Shirov, 5th win in a row

He's now 5 for 5 in this year's Corus. Now that's amazing! His game vs Van Wely showed guts even Kramnik doesn't have!

Amazing?

He's had Leko who didn't look too bright, Caruana who messed up an endgame with opposite Bishops, and three Dutchies (against whom the rest will score 3/3 too 😛)

Originally posted by heinzkat
Amazing?

He's had Leko who didn't look too bright, Caruana who messed up an endgame with opposite Bishops, and three Dutchies (against whom the rest will score 3/3 too 😛)

I love how his performance in such a tournament can be downgraded...

gotta love RHP.

Originally posted by Nowakowski
I love how his performance in such a tournament can be downgraded...

gotta love RHP.

This was the easier part of the tournament for him, OK Leko can be tough stuff but the rest... Smeets & Van Wely have collected 8 losses in rounds 2-5.

It's good but "amazing" is newsreporter-like exaggeration - this kind of stuff and winning streaks WILL happen when you organise competitions

Originally posted by heinzkat
This was the easier part of the tournament for him, OK Leko can be tough stuff but the rest... Smeets & Van Wely have collected 8 losses in rounds 2-5.

It's good but "amazing" is newsreporter-like exaggeration - this kind of stuff and winning streaks WILL happen when you organise competitions

True enough. Leko "can be tough"... I'd give him more than that.

As far as the winning streaks, your completely accurate.
Either way, it doesn't make the accomplishment any less admirable.

He's still playing chess in a tournament full of some of the highest competition; in no
way will any opponent be forgiving of a collapse of concentration.



-GIN

What I like about his play are the risks he takes and that they are paying off, it's nice to see chess is alive again at that level! It seems like the era of short draws we used to see is over!

Also, it's normal for anyone to make mistakes vs the style of play he uses. It's like taking away from every sacrificial Tal win. Tal teached Shirov for awhile actually 🙂


5 for 5 at the start of Corus is AMAZING. period 😉

Hi Max

"...era of short draws we used to see is over!..."

I hope so but fear not. It's been the bane of chess since the 60's.

5/5 at that level is brillo and yes any style that creates OTB problems for
their opponent is bound to have a fair rate of success.

I'm clutching now, but did Tal not say:

"I win the games but lose the analysis" or words to that effetct?

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Max

"...era of short draws we used to see is over!..."

I hope so but fear not. It's been the bane of chess since the 60's.

5/5 at that level is brillo and yes any style that creates OTB problems for
their opponent is bound to have a fair rate of success.

I'm clutching now, but did Tal not say:

"I win the games but lose the analysis" or words to that effetct?

i read that it was something to do with his style of play, perhaps like Moro his play is uncompromising and tends to lead to wins or losses, rather than draws. I think Moro or perhaps Ivanchuk has the least amount of draws per ratio of any grandmaster and therefore it is not surprising that they are popular players.

Originally posted by heinzkat
Amazing?

He's had Leko who didn't look too bright, Caruana who messed up an endgame with opposite Bishops, and three Dutchies (against whom the rest will score 3/3 too 😛)

didn't you say before the tournament that the dutchies will surprise everyone and win? 🙂

Originally posted by wormwood
didn't you say before the tournament that the dutchies will surprise everyone and win? 😠

I can't remember anything of that, must have been someone else

Originally posted by heinzkat
This was the easier part of the tournament for him, OK Leko can be tough stuff but the rest... Smeets & Van Wely have collected 8 losses in rounds 2-5.

It's good but "amazing" is newsreporter-like exaggeration - this kind of stuff and winning streaks WILL happen when you organise competitions

I don't think "amazing" is off, it's very much OK. The top guns (Carlsen, Kramnik & Anand) could only dream of pulling a whole 5 out of the lower guns like he did, and leko is hardly a lower gun, he just doesn't beat you that's all 🙂.

It's what you can only hope to do in a tournament: Beat the lower rated guys, and hold your own against the higher/equal rated guys, while stealing some occasional wins from them. It doesn't get any better than what Shirov did so far.

He needs some ego training though

Originally posted by heinzkat
He needs some ego training though

Why? The way he speaks so quietly and acts the cool/indifferent guy?

Originally posted by wormwood
didn't you say before the tournament that the dutchies will surprise everyone and win? 🙂

OK without joking I really thought Smeets would do better, I really don't know much about him but he performed well at the top board at the European team championships (for countries) and I remember a quote of his from last year's Corus "it's not like they [the super-GMs] play chess from a different planet"

Van Wely, it was to be expected he was up for a negative score, ...but four such rather sad losses in a row is pushing it.

Defending champion Karjakin seems to have a completely anonymous tournament so far by the way.......

Originally posted by heinzkat
OK without joking I really thought Smeets would do better, I really don't know much about him but he performed well at the top board at the European team championships (for countries) and I remember a quote of his from last year's Corus "it's not like they [the super-GMs] play chess from a different planet"

Van Wely, it was to be expected he was up for a ...[text shortened]... champion Karjakin seems to have a completely anonymous tournament so far by the way.......

karjakin and anand both... smeets & short were my bets for the tournament punchbags, so pretty much everything seems to go along the plan. shirov is really my only surprise so far. well I did expect more from caruana.