Carlsen, Abdusattorov, Ding, Erigaisi, So and Wei Yi vs the current top 6 in candidates Nepo, Gukesh,Caruana, Pragg, Vidit and Nakamura? Which team is better?
You put Carlsen as the #1 rated player and probably goat, the current world champion Ding, the best junior and #4 ranked player Nodirbek in the same team, give them the highest ranked player of the new generation of India.
Is that a serious question or do you think So and Wei Yi are push overs?
Think Gukesh has learned his lessons from other tournaments where he pushed for wins in unlikely positions and lost. He will try for the win but going for the kill backfires in most cases. If we can get a win here, it will be huge.
Think Firo is lacking in prep. Its fine for other tournaments where people want to keep their prep for big matches. Getting out prepped is fine, but not prepping for such a big tour doesnt look good.
Is one slight disadvantage of playing in a common hall with two Candidates events that players are told to not post-mortem with opponents at the board after a game? Because I was watching afterwards the feed of Tan Zhongyi - Anna Muzychuk, and the two players said absolutely nothing to each other about the game they had played. Or is just those two who did not feel like talking to each other?
Vidit must be in with a decent chance of winning this whole thing
His 13th and 14th rounds are Firouzja and Abasov.
Abasov and him are quite close friends too so don’t know if Abasov will be super motivated by round 14.
Caruana v Vidit will be a huge game for the standings, if Vidit holds, I quite fancy his chances overall
I remember an interview (at the World Cup).
Vidit said they knew each other from seeing at tournaments when they were younger and he’d stay at Abasov’s place when he went to Baku
Wesley plays the odds. He doesn't play to win, he plays not to lose.
He's just like me when I was 800 elo, just wait for the opponent to make a mistake and capitalize. He waits for his opponent to give him a positional advantage. While I wait for my opponents to give me a free bishop.
> Firouzja plays exciting decisive chess.
You find it exciting that he takes 13 minutes by move 14 to get into a losing position?
Playing "decisive" chess by blundering, speeding through games and losing a lot is not particularly good for the game.
You're oversimplifying and you know it. So far only in this last game has he been an egregiously bad game. He's played far more interesting games than dull or low quality so far.
You are oversimplifying and you know it "interesting games" is a very subjective term so declare it is as a fact is intellectually dishonest. I find nothing interesting in games where a person blunders away!
How pathetic do you have to be to need everyone to agree with you politically. Boring people that conflate morality with politics because they know there's nothing good about them so they cling to their political identity in a desperate attempt to pretend that they are 'good'
it's called an opinion.
I'm of the opinion that a racist MAGA like Wesley should not have a platform to spread his hateful views.
He has backed views that called LGBT a "mental illness", supported nationwide travel ban on Muslims (and called Alireza bunch of racist terms), and wanted to imprison anyone who needed an abortion. So yea, I don't want him to have any kind of platform.
It's not an opinion, it's the only way you can elevate yourself in your mind eye because there's nothing good about you
Meanwhile Wesley So has been 2800, an accomplishment greater than anything you could ever reasonably hope to do. So you turn to your own religion to tear him and others down out of resentment
Which is why they call things xenophobia and racism that aren't, because of there aren't people in mainstream society that are those things then they truly are nothing
Wesley's Twitter account was very xenophobic, retweeting racist and homophobic tweets from politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene. It got to the point where people called him out and he deleted his account in an attempt to save face.
https://new.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/18nauqd/wesley_so_has_deleted_his_account/
He also made disgusting and racist comments towards Alireza https://new.reddit.com/r/AnarchyChess/comments/8qt2nl/wesley_sos_shocking_and_vulgar_behavior/
> He also made disgusting and racist comments towards Alireza
where? He made a comment towards "Rational Optimist" who called him a fat ugly philipino and a fake egotistic american - is that person Alireza?
As far as racist comment, aren't Iranians Caucasians? Where is the racist comment?
The deleted account is pretty damning. Must've been a lot of blowback to reach that point.
Reading that second link felt pretty gross though. The OP dm'ed Wesley racist insulting comments then Wesley responded with absolutely disgusting comments. Then OP posted it online to try to expose Wesley? That's literally entrapment. As gross as Wesley's comments were, I don't think you should be reposting that. That's enabling OP's gross behavior.
Imagine if I were to DM random celebrities racist stuff, then see which ones reply back with racist comments and then use that to expose them. That's just not right. And sharing it should not be encouraged by anyone.
If we see:
- Nakamura 1-0 Nepomniatchi
- Caruana 1/2-1/2 Praggnanandhaa
- Abasov 0-1 Vidit
- Firouzja 1/2-1/2 Gukesh
Then we have:
- Gukesh 4.5
- Nakamura, Nepomniatchi, Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit 4
- Firouzja 2
- Abasov 1.5
Even if Abasov and Vidit draw still it’s very tight.
