Wijk Aan Zee and a Blunder Quiz
By 27 Jan 16 on
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Some interesting things in this blog: a blunder quiz, and my part-way review of the Wijk Aan Zee tournament. (It’s called the Tata Steel now, I think, but that’s a rather boring name, so I’ll call it Wijk Aan Zee, which I am more used to.
Blunder Quiz:
Try to find the move that the grandmaster (or, in one case, computer) played to lose material or blunder checkmate. This should be fairly easy: a nice departure from the usual “mate in x” quizzes. Try it out.
To start with, a blunder from the 2016 Wijk Aan Zee: White to move.
White to move.
White to move.
Black to move.
White to move.
Black to move (! Computer!)
White to move.
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Wijk Aan Zee review at the midpoint (Masters):
There have been several exciting games at this tournament. So far, it’s been a fairly successful tournament, or at least, I would say so. Here are my favorite games so far, with loose notes:
Navara playing a nice attacking game against Caruana:
Hou Yifan returning the favor:
And the widely publicized marquee matchup between Wei Yi and Magnus Carlsen:
All in all, the Masters section, while being a bit dry at times, has also produced some wonderful fighting chess. A few less draws would be nice, but, while being draws, they have not been boring, for the large part. Many less Berlins than we have seen in the last few years, and the seamless integration of a few players who are sometimes overlooked (Liren, Eljanov, Navara) in comparison to their strength leads me to declare the tournament so far a success.
My predictions for the rest of the event:
Round ten: Karjakin–Adams 1-0, Giri–Carlsen 0-1, Yifan–Eljanov ½-½, So–Tomashevsky ½-½, Liren–Van Wely 1-0, Navara–Mamedyarov ½-½, and Caruana-Yi ½-½.
Round eleven: Yi–Karjakin ½-½, Mamedyarov-Caruana ½-½, Van Wely–Navara 0-1, Tomashevsky–Liren ½-½, Eljanov-So ½-½, Carlsen–Yifan 1-0, Adams–Giri ½-½.
Round twelve: Karjakin-Giri ½-½, Yifan–Adams ½-½, So–Carlsen ½-½, Liren–Eljanov 1-0, Navara–Tomashevsky ½-½, Caruana–Van Wely 1-0, Yi–Mamedyarov 1-0.
And round thirteen: Mamedyarov–Karjakin ½-½, Van Wely–Yi 1-0, Tomashevsky–Caruana ½-½, Eljanov–Navara 1-0, Carlsen–Liren ½-½, Adams–So 1-0, Giri–Yifan ½-½.
BROKEN NEWS:
A brilliant game was just played by Wei Yi against Navara.
Chess on!
–HikaruShindo
Blunder Quiz:
Try to find the move that the grandmaster (or, in one case, computer) played to lose material or blunder checkmate. This should be fairly easy: a nice departure from the usual “mate in x” quizzes. Try it out.
To start with, a blunder from the 2016 Wijk Aan Zee: White to move.
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov– GM Pavel Eljanov Tata Steel 2016
White to move.
GM Pal Benko– GM Fridik Olafsson Stockholm Interzonal 1962
White to move.
GM Magnus Carlsen– GM Merab Gagunashvili World Blitz Championship 2006
Black to move.
GM Peter Heine Nielsen– GM Sergey Karjakin Corus Chess Tournament B Group 2005
White to move.
Mikhail Chigorin– Wilhelm Steinitz World Championship Rematch 1892
Black to move (! Computer!)
Pablo Lafuente– Shredder(computer) Mercosur Cup 2005
White to move.
Nigel Short– Michal Krasenkow FIDE World Championship 2004
______________________________________________________________________________
Wijk Aan Zee review at the midpoint (Masters):
There have been several exciting games at this tournament. So far, it’s been a fairly successful tournament, or at least, I would say so. Here are my favorite games so far, with loose notes:
Navara playing a nice attacking game against Caruana:
David Navara–Fabiano Caruana Tata Steel 2016
Hou Yifan returning the favor:
Hou Yifan–David Navara Tata Steel 2016
And the widely publicized marquee matchup between Wei Yi and Magnus Carlsen:
Wei Yi–Magnus Carlsen Tata Steel 2016
All in all, the Masters section, while being a bit dry at times, has also produced some wonderful fighting chess. A few less draws would be nice, but, while being draws, they have not been boring, for the large part. Many less Berlins than we have seen in the last few years, and the seamless integration of a few players who are sometimes overlooked (Liren, Eljanov, Navara) in comparison to their strength leads me to declare the tournament so far a success.
My predictions for the rest of the event:
Round ten: Karjakin–Adams 1-0, Giri–Carlsen 0-1, Yifan–Eljanov ½-½, So–Tomashevsky ½-½, Liren–Van Wely 1-0, Navara–Mamedyarov ½-½, and Caruana-Yi ½-½.
Round eleven: Yi–Karjakin ½-½, Mamedyarov-Caruana ½-½, Van Wely–Navara 0-1, Tomashevsky–Liren ½-½, Eljanov-So ½-½, Carlsen–Yifan 1-0, Adams–Giri ½-½.
Round twelve: Karjakin-Giri ½-½, Yifan–Adams ½-½, So–Carlsen ½-½, Liren–Eljanov 1-0, Navara–Tomashevsky ½-½, Caruana–Van Wely 1-0, Yi–Mamedyarov 1-0.
And round thirteen: Mamedyarov–Karjakin ½-½, Van Wely–Yi 1-0, Tomashevsky–Caruana ½-½, Eljanov–Navara 1-0, Carlsen–Liren ½-½, Adams–So 1-0, Giri–Yifan ½-½.
BROKEN NEWS:
A brilliant game was just played by Wei Yi against Navara.
Wei Yi–David Navara Tata Steel 2016
Chess on!
–HikaruShindo
