Corus 2011

[BB+]

Some clever traps from Carlsen-L'Ami:
8/3r4/4NbP1/R6p/6k1/8/2K3P1/2B2n2 w - - 3 63
63. g7+ Bxf7 64. Rg5+ Kh4. Not Rxg7, as then Kg3 after the Rook trade. And after 65. Nxg7 Ne3+ 66. Bxe3, White needs to be careful to avoid stalemate (one way seems to be: move the King to c6, then Rc5, and Rxe3 can met by a Knight fork... sometimes -- but if Black plays Rxe3 directly after Rd3+, then the way to go is Rxh5+ Kg3, Rh3+ Kxe3, and Nh5 or Kd5 wins -- told you it was tricky!).

EDIT: Well, Carlsen played most of that, but L'Ami uncorked 71...Kg4!? after Rxh5+, and now it's a (theoretical) draw after Carlsen's 72. Rh2, as the g-pawn will never move. Chess drama at its finest! [In any event, at worst MC gives up the g-pawn and plays RN vs R for 50 moves...].

[BB+]

Final result, 1-0 to MC. Blunder in the RN vs R part. Chess has become almost silly in the increments and long sessions.

[BB+]

One from the C Division:
[White "Nyzhnyk"][Black "Pruijssers"][Result "1-0"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. e3 Re8 9. a4 c6 10. a5 e4 11. Ng5 d5 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. f3 h6 14. Nh3 exf3 15. Qxf3 Nf8 16. Nf4 Bg4 17. Qf2 Ne4 18. Qc2 Rc8 19. Qb3 Ne6 20. Nfxd5 Nxd4 21. exd4 Bxd4+ 22. Kh1 Nf2+ 23. Rxf2 Bxf2 24. Bxh6 Rc6 25. Qb4 Bf5 26. Qf4 Re1+ 27. Rxe1 Bxe1 28. Bg5 f6 29. Nxf6+ Rxf6 30. Nd5 1-0What about Nxf7 on move 14?

[Gerold]

Final result, 1-0 to MC. Blunder in the RN vs R part. Chess has become almost silly in the increments and long sessions.

Very weak play in the final ending of the game. MC really got lucky on this one. 7 hour game is long for anyone.
This game should have been a draw.

Thanks for your postings.

Best,
Gerold.

[BB+]

Intensive action from the B Division in Round 6.[White "Navara"][Black "Ganguly"][Result "1-0"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3 d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. a5 Ba7 11. h3 Bb7 12. Be3 Nxe4 13. d5 Bxe3 14. dxc6 Nxf2 15. Qd5 Nxh3+ 16. Kh1 Qf6 17. cxb7 Nf4 18. Qc6+ Kd8 19. Nh2 Qg5 20. Na3 Ne2 21. Rf3 Ng3+ 22. Rxg3 Qxg3 23. Bxf7 Bf4 24. Nf3 Qg4 25. Nxb5 Qd7 26. Bd5 g5 27. Rf1 Rf8 28. Nxg5 Ke7 29. Ne6 Qxc6 30. Bxc6 Kxe6 31. Nxc7+ Ke7 32. Nxa6 Rbd8 33. b8=Q Rxb8 34. Nxb8 Rxb8 35. Rxf4 1-0Computers can find various errors of course, but the excitement is still there, starting around move 12. Division B saw 6-of-7 decisive games, Division A saw 4 Black wins: Carlsen, Nakamura, and Nepomniachtchi over the Dutch, and Kramnik beating Shirov:
[White "Shirov"][Black "Kramnik"][Result "0-1"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Nb6 9. Nc3 Bb7 10. Bd2 g6 11. Ne4 O-O-O 12. a4 Ba6 13. Qe3 Qxe5 14. Bc3 Bb4 15. Bxb4 Rhe8 16. f3 d5 17. a5 Nxc4 18. Qxa7 Qxb2 19. Qxa6+ Kd7 20. Rd1 Qxb4+ 21. Kf2 Rxe4 22. fxe4 Qc5+ 23. Ke1 Qb4+ 24. Kf2 Qc5+ 25. Ke1 Nb2 26. exd5 Qc3+ 27. Rd2 Qc1+ 28. Ke2 Re8+ 29. Kf3 Qxd2 30. Qxc6+ Kd8 31. Qf6+ Re7 32. Kg4 Nd1 33. Qh8+ Kd7 34. Bb5+ c6 35. Bxc6+ Kc7 36. d6+ Qxd6 37. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 38. Bf3 h5+ 39. Kg3 Qe1+ 40. Kh3 Qe6+ 41. Kh4 g5+ 42. Kxg5 Qg6+ 43. Kf4 f6 0-1

[Harvey Williamson]

Am heading to Wijk tomorrow for 2 days. Hopefully will be fun.

[Swaminathan]

Nakamura's performance is awesome. Does he have any sponsorship?

Why didn't he get a chance to play in top level tournaments in Europe? Is it because he wasn't "invited", and that there was some criteria he had needed to get that opportunity?

He's been the top bullet player in playchess, btw.

[Hood]

It is not known that he has sponsors, so probably no sponsors.

Europe is far from US, travel and house in EU are expensive.

He is very talented player reminds Alekhine and Fischer.

[bhandelman]

Looks like Naka just won the tournament, amazing performance. It feels very nice to have a top level US chess player again, here's hoping he continues to perform this well in the many super-GM tournaments he is likely to get invited to now.