Wijk aan Zee

Originally posted by mtthw
That's right.

It's nice to see players trying something different. But in a two game match in a knock-out tournament? Probably not the best time.

LOL! While following that game live I remember thinking the exact same thing! Also cause i'm a big Sveshnikov fan and Teimour scored such excellent results with it.

Kramnik-Gelfand is also getting interesting, Gelfand is trying to sac. an exchange on c4 to let his white squared bishop become a monster.

Originally posted by sannevssr
King Loek is crashing through with Bg5 and a future exf5

Looks like Loek has bad Luck today... He messed up big time due to time trouble, or imaginary time trouble (it was move 41, he must have missed the fact that the time control was already reached). Now it looks like Magnus is winning. 😲

Originally posted by Nordlys
Looks like Loek has bad Luck today... He messed up big time due to time trouble, or imaginary time trouble (it was move 41, he must have missed the fact that the time control was already reached). Now it looks like Magnus is winning. 😲

I think the actual blunder occured before the 40th move, fritz says his position is going from +6 to -7 in one move with 39. Qe3

Originally posted by Nordlys
Looks like Loek has bad Luck today... He messed up big time due to time trouble, or imaginary time trouble (it was move 41, he must have missed the fact that the time control was already reached). Now it looks like Magnus is winning. 😲

the unlucky luke!

Originally posted by sannevssr
I think the actual blunder occured before the 40th move, fritz says his position is going from +6 to -7 in one move with 39. Qe3

Really? Someone posted an analysis by Rybka after Bad Loek's 39. move, and while Magnus' prospects were already much better at that point, Rybka still sees an advantage for white:

Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a MP 64-bit 4CPU:

1. +- (1.59): 39...Qxd5+ 40.Kg1 Bd4 41.Rh8+ Kxh8 42.Be5+ Qxe5 43.fxe5 Bxe3+ 44.Rxe3 Be6 45.c7 Kg7 46.Rc3
2. +- (4.39): 39...Nd3 40.Be5 Qxd5+ 41.Kg1 Nxe5 42.fxe5 Qxc6 43.e6 Bxe6 44.Rb6
3. +- (4.94): 39...Nd1 40.Qe7 Qxd5+ 41.Kg1 Qd4+ 42.Kf1 Bd3 43.Qh4+ Bh6 44.Be5 Bxe2+ 45.Ke1
4. +- (5.04): 39...Nc4 40.Qf2 Qxd5+ 41.Kg1 Qxc6 42.Qh4+ Bh6 43.Re7#
5. +- (7.59): 39...g5 40.Rexb2 gxf4 41.Bxf4 Qxd5+ 42.Kg1 Qd1+ 43.Kf2 Bd3 44.Re2

After move 40 the position was equal according to Rybka.

Originally posted by wormwood
the unlucky luke!

Carlsen deserved a bit of time control luck after blundering a dead draw in the last round. He looked really screwed for most of this game though.

Originally posted by Nordlys
Really? Someone posted an analysis by Rybka after Bad Loek's 39. move, and while Magnus' prospects were already much better at that point, Rybka still sees an advantage for white:

Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a MP 64-bit 4CPU:

1. +- (1.59): 39...Qxd5+ 40.Kg1 Bd4 41.Rh8+ Kxh8 42.Be5+ Qxe5 43.fxe5 Bxe3+ 44.Rxe3 Be6 45.c7 Kg7 46.Rc3
2. +- (4.39): 39...Nd3 40.B ...[text shortened]... xd5+ 42.Kg1 Qd1+ 43.Kf2 Bd3 44.Re2

After move 40 the position was equal according to Rybka.

sorry, you are right i didnt check it thoroughly.
King Loek is havng a very unfortunate tournament, he keeps getting juicy positions but fails to finish them.

Originally posted by mtthw
Ljubojevic looks like he's doing a pretty good job defending against the sacrifice so far.

Yes, indeed, a win for black!

24.Rc1 in carlsen - anand, looks like heavy punches are about to be thrown!

Originally posted by wormwood
24.Rc1 in carlsen - anand, looks like heavy punches are about to be thrown!

[fen]1r2rbk1/1p1n1ppp/p3b3/3NpNP1/P3P2Q/8/1Pq3BP/2R2R1K b - - 0 24[/fen]

Yes, and I think Anand is going to be on the receiving end of most of them!

Originally posted by Northern Lad
Yes, and I think Anand is going to be on the receiving end of most of them!

or not...

Looks like Carlsen ran out of time.

Originally posted by vipiu
or not...

Carlsen certainly landed most of the blows, but Anand defended very accurately! I think Carlsen got a bit carried away. 28.gxh6 looks a better bet, and the piece sac 30.Bxh5?! probably isn't correct. 33.Rxf5 Qxd5+ 34.Rhf3 was the last chance. I think black has to give up the queen for the rook then, when the material balance favours black, though it's still a bit unclear.

Short won again, he seems to be on a roll!

It took me several minutes to work out why Leko vs Kramnik ended in a draw. I thought Leko could run away from the queen checks, but if he does this he loses his queen for a rook, leaving him with a difficult two rooks vs queen ending.

The ending to Sargissian vs Hou was instructive. At move 42 I was trying to find the win for Hou that I felt must be there, but wasn't up to the job. Hou showed how it was done in with some very nice maneuvering, leaving White pinned and helpless at the end.

I have yet to look too deeply at today's games but I am very surprised that Black won almost all the games. What's going on, is White in zugzwang? I guess that towards the end, White players are trying so much for the win that they are overpressing.