| Legends of Chess (2020) |
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The Legends of Chess saw ten of the world's best players, including World Champion Carlsen and his predecessors Anand and Kramnik, compete online on the chess24 Playzone from 21 July to 4 August, with a rest day on 30 July. The 4th event in the $1 million Magnus Carlsen Tour, it had a $150,000 prize fund with $45,000 for 1st place. The winner would qualify for the $300,000 Grand Final in August. The event began with a single round robin of matches from 21-29 July, with the four best players qualifying for the final knockout. Each match consisted of four 15+10 Rapid games, with the winner earning 3 points, the loser 0. If the players tied 2:2 a single Armageddon game was played, where White had 5 minutes to Black's 4, with a draw counting as a win for Black. The Armageddon winner earned 2 points, the loser 1. No draws offers were allowed before move 40. All rounds and matches began at 16:00 CEST (server time 10:00 am). Tournament director: Sotiris Logothetis. Chief arbiter: Panagiotis Nikolopoulos. Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Giri and Svidler qualified for the semifinals: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1 Carlsen * 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 25
2 Nepomniachtchi 1 * 3 3 3 2 1 3 2 2 20
3 Giri 0 0 * 3 1 3 3 3 2 3 18
4 Svidler 0 0 0 * 2 3 3 0 3 3 14
5 Ivanchuk 1 0 2 1 * 3 0 3 2 1 13
6 Kramnik 0 1 0 0 0 * 2 3 3 3 12
7 Gelfand 0 2 0 0 3 1 * 3 0 2 11
8 Ding Liren 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 * 3 3 9
9 Anand 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 * 1 7
10 Leko 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 * 6
In the knockout phase each match consisted of up to three mini-matches, and the winner of two such would prevail. The mini-matches consisted of four 15 + 10 Rapid games, and if necessary two 5 + 3 Blitz tiebreak games, and if still necessary an Armageddon game where White had 5 minutes to Black's 4 while a draw counted as a win for Black. Magnus Carlsen won the event by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi 2-0 the final: Semifinals, 31 July - 2 August
Carlsen 1½1- -- - / 11½- -- - / ---- -- - 2
Svidler 0½0- -- - / 00½- -- - / ---- -- - 0 Final, 3-4 August
Carlsen 1½0½ 11 - / 11½- -- - 2
Nepo 0½1½ 00 - / 00½- -- - 0
Nepo ½11- -- - / ½10½ 10 0 / ½½½½ ½1 - 2
Giri ½00- -- - / ½01½ 01 1 / ½½½½ ½0 - 1
With this result, Carlsen took his third 1st place out of four possible in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The other player who won a tournament was Daniil Dubov. Carlsen and Dubov went to the Grand Final together with Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura, who were the best performing players not to win a tournament.
Official site: https://explore.chess24.com/tour/le...
Regulations: https://cdn.chess24.com/-IjAiGKDRiK...
Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/che...
ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/legen...
chess24 1: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...
chess24 2: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...
TWIC: https://theweekinchess.com/chessnew...
