10 Dec '09 15:06>
Is it just me, or is Carlson defeating the top GM's in the World without an opening repertoire? Don't get me wrong, Carlson has deployed many openings over the years with great success. He has obviously studied this phase of the game but recently he seems to have thrown away the book to a certain extent. Take his recent game against Kramnik in London for example...
White makes no real effort to gain an advantage in the opening. his is not the first time i have noticed this with his game. He used the same aproach at the last two Surper GM tournaments. What is he playing at? Is he saving his best lines for the next World championship cycle?
More to the point, what does this say about his strength? In the above game, white has zero advantage after 12 moves (according to an engine that is). It amazes me that at 18(!!) he displays such an immense confidence in his middle/end game technique. 'Normally' these phases lend themselves to experience. When i look at his play i find myself thinking of Capablanca and Petrosian far more than i think of Kasparov (wit his trade mark complications) or say Fischer/Tal. I think we're seeing the rise of a new aproach to chess in general. How can it be that a player can enter so many equal positions yet score so many wins?? As far as i can see, Anand/Topalov is almost irrelevant, this kid is going to beat the winner and hog the limelight for a decade at least!
White makes no real effort to gain an advantage in the opening. his is not the first time i have noticed this with his game. He used the same aproach at the last two Surper GM tournaments. What is he playing at? Is he saving his best lines for the next World championship cycle?
More to the point, what does this say about his strength? In the above game, white has zero advantage after 12 moves (according to an engine that is). It amazes me that at 18(!!) he displays such an immense confidence in his middle/end game technique. 'Normally' these phases lend themselves to experience. When i look at his play i find myself thinking of Capablanca and Petrosian far more than i think of Kasparov (wit his trade mark complications) or say Fischer/Tal. I think we're seeing the rise of a new aproach to chess in general. How can it be that a player can enter so many equal positions yet score so many wins?? As far as i can see, Anand/Topalov is almost irrelevant, this kid is going to beat the winner and hog the limelight for a decade at least!