[SideView]

FIDE is officially becoming a joke, the rule which were meant to bend (jeans??) are not where as rule that are meant not be (agreed draw??), are bend for whims and fancies of a player (or two)


For context for others: We have co-champions in world blitz.
When the rule clearly states that we should play on until we have one clear winner.

[Dr.AD]

A very interesting tournament is happening in Goa, and thanks to ChessBase India for covering it nicely. Sometimes, it is a lot more fun following these IM and GM games, which are more "human-like" and understandable than the abstract SuperGM games.

In Round 2, Viresh Sharnarthi (2084) defeated IM Ameya Audi (2422) with Black pieces, in a very smooth and fluid game. Saw this game covered in the ChessBase India Report: https://www.chessbase.in/news/3rd-Go...und-2-3-report

Let me copy a snippet from that report to show the critical position in that game and the fantastic play by Viresh starting with 20. ... Rxc4!


(Source: Chessbase.in report with the link given above)

Very nice play by Viresh! 20. ... Rxc4! was such a nice move to find there. And the follow-up was so beautiful. It looked like a GM game after that. Fantastic game with a nice mix of positional and tactical ideas.

[Dr.AD]

I love watching GM Daniel King's videos (one of the best chess trainers/commentators in my view), and recently, while watching one of his videos, stumbled upon this beautiful composition first published in 1902.

Composition by Eduard Mazel, 1902

White to Play and Mate in 2 (Mazel, 1902)

The solution is not difficult. It is more elegant than difficult, in Mazel's usual style. Think about this before reading the solution below. Should be easy to see with just a little bit of thought.

Hide the solution below and enjoy the composition first before reading the solution :-)

__________________________________________________ ______________


Solution: 1. Rc8!! (various mates on move 2 are obvious now). Beautiful symmetry, in true style of Eduard Mazel.

[Dr.AD]

Exciting games in Wijk aan See, in Tata Steel Chess, 2025, Round 1

The 1st round of Tata Steel Chess had a couple of exciting games.

While Gukesh's first game since becoming World Champion was of course the most anticipated and closely followed game, the game that turned out to be a real gem and highlight of Round 1, was Harikrishna's win over Arjun Erigaisi. I think this was the first major tournament for Arjun since he climbed to 2800, and this game was also highly anticipated as his first game at 2800 level (at least at this top SuperGM level).

The pressure of expectation was probably too high on Arjun with that ultra elite 2800 club tag. But it was Harikrishna who played the most beautiful game from White side and totally outplayed Arjun.

I have not yet seen any expert analysis of this game, so I could be wrong in my assessment, but I think this was one of the bets games Hari played from White side. Very smooth, elegant, fluid, elegant, classical, and absolutely error-free game from Harikrishna to beat the 2800 giant!

This is the final position after Harikrishna played 63. h5 and Arjun resigned:


Harikrishna's game was a lesson in how to handle two rooks against queen, and he completely outplayed his 2800 opponent by using the imbalances in position and material type, with more or less equal material quantity through the most parts of the game. Brilliant game and I as a fan loved it.

Just see the evaluation plot below to see how beautifully White played, to slowly increase his advantage over the course of the game, without any blunders from his opponent, and with overall accuracy of 97%:


In contrast, Gukesh's win over Anish Giri was again full of messy positions and major blunders from both sides, reminiscent of the World Championships games recently. Lot of these blunders came in time trouble, but even then, the game was well below the usual quality of both these players even in time trouble. This is the kind of play that Kramnik is going to hate the most

After a couple of very inaccurate moves (which computers call a blunder) each, the players arrived at this position where Gukesh made yet another blunder, 33. h3:


Better was 33. Rxf2 Qxf2 34. Rg1, which defends and holds the position well.

In contrast, 33. h3 is a losing move (it is another story that Anish Giri made his own blunders and did not win this). The reason is the next sequence: 33. ... Be4 34. Rxf2 Nxf2 35. Kg1.

And now we reach this below position, where Black can simply plan 35. ... Ng4 and there is zero defense for White. 35. ... Ng4 wins on the spot!

35. ... Ng4 wins on the spot, but Giri missed this:


But here, instead of the winning move Ng4, Anish made his own blunder of 35. ... Qb6 then after 36. Qf6+ Qxf6 37.exf6 white is winning and won the game.

A game full of mistakes, and this can be seen in the evaluation plot below, which is extremely unusual at this level:


You can see the crazy ups and downs in the eval plot, associated with the blunders from both the players. Gukesh's accuracy of 87% is well below his own level (usually at that level accuracies are around 95% if not more), but what is even more shocking is Anish Giri's accuracy of 68%, which us unheard of at the SuperGM level.

These are just my thoughts without seeing any expert analysis yet. Have to check the usual GM analysis reports to understand what the GMs think of these games.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

These are just my thoughts without seeing any expert analysis yet. Have to check the usual GM analysis reports to understand what the GMs think of these games.

Now I read a few GM analysis reports on Round 1, and those confirm my thoughts above. Harikrishna indeed played a perfect game! And about Gukesh's game, looks like the players were in some super serious time trouble when those crazy blunders were made.

A very good analysis and report is on chess.com, and GM Rafael Leitao giving his detailed analysis of the Gukesh-Giri game: https://www.chess.com/news/view/2025...-chess-round-1

Gukesh had arrived just a few hours before the event started. As quoted in the above report, "I just landed in Amsterdam at 9 a.m. and played around 2 p.m., so it was a new experience, but it went well!" —Gukesh Dommaraju.

However, showing amazing fighting spirit, Gukesh did not go for an easy draw in Round 1 (what everyone expected given his hectic schedules and a long tournament ahead), but instead played a very aggressive game.

Turns out that the key moment of the game was earlier, when Gukesh played 14. Bh4, knowing fully well that his Bishop gets trapped with 14. ... g5. He decided to sac his piece for a very attacking and risky game, and this attitude to fight it out in spite of having arrived late is the main strength of Gukesh! Kudos to him for his risk taking appetite and the fighting spirit.

This screenshot of the analysis and comments on chess.com summarizes this well:


As they say, fortune favors the brave, and Gukesh got his rewards for being brave.

The report above also shows how serious the time trouble was. Gukesh played 33. h3? (the main blunder of the game from his side - the move that was losing the game for him) with only 7 seconds to spare! And in response, Giri found the correct continuation, 33. ... Be4, with only 3 seconds to spare! Giri actually played very well till his 35th move, in spite of the time trouble, and was clearly winning! And then he blew it all away with a big mistake on the 35th move.

Very exciting game for sure. These modern players play extremely risky and bold games, and that is the best news for the spectators and fans. Can not wait to see Round 2 tonight!

[Capri89]

The 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky is no more.

R.I.P.

Appending here a link that makes for a riveting read.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/bori...ses-away-at-88