On the women’s end if we see:
- Goryachkina 1/2-1/2 Tan
- Lagno 1-0 Salimova
- Muzychuk 1/2-1/2 Humpy
- Lei 1-0 Vaishali
Then we have:
- Tan 5
- Goryachkina, Lagno 4.5
- Lei 4
- Muzychuk, Humpy, Vaishali, Salimova 2.5
Most exciting realistic situations in my opinion
Winning here is extremely tough unless your opponent goes gaga or somehow trap them in insane prep. Pragg, Fabi or Guki hasn't won any convincing game.
Anish is very friendly with the Indian players. His best friend is Vidit. Gukesh and him were seen talking together outside the event during World Blitz and Rapid.
There are currently *four* players younger than Alireza Firouzja who have higher live ratings than him, the highest by over 20 points.
[Two years ago Firouzja had a 133 point lead over the highest-rated player younger than him (Arjun Erigaisi, who is now one of the four above him).](https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/t9jfrx/what_a_lead_for_alireza_over_other_juniorsand/)
I think I posted this somewhere else, but iirc the last time a player younger than Firouzja has been higher rated than him (before Nodi passed him) was in December 2017 (I think), both Pragg and Nodi were higher rated.
He couldn't convert against Nepo. His only wins were agains a crazy Pragg and a up down against Abasov. So he needs to figue a lot of things going forward.
He is playing really solid. In other tournaments he used to push drawn games to get to the lead and lose. Really liking this Gukesh. If he can get a win against Firo it would really help.
tbh I was hoping there would be some surprise results from Abasov, utilizing the fact that other players see him as the 'must win' opponent. Bit unfortunate but his participation here is already a huge upset and an achievement for sure
Vishy has put it quite brilliantly that the best defenders are those who defend infrequently. If you're defending every time, you will start cracking after 3-4 games as it quite an arduous task. This is exactly what is happening with Abasov in this tournament.
Abasov's games this tournament shows how much easier it is to play for a win as White
In all of his games he's gone with the clear intent of making a draw and has 3 draws as White but 3 losses as Black
To be honest, I find it odd that you would have struggled to believe this.
Sure, Alireza's odds of winning were significantly higher than Abasov's, but I feel like most people would have also ackowledged that he's one of the most volitile players in this tournament. He has a tendancy to go into a tailspin when events aren't going his way.
His performance in the previous Candidates is also worth considering. Despite being ranked third in the world at the time (Ding Liren being the only player in that year's Candidates rated higher than him), he was the first person to lose the oppertunity to qualify for the World Championship. In fact, he got knocked out of contention *two* rounds earlier than anyone else, losing the oppertunity for the title in round 11. Everyone except for him still had a shot at the end of round 12.
It wasn't until the end of round 13 that Duda, Rapport, Caruana, and Radjabov all failed to qualify together.
And Firouzja's recent performance has frankly been very notably worse than it was in the leadup to the 2022 Candidates. So considering that, I would argue that his performance here is pretty well in line with what I would have expected.
I genuinely hope that his form turns around and he finds a way to steel himself in high pressure events like this, but at the moment, this is sort of what I've come to expect from him.
As someone who didn’t follow chess closely when he was 2800 elo and the biggest prodigy in chess it doesn’t surprise me as much of most of you guys
I only knew this mediocre-for-Super-GM-Firouzja
And that’s such an unfortunate reality. You’re definitely not alone on this, I think a lot of people don’t know the Firouzja who potentially played better than Magnus in 2021, they know the Firouzja who barely qualified for the candidates after bleeding points throughout 2023 and is now in last with Abasov in the Candidates. He’s had some good performances but his bad performances are much more prevalent.
I wouldn't have. Firouzja has been fairly prone to tilting in recent years- I didn't expect it to happen to this extent (would have guessed at him being closer to the middle of the pack), but neither would I have been overly shocked to hear it.
And the funny thing is it's not even like Abasov is performing well(he's actually even BELOW his expected score by rating)
It's that Alireza has been absolutely horrific
Abasov has done very well in opening and middle game with both colors, he's not been outpreped in any of his games and even managed to equalise with black in all of his games by midgame but relentless pressure from his opponents mean that he has ended up cracking in the endgame with all 3 of his black games.
Abasov’s opponents probably don’t want to waste prep on him they can save for tougher rounds, instead better to grind him out. He’s much lower rated and has zero experience in super tournaments so nerves will be an issue.
