Zurich Chess Challenge

Guenther · Post by **Guenther** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 12:30 pm

Tomorrow starts the strongest Human Chess Tournament ever in Zurich!
Official site: http://www.zurich-cc.com/

Participants:

Carlsen (first tournament after the WCC title)
Aronian
Nakamura
Caruana
Gelfand
Anand

Guenther

Guenther · Post by **Guenther** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:14 pm

Incredible what happened here in round 3, when Nakamura was completely winning against the new WCC Carlsen:
(Game is still running and now Nakamura has to fight for a draw, probably losing though!)

[pgn]
[Event "Zurich"]
[Site "CAPPUCCINO"]
[Date "2014.02.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nakamura"]
[Black "Carlsen"]
[Result "*"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 e5 8.
d5 Bc5 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Nf3 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nbd7 13. O-O-O Bd4 14.
Ne2 c5 15. g4 a5 16. Kb1 Ra6 17. Ng3 g6 18. h4 a4 19. Rh2 Qa5 20. Bd2 Qc7
21. g5 Ne8 22. h5 Rb6 23. Bc1 Rb3 24. Qg4 Nb6 25. Be2 Nd6 26. Rdh1 Bxb2 27.
Bxb2 Nbxc4 28. Bxc4 Nxc4 29. hxg6 Qb6 30. g7 Rd8 31. Qh4 Rxb2+ 32. Ka1 Rxh2
33. Rxh2 Qg6 34. Nf5 Re8 35. Qg4 Qb6 36. Qh3 Qg6 37. d6?? Nxd6 38. Nxd6 Rd8
39. Nc4 Qxe4 40. Qh5 Rd3
*
[/pgn]

tttony · Post by **tttony** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:50 pm

Yes, it was a winning position for Nakamura but in the end the time killed him

Martin Thoresen · Post by **Martin Thoresen** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 10:36 pm

He had plenty of time when pushing 37.d6

M ANSARI · Post by **M ANSARI** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:05 am

d6 seemed to all humans watching like a winning move that the position needed ... but it turns out to be a total blunder and engines and Carlsen saw that. You have to give credit to Carlsen that he created a defense that needed perfect play to win. There were several easy wins for Naka but he chose one line (out of many) that seemed the most forceful but unfortunately turned out to be the wrong line. Carslen obviously saw a lot more in the position than Naka, and in the post mortem he mentioned 39. Nc8! instead of Nc4 as being the only way for white to keep some advantage. That was also the move that commentators saw with engines running but all agreed was too "computery" for a human to see. Naka was so shocked at seeing how things turned around that he was still probably looking for the nuclear bomb that was simply not there any more. You really have to feel for Naka as he played a brilliant game and took many risks to get his winning advantage ... chess can be a real bitch sometimes!

What was most interesting watching the games was a comment that Leko made with regards to engines. He mentioned that if a player is allowed to look at computer analysis of only one move a game at a time of his choosing ... his ELO strength would jump more than 150 ELO points. Of course he meant the very top players like Anand, Kramnik, Carlsen, Aronian etc.... I thought that was very interesting.

notyetagm · Post by **notyetagm** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:16 pm

M ANSARI wrote:d6 seemed to all humans watching like a winning move that the position needed ... but it turns out to be a total blunder and engines and Carlsen saw that. You have to give credit to Carlsen that he created a defense that needed perfect play to win. There were several easy wins for Naka but he chose one line (out of many) that seemed the most forceful but unfortunately turned out to be the wrong line. Carslen obviously saw a lot more in the position than Naka, and in the post mortem he mentioned 39. Nc8! instead of Nc4 as being the only way for white to keep some advantage. That was also the move that commentators saw with engines running but all agreed was too "computery" for a human to see. Naka was so shocked at seeing how things turned around that he was still probably looking for the nuclear bomb that was simply not there any more. You really have to feel for Naka as he played a brilliant game and took many risks to get his winning advantage ... chess can be a real bitch sometimes!

Damn, Carlsen is incredible(!). He actually saw the idea 39 Nd6-c8! as being slightly better for White and being White's best move in the position.

AdminX · Post by **AdminX** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:28 pm

M ANSARI wrote:d6 seemed to all humans watching like a winning move that the position needed ... but it turns out to be a total blunder and engines and Carlsen saw that. You have to give credit to Carlsen that he created a defense that needed perfect play to win. There were several easy wins for Naka but he chose one line (out of many) that seemed the most forceful but unfortunately turned out to be the wrong line. Carslen obviously saw a lot more in the position than Naka, and in the post mortem he mentioned 39. Nc8! instead of Nc4 as being the only way for white to keep some advantage. That was also the move that commentators saw with engines running but all agreed was too "computery" for a human to see. Naka was so shocked at seeing how things turned around that he was still probably looking for the nuclear bomb that was simply not there any more. You really have to feel for Naka as he played a brilliant game and took many risks to get his winning advantage ... chess can be a real bitch sometimes!

What was most interesting watching the games was a comment that Leko made with regards to engines. He mentioned that if a player is allowed to look at computer analysis of only one move a game at a time of his choosing ... his ELO strength would jump more than 150 ELO points. Of course he meant the very top players like Anand, Kramnik, Carlsen, Aronian etc.... I thought that was very interesting.

Agreed, Magnus has magnificent insite. Magnanimous Carlsen!

Martin Thoresen · Post by **Martin Thoresen** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:36 pm

Yes and what a great game against Caruana yesterday!

Guenther · Post by **Guenther** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:37 pm

M ANSARI wrote:d6 seemed to all humans watching like a winning move that the position needed ... but it turns out to be a total blunder and engines and Carlsen saw that. You have to give credit to Carlsen that he created a defense that needed perfect play to win. There were several easy wins for Naka but he chose one line (out of many) that seemed the most forceful but unfortunately turned out to be the wrong line. Carslen obviously saw a lot more in the position than Naka, and in the post mortem he mentioned 39. Nc8! instead of Nc4 as being the only way for white to keep some advantage. That was also the move that commentators saw with engines running but all agreed was too "computery" for a human to see. Naka was so shocked at seeing how things turned around that he was still probably looking for the nuclear bomb that was simply not there any more. You really have to feel for Naka as he played a brilliant game and took many risks to get his winning advantage ... chess can be a real bitch sometimes!

What was most interesting watching the games was a comment that Leko made with regards to engines. He mentioned that if a player is allowed to look at computer analysis of only one move a game at a time of his choosing ... his ELO strength would jump more than 150 ELO points. Of course he meant the very top players like Anand, Kramnik, Carlsen, Aronian etc.... I thought that was very interesting.

I must say I would have never played 36.d6 so short before the 40 moves time control, but the very forced 36.Nh6+ followed by 37.Qd7, which seems so natural and Human to me and I am quite convinced I would have figured the win thinking from there, even as a mere 2000+ player. (He had still around 15 minutes here IIRC)
I really wonder why this 'simple move' was not suggested in the comments?

Guenther

notyetagm · Post by **notyetagm** » Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:55 pm

Martin Thoresen wrote:Yes and what a great game against Caruana yesterday!

Yes, Carlsen is a very worthy World Champion.

Zurich Chess Challenge

Zurich Chess Challenge

Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura

Re: Poor Nakamura