Oct-18-10
 | | Honza Cervenka: Pretty win in good old classical style by Aronian. |
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| Oct-18-10 | | parisattack: <Honza Cervenka: Pretty win in good old classical style by Aronian.> Indeed! I am very much beginning to appreciate his play. I was a bit prejudiced for sometime because he is a ChessBase darling. But I think his understanding of the game is very deep - on par with Anand and Kramnik and a notch above Carlsen and Topalov. |
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| Oct-19-10 | | roni.chessman: <But I think his understanding of the game is very deep - on par with Anand and Kramnik and a notch above Carlsen and Topalov.> IMO, Carlsen belongs up there with Anand and Kramnik. Carlsen has repeatedly plastered Aronian with classical time controls, with white and black pieces in the last 3 encounters. Carlsen at age 18, beat Kramnik with black pieces using prophylactic play that Kramnik is unbeatable at. His knowledge of both attack and positional chess is ridiculous for his age. Carlsen's recent shortcomings are but a demonstration of adolescent transition, and booming fame. Even Waitzkin and Fischer had their issues at 18/19 years of age. You don't get "lucky" to cross the 2800 barrier. You know how to use your skills to your advantage. Just imagine if Carlsen trained as hard as Topalov (and Carlsen admittedly says he can't stand hyper-disciplined training) or Fischer. No modelling, no soccer, no blogging at all. |
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| Oct-19-10 | | onur87: After move 23, please look at the horses beauty! Very aesthetic! |
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| Oct-19-10 | | Ulhumbrus: 23...Nf4!! creates simultaneously two threats.
The more obvious threat is 24..Nxg2! offering a Knight but also drawing White's King on to the long diagonal after 25 Kxg2 so that the capture 25...Nxc3+ discovers a check on to White's King from Black's Queen on the long diagonal. The less obvious threat is to displace the N on c3 (which prevents the check ...Ne2+ which forks the K on g1 and the R on c1) by the pawn advances ...a5 and ...b4 and thereafter to play the check ...Ne2+ forking White's K on g1 and the R on c1. |
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| Oct-19-10 | | parisattack: <roni.chessman:> I agree on Carlsen that he is currently just consolidating his gains, going some higher...wrote such on the Adams game he lost recently. But I still think there is no substitute for experience and in terms of depth Kramnik and Anand still have it over him right now. |
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| Oct-19-10 | | morphy2010: roni.chessman: <But I think his understanding of the game is very deep - on par with Anand and Kramnik and a notch above Carlsen and Topalov.>
IMO, Carlsen belongs up there with Anand and Kramnik. Carlsen has repeatedly plastered Aronian with classical time controls, with white and black pieces in the last 3 encounters. Carlsen at age 18, beat Kramnik with black pieces using prophylactic play that Kramnik is unbeatable at. His knowledge of both attack and positional chess is ridiculous for his age. |
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| Oct-19-10 | | hedgeh0g: I always consider Aronian to be probably the most "dangerous" player out there, meaning he is always capable of crushing anyone at any time regardless of playing strength. He can play squeezing positional chess or crushing miniatures, depending on what the position demands. A somewhat underrated player, in my opinion. |
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| Oct-20-10 | | roni.chessman: <But I still think there is no substitute for experience and in terms of depth Kramnik and Anand still have it over him right now.> Definitely. Kramnik may be the best demonstration of how a superb positional chess player can repeatedly whip you just with experience. Your argument about Carlsen's current condition is fair. That game against Adams baffles me. He treated Adams like an IM or a regular chess master. |
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| Oct-20-10 | | roni.chessman: <I always consider Aronian to be probably the most "dangerous" player out there, meaning he is always capable of crushing anyone at any time regardless of playing strength.> I have come to appreciate Aronian's eccentric choice of clothing and relaxed personality. Perhaps the first superGM that you can attribute the term "cool" with. Simply put, he's a versatile player. If you could read the story behind Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian's classically-time-controlled-turned blitz game during the Olympiad, you can't deny the man has talent. He even had time to snack at move 17 or so! |
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| Oct-20-10 | | LivBlockade: 
click for larger viewPosition after 26. axb4 axb4
Black is not yet threatening to play bxc3 because his Queen is unprotected, but he is threatening 27... Nc5 (attacking White's Queen and defending Black's) followed by 28... bxc3. |
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| Sep-06-15 | | Kaapo: I think white quite lost his possibilities on move 17. Nd4? A better alternative would have been 17. b4! with possible continuation Bb6 18. a4 bxa4 19. Qb2 a3 20. Qxa3 Ne6 21. b5 axb5 22. Nxb5 Rxc1 23. Qxc1. The position could still have been saved on move 18 replacing Bf3 by Qd3 which could have prevented black's decisive breakthrough 20. ..d4. |
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Kibitzing
