make the game interesting. Without patrons/sponsorship, there is no professional chess circuit. |
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| May-08-11 | | Everett: A reminder that chess is a battle of wills. Certainly, opposite colored bishops on a board with only two pairs of minors exchanged allows for interesting play. White's Nb6 keeps Black's Q from entering on the light squares on the K-side, yet a well-timed ...c4 followed by ...Qc5 would allow entrance on the dark squares. Meanwhile White's N is stuck on b6. But if you have no fight, it doesn't matter what the position is. |
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| May-09-11 | | chesstyro: seems a little early to draw. playing for a chance to become world champion here. think white would force black to make the correct moves, am i wrong? |
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| May-09-11 | | parisattack: Black's position is not pretty and counterplay will be difficult to find even with the piece battery on the Kingside. But I certainly think given the importance that Shak should have played on here. |
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| May-09-11 | | Ghuzultyy: In my opinion, he had no chance to win this game so it is OK to draw. If it wasn't the last game white would not accept the draw and probably win. |
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| May-30-11 | | ReikiMaster: 22.f4 looks interesting. |
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Kibitzing
