Jun-06-25 Norway Chess (2025) 
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| unspiek: <Check It Out: ... [O] f course Magnus wins it all. That guy is so lucky.> As Lasker said about Botvinnik, at Moscow, 1935: 'He is lucky to be such an exceedingly strong player.' |
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May-26-25 M Kraemer vs Keymer, 2025
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| unspiek: <Twilight of the Idol> 24. f6 did look weird, after Black's King had just evacuated the premises. But if White didn't do that, all his King's cover could have evaporated as soon as Keymer wished. If you view 24. f6 as defensive, it looks less nonsensical. White's game took an ... |
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May-21-25 TePe Sigeman & Co (2025)
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| unspiek: In the first two rounds in this tournament, Vasyl Ivanchuk has averaged 105 moves per game. Is he being paid by the move, now? (That's a joke, son.) I hope he doesn't wear himself out; he's not as young as he once was. |
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May-20-25 Kotov vs Szabo, 1953
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| unspiek: <FM David H. Levin> This is one of my favourite games from that tournament; thanks for reminding me! |
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May-19-25 Spassky vs R Nezhmetdinov, 1959
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| unspiek: Once in a while, you see a good player play an obvious lemon. Here, Nezhmetdinov's 12. ... c5 qualifies for that label. It doesn't quite lose outright, but it gives up too much, in return for nothing. After Spassky's self-evident reply, Black spends the rest of the game suffering. ... |
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Apr-29-25 F Campins Machado vs Ivanchuk, 2025
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| unspiek: <offramp> Our learned friend's time trouble hypothesis seems likely. If 38. Rg2, instead, White isn't so badly off; Black has to force a perp or face terrible risks from that b pawn. Maybe Capablanca was right, the good player is usually lucky. |
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Apr-17-25 J A Gutierrez Bolado vs J Jensen, 2017
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| unspiek: <FSR> Why that try needed OTB testing baffles science! |
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Apr-17-25 G Thomas vs E Klein, 1946
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| unspiek: 21. Rf4 looks fractionally more efficient than 21. Bc2, as played, but Black doesn't wind up any deader. |
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Apr-12-25 Smyslov vs J Fridjonsson, 1974
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| unspiek: Julius seriously misjudged the Q-side situation when he played 20. ... a5. Before that, he'd had an arguably equal position. (Arguably, because in real life, White seems to win such positions more often than Black does.) After that twentieth move, Smyslov quickly showed that Black ... |
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Apr-11-25 L Schmid vs Smyslov, 1969
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| unspiek: Up to move 28, it was hard to imagine that a super-tough GM like Lothar Schmid could lose this game, even to Smyslov. Schmid's position was just a tiny bit uncomfortable at that point, but 28. Red1 was a lemon. One square further, with 28. Rec1, and he could have prevented some ... |
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Kibitzing