Wikipedia article: Legends of Chess
Previous Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour event: Chessable Masters (2020). Next: Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals (2020)
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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 11 OF 11 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| Aug-05-20 | | Pedro Fernandez: Again history repeats itself. A few days ago I wrote about the game where GM Anish Giri makes such a bad move that it is hard to believe that a player of his stature could make such a huge mistake. And it is that the immense pressure exerted by the lack of time, I doubted, incredulously, that such terms could be reached. I know that this matter has been discussed ad nauseam, but nevertheless it is not about the topic of "raining on wet", no!, and that irrefutable evidence of so absurd and ridiculous moves, due to the time factor, are being presented to think irrevocably, that such a factor is so decisive and preponderant, without respecting hierarchies. And it is that this time the victim was the proper world champion, again vs the same executioner. So I dare to write these lines where I simply want briefly to emphasize this unique subject, where the time factor exerts such great pressure, which generates or induces resolutions so degenerative and cognitive anomalies which, unfortunately, it really happen. So please, let´s see, briefly, an extract of this game. <''Legends'', Ian Nepomniachtchi 1-Magnus Carlsen 0, Round 2, 8/3/20, Sicilian Najdorf, 6.Rg1> I start from the position after white did play 15.Nf5: 
click for larger viewCarlsen responding 15...0-0?! (<strange carlsen didn´t play 15...Rxa1, putting away the white queen from the imminent danger that it represents on the kingside.>) 16.Rxa8! Bxa8 17.Rh4 g6
click for larger view18.Qg4! Nc5 19.Qh3
click for larger viewAnd now the aim of our thread. Everyone knows the sporadic thematic rook-sac that usually occurs in columns 'h' and 'f', but if time is running out, such discordant situations occur, where even the proper world champion himself cannot avoid. 19...h5?? (<by obvious reasons, 19...Bxg5! was so natural>) 20.Rxh5! gxh5 21.Qxh5 Ne6 1-0. 
click for larger view(<the obvious 22.g6 is too strong>.) Just 21 moves! |
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| Aug-05-20 | | metatron2: Carlsen is totally unplayable in rapid time controls. Apparently he can play in rapid time controls almost as good as he plays in standard time controls, while others just can't do that. They make much more mistakes and their position evaluation level is much lower in rapid time controls than their level in standard time controls. As a result there is no real competition when Carlsen is playing in a rapid tourney (or a rapid tie break), and hence there is no real interest in such events. Maybe Carlsen will start giving odds in rapids (time odds, pawn odds..), otherwise people will lose interest.. |
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| Aug-05-20 | | Keyser Soze: <metraton> Indeed. Is unbelievable. He won about 70 80% of the last rapid time control tourneys? Must be something like that. |
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Aug-05-20
 | | moronovich: I am afraid you are right <metatron2> . |
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| Aug-05-20 | | AdolfoAugusto: Anyone following the Leela Stockfish match? Please ask an administrator for a forum, in order to follow -and comment- those games. Maybe we can learn something new too...
After all, Magnus will be resting for a couple of days before doing short work of his new batch of opponents... |
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| Aug-06-20 | | Sokrates: <metatron2> While I fully agree with your observation/analysis on Carlsen's supremacy in the rapids, I disagree with your conclusion <... and hence there is no real interest in such events.>. Can this be substantiated? Has there been no interest in these online tournaments? And if not (which I doubt), who can tell whether it is caused by the online genre, the rapid format, or Carlsen's upper hand? In case no one can present statistics proving the lack of interest, I assume that those who sponsor the events count on some documented basis of interest. Personally, I don't mind watching Carlsen demonstrate what a great player he is. Some of his opponents were quite tough and many games balanced on the edge. Was it boring and uninteresting to watch the games of Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov when they were at the height of their careers and quite dominating, even if it was in the classics? That said, I think the 15 minutes format is too short - being neither a proper blitz nor a proper rapid. It has the advantage that more games can be played in a session, but time trouble errors are too likely to happen. I'd rather have two games less in a session and raise the time to 25 minutes. That would improve the quality of the games and probably increase the chances of Carlsen's opponents. But still, I shall never get tired of watching games between Carlsen and the others. Imagine these tournaments without him - that would most certainly decrease their attraction. |
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| Aug-06-20 | | savage sanctuary: <Anyone following the Leela Stockfish match? Please ask an administrator for a forum, in order to follow -and comment- those games. Maybe we can learn something new too...> "A chess engine is a great antidote to human optimism." --johnlspouge |
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| Aug-06-20 | | savage sanctuary: Mad bizarreness:
Maria Pradi Ramos Donaire vs Ashley Todd, 2020 Did anyone explain to little Ashley that it's an Olympiad not giveaway chess?? |
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Aug-06-20
 | | boz: I think chess is most interesting when there is a dominant player and all the rest are trying to take him down. The danger is when they all give up. |