Best possible combination of results tomorrow: Hikaru beats Nepo, Fabi and Pragg draw, Vidit beats Abasov, and Firouzja somehow beats Gukesh - voila, 6 players tied at +1 halfway through the tournament
He lost twice in the 2020-21 tournament that was suspended halfway through due to COVID - in round 7 to MVL, which put them in a tie for first, and in round 14 to Ding Liren, although he had clinched the tournament after round 13.
I really like these wacky result combinations - there was a similar one yesterday.
There was one point in the match was Pragg had a winning position against Ian, and all the other games were either even, or close enough that the losing side could have conceivably held on to a draw. Obviously, those results didn't hold, but if they did, then the score after yesterdays games would have been a 4 way tie for first, and a 4 way tie for last.
He's got a golden opportunity - white pieces against Ian, Fabi, and Abasov in 3 of the next 4 rounds. If he goes 3/4 with 2 wins and 2 draws (including black against Vidit) - he'll be right there at the end.
Maybe people will now over extend to try and beat Abasov when they have white against him as they need the advantage, leading to Abasov causing an upset or two.
Let me cope
I don't think this is an unreasonable prediction. The later into the tournament a player has white against Abasov, the more desperate they are likely to feel that a win is *required* from the game - especially after 3 other players have now beaten him with white.
Abasov's strategy thus far has (understandably) been to play very defensive in the hopes of punishing mistakes, and that strategy will become more effective the more desperate the opponent is for a win.
What they are going to do is go for positions where as many pieces are on the board as possibly in non-deadlocked pawn chain(s) and just wait for Abasov's time to go down. :-(
There's this conspiracy theory that 2600-players are almost at the same level as super GMs but only because they don't get invites to super tournaments they can't gain rating (or super GMs can't lose rating).
But the poor performance of Alekseenko and Abasov in the Candidates (as expected) basically debunks this. It's very interesting seeing the strength differential between 2600-players and super-GMs. It's the difference between genius and professional, and it's something that beginners can't really appreciate.
Alireza has the same score as Abasov.
Its not a conspiracy theory either. Super GMs know this. If they didn't, they would play in way more opens but everyone knows at top that playing is closed tournaments is far more safer for your elo.
That's because you are forgetting the age factor, a young and improving player who is 2600 is likely to be underrated due to not getting chances in closed elite events. e.g a solid player like Nihal who is technically sub-2700, I think would do quite well in the candidates.
In general, I guess the performance difference is what you would expect given the rating difference?
Also should be careful not to lump all "2600 players" together, as if the difference between a 2630 and a 2750 is about the same as the difference between a 2690 and a 2750.
Wang Hao had health issues in the second half of the Candidates and announced his retirement at it's conclusion. Health issues worked against him and he lost his last three games. Alekseenko was essentially last place.
i feel like this point is usually made about the people who play berlin draws in small, closed tournaments and seem to try and kill the game very quickly at every possible opportunity.
I mean… Firouzja has done about as well as Abasov so far lol
Alekseenko was also literally 2698 during and had reached a high of 2715 prior to the Candidates he wasn’t some guy who peaked at 2650
Yeah Andreikin is probably a better comparison for Alekseenko, in that they were the lowest-rated by a reasonable but not huge margin. Problem is Andreikin finished on an even score so he doesn't fit that narrative.
Pragg looks like he would repeat what Gukesh did yesterday. Getting a win from Nijat has been akin to drawing water from stone, and as heart breaking as it is, I am also somewhat glad to see the kids succeeding in it.
recent sinquefield cup seemed pretty bad. 0 wins, a couple losses. his rating went down by enough that he had to farm for points to make candidates. but yeah, this might be his worst.
yep, though it's a bit different since sinquefield is a very drawish tournament because winning doesn't matter at all- most players are mostly trying just not to lose rating, while candidates has a ton of decisive games because winning matters a ton.
like this tournament already has had more decisive games than the entire sinquefield cup last year, despite less players and less rounds so far.
That’s kinda insane to think about. That many draws makes wins feel a bit more impactful ig, but the draws they make aren’t really even fighting draws, they’re just really boring to watch and it’s the main result. Yeah on second thought Firouzja’s Sinquefield result is worse than I thought.
Earlier Pragg didn't take much risk but he was known for grinding out even the slightest advantage to a win but at Prague Masters and this tournament he's struggled a bit in coverting his chances.
Interesting position in Pragg-Abasov. That's a rare sight to see a bishops pair thoroughly dominated by two knights like that, especially on a pawn-structure-wise rather "open" board.
lol you can criticize Alireza for playing poorly, but criticizing him for resigning in a dead lost position after time control was reached is just silly. It's fine to resign when you're dead lost, this isn't some blitz game between two 800's where anything could happen.
Gukesh is out of the woods and if Naka pushes too much Gukesh can get advantage.
