Apr-22-25 Grenke Freestyle Open (2025) 
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| Jamboree: I just don't understand the popularity of "Freestyle" when there is a similar but vastly superior variant available, which for some reason hasn't been widely adopted. The rules are incredibly simple: Both players start with all their pawns in the normal starting positions on the ... |
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Mar-20-25 J van Foreest vs D Yuffa, 2025
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| Jamboree: For almost the entire game I couldn't even visualize how white could possibly lose, until 36. f3??? falls face first into a 1-move cheapo, losing a piece and the game. Almost any other 36th move draws at a minimum, with good winning chances for white in nearly every line. ... |
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Jan-03-25 World Blitz Championship (2024)
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| Jamboree: I regard Wesley So as the current World Blitz Chess Champion. Why?
Carlsen and Nepo unquestionably broke the tournament rules, and so were both disqualified, whether or not the arbiter enforced it at the time. That leaves the other semifinalists as the two remaining ... |
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Dec-29-24 World Rapid Championship (Women) (2024)
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| Jamboree: I'm glad for Humpy -- she deserves to have a World Championship title in her career record. There was a time between about 10 and 15 years ago when she was the strongest woman player, but she was constantly thwarted from ever getting the classical World Championship title by ... |
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Apr-20-24 World Championship Candidates (2024)
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| Jamboree: boz: <Pragg still has a mathematical chance> Actually -- no, he doesn't. He's already been eliminated. The reason for this is that, even though he's only 1.5 points behind the leaders with 2 rounds to go, there will be two games amongst the leaders in those final two rounds ... |
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Apr-11-24 V S Gujrathi vs Firouzja, 2024
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| Jamboree: Look at black's embarrassing queen moves in the first half of the game: 6....Qb6
8....Qd8
12....Qb6
13....Qxf2
15....Qb6
16....Qd8
37% of his first 16 moves were queen moves -- and after all that it ended up back at its starting square! And he moved to b6 three different |
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Apr-11-24 R Praggnanandhaa vs N Abasov, 2024
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| Jamboree: If this was the only game of chess you had ever seen, you'd assume that knights are worth at least double or triple what bishops are worth. Especially after 41. Ra5!, black is paralyzed because after any exchange of rooks the knight simply OWNS the bishop and totally dominates the ... |
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Apr-04-24 Caruana vs Nakamura, 2024
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| Jamboree: In the Women's Candidates I'm kinda rooting for Humpy Koneru, because she just barely missed becoming world champion FIVE times, each time missing the crown by an inch. (In this way, she's sort of the female Korchnoi.) She just had the unfortunate bad luck of coming to prominence ... |
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Nov-26-23 Giri vs Duda, 2023
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| Jamboree: <BxChess: I rig a dud: Duda-Giri> In my opinion, THAT is the best possible palindrome for this game, as it perfectly describes what happened. Bravo! |
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Nov-22-23 Beloslava Krasteva
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| Jamboree: Her bio needs to be updated -- she's now a Women's Grandmaster. She has also blossomed into the most beautiful player currently on the FIDE circuit -- absolutely stunning. She's not well-known outside of Bulgaria, but if she had a stronger online presence she'd be a star. |
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Kibitzing
