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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz) Tournament

Magnus Carlsen19/27(+13 -2 =12)[games]
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave17.5/27(+14 -6 =7)[games]
Hikaru Nakamura17/27(+11 -4 =12)[games]
Wesley So14/27(+5 -4 =18)[games]
Ding Liren13.5/27(+7 -7 =13)[games]
Ian Nepomniachtchi13/27(+7 -8 =12)[games]
Sergey Karjakin12.5/27(+6 -8 =13)[games]
Wei Yi12/27(+5 -8 =14)[games]
Veselin Topalov8.5/27(+2 -12 =13)[games]
Bassem Amin8/27(+5 -16 =6)[games]

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz) (2019)

The Côte d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz was the first stage of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen heading a 10-player field that featured seven tour regulars and wild cards Wei Yi, Veselin Topalov and Bassem Amin. The event took place in the Pullman Abidjan Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from May 8-12 and had a $150,000 prize fund. The rapid section was a single round-robin with three rounds each day on the first three days (May 8-10). The time control was 25 minutes for all moves and a 10-second delay from move 1. The final two days (May 11-12) was a blitz double round-robin with 18 rounds of 5 minutes + 3-second delay. Rapid games counted double, with 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. The tournament had been made possible by a partnership between Vivendi SA, Canal+ Group and the Pullman Abidjan Hotel. It was the first tournament on the African continent to ever feature the participation of a reigning world chess champion.

Magnus Carlsen won with 26.5/36 and collected 13 Grand Chess Tour points (GP):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts GP 1 Carlsen *** 1½1 200 2½½ 1½½ 2½1 2½½ 211 111 2½1 26½ 13 =2 Nakamura 1½0 *** 201 111 21½ 1½1 2½1 1½½ 2½1 00½ 23 9 =2 Vachier-Lagrave 011 010 *** 110 1½½ 211 2½1 1½0 201 211 23 9 4 So 0½½ 100 101 *** 1½1 1½½ 2½½ 2½½ 1½½ 2½½ 19½ 7 5 Ding Liren 1½½ 00½ 1½½ 1½0 *** 0½½ 200 211 11½ 210 18½ 6 6 Wei Yi 0½0 1½0 000 1½½ 2½½ *** 10½ 1½0 11½ 211 16½ 5 =7 Nepomniachtchi 0½½ 0½0 0½0 0½½ 011 11½ *** 10½ 1½1 211 15½ 3½ =7 Karjakin 000 1½½ 1½1 0½½ 000 1½1 11½ *** 101 111 15½ 3½ 9 Topalov 100 0½0 010 1½½ 10½ 10½ 1½0 110 *** 00½ 11½ 2 10 Amin 0½0 21½ 000 0½½ 001 000 000 100 21½ *** 10½ 1

Tournament director: Graham Jurgensen. Chief arbiter: Laurent Freyd. (2)

Official site: https://grandchesstour.org/2019-gra...
Chess-Results: http://www.chess-results.info/tnr43...
Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/mag...
ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/cote-...
Chess24: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...
TWIC: http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews...

Next GCT event 2019: GCT Croatia (2019)

 page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 135  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Carlsen vs So 1-0402019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)D35 Queen's Gambit Declined
2. Nakamura vs Vachier-Lagrave 1-0522019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B23 Sicilian, Closed
3. B Amin vs Ding Liren  0-1772019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
4. Karjakin vs Nepomniachtchi ½-½302019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B98 Sicilian, Najdorf
5. Topalov vs Wei Yi  ½-½332019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C42 Petrov Defense
6. Vachier-Lagrave vs Ding Liren  ½-½362019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)A07 King's Indian Attack
7. Nakamura vs Karjakin  ½-½1032019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
8. Nepomniachtchi vs Carlsen 0-1472019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B32 Sicilian
9. Wei Yi vs B Amin 1-0352019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)E00 Queen's Pawn Game
10. So vs Topalov  ½-½452019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
11. Carlsen vs Nakamura ½-½322019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)A18 English, Mikenas-Carls
12. Karjakin vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½372019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B90 Sicilian, Najdorf
13. B Amin vs So 0-1452019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack
14. Topalov vs Nepomniachtchi  ½-½422019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C55 Two Knights Defense
15. Ding Liren vs Wei Yi 0-1682019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)D85 Grunfeld
16. Vachier-Lagrave vs Wei Yi 1-0432019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C42 Petrov Defense
17. Karjakin vs Carlsen 0-1352019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B30 Sicilian
18. Nakamura vs Topalov 1-0442019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)A06 Reti Opening
19. So vs Ding Liren  ½-½372019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
20. Nepomniachtchi vs B Amin 1-0322019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)C78 Ruy Lopez
21. Carlsen vs Vachier-Lagrave 1-0422019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)B90 Sicilian, Najdorf
22. B Amin vs Nakamura 1-0852019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)A07 King's Indian Attack
23. Wei Yi vs So  ½-½582019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3
24. Topalov vs Karjakin  ½-½302019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation
25. Ding Liren vs Nepomniachtchi 1-0512019Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz)D70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
 page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 135  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 12 OF 12 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-15-19  Sokrates: <HeMateMe: "A sucker is born every minute..." P.T. Barnum.> - The similar saying in my country is: "The last idiot is yet to be born". :-)
May-15-19  john barleycorn: <Sokrates: ... The similar saying in my country is: "The last idiot is yet to be born". :-)>