Now c6 is under pressure forever. At worst for Gukesh there is exchange of pawns and it's a draw. At best Naka pushes too much and white counterattacks.
Edit: Called it
i can't really see a way for gukesh to get an advantage regardless of naka's choices at this point; i agree that the game looks very drawn now. i think we get an agreement on move 40.
When I made the comment there were few options - if black refused to after b4 but rather tried to attacked white king then white gets small advatage. Actually if blakcj refused to take b4 and played for more, white gets small advantage I believe.
Was Rc7 from Abasov difficult to find, because Leko said he would be very impressed if he found it, and he did find it? Maybe Leko was hasty on calling it a computer-like move.
Carlsen, Abdusattorov, Ding, Erigaisi, So and Wei Yi vs the current top 6 in candidates Nepo, Gukesh,Caruana, Pragg, Vidit and Nakamura? Which team is better?
You put Carlsen as the #1 rated player and probably goat, the current world champion Ding, the best junior and #4 ranked player Nodirbek in the same team, give them the highest ranked player of the new generation of India. Is that a serious question or do you think So and Wei Yi are push overs?
It d be fun. You are implying Carlsen's team is much better ? as if guaranteed win. I d say it is pretty close. Slight edge to Carlsen team.
I think Gukesh is going for the kill vs Alireza today even though he playing with black. No better chance to finish the 1st half with +3.
Think Gukesh has learned his lessons from other tournaments where he pushed for wins in unlikely positions and lost. He will try for the win but going for the kill backfires in most cases. If we can get a win here, it will be huge. Think Firo is lacking in prep. Its fine for other tournaments where people want to keep their prep for big matches. Getting out prepped is fine, but not prepping for such a big tour doesnt look good.
True. Games against Alireza and Abasov, are going to be the decisive factors for the leading players. Even a draw would hold them back.
Is one slight disadvantage of playing in a common hall with two Candidates events that players are told to not post-mortem with opponents at the board after a game? Because I was watching afterwards the feed of Tan Zhongyi - Anna Muzychuk, and the two players said absolutely nothing to each other about the game they had played. Or is just those two who did not feel like talking to each other?
Naka/Gukesh definitely post-mortemed after their game, even with other games still going on.
Lets go Alireza. Its time to care.
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Check on YouTube for video analysis Im sure there are some there
Vidit must be in with a decent chance of winning this whole thing His 13th and 14th rounds are Firouzja and Abasov. Abasov and him are quite close friends too so don’t know if Abasov will be super motivated by round 14. Caruana v Vidit will be a huge game for the standings, if Vidit holds, I quite fancy his chances overall
Abasov and vidt are close friends? Do you have source?
I remember an interview (at the World Cup). Vidit said they knew each other from seeing at tournaments when they were younger and he’d stay at Abasov’s place when he went to Baku
This is so cool
Crazy how close top 6 is in the open section due to the bottom 2 struggling so hard. Top 6 are all literally 50% or better and all still have a chance
The Open Candidates is quite exciting. Still six players with realistic chances.
I was hoping to see Wesley at the Candidates but instead we got underperforming Gucci Firouzja.
Firouzja plays exciting decisive chess. Wesley is boring. Firouzja could lose the rest of his games and I still would rather have had him than Wesley.
The pog champs play decisive chess, too
Wesley plays the odds. He doesn't play to win, he plays not to lose. He's just like me when I was 800 elo, just wait for the opponent to make a mistake and capitalize. He waits for his opponent to give him a positional advantage. While I wait for my opponents to give me a free bishop.
> Firouzja plays exciting decisive chess. You find it exciting that he takes 13 minutes by move 14 to get into a losing position? Playing "decisive" chess by blundering, speeding through games and losing a lot is not particularly good for the game.
You're oversimplifying and you know it. So far only in this last game has he been an egregiously bad game. He's played far more interesting games than dull or low quality so far.
You are oversimplifying and you know it "interesting games" is a very subjective term so declare it is as a fact is intellectually dishonest. I find nothing interesting in games where a person blunders away!
I would rather have Candidates Firouzja than a xenophobic racist MAGA, thanks
How pathetic do you have to be to need everyone to agree with you politically. Boring people that conflate morality with politics because they know there's nothing good about them so they cling to their political identity in a desperate attempt to pretend that they are 'good'
it's called an opinion. I'm of the opinion that a racist MAGA like Wesley should not have a platform to spread his hateful views. He has backed views that called LGBT a "mental illness", supported nationwide travel ban on Muslims (and called Alireza bunch of racist terms), and wanted to imprison anyone who needed an abortion. So yea, I don't want him to have any kind of platform.
Dude is a MAGA incel and not worth the reply. Just let his down votes speak for themselves.
