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Tomi Nyback vs Wesley So
Corus Group B (2010), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 10, Jan-27
Slav Defense: Quiet Variation (D11)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jan-28-10  zanshin: I hope this game score is complete. As I posted at Wesley So, if the position is final, it suggests a premature resignation:


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[-0.71] d=22 47.Rxg4 fxg4 48.Rg3 Rf7 49.Qh4 Qe7 50.Rxg4 Qxh4 51.Rxh4 Rb7 52.Rg4 Kf7 53.Kh2 Kf6 (1:35.12) 853401kN (Rybka 3)

Jan-28-10  visayanbraindoctor: While watching this, I could not help but feel that the highly tactical Nyback was trying a coffee-house/ barbershop attack on So. He nearly succeeded.

Next game to watch in Wijk group B is the crucial So vs Giri.

Jan-28-10  zanshin: It seems that the Corus server outage spared Wesley So fans from some nerve-wracking moments. Nyback should have won this game.

White to play move 32:


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[+5.70] d=14 32.Nh5 (0:05.26) 45216kN
[+5.01] d=13 32.Nh5 gxh5 33.Qg5 Kf8 34.Qh6 Kg8 35.Rd3 Bc2 36.Qg5 Kf8 37.Qxh5 e6 38.Qh6 Ke8 39.Rf3 Qe7 40.Nxf7 Nc7 41.Ne5 Rxd4 42.Qh5 Bg6 43.Nxg6 hxg6 44.Qh8 Kd7 45.Qxd4 Nd5 46.Qxa4 Re8 47.Qg4 (0:00.22) 2516kN

The dramatic Knight check played by Nyback appears to be sound and leads to a >+5.0 advantage for him.

Jan-28-10  zanshin: Nyback's problem seems to be that he missed the continuation <37.Rg3!>. Here's Rybka comparison against the move actually played: <37.Rf3>.

White to play move 37:


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[+4.83] d=15 37.Rg3 Qc7 38.Qh6 Ke8 39.Rg8 Ke7 40.Qg5 Nf6 41.Rg7 Rf8 42.Ng4 Kd8 43.Rxe6 fxe6 44.Nxf6 h6 45.Rxc7 Rxc7 46.Qe5 Kc8 47.Qxe6 Kb7 48.Ne8 Bb3 49.Nd6 Ka8 50.Qxh6 Rg8 51.h5 Bd5 52.g3 (0:09.48) 91897kN

[+0.00] d=15 37.Rf3 f6 38.Rg3 Rc7 39.Qh6 Rg7 40.Nxc6 Re8 41.Nb4 Bb3 42.Nxd5 Bxd5 43.Qxf6 Kg8 44.Ree3 Rf8 45.Qe5 Rff7 46.Rxg7 Rxg7 47.Rg3 Rxg3 48.Qxg3 Kf7 49.Qf4 Ke8 50.Qe5 Kf7 (0:10.30) 98654kN

There is some speculation that the game score ending on move 46 is incomplete. I have also read that White may have resigned prematurely due to time pressure. I find this hard to accept because the players just made the time control.

If the analysis presented here is accurate, then there may be another reason for Nyback's somewhat premature resignation: frustration. He knew he should have won. After he lost his winning advantage, and So gained a slight one, Nyback simply resigned. Hopefully, this will be cleared up soon.

Jan-28-10  Libispusher: Some thoughts of intrigue after black’s 23…Qb7!?
Is he taunting white to launch a kingside assault or is he merely bluffing?

Black: “Go ahead and wreck my fortress, I shall meet you on the seventh rank.”

White: “There really isn’t much to his queenside threat, or is there? Where do I go from here?”

Also, why would white decide to forego with the pawn capture (plus check) on his 43rd?

Jan-28-10  visayanbraindoctor: Nyback is a fine attacking player. He actually managed to KO Carlsen in the 2008 Olympiad with a sound piece sacrifice that Carlsen seemed to have completely missed. T Nyback vs Carlsen, 2008

Nyback found the proper continuation there. In this case, he did not.