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Aug-06-20
 | | Everett: <boz> agreed |
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| Aug-08-20 | | Ulhumbrus: < Pedro Fernandez: Again history repeats itself. A few days ago I wrote about the game where GM Anish Giri makes such a bad move that it is hard to believe that a player of his stature could make such a huge mistake. And it is that the immense pressure exerted by the lack of time, I doubted, incredulously, that such terms could be reached. I know that this matter has been discussed ad nauseam, but nevertheless it is not about the topic of "raining on wet", no!, and that irrefutable evidence of so absurd and ridiculous moves, due to the time factor, are being presented to think irrevocably, that such a factor is so decisive and preponderant, without respecting hierarchies. And it is that this time the victim was the proper world champion, again vs the same executioner. So I dare to write these lines where I simply want briefly to emphasize this unique subject, where the time factor exerts such great pressure, which generates or induces resolutions so degenerative and cognitive anomalies which, unfortunately, it really happen. So please, let´s see, briefly, an extract of this game. <''Legends'', Ian Nepomniachtchi 1-Magnus Carlsen 0, Round 2, 8/3/20, Sicilian Najdorf, 6.Rg1> I start from the position after white did play 15.Nf5: click for larger view
Carlsen responding 15...0-0?! (<strange carlsen didn´t play 15...Rxa1, putting away the white queen from the imminent danger that it represents on the kingside.>) 16.Rxa8! Bxa8 17.Rh4 g6
click for larger view
18.Qg4! Nc5 19.Qh3
click for larger view
And now the aim of our thread. Everyone knows the sporadic thematic rook-sac that usually occurs in columns 'h' and 'f', but if time is running out, such discordant situations occur, where even the proper world champion himself cannot avoid. 19...h5?? (<by obvious reasons, 19...Bxg5! was so natural>) 20.Rxh5! gxh5 21.Qxh5 Ne6 1-0. click for larger view
(<the obvious 22.g6 is too strong>.) Just 21 moves!> One example of a possible explanation is that in a quick play game the players are not given time to think. Another example of a possible explanation is that that Giri had calculated earlier the position up to 21...Ne6 but had overlooked or saw too late some detail or correction which turns the evaluation upside down in favour of White. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | metatron2: <Sokrates: Can this be substantiated? Has there been no interest in these online tournaments? And if not (which I doubt), who can tell whether it is caused by the online genre, the rapid format, or Carlsen's upper hand?> I wrote that <otherwise people <will> lose interest..> if that kind of format goes on. When I wrote that there is not real interest in such events, I meant that people have no real interest in competitions which winner is known in advance, but not that it was that clear prior to the latest tournaments. Since the covid-19 started, we only have rapid-online events, so Carlsen's supremacy in that field is much more obvious. I assume that by this point, after finishing the series of events organized by Carlsen and chess24, most people feel that there is no competition. I mean when he Carlsen is motivated and in the zone, he crashes his opponents 2.5-0.5 or 3-0, and when he is not, he just beats them with a lower margin. I personally did not have any interest in Carlsen-Nepo final. I didn't think that Nepo had any real chance. Can they play some interesting games there? sure, but I can watch those later if like. Maybe watch some Daniel King analysis of the more interesting games there sometime. Same goes for Carlsen-Caruana or Carlsen-Giri finals (Maybe with Giri, their past social-media rantings added some interest to their rivalry, but not their chess level). I admit that Calsen-Nakamura rapid match still has some interest, because Nakamura is probably the only top player (apart from Carlsen) who's rapid level is close to his classical games level. Only problem is that his classical level is not even close to Carlsen's classical level, so over time, there is no real competition here as well, but at least Naka has some chance of beating Carlsen in a mini-match (as we saw..). So why assume that people will lose interest after realizing that there is no real competition in rapids? Well that is usually the case in sports competitions in general, and chess is no exception. Why no one wanted to sponsor the Kasparov-Shirov match at the time? because they didn't think there will be enough competition there. Sure the games could have been great between 2 such great attacking players, but people also need to have the tension about the outcome of the winner. Why did humans stop competing against engines when the engines became too strong? you could have interesting games there (even from the scientific point of view), but again, there was no competition anymore. Human still match engines but only when the engine is giving them odds (as I suggested for Carlsen..), because that is the only way to keep some competition.. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | metatron2: <boz: I think chess is most interesting when there is a dominant player and all the rest are trying to take him down. The danger is when they all give up.> I agree, as long as <some> competition is still left there. The problem with Carlsen's domination in rapids, is that the rest of the top players are not really focusing on taking him down, because their main focus is still classical time controls and not rapids (their main income before covid-19 was coming from classical tourneys). And even if they all tried, I'm not sure how much that would have helped them. The ability to evaluate positions quickly, and take the best practical decisions quickly is mostly decided by talent. One can improve a lot there, but there is always a clear limit of how fast one can get.