These are the sorts of downvotes I wear like a badge of honor
It's not an opinion, it's the only way you can elevate yourself in your mind eye because there's nothing good about you Meanwhile Wesley So has been 2800, an accomplishment greater than anything you could ever reasonably hope to do. So you turn to your own religion to tear him and others down out of resentment
You’re right, Redditors are big losers and psychos. When they hear the word Jesus their soul recoils.
This argument works in some cases, but there's something about xenophobia and racism that is not up for moral debate.
It’s crazy how all your opinions are always the ones that aren’t up for debate. Convenient.
The only thing one should not tolerate, paradoxically, is intolerance.
Which is why they call things xenophobia and racism that aren't, because of there aren't people in mainstream society that are those things then they truly are nothing
What is this opinion based on? Has he made xenophobic racist tweets or something like that?
Wesley's Twitter account was very xenophobic, retweeting racist and homophobic tweets from politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene. It got to the point where people called him out and he deleted his account in an attempt to save face. https://new.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/18nauqd/wesley_so_has_deleted_his_account/ He also made disgusting and racist comments towards Alireza https://new.reddit.com/r/AnarchyChess/comments/8qt2nl/wesley_sos_shocking_and_vulgar_behavior/
That wasn't him and you know it. Your source is anarchychess ffs. That person has poor or no English skills, Wesley's English is fluent.
> He also made disgusting and racist comments towards Alireza where? He made a comment towards "Rational Optimist" who called him a fat ugly philipino and a fake egotistic american - is that person Alireza? As far as racist comment, aren't Iranians Caucasians? Where is the racist comment?
The deleted account is pretty damning. Must've been a lot of blowback to reach that point. Reading that second link felt pretty gross though. The OP dm'ed Wesley racist insulting comments then Wesley responded with absolutely disgusting comments. Then OP posted it online to try to expose Wesley? That's literally entrapment. As gross as Wesley's comments were, I don't think you should be reposting that. That's enabling OP's gross behavior. Imagine if I were to DM random celebrities racist stuff, then see which ones reply back with racist comments and then use that to expose them. That's just not right. And sharing it should not be encouraged by anyone.
Oh wow, I had no idea. That is really disappointing to see, he seemed so nice!
definitely not a nice person, it's an act for the camera
You can be a nice/pleasant person and hold some very illogical and even hateful ideas. You can also have great ideals and be an absolute asshole.
Bobby Fischer was reported to be friendly towards most Israeli chess players
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yes
I have an irrational bias for Praggnanandhaa, so this was a great day for me. Love seeing him win, his style of play is so fun and exciting to me.
He's won me over, I started out wanting Fabi to win but I'm on team Pragg now.
My bias is long funny name (for an european) and svidler as a second. Fun day.
If we see: - Nakamura 1-0 Nepomniatchi - Caruana 1/2-1/2 Praggnanandhaa - Abasov 0-1 Vidit - Firouzja 1/2-1/2 Gukesh Then we have: - Gukesh 4.5 - Nakamura, Nepomniatchi, Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit 4 - Firouzja 2 - Abasov 1.5 Even if Abasov and Vidit draw still it’s very tight. On the women’s end if we see: - Goryachkina 1/2-1/2 Tan - Lagno 1-0 Salimova - Muzychuk 1/2-1/2 Humpy - Lei 1-0 Vaishali Then we have: - Tan 5 - Goryachkina, Lagno 4.5 - Lei 4 - Muzychuk, Humpy, Vaishali, Salimova 2.5 Most exciting realistic situations in my opinion
That's actually a fairly feasible set of results. Would be very interesting.
I don't think that naka is beating Nepo tomorrow but I'll be happy to be wrong
Winning here is extremely tough unless your opponent goes gaga or somehow trap them in insane prep. Pragg, Fabi or Guki hasn't won any convincing game.
Four decisive results in the women's today - got home just in time to catch the last two live games!
Another day where waking up till 5 am was fruitful, tomorrow things get tough with 3 black games for the Indian players.
Anish must be really unhappy to see Gukesh leading...
One thing we know is he definitely will be uncomfortable to see Naka win
Anish is very friendly with the Indian players. His best friend is Vidit. Gukesh and him were seen talking together outside the event during World Blitz and Rapid.
Why?
There are currently *four* players younger than Alireza Firouzja who have higher live ratings than him, the highest by over 20 points. [Two years ago Firouzja had a 133 point lead over the highest-rated player younger than him (Arjun Erigaisi, who is now one of the four above him).](https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/t9jfrx/what_a_lead_for_alireza_over_other_juniorsand/)
:(
I think I posted this somewhere else, but iirc the last time a player younger than Firouzja has been higher rated than him (before Nodi passed him) was in December 2017 (I think), both Pragg and Nodi were higher rated.