So, in terms of experience, is at where Carlsen was perhaps 6 or 7 years ago. As far back as 2005, Carlsen had already qualified as a Candidate, just 1 tier below the World Champion. He again made it to Candidates in the next cycle, and will soon play his third Candidates soon. So has just started to play in tough European tournaments last year. Assuming that Carlsen is already near his chess plateau, it should take So at least 5 years to catch up in terms of international chess experience. If the above argument is correct, that Carlsen is already nearing the limits of his inherent chess abilities given to him by his natural talent, this means that we can expect Calsen to improve just a bit more, but not by such a huge amount as he did in the past 6 years. So, however, still has a large leeway for improvement, and this will come with more experience.

In a match between them now, Carlsen in all probability will have no difficulty in beating So. But this will change in the next 5 years.

There are young and very talented chessplayers today who are in the same boat as So - they all lack international tournament experience - such as Giri and Nakamura. Age of first top international tournament experience counts more than absolute age for any chess player below 30 years of age IMO. 5 years from now, when Nakamura, Giri, So, and perhaps some other relatively inexperienced but highly talented youngster gains the necessary international experience, then and only then can they give Carlsen a tough fight; and it will be a tough fight even for such a monster chess talent as Carlsen.

In terms of style, So actually resembles Carlsen - very tough positionally. Naka and Giri are more tactically-oriented.

Jan-28-10  visayanbraindoctor: How does So fare in comparison to his predecessors? Naturally, many Filipino chess fans would instantly hail him as the most talented player and certain future World Champion implicitly or directly; they have been doing so all the time even here in CG.com. Let me give a dissenting opinion. Among World Champions, I do not think GM So is as talented as Anand, Kramnik, Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Alekhine, Capablanca, or Lasker. Numerous arguments can spin off from this statement, but in brief, without bringing up all the basis for such a proposal, this is my firm opinion.

On the other hand, there have been World Champions, compared to which I think So is more talented. Again, a lot of people will disagree with me but IMO, So is more talented than Euwe and Botvinnik (to mention just two; and already I am expecting a lot of flak). How did Euwe and Botvinnik become World Champions? By study, study, study! In brief, IMO GM So (I prefer to call him that rather than go on calling him Wesley in recognizance of the dignity of his chess title) has the potential to become World Champion. He can't do it the Capablanca way; but he can do it the Euwe-Botvinnik way. He can do it the Alekhine way when Alekhine was faced with the chess colossus that played with nearly errorless computer-like precision that was Capablanca. He can do it the Euwe way, when Euwe was faced with possibly the most naturally gifted chess attacker of all time that was Alekhine. He can do it the Botvinnik way, faced with his equals or perhaps betters in talent such as Keres, Bronstein, Smyslov, and Tal. By study, study, study! What is lacking in raw talent can be made up for by diligence, motivation, and drive.

Jan-28-10  visayanbraindoctor: In closing here is a very inspirational narration by Peter Romanovsky on how Alekhine, faced with someone whom he knew was more talented than he was, steeled himself for a shot at the World Title:

"During December, 1913 - January, 1914 Alekhine divided 1st-2nd places with Nimzovich in the Russian Masters tournament and they were both admitted into the grandmaster tournament with the participation of Lasker, Capablanca, Tarrasch, Janowsky Rubinstein, Marshall and others

In this difficult event Alekhine achieved a fine result, taking third prize after Lasker and Capablanca. All of Alekhine’s games were full of the exciting moments and sharp experiences. At the end of last round, I approached Alekhine and congratulated him. Alekhine's eyes began to shine. “Thank you”, - he said, - “but, you know, I only consider this success as one more step forward”. “How do you evaluate Lasker's victory?” - I asked. “I am not satisfied”, - he answered. –“I would have preferred Capablanca”.

"On a bright July day in 1914 the express train from Switzerland smoothly approached the Mannheim station. Soon, at the door of one of 1st class cars, Alekhine appeared. We firmly shook each other’s hand. Besides me, some other Russian chessplayers and representatives of the organizing committee of the congress of the German Chess Union in Mannheim came to meet him. Alekhine was taciturn, complaining of fatigue and, knowing that the first round would begin in a few hours, he hastened to reach the hotel in order to get a little rest before the game.

A curious history preceded Alekhine's arrival. For a long time he did not answer the organizing committee’s invitation to take part in the tournament and, finally, three days prior to the beginning of the event he sent a telegram with approximately the following content:

«Please inform me, is Capablanca participating in the tournament?» The organizing committee was extremely discouraged by this telegram. It very much would have liked to have Alekhine participate in the tournament, but the majority of members of committee believed that Alekhine was searching for meetings with Capablanca and that without participation of the latter, the tournament would hold little interest for Alekhine. Though it had almost already become clear that Capablanca would not take part in the tournament, the organizing committee gave Alekhine an evasive answer, as though there were still some chances of Capablanca's participation.