Well, <HeMateMe> is the "last of the Moronicans". <Smørrebrød>, <Smørrebrød>, ram pam pam.

May-15-19  BOSTER: <AylerKupp>:<75%>. Kelly Criterion( a probability theory used by investors and gamblers) can give 94,8% Win Rate. It is human nature to want to be right. But in loss pos we have admit we were wrong with calculations.
May-15-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<MrMelad> Thanks for the reference, I suppose you think it interests me because it references tensorflow. Is that right?>

Yes, that's right. And, frankly, I didn't even look at the article. Not because I wasn't interested but because I'm currently very busy doing other things. But I did download it and when I get a breather I'll teak a look at it, for curiosity if nothing else, but also hoping that I will learn something. After all, stranger things have happened.

May-15-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<Pedro Fernandez> By the way, Alydar defeated Affirmed in the Champagne Stakes, one out of the most important Gr.1 race for yearlings.>

Yes, Affirmed and Alydar competed against each other 10 times, and in each of those races one or the other horse finished first and the other one finished second. No doubt as to who were the two best horses in those races! That's one reason why the rivalry was so memorable, probably the best one in horse racing.

Of those 10 races Affirmed won 7 and Alydar won 3, with one of the Alydar victories due to a disqualification of Affirmed, who had finished first. But, to make it simpler and not to lose <Sokrates>, I decided to limit myself to the Triple Crown races.

Here is a nice article summarizing their 10 meetings: https://www.americasbestracing.net/.... And here is a quote from the article which summarizes the difference between the two horses, both winners:

"As inseparable as the two horses might have been, there was one quality that best explains why Affirmed was able to prevail in 70 percent of the clashes.

Alydar oozed class, a strapping homebred from one of the sport’s most famous farms who had a devastating knockout punch – when he could deliver it. Affirmed, on the other hand, was more of a street fighter <whose will to win was unrivaled>. [Something that I think Fischer, Kasparov, and Carlsen have in common, and a necessary quality of a champion, even though sometimes it is taken to extremes]

There were nine times in Affirmed’s 29 career starts where his margin of victory or defeat was less than a length. He won all of them.

Alydar, meanwhile, was involved in seven races where he won or lost by less than a length. He lost all seven of them.

“I think Affirmed had a little edge over everybody,” said Cauthen, a 1994 Hall of Fame inductee who turned 56 on May 1. “He was a winner. He loved to win, he loved to fight. He was like that guy in a bar looking for a fight. He loved racing and he loved to fight horses off.

“Yet I have to hand it to Alydar. He never quit. He kept coming back, even in the Belmont. You can understand a horse giving up when he couldn’t get past a horse like Affirmed, but he never quit. That’s why I admired both horses.”

Since this will probably be my last post on this subject, I wanted to take the opportunity to mention Alberto Juantorena, probably the best Cuban runner of all time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alber...). He was best in the world at the middle distances for several years, and is the only runner to win both the 400m and the 800m races in the same Olympics, 1n 1976.

Why am I mentioning this? His nickname was "El Caballo". :-)

May-16-19  Sokrates: Please, dear Chessgames,

What kind of score table is this? According to the official counting of points (rapid x 2, blitz x 1), it looks like this:

Carlsen: 26.5
Nakamura + MVL: 23
So: 19.5

... and so forth. That's why Naka & MVL shared the 2nd price. No?

May-16-19  john barleycorn: <Sokrates: ... it looks like this:

Carlsen: 26.5
Nakamura + MVL: 23
So: 19.5 ...>

So, it is Wethley, the thirth and not the fourth.

