Jan-25-23
 | | chancho: 57. Ke3 Kc2 58. Rc8+ Kb3 59. Rb8+ Kc3 60. Rc8+ Kb4 61. Rb8+ Rb5 |
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| Jan-25-23 | | lentil: so how does black win this? |
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Jan-25-23
 | | keypusher: <lentil: so how does black win this?> <chancho> showed how Black wins if the White king goes to the e-file -- the famous Lucena maneuver where the king comes out and is eventually sheltered by its rook. If 57.Kc3, the white king does the sheltering -- Black can play 57....Kc1 and queen the pawn. |
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| Jan-25-23 | | lentil: chancho posted while i was writing! but thanks! |
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| Jan-26-23 | | Ulhumbrus: If 21 Rd1 gives Black's queen's rook an important tempo to attack White's d pawn, an alternative is 21 0-0-0. |
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| Jan-26-23 | | goodevans: <Ulhumbrus: If 21 Rd1 gives Black's queen's rook an important tempo...> I disagree. I would say there was very little to choose between 21.Rd1 and 21.O-O-O. 
click for larger viewWhite is a pawn up but has weaknesses on b2, d4, f3 (or f2 if the N moves) and g4. Something has to give sooner or later and White's job is to decide what best to hold onto and what to let go. 21...Re8+ didn't gain a tempo as 22.Ne3 is fine for White. It supports the advance 23.d5 where the d-pawn is safer. Okay, it leaves the other Q-side pawns very naked but as I said, something had to give. 21.O-O-O would have shored up the Q-side better but would have amplified the weaknesses on the K-side. In the game White was able to play 25.Ke2 to defend the loose N on f3. I think Maghsoodloo handled this phase of the game about as well as he could despite being well down on the clock. He started to err with 27.Rd5, 28.Rf1 and 29.Rd3 when, as the SF annotations say, 27.Rh5 would have supported 28.Ne5 forcing the trade of minors giving White an equal game. |
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Jan-27-23
 | | fredthebear: Stockfish has been smoking the wacky tobaccy w/zstoner!
SF says that 2.e3 the Colle System is better than 2.c4!? <Notes by Stockfish 11 (minimum 6s/ply) 1...d5 2.c4 better is 2.e3 Nf6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nbd2 b6 5.Bb5+ c6 6.Bd3 c5 = +0.45 (35 ply)> |
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Jan-27-23
| | fredthebear: Do you think this means that Netflix will have a new television miniseries out? Perhaps starring a chess playing dog (collie)? |
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Jan-27-23
 | | ajk68: Wow! Magnus built a bridge. You don't see things get played out that far most of the time. What's really interesting is that he got his rook to the 4th rank (from black's perspective) on move 48. I wonder if he had already computed out that he needed the rook on that rank? Quite possible. People bag on Carlsen for lack of prep (especially opening). I really appreciate how he has brought back the endgame (and has studied it extensively). He occasionally slips up (I think he did just the other day if I remember correctly), but completely understands the winning idea and implements it. |
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Jan-28-23
| | fredthebear: IM Levy Rozman explains the action (first game of the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Y... There is a brief explanation of "building the bridge" at the end. Also note that Magnus does not place his rook behind his passed b-pawn as Tarrasch suggested, but kept his rook (49...Rc5) on the central file cutting off the opposing king from reaching the b1-promotion square. Control of the promotion square is essential to safe pawn promotion. |
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Mar-25-23
| | DaltriDiluvi: I was surprised to learn that <7...Bg4> has never been played before, at least according to the CG Opening Explorer. |
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Mar-25-23
 | | perfidious: At first glance, 7....Bg4 looks dodgy, but to paraphrase Larsen writing of Smyslov: <If Carlsen tried it, it is probably worth looking at sometime.> |
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Mar-28-23
 | | Clement Fraud: It will probably prove foolish of me to say... but surely the 'whole point' of the Exchange variation is that White keeps open the option of playing f2-f3 🤔 So why was it, therefore, that Maghsoodloo didn't play f2-f3 - the obvious choice - on move number eight????? |
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Mar-28-23
 | | beatgiant: <Clement Fraud> Is it true the f3 option is the whole point of the exchange variation? I always thought it was to release the central tension so White can target the queenside. Of course 8. f3 is perfectly playable, but if Black later plays ...c5 followed by pawn exchanges, White will get either a weakened pawn or a weakened square on e3 and might find the pawn on f3 not very desirable. |
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Mar-28-23
| | perfidious: <Clement....surely the 'whole point' of the Exchange variation is that White keeps open the option of playing f2-f3 🤔> That is a line, in conjunction with Nge2, but has never been as popular as the main variation with Nf3, 0-0 and a minority attack with b2-b4, the idea I played regularly for 25 years. |
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Mar-28-23
| | beatgiant: If White is out to "punish" 7...Bg4, the main try seems to be 8. Qb3 both hitting b7 and threatening Bxf6 winning the d5 pawn. The problem is b7 is a classic poison pawn, and Carlsen would surely have prepped it up. After 8. Qb3 Nbd7 9. Qxb7 Rb8 10. Qxa7 Rxb2, it looks to me like Black has enough activity for a pawn. |
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| Mar-29-23 | | SChesshevsky: <...surely the 'whole point' of the Exchange variation is White keeps open the option of playing f2-f3> Think the QGD exchange is a good opening vs. Magnus. Usually always going to be better. Maybe very slightly but still better. Plus there is lots of options. Minority attack, as perfidious mentions. Also 0-0-0 with attack on ...0-0-0. And various ideas with center attack with f2-f3. But best option often dependent on how black tries to get equality. A move eight f2-f3 might be overly committal too early. Think one one of the QGD exchange poorer options is to get into an early tactical skirmish with Carlsen. |
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Mar-29-23
| | beatgiant: <SChesshevsky> You make a good point. Instead of straining for tactics to punish the "dodgy looking" Bg4, just calmly play 9. Be2 and continue with the standard minority attack plan after completing kingside development. White should have the usual slight advantage. |
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