A blog dedicated to gaming, especially sci-fi gaming.

Any other chess fanatics around here following the world championship?

I'm rooting for Anand but was sorry to see he lost his first game:

[Event "Sofia BUL, WCC2010"]
[Site "Sofia BUL"]
[Date "2010.04.24"]
[Round "1.22"]
[White "Topalov, V."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D87"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2010.04.24"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "BUL"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.
Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4
h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7 24. Nxf6 Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+
Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0

 

Anand's 23...Kf7 was the fatal blunder (23...Bd7 is better to get the a8 Rook into action).   I blame the 40 hour road trip it took Anand to get to Sofia (because of the volcanic air delays). 

Here's hoping Anand can recover tomorrow!

 

 


Comments
on Apr 25, 2010

chess.....   i love it. but my rank is pretty lame, im only 1490

on Apr 25, 2010

Vampothika
chess.....   i love it. but my rank is pretty lame, im only 1490

 

Cut yourself some slack!  1490 isn't lame.  490 is lame...but not 1490.    A few more games and you'll probably be over 1500. 

Is that an OTB rating or a CC rating?

on Apr 25, 2010

I'm no good at chess. I have a higher IQ than Fisher, however, I also have the attention span of a gnat...

on Apr 25, 2010

I have a higher IQ than Fisher
All of us do since Fischer is dead

on Apr 25, 2010

I was a chess fanatic when I was in high school.  Gathered a library of about 20 books on chess, joined the USCF, won a couple of high school tournaments in the Boston area.  Hurried back from my summer job to watch Fischer-Spassky on the Boston PBS channel.  Got my rating up to about 1620 or so.  After college got a job, married, and haven't played a rated game since.  Still a USCF member, though, and I do try to follow the news about major tournaments.

on Apr 25, 2010

I find Chess to be my favorite go-to game because it is the perfect game if you don't have a lot of time.   I primarily play correspondence chess with a 10-14 day per move time control.  I rarely (if ever) actually take that many days to make a move, but it is nice to have that time cushion for when things get busy.  CC is great because there never is any pressure to "get in a turn."

If somebody is interested in getting back into chess, I recommend Chess.com.  It has free and pay accounts and offers the most comprehensive chess experience currently on the web (news, blogs, correspondence chess, real time chess, 960 chess, Chess TV, and on and on and on).  If anybody wants to play some correspondence chess over there (again, 10-14 day TC), just let me know.  If there is enough interest, I could even organize a tourney (how about an Elemental tourney? ?  With a 10-14 day TC, the tourney should finish just in time for the game's release! ). 

 

BTW:  Anand won today's game!  Woot!  Woot!    Score: 1-1

 

You can see a video replay here:

Part 1

Part 2

on Apr 25, 2010

otb i dont like cc chess

on Apr 25, 2010

Fuzzy Logic
I'm no good at chess. I have a higher IQ than Fisher, however, I also have the attention span of a gnat...

  Do try to avoid windshields, Fuzzy...I'd hate for that to be the last thing to go thru such a fine mind....

 

Ausvet
I have a higher IQ than Fisher

All of us do since Fischer is dead

I'm trying to hold my comments in check, mate.  

 

on Apr 26, 2010

I'm trying to hold my comments in check, mate.

 

hilarious

on Apr 26, 2010

I refuse to be your pawn

on Apr 28, 2010

The match resumed today, with a draw. 

 

[Event "Sofia BUL, WCC 2010 game_3"]
[Site "Sofia BUL"]
[Date "2010.04.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Topalov, V."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2010.04.24"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "12"]
[EventCountry "BTN"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6
9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14. Rc1 Rg8
15. h4 h6 16. Ke2 Bd6 17. h5 Bh7 18. a5 Ke7 19. Na4 f6 20. b4 Rgc8 21. Bc5 Bxc5
22. bxc5 Rc7 23. Nb6 Rd8 24. Nxd7 Rdxd7 25. Bd3 Bg8 26. c6 Rd6 27. cxb7 Rxb7
28. Rc3 Bf7 29. Ke3 Be8 30. g4 e5 31. Rhc1 Bd7 32. Rc5 Bb5 33. Bxb5 axb5 34.
Rb1 b4 35. Rb3 Ra6 36. Kd3 Rba7 37. Rxb4 Rxa5 38. Rxa5 Rxa5 39. Rb7+ Kf8 40.
Ke2 Ra2+ 41. Ke3 Ra3+ 42. Kf2 Ra2+ 43. Ke3 Ra3+ 44. Kf2 Ra2+ 45. Ke3 Ra3+ 46.
Kf2 1/2-1/2

Score: Anand 1.5 Topalov 1.5 

 

I just realized that this is a twelve game match expected to go through may 11th!  There's a long way to go yet!