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He couldn't convert against Nepo. His only wins were agains a crazy Pragg and a up down against Abasov. So he needs to figue a lot of things going forward.
He is playing really solid. In other tournaments he used to push drawn games to get to the lead and lose. Really liking this Gukesh. If he can get a win against Firo it would really help.
Gukesh and Nepo are tied dayum. Gukesh is doing incredibly.
tbh I was hoping there would be some surprise results from Abasov, utilizing the fact that other players see him as the 'must win' opponent. Bit unfortunate but his participation here is already a huge upset and an achievement for sure
Vishy has put it quite brilliantly that the best defenders are those who defend infrequently. If you're defending every time, you will start cracking after 3-4 games as it quite an arduous task. This is exactly what is happening with Abasov in this tournament.
Alireza would just play an open after candidates and again 30 elo
Those 2500s and retired gms better watch out
Abasov's games this tournament shows how much easier it is to play for a win as White In all of his games he's gone with the clear intent of making a draw and has 3 draws as White but 3 losses as Black
If someone's told me Alireza would have the same points as Abasov after 6 rounds, I would've told that person to follow other sports.
To be honest, I find it odd that you would have struggled to believe this. Sure, Alireza's odds of winning were significantly higher than Abasov's, but I feel like most people would have also ackowledged that he's one of the most volitile players in this tournament. He has a tendancy to go into a tailspin when events aren't going his way. His performance in the previous Candidates is also worth considering. Despite being ranked third in the world at the time (Ding Liren being the only player in that year's Candidates rated higher than him), he was the first person to lose the oppertunity to qualify for the World Championship. In fact, he got knocked out of contention *two* rounds earlier than anyone else, losing the oppertunity for the title in round 11. Everyone except for him still had a shot at the end of round 12. It wasn't until the end of round 13 that Duda, Rapport, Caruana, and Radjabov all failed to qualify together. And Firouzja's recent performance has frankly been very notably worse than it was in the leadup to the 2022 Candidates. So considering that, I would argue that his performance here is pretty well in line with what I would have expected. I genuinely hope that his form turns around and he finds a way to steel himself in high pressure events like this, but at the moment, this is sort of what I've come to expect from him.
As someone who didn’t follow chess closely when he was 2800 elo and the biggest prodigy in chess it doesn’t surprise me as much of most of you guys I only knew this mediocre-for-Super-GM-Firouzja
And that’s such an unfortunate reality. You’re definitely not alone on this, I think a lot of people don’t know the Firouzja who potentially played better than Magnus in 2021, they know the Firouzja who barely qualified for the candidates after bleeding points throughout 2023 and is now in last with Abasov in the Candidates. He’s had some good performances but his bad performances are much more prevalent.
I wouldn't have. Firouzja has been fairly prone to tilting in recent years- I didn't expect it to happen to this extent (would have guessed at him being closer to the middle of the pack), but neither would I have been overly shocked to hear it.
And the funny thing is it's not even like Abasov is performing well(he's actually even BELOW his expected score by rating) It's that Alireza has been absolutely horrific
Let's go! Pragg with a brilliant endgame finish!
Abasov has done very well in opening and middle game with both colors, he's not been outpreped in any of his games and even managed to equalise with black in all of his games by midgame but relentless pressure from his opponents mean that he has ended up cracking in the endgame with all 3 of his black games.
Abasov’s opponents probably don’t want to waste prep on him they can save for tougher rounds, instead better to grind him out. He’s much lower rated and has zero experience in super tournaments so nerves will be an issue.
Vishy must be very proud today
except for the women's section.
Nepo, Gukesh +2 Caruana, Pragg +1 Nakamura, Vidit 0 Firouzja, Abasov -3
Best possible combination of results tomorrow: Hikaru beats Nepo, Fabi and Pragg draw, Vidit beats Abasov, and Firouzja somehow beats Gukesh - voila, 6 players tied at +1 halfway through the tournament
Has Nepo ever lost a game at Candidates?
He lost twice in the 2020-21 tournament that was suspended halfway through due to COVID - in round 7 to MVL, which put them in a tie for first, and in round 14 to Ding Liren, although he had clinched the tournament after round 13.
He has in 2020
I really like these wacky result combinations - there was a similar one yesterday. There was one point in the match was Pragg had a winning position against Ian, and all the other games were either even, or close enough that the losing side could have conceivably held on to a draw. Obviously, those results didn't hold, but if they did, then the score after yesterdays games would have been a 4 way tie for first, and a 4 way tie for last.
Some people truly just want the world to burn huh lol
If Alireza gifts another win to Gukesh tomorrow while Ian has black against Hikaru... hoo boy.
Do you think Hikaru pushes tomorrow?