May-16-19  Sokrates: Sorry for my lack of precision. Naka and MVL didn't share the price money - they both got $ 22,500 but in the official score they shared 2nd place, while So, of course, is no. 4 and certainly not 3.
May-16-19  john barleycorn: <Sokrates: Sorry for my lack of precision. Naka and MVL didn't share the price money - they both got $ 22,500 but in the official score they shared 2nd place, while So, of course, is no. 4 and certainly not 3.>

Well, I do not get this either.

May-16-19  Sokrates: Yes, you do and so do I. It's not a conundrum, unless you want to pretend it is. :-|
May-16-19  john barleycorn: <Sokrates> kindly, explain what you wrote :

<Naka and MVL didn't share the price money - they both got $ 22,500 but in the official score they shared 2nd place>

what language is this? Danglish?

May-16-19  Sokrates: No Mr. <john barleycorn>, insult me like this and you're ignored.
May-16-19  john barleycorn: <sokrates> you are not much of the man your screen name implies. anyway, ignore me.I will survive.
May-16-19  wordfunph: Sokrates - john barleycorn

1/2

May-16-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <wordfunph>
<Sokrates - john barleycorn 1/2> After a series of only 8 posts? Will <not not> give them some clever nicknames like "Drawkrates" and "drawn barleycorn"?
May-17-19  wordfunph: <beatgiant>

after 8 boring moves of a Ruy Lopez - Ignore Variation..

they shook hands, signed their scoresheets, and went to a nearby bar.

May-17-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: ***

Anyone else like me think this Rapid and Blitz Grand Chess Tour is a farce.

About 20% of the 135 games have a no comment. This main thread contains little about the tournament. The history pf South Africa, Football, Horses, how to cook paella and Socrates and Sloop (J.B.) falling out over a point of grammar.

This clip shows you how seriously the players are taking this Grand Tour event.

https://clips.twitch.tv/CreativeTen...

***

May-17-19  technical win: The dogs bark, but the caravan passes.
May-17-19  diceman: <AylerKupp:

Humans (but not computers, at least not yet) seem to like to bet on almost anything.>

Wanna bet?

May-17-19  diceman: <Sally Simpson: ***

Anyone else like me think this Rapid and Blitz Grand Chess Tour is a farce.>

I'm starting to think top chess is a farce.

May-17-19  john barleycorn: <diceman: ...

I'm starting to think top chess is a farce.>

going the way wrestling, football (soccer), or other sports were taking.

May-17-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<BOSTER> Kelly Criterion (a probability theory used by investors and gamblers) can give 94,8% Win Rate.>

Thanks for the info. I was completely unaware of the Kelly Criterion. Not surprising since I don't do any direct investing but instead rely on fund managers to determine which stocks and bonds to buy and how much to buy of any one stock or bond. But it didn't surprise me that someone would have tried to formulate an optimum strategy for maximizing your return when making a series of bets. Maybe my only surprise is that it took as long as 1956 for someone to publish a paper (which I have yet to read) that describes a way to do that.

But from perusing the information I was able to quickly find, it seems that the Kelly Criterion is exactly that, optimizing your series of bets (or investments, which amounts to the same thing) to maximize your expected gains. So it really has nothing to do with what I was trying to achieve, i.e. correctly predicting the outcome of a series of games, one game at a time. I had naively assumed that any gains I might make would depend solely on the predicted results being correct 75% of the time (if I were able to achieve that goal) without considering the effect that changing odds on a game-by-game basis would have.

And I don't see anywhere in the papers that I glanced over or the admittedly superficial research that I did that addressed a win rate, not what that win rate would mean in the context of the Kelly Criterion. What does a 94.8% Win Rate (or any other Win Rate) mean? It don't think that it means that you are correct on 94.8% of your choices.

May-17-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<john barleycorn> So, it is Wethley, the thirth and not the fourth.>

FWIW the official Grand Chess Tour Cote d’Ivoire (Rapid & Blitz) (2019) sit (https://grandchesstour.org/2019-gra...) lists the following as the top 4 finishers and their prize money:

1 Magnus Carlsen, $ 37,500
T-2 Hikaru Nakamura, $ 22,500
T-2 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, $ 22,500
4 Wesley So, $ 15,000

I would have thought that it would be more correct to indicate that Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave tied for 2nd/3rd place rather than just 2nd place since they split the combined 2nd place prize ($ 25,000) and 3rd place prize ($ 20,000) but that's just a quibble on my part.

May-18-19  john barleycorn: < What does a 94.8% Win Rate (or any other Win Rate) mean? >

a 5,2% loss rate? Chances as in American Roulette.

Aug-02-19  frogbert: <Magnus Carlsen won with 26.5/27>

Nah. 26.5 out of a possible 36.

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