| Dec-11-10 | | drnooo: after the queens come off in a Krammnik middlegame the other guy can save his energy for the next game and just resign
Najdorf once said this: when Tal sacs a piece play on, he may sac another, when Spassky sacs a piece play on, he may blunder when Petrosian sacs a piece resign |
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| Dec-11-10 | | hellopolgar: simply a slaughter. |
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| Dec-11-10 | | BobCrisp: The way <Kramnik> was bossing the post-mortem (and not just because he won) reminded me of <Matthew Sadler>'s reason for retiring, viz., that the very top players had a seemingly innate positional understanding that he couldn't hope to emulate. |
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| Dec-11-10 | | Ulhumbrus: An alternative to 13...ed is 13..f5 undermining the d5 pawn and smashing White's centre, eg. 14 Bg5 fxe4 15 Bxd8 Qxd8 16 Ng5 exd5 |
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| Dec-12-10 | | The Rocket: I dont think he was bossing, Howell simply had not much to say.. |
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Dec-13-10
 | | Eyal: <An alternative to 13...ed is 13..f5 undermining the d5 pawn and smashing White's centre, eg. 14 Bg5 fxe4 15 Bxd8 Qxd8 16 Ng5 exd5> As it happens, Howell lost this year pretty much by force from the opening in a similar position (only with 13.Bf4 instead of Be3) after playing 13…f5 in A Giri vs D Howell, 2010. The tactics don’t work quite the same with the bishop on e3, but 14.Bc4! (as played by Giri) still seems to give White a clear advantage in such a case. 13.Be3 is unusual (though strictly speaking not a novelty, according to the databases), compared with the more standard Bf4. Kramnik said after the game that he’s not sure if objectively it’s such a big deal for White, but it did manage to surprise Howell, who defended quite well for most of the game against strong pressure, but towards the time control, in time trouble, spoiled in 2-3 inaccurate moves a position which was probably possible to hold. As Kramnik said, the position that arises after the series of simplifications ending with 36.Bxf3 would be an easy draw for Black if his bishop (whose placement causes trouble since move 23) was better placed – say, on d7 – but, as it is, it’s not so easy to decide how to defend. By move 39 or 40 it’s already lost for Black, and typically for the Grunfeld White wins the game by the power of the advancing d-pawn. Note the neat tactical execution at the end – 41.Re8+! pushes the black king away from the pawn (41…Kd6 42.Re6+ wins the bishop) into a square where it also blocks the possibility of a Rf4-d4 maneuver, and then 42.Be6 prevents Black from stopping d6 with …Rf6. |
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| Dec-13-10 | | The5thBeatle: In other words, f5 is not good at all for black. The computer refutes it easily, so ULHUMBRUS IS INCORRECT in suggesting that as a sound alternative. The5thBeatle |
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Dec-14-10
 | | tpstar: Nice picture!
Great to see so many chess fans in the audience. |
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Apr-11-11
 | | Penguincw: 34.? could a Tuesday or Wednesday puzzle.
click for larger view |
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| May-04-11 | | Ulhumbrus: <As it happens, Howell lost this year pretty much by force from the opening in a similar position (only with 13.Bf4 instead of Be3) after playing 13…f5 in A Giri vs D Howell, 2010. The tactics don’t work quite the same with the bishop on e3, but 14.Bc4! (as played by Giri) still seems to give White a clear advantage in such a case> On 13...f5 14 Bc4 White threatens 15 dxe6 followed by 16 e7+ and 17 e7-e8(Q)+. However 14...b5! displaces White's King's Bishop before doing anything else. |
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Nov-30-11
| | Penguincw: That ♗ on a6 is out of play. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 34.Rxg7+