I am afraid that the combination of Carlsen's pure chess-level along with his quickness cannot be matched by any of the current top players. So I don't think that everybody chasing the dominating player is our case here.. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | Sokrates: Hi again, <metatron2>, <I personally did not have any interest in Carlsen-Nepo final. > I think that may be the crux of the matter. I think the final was interesting, although Carlsen beat Nepo in two games. The games were great, and following them with comments by the legends Judit Polgar, Anatoly Karpov and Grischuk was very exciting. Apparently, it is quite subjective how you regard this - some would agree with you, some with me - but as long as enough people agree with me, why shouldn't they let the show go on? I for one hope they will. At least somebody is doing something in these sinister times of the Covid. I am afraid this state of chess life will last much longer than we hope for and even expected when it began. Right now the overall situation in the world seems to get worse, not better. I doubt very much, for instance, that the Candidates will resume as FIDE has announced. Where should they play? |
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| Aug-08-20 | | fabelhaft: The Candidates shouldn’t have to be such a problem, the football leagues are on everywhere. In Russia they just played a cup final and start the league in a few days. There at least 22 players are on the field and then lots of substitutes on the benches, managers and referees etc. Eight chess players shouldn’t have to be that impossible, depending on where they would plan to play. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | not not: In Russia, windows get rid of you! |
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| Aug-08-20 | | Sokrates: <fabelhaft> Right from the beginning of the Covid19, this deadly, still enigmatic disease has been subject to heavy denial by the regimes, who simply wouldn't have it. Thus Messrs. Trump, B. Johnson, Putin and Bolsonaro have misinformed, downplayed, and bluntly lied about the disease with disasterous consequences. Underestimating the disease has cost thousands of lives. Sure, you can equip eight players with protection as if they were to operate in surgery, you can escort them to and fro isolated hotel rooms, and you can put up a plexiglass shield across the chessboard. We have been through all these precautions up to the first half of the Candidates. One thing is finding a playing ground for the venue, another thing to demand from the players that they should take the risk of passing unscathered through all the obstacles before they get to do, what they should do: play chess in a safe, relaxed, calm, risk-free atmosphere, so that the disease factor would be of no significance whatsoever. Who could give that guarantee? Could you? |
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Aug-08-20
 | | perfidious: '(H)eavy denial'.
