Tata steel Challengers and Masters 11-26 Jan.2020

[MichaelBaron]

Out of the opening, Anton's position against Grandelius is looking promising. Equal according to the engine though.

[Vlad]

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[Vlad]

Can you spot Anton on this photo?

[Adamski]

Can you spot Anton on this photo?

Third left from the polar bear?

[Vlad]

Third left from the polar bear?

Really??

[ER]

The only one who looks like a real football player, smiling third from the left (kids not counted) under the ZWART TECHNIEK sign! Is he now the tallest in the Smirnov family?

[Vlad]

Good job! That is him.

He is not really a soccer player, but pretty good runner. He came first for cross country in his school in year 12 (300 kids in each year) and qualified for the competition that is two levels above the school and one level below the state. He could easily be one of the best runners among 2600+ GMs.

Nope, not yet. He is still a few centimeters short.

[Frank]

Thanks Michael I appreciate when illustrative games are highlighted and downloaded .

Me too.

[Jesper Norgaard]

In round 8 of Tata Steel, Anand should have won against Caruana, but in the end lost. The final position is puzzling for me:

FEN Viewer

Why did Anand resign? I fail to see a clearcut plan to win the game. As a matter of fact I played it out against my Stockfish engine, and it failed to win. Is there something obvious I have overlooked? Black should play g5 in a few moves. If White wants to play g3 and h4, you play gxh4. If gxh4 Black plays Rxd7+ and Kxf7, or Kxe6 or Kxf7, in all cases we get an h-pawn that cannot win. If White answers gxh4 with g4 planning g5-g6, then after Rd8 g5 Rxd7+ Bxd7 Kxf7 Bf5 h3! he cannot maintain the g-pawn.

I think Anand resigned a drawn endgame!

[Kevin Bonham]

In round 8 of Tata Steel, Anand should have won against Caruana, but in the end lost. The final position is puzzling for me:

FEN Viewer

Why did Anand resign? I fail to see a clearcut plan to win the game. As a matter of fact I played it out against my Stockfish engine, and it failed to win. Is there something obvious I have overlooked? Black should play g5 in a few moves.

What if White prevents g5 by playing h4 first? Then the plan is g4 followed by g5 then h5.

[EDIT: Indeed it may well be that against 1...Rd8, 2.h4 is the only winning move.]

[Capablanca-Fan]

He is not really a soccer player, but pretty good runner. He came first for cross country in his school in year 12 (300 kids in each year) and qualified for the competition that is two levels above the school and one level below the state. He could easily be one of the best runners among 2600+ GMs.

He could be one of the best chess-players among competitive cross-country runners.

[Desmond]

Carlsen has recorded his first win, in round 8!

[Jesper Norgaard]

What if White prevents g5 by playing h4 first? Then the plan is g4 followed by g5 then h5.

[EDIT: Indeed it may well be that against 1...Rd8, 2.h4 is the only winning move.]

The biggest mystery is what my Stockfish was up to in the game I played against it from the position. Since I didn't save it, I'm unsure how we got to the h-pawn/wrong bishop endgame, but it cannot have been very bright from the machine. Playing around with Stockfish again, trying out different setups, I am beginning to realize why Anand had enough. Your idea with 2.h4 is certainly noteworthy, but not the only idea. A collection of ideas:

(1) Zugzwang combined with Bg6 or Bh5. For instance 1...Rd8 2.Bg4 g5 3.Bf5 Rf8 4.Bg6 Rd8 5.f8Q+ Rxf8 6.Be8 Rxe8 7.dxe8Q+ Kxe8 8.Kd6 Kf7 9.Ke5 and the pawn ending is winning with 2 pawns against one

(2) White can post bishop on c4 and king on c6, so Rd8 is no threat, and now push the pawns, for instance something like g5 and h4 and when the rook leaves d8, so Rxd7 is not an immediate threat, push h5, gxh5 g6 and now Rd8 g7 will not work

(3) Your plan starting with h4

I just wish Anand had played on a few moves to reveal how Caruana wanted to solve the issues - as a courtesy to the viewers.

[Metro]

Anton is now 3/8 and his Round 9 opponent is 15 y.o. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2635.He is from Tashkent,the capital city of Uzbekistan,Temur Kuybokarov's home city.

[Metro]

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Credit: Vysotsky (Wikimedia) & licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.