Having come for Alekhine to go to the tournament together, I could not resist myself and asked him what had provoked his telegram, to this he answered:

“If Capablanca would have participated, then I would not have played. The fact of the matter is that in the coming years I must prepare for my match with Capablanca for the world’s championship. For this purpose I must take only first prizes. Right now I am still weaker than Capablanca, and, this means, that in the event of his participation I must be content, at best, with second place which does not enter at all into my calculations”.

“But Lasker is the world champion right now”, - I noted. “This is unimportant”, - he answered, -“soon it will be Capablanca”.

And so, even then the twenty-two year old Alekhine cherished the dream of gaining the world championship and had outlined a plan of his own making in order to turn his dream into reality.

In the Mannheim tournament Alekhine won game after game in splendid style. He showed me his games against Duras, Breyer, and Mieses, making brief comments on the course of the struggle. I was amazed at the insight with which he guessed the ideas of his opponents."

"The war broke out. The Russian chessplayers were arrested, they stayed approximately a month in a prison in the fortress at Rashtatt and finally they were sent to Baden- Baden, where we were permitted to live privately by our own means. Almost all of us were put up in the same hotel. I lived on the second floor, -Alekhine on the third.

There Alekhine began work on a collection of the games of the All-Russian tournament of Masters of 1913-1914. He drew me into this work, and almost all evening long I spent in analysis.

I was amazed at his diligence and capacity for work. On any one analysis he was capable of spending several evenings. In analysis Alekhine was very objective. There was one case, when after a multi-hour analysis we arrived at the conclusion that the position had finally been exhausted, and he wrote out an extensive commentary on several pages.

Late in the evening I left to go to sleep. At 4 A.M. a telephone call awoke me. I raised the receiver. "Come to me immediately ", I heard Alexander Alexandrovich’s voice.

Entering Alekhine’s room, I found him behind the chessboard. It was the position that we had "drawn". "We did not notice the move b7-b6”, announced Alekhine, “which refutes everything. Let us take a look at it". And we took up the analysis again, sitting throughout the morning and the entire following day, since Alekhine turned out to be right."

Jan-28-10  visayanbraindoctor: Alekhine had a work ethic that drove him to study and analyze even just a single chess game up to 4 in the wee hours of the morning! From all accounts, he seemed to have had that work ethic throughout his chess career, constantly carrying a pocket chess board with him and analyzing games even in hotel lobbies and night clubs! Before I get bashed, let me also say that Alekhine had the talent to simultaneously play two dozen chess games without sight of board and men as though he could see every piece in every game, and remember all the games with accurate photographic vision, which made him the greatest blindfold chess master of all time. But this would not be enough to beat a computer, or the human who played closest to a computer's errorless precision play; and Alekhine knew that. He was ascending the human Mt Everest of the chess world of his era. And yet he did so successfully! In 1927, when practically every master was saying he would get blasted off the board, Alekhine beat Capablanca.

I am of course not saying that GM So literally spend his days studying and analyzing up to 4 o'clock in the morning every day of his life; or make it a point to go to hotel lobbies and night clubs, and analyze chess games there with a pocket chess board. The story above is merely inspirational, and shows that hard work, diligence, motivation, and drive can conquer even the highest peaks.

Jan-28-10  evlozare: nice posts, sir <visayanbraindoctor>.
Jan-28-10  MartinII: <<zanshin> The dramatic Knight check played by Nyback appears to be sound>

There's something strange in this game. I think you know what I mean

Jan-28-10  MartinII: <<zanshin> The dramatic Knight check played by Nyback appears to be sound>

something strange on this game. but i'll comment after the tourn

Jan-28-10  MarvinTsai: Thanks zanshin. It's indeed difficult to make deep and correct decision in move 37 and even worse is that being short of time is not a good excuse. White sensed it but could not grab it.
Jan-29-10  zanshin: <MartinII> You got me curious!

<MarvinTsai> I know what you're saying. Some people say that using time trouble as an excuse for making bad moves is like using being drunk as an excuse for bad driving. I don't go quite that far though ;-)

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