'Fifteen, soon to be zero' comes most forcefully to mind. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | fabelhaft: <Sure, you can equip eight players with protection as if they were to operate in surgery, you can escort them to and fro isolated hotel rooms, and you can put up a plexiglass shield across the chessboard> Well, many OTB chess events have been played in Europe the last months, I don’t know if the Candidates would have to be all that different. Biel last month had over a hundred participants (even in only eight in the elite event). Chess.com have a longer list of recent OTB events here: https://www.chess.com/news/view/che... |
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| Aug-08-20 | | fabelhaft: Holding the last seven rounds in for example Finland might be a good idea, in all six persons in hospital with corona in the whole country last time I checked. But then FIDE come up with strange decisions sometimes, can’t imagine they plan to play in Russia though. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | Sokrates: Who says these arrangements you refer to were wise? In Denmark, a soccer club AGF won our premier league and there were celebrations among the fans in Aarhus, the hometown of the team. Now the infected in Aarhus have increased heavily and a mask has become obligatory in public transport in the city - a first in this country. We know the disease spreads when people are crowding and use no mask protection. We know your breath spreads the virus at least 1.5 meters, aerosol particles much wider, and that a handshake is enough to transfer it to the next person. Look at the U.K. In the beginning of the pandemic they had no restrictions. People could visit pubs and bars, get together as much as they wanted, and so forth. Now, how well did that work for the United Kingdom? That is the statistic you need to consult, not the reckless decisions made to please voters and pleasure-hungry crowds. |
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| Aug-08-20 | | not not: your favourite president (me) knew before anyone else how dangerous Covid was. I only called it HOAX so me and my friends can dump shares before stockmarket collapses. and to those with no insider knowledge who lost fortunes and to those who believed it was HOAX and lost lives or beloved ones, Im sending my deepest thoughts and prayers... happy 9/11 LOOSERS!!!! |
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| Aug-09-20 | | Pedro Fernandez: <<Ulhumbrus>: One example of a possible explanation is that in a quick play game the players are not given time to think.> Exactly, my great my friend <Ulhumbrus>. In a nutshell, lack of time brings serious cognitive distortions in the player, no matter how competent he is. IMO, the lack of time in a classic game does not produce the dire consequences that one is seeing in these types of games. |
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| Aug-09-20 | | metatron2: <Sokrates: it is quite subjective how you regard this - some would agree with you, some with me> Well OK, I guess part of the chess fans will care more about the quality of the games, and maybe about the fight for the second place, as long as they will feel that the players themselves did not lose interest.. <Sokrates: Who could give that guarantee? Could you?> I don't think that conducting a tourney with small number of participants is a problem today (and 8 participants is real small..).
Here I know people who participate in tourneys lately, while keeping the instructions of masks, distance (more than 2m from everyone other than his opponent), hygiene, and so far there were no problems. The real problem I see with the candidates tourney is the traveling. I don't think any country will allow people from Russia or China to get into their border without going to isolation. So the participants along with their teams should agree to get into isolation (probably 2 weeks), along with providing latest tests that prove that their covid-19 free. But it does seem feasible to me. |
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| Aug-09-20 | | Sokrates: <metatron2> and <fabelhaft> I am sorry if I come out a bit hard on this matter, especially to you two, who I hold in high regard among the posters on this site. Please understand that I only offer eager arguments to people I respect and - sometimes - respectfully disagree with. I agree that measures can be taken to make an 8 player tournament relatively safe. And I don't want the world to stop in a paralyzed position because of the disease. When I argued against you, <fabelhaft> it was because of risk of the whole event, everything included. <metatron2>, you mention the travelling difficulties. Evidently, I fully agree. But you also have to add the hotels, the service people, the taxi-drivers, well each and every person who might get into contact with the players. A single one of them might, in a careless moment of seconds, infect one of the players, and then hell is loose. Sure, the players themselves are relatively young, thus not likely to die from the disease, in case they caught it. But we also know now, painfully know, that the disease can cause lasting damages on younger persons who had overcome it. Some have lost their ability to taste, others got emboli at various places, others became endlessly tired and wearied. I am sure, the players all all aware of that, and I think they would agree to play, in case proper cautions are taken at the playing venue, but what if one of them joins Radjabov in refusing to play because of the danger? Damned be that terrible disease, but if we have one thing about it, it is that it has struck every time it was underestimated, and it has been and still is quite elusive for the brightest human scientists. |
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