The crowd is in a frenzy, as we prepare for the final round. The leaderboard is hopelessly close. In Moves Ranker, <amw> <Switch> and <wordfunph> remain tied for the lead. In Bonus Ranker, <chessmoron> and <Count Hedgemore> are tied. In Moves+Bonus Ranker, <chessmoron> has a little bit of a lead over <WinKing>. And in #1 Ranker, <amw> leads by one pick over <Switch> and <word>.

Meanwhile, <lostemperor> apparently thinks you get bonus points if you make the same picks today as you did 2 years ago. Not to be outdone, <GE> plans to pick Svidler/Anand to draw this round. <Penguincw> is pleading with <WinKing> to find some more random points to add to his score. <chessmoron> is glaring at everyone. <juan31> is high on raw coffee beans. <Count Wedgemore> is hoping to call on his inner reserve of objectivity ability to make a strong move. <offramp> has incurred the wrath of Mamedyarov and Karjakin by conceding the tournament to Caruana already. They have resolved to fight hard to make sure his picks don't score points. <Fiona> is still cursing 11 picks in Bonus Ranker going over. <OhioChessFan> is hoping for a ridiculously lucky round like Ding needs to win, figuring that if he only hits 3 perfects and another first under, he might sneak his way to a gold. <Robin01> just hopes to avoid a Quadruple Clown.

The game has moved in a different direction to that which I had previously envisaged.

I would have played differently from move 34.

I think that White can still win but to be sure I would have had to have used end-game databases which is not allowed in the actual game.

Should I wait until the game is over before publishing my comments?

Cheers,

Of course, I would not have mentioned the possibility if my ideas had any relevance to the current position.

Cheers,

<Aronian-So, 1/2-1/2 in 17 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: []
2nd Under, 6 points: []
3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: [['Penguincw', '1/2-1/2', '19']]

2nd Over, 2 points: [['wordfunph', '1/2-1/2', '28']]

3rd Over, 1 point1: [['OhioChessFan', '1/2-1/2', '29']]

===

<Grischuk-Caruana, 0-1 in 69 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['Robin01', '0-1', '62']]
2nd Under, 6 points: []
3rd Under, 5 points: []
Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: []
3rd Over, 1 point1: []

===

<Karjakin-Ding, 1/2-1/2 in 45 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['WinKing', '1/2-1/2', '43']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['SwitchingQuylthulg', '1/2-1/2', '40']]

3rd Under, 5 points: [['juan31', '1/2-1/2', '39']]

Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['wordfunph', '1/2-1/2', '50']]

3rd Over, 1 point1: [['Fiona Macleod', '1/2-1/2', '56']]

===

<Kramnik-Mamedyarov, 1/2-1/2 in 54 moves.>

Exact, 10 points: []
Under, 7 points: [['wordfunph', '1/2-1/2', '50']]

2nd Under, 6 points: [['WinKing', '1/2-1/2', '47']]

3rd Under, 5 points: [['SwitchingQuylthulg', '1/2-1/2', '44']]

Over, 3 points: []
2nd Over, 2 points: [['Fiona Macleod', '1/2-1/2', '67']]

User: great

User: chess

User: games

User: ahead

Perfect # moves predictions for this round goes to:

NONE

Highest scores in the Bonus Ranker: 11 points: <SwitchingQuylthulg>

Results:

Moves Ranker - Through <FINAL Round>

Score, UserID, Over, Under, Exact

♔ 48, wordfunph, 1, 5, 1
♘ 45, WinKing, 0, 5, 1
♗ 41, alfamikewhiskey, 2, 5, 0
♗ 41, SwitchingQuylthulg, 1, 4, 1
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
35, Fiona Macleod, 0, 5, 0
28, lostemperor, 0, 4, 0
27, chessmoron, 1, 2, 1
27, Penguincw, 2, 3, 0
27, Robin01, 1, 2, 1
24, juan31, 0, 2, 1
20, Golden Executive, 2, 2, 0
20, OhioChessFan, 2, 2, 0
10, offramp, 1, 1, 0
7, Count Wedgemore, 0, 1, 0

===

Bonus Ranker - Through <FINAL Round>

Score, UserID, 3-Over, 2-Over, 3-Under, 2-Under

♔ 56, chessmoron, 1, 0, 5, 5
♔ 56, Count Wedgemore, 3, 7, 3, 4
♘ 44, WinKing, 3, 1, 3, 4
♘ 44, Penguincw, 3, 1, 3, 4
♗ 42, juan31, 2, 3, 2, 4
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
36, SwitchingQuylthulg, 3, 3, 3, 2
32, Fiona Macleod, 6, 7, 0, 2
31, alfamikewhiskey, 0, 1, 1, 4
26, OhioChessFan, 2, 1, 2, 2
25, lostemperor, 3, 2, 0, 3
21, wordfunph, 1, 4, 0, 2
17, Golden Executive, 0, 1, 3, 0
15, offramp, 2, 1, 1, 1
4, Robin01, 0, 2, 0, 0

===

Moves+Bonus Ranker - Through <FINAL Round>

Score, UserID

♔ 89, WinKing
♘ 83, chessmoron
♗ 77, SwitchingQuylthulg
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
72, alfamikewhiskey
71, Penguincw
69, wordfunph
67, Fiona Macleod
66, juan31
63, Count Wedgemore
53, lostemperor
46, OhioChessFan
37, Golden Executive
31, Robin01
25, offramp

===

Moves Ranker (# of 1st place UNDER/OVER) - Through <FINAL Round>

Score,UserID

♔♔ <wordfunph> Cand18:StdMvRnk(1) + 1stRanker(1t)

♔♘♘♘ <WinKing> Cand18:StdMvRnk(2) + BonusRnk(2t) + StdMv/Bonus(1) + 1stRanker(2t)

♔♘ <chessmoron> Cand18:BonusRnk(1t) + StdMv/Bonus(2)

♔♗ <alfamikewhiskey> Cand18:StdMvRnk(3t) + 1stRanker(1t)

♔ <Count Wedgemore> Cand18:BonusRnk(1t)

♘♗♗ <SwitchingQuylthulg> Cand18:StdMvRnk(3t) + StdMv/Bonus(3) + 1stRanker(2t)

♘♗ <Penguincw> Cand18:BonusRnk(2t) + 1stRanker(3t)

♗ <Fiona Macleod> Cand18:1stRanker(3t)

Great contest. Thanks to <chessmoron> for running this thing and <WinKing> for double checking. (that one point was the difference between a silver and bronze for me ;) ). Also thanks to <OhioChessFan> for providing colour commentary.