| Jul-18-14 | | 1d410: MVL does have a nice method of play. |
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| Jul-18-14 | | zoren: Anyone have any insight into 11.Re2? They made a fuss over it in the interview and it is way over my head. |
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Jul-18-14
 | | perfidious: <zoren: Anyone have any insight into 11.Re2? They made a fuss over it in the interview and it is way over my head.> You aren't the only one--don't see what is so special about it either. |
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| Jul-18-14 | | Marmot PFL: What I don't get is why black played d4 and b4 when he has a black sq bishop. |
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| Jul-18-14 | | ralph46: i did not see the interview but Re2 blocks in both bishop and queen. Giris downfall according to my understanding was his inability to find a decent plan to place his knight well he lost lots of time shuffling it back and forth without an aim |
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| Jul-18-14 | | jphamlore: It's as if this variation of the Berlin Ruy Lopez is what MVL needs to send back in time to Kasparov back when Kasparov was butting his head against a wall in his World Championship match versus Kramnik. Queens NOT exchanged early, White gets the bishop pair not Black -- it's hard to see a better outcome for White out of the opening. It also seems to me the ending of Q+B+B versus Q+B+N was going to always go badly for Black with advanced kingside pawns since his King isn't even safe, allowing all sorts of tactics as the one that finished the game. |
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| Jul-19-14 | | Ulhumbrus: 15 Nxc8 gains the bishop pair and a permanent advantage. This suggests 9...c6 instead of 9...Ne8 |
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| Jul-20-14 | | 1d410: <zoren> What I admire in MVL's play here is that there are actually no truly "special" moves, rather, each move fits together into a grand tapestry of originality. |
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| Jul-20-14 | | Strelets: <1d410> A very Karpovian game. Vachier-Lagrave's queen patiently maneuvers on the a-file, gets to the center with forks and pins, and is then finally traded off to create a passed e-pawn that costs Black his knight. One is reminded not only of Karpov but of Fischer, particularly his ferocious skill in minor piece endgames. |
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| Nov-14-16 | | Lovuschka: Possibly a predecessor to today's 10. Re2 in the world championship game 3, according to the commentator team. MVL originally made a misclick when playing against the Magnus app while trying to play 11.Re1, then analysed the move and used it against Giri here. |
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| Nov-15-16 | | Gilmoy: <Lovuschka: MVL originally made a misclick when playing against the Magnus app while trying to play 11.Re1, then analysed the move and used it against Giri here.> Brilliant!! The accidental TN! <11.Re2> looks odd because it "blocks" both B and Q. But this matters only if White intends Bc4-Q(f3/h5) or similar. Given White's long-term plan of Bg2 regardless, "blocking" the f1-a6 diagonal is not really a minus. (IIRC, Rxe5-Re2 is a viable defense vs. Marshall Attack, where White also plans g3-Qf1, so it's not completely novel.) One small plus of Re2 is to maintain the threat of Qe1 owning e. Note that <9.Ne8 10.Bd6> self-blocks both e8 and d6, hence Black has already ceded both the usual Re8 challenge and the Bg4 pin threat. (Corollary: perhaps <11.Re2> is viable only in this case?) A second possible plus is that, even if Black did play Re8-Rxe2, White's recapture occurs on e2 instead of e1, and the extra Q mobility might be annoying enough to discourage Black from initiating that trade. Finally, Re2 counts as a free rook lift, with a distant threat of Qf1-Rae1 doubling (and White actually does do a permutation of it). If White had continued 11.Re1 and later played Re2, then Ulhumbrus <would> have written: <11.Re1 __.Re2 moves this rook twice. This suggests 11.Re2> :) |
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Kibitzing