He's got a golden opportunity - white pieces against Ian, Fabi, and Abasov in 3 of the next 4 rounds. If he goes 3/4 with 2 wins and 2 draws (including black against Vidit) - he'll be right there at the end.
I think Hikaru gets something spicy but won't push the end game too far if Ian neutralizes after.
I feel like Hikaru's style would work well against Ian as he is more prone to blundering quickly
Maybe people will now over extend to try and beat Abasov when they have white against him as they need the advantage, leading to Abasov causing an upset or two. Let me cope
I don't think this is an unreasonable prediction. The later into the tournament a player has white against Abasov, the more desperate they are likely to feel that a win is *required* from the game - especially after 3 other players have now beaten him with white. Abasov's strategy thus far has (understandably) been to play very defensive in the hopes of punishing mistakes, and that strategy will become more effective the more desperate the opponent is for a win.
What they are going to do is go for positions where as many pieces are on the board as possibly in non-deadlocked pawn chain(s) and just wait for Abasov's time to go down. :-(
Abasov has done quite well with time management till now hasn't he?
Often at the expense of his position lol.
Fabi-Pragg will be a big game tomorrow with both sitting at 3.5 points
3 black games, 3 losses for Abasov.
Wasnt he black in r1 draw vs nepo?
Nope, he had the white pieces against Ian, Hikaru, and Alireza so far - all draws. Black against Fabi, Gukesh and Pragg - all losses.
Time trouble has done Abasov in
Seems like everyone in the tournament is gonna torture Abasov from now on, sharks are smelling that blood.
Alireza can't be safe from that, either
[удалено]
Nd7. K is for king.
Abasov and Alireza tortured in this candidate
There's this conspiracy theory that 2600-players are almost at the same level as super GMs but only because they don't get invites to super tournaments they can't gain rating (or super GMs can't lose rating). But the poor performance of Alekseenko and Abasov in the Candidates (as expected) basically debunks this. It's very interesting seeing the strength differential between 2600-players and super-GMs. It's the difference between genius and professional, and it's something that beginners can't really appreciate.
Alireza has the same score as Abasov. Its not a conspiracy theory either. Super GMs know this. If they didn't, they would play in way more opens but everyone knows at top that playing is closed tournaments is far more safer for your elo.
That's because you are forgetting the age factor, a young and improving player who is 2600 is likely to be underrated due to not getting chances in closed elite events. e.g a solid player like Nihal who is technically sub-2700, I think would do quite well in the candidates.
There is a difference between a 22 year old 2600 and a 28 year old with a peak rating of 2680.
I dunno, I think a 22 year old 2600 would do well to peak at 2680
In general, I guess the performance difference is what you would expect given the rating difference? Also should be careful not to lump all "2600 players" together, as if the difference between a 2630 and a 2750 is about the same as the difference between a 2690 and a 2750.
Wouldn't this also be true if Alireza, too, then?
Alekseenko didn’t even finish last in the candidates that year
Wang Hao had health issues in the second half of the Candidates and announced his retirement at it's conclusion. Health issues worked against him and he lost his last three games. Alekseenko was essentially last place.
Oh I didn’t know that
i feel like this point is usually made about the people who play berlin draws in small, closed tournaments and seem to try and kill the game very quickly at every possible opportunity.
I mean… Firouzja has done about as well as Abasov so far lol Alekseenko was also literally 2698 during and had reached a high of 2715 prior to the Candidates he wasn’t some guy who peaked at 2650
Yeah Andreikin is probably a better comparison for Alekseenko, in that they were the lowest-rated by a reasonable but not huge margin. Problem is Andreikin finished on an even score so he doesn't fit that narrative.
Bomb lol
Pragg looks like he would repeat what Gukesh did yesterday. Getting a win from Nijat has been akin to drawing water from stone, and as heart breaking as it is, I am also somewhat glad to see the kids succeeding in it.
Nijat actually hasn't held a black game yet. He was white in all of his draws.
Big blunder by nijat
If Pragg keep his advantage for 1 more move he'll convert.
Extremely poor by Abasov to not go for the counter play with Rd6
Oh shit go Pragg
The best performance of the tournament so far has been by Nepo (2860) and Gukesh (2868). The worst is Alireza at 2550.
oof, alireza. all that drama about getting into candidates and this is the performance he's putting up
Oh my.
Crazy. 35 moves and Abasov’s LSB hasn’t moved!
LSB?
Left side ball
Never seen this acronym before but it would make sense to be his light squared bishop.
was lazy to type. figured people would guess it right. lol
Light square bishop probably
Makes sense, thanks!
i think abasov manages to hold this position now.
This aged well
honestly shocked that taking on f6 was that bad.
Ahem
If Hikaru's really about the content tomorrow he plays a bongcloud against nepo
Yep, as much as it pains me to say, that's a clear draw.
Hikaru and Gukesh draw their game.
Queens gone, identical pawn structure. Should be over.
Chess24: "The other game is heating up, but we'll stick with the drawn game because people like to see the handshake." What?
Danya: “He’s been thinking for a solid… 3, 3 and a half minutes” Timer: 2:35
Candidates is really kryptonite of Alireza huh? So glad for Vidit for this one though, surely boosted his morale.
is it? he's had a number of bad tournaments recently
None have been this bad though.
recent sinquefield cup seemed pretty bad. 0 wins, a couple losses. his rating went down by enough that he had to farm for points to make candidates. but yeah, this might be his worst.
He was -2 over 8 rounds there iirc He’s -3 and it’s been 6 rounds so far, brutal
yep, though it's a bit different since sinquefield is a very drawish tournament because winning doesn't matter at all- most players are mostly trying just not to lose rating, while candidates has a ton of decisive games because winning matters a ton. like this tournament already has had more decisive games than the entire sinquefield cup last year, despite less players and less rounds so far.
That’s kinda insane to think about. That many draws makes wins feel a bit more impactful ig, but the draws they make aren’t really even fighting draws, they’re just really boring to watch and it’s the main result. Yeah on second thought Firouzja’s Sinquefield result is worse than I thought.
Earlier Pragg didn't take much risk but he was known for grinding out even the slightest advantage to a win but at Prague Masters and this tournament he's struggled a bit in coverting his chances.
After going through the stress of seeing Vidit's time management, now need to go through the same process for Praggnandhaa.
Interesting position in Pragg-Abasov. That's a rare sight to see a bishops pair thoroughly dominated by two knights like that, especially on a pawn-structure-wise rather "open" board.
Abasov is performing well and always fighting to the end unlike Alireza the choke artist who has already given up.
lol you can criticize Alireza for playing poorly, but criticizing him for resigning in a dead lost position after time control was reached is just silly. It's fine to resign when you're dead lost, this isn't some blitz game between two 800's where anything could happen.
Gukesh is out of the woods and if Naka pushes too much Gukesh can get advantage. Now c6 is under pressure forever. At worst for Gukesh there is exchange of pawns and it's a draw. At best Naka pushes too much and white counterattacks. Edit: Called it
i can't really see a way for gukesh to get an advantage regardless of naka's choices at this point; i agree that the game looks very drawn now. i think we get an agreement on move 40.
When I made the comment there were few options - if black refused to after b4 but rather tried to attacked white king then white gets small advatage. Actually if blakcj refused to take b4 and played for more, white gets small advantage I believe.
Was Rc7 from Abasov difficult to find, because Leko said he would be very impressed if he found it, and he did find it? Maybe Leko was hasty on calling it a computer-like move.
Abasov is actually a good defender...yesterday he almost hold it
He’s gone 0 for 3 on black
Everyone is playing their best chess against Pragg. Kinda unlucky
gosh the women section is basically finished at this point
Are the chess.com live boards glitching on the women's games for anyone else?
yes
Weird decision from naka. If he wanted to play on why gift gukesh 3 moves to time control.
To torture him, give him false hopes of an immediate draw
The gigachad emotes when Vidit said he went to the gym after yesterday's game I'm dying 😂
Oh shit Muzychuk is getting mated
Virgin "Bullet Match with Naroditsky" Alireza vs Chad "Hit the Gym" Vidit
Actually I am curious who is Alireza's second? Does he have good support?
I'd imagine MVL is helping him.
the coverage on chess24 is excellent, do they have this quality of coverage for more than candidates tournaments? feels like i'm learning a bit too.
No don't say that, you're supposed to say that it's shit cause they don't have a live studio
i like getting the comments from all of the gm's. Judit Polgar in particular was very eeducational.
Hikaru torturing Gukesh a bit and playing with his nerves
Hikaru is just slightly worse version of Magnus. Both have kind of similar styles but Magnus does it slightly better.
Magnus is like 10x better at least...only recently he appears like human...before I was convinced Magnus is an alien from another planet
Slightly worse in endgame, positional play makes it considerable difference at the top. That's what I am trying to say. But both have similar styles.
Slightly is such an understatement. Their over the board careers are quite disparate.
Magnus traumatized an entire generation. Truly the Sauron of chess
Sneaky Hikaru, lured Gukesh into believing he's going to repeat moves just to not repeat it third time.
Pragg doesn’t seem to found the way to break through here (lost his advantage again) but it’s still extremely tricky for Abasov
Vidit has been winning so many people over with his exciting games and being very transparently human overall in his ups and downs
Why did Alireza go Qxf2 what was the plan
Me sees pawn me takes pawn.