Carlsen, So In Grand Chess Tour; Kramnik Declines

Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So, the world number one and two in the live ratings, will be playing the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. Vladimir Kramnik could not play in all events and therefore had to decline.

In a press release on Tuesday the Grand Chess Tour organizers announced the nine main participants of this season, and the tournaments they will play.

Besides Carlsen and So, they are Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Sergey Karjakin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Viswanathan Anand, and Levon Aronian.

These nine players will all compete in the 2017 Sinquefield Cup (July 31-August 12) and the 2017 London Classic (November 29-December 12) where they will be joined by one wildcard in each tournament.

This year there will be three rapid events instead of two; the third will be held in St. Louis right after the Sinquefield Cup. In each of these rapid events, six of the nine players will play:

	Paris Rapid June 21-25	YourNextMove Rapid June 28-July 2	St. Louis Rapid August 13-17
1	Magnus Carlsen	Magnus Carlsen	Hikaru Nakamura
2	Hikaru Nakamura	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Fabiano Caruana
3	Fabiano Caruana	Wesley So	Ian Nepomniachtchi
4	Sergey Karjakin	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Sergey Karjakin
5	Wesley So	Vishy Anand	Vishy Anand
6	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Levon Aronian	Levon Aronian

According to the Grand Chess Tour organizers, all invited players accepted their invitations except for Vladimir Kramnik, who was replaced by Levon Aronian.

Kramnik commented to Chess.com:

"It was just a schedule problem. I have already commitments in the summer and autumn so if would have accepted, I would have played more or less four months in a row with some few days of breaks in between. Just too much."

Kramnik expressed his disappointment about this year's chess calendar:

"It's stupid, since now I have nothing classical for some three months. They must meet somehow, the organizers, and make a decent schedule of tournaments. It's always the same: just a few first-half and more than a full second-half of the year."

Many open tournament organizers would love to welcome Kramnik, who played the Qatar Masters in 2014 and 2015. Another participant in that tournament decided to play an open this spring: Anish Giri. The Dutchman is the top seed in the Reykjavik in April.

Kramnik: "I would have gladly participated in two [of the Grand Chess Tour events], but not four. Since their regulations do not allow this, I have to miss all of them."

Perhaps we'll see Kramnik playing anyway, since each event will also have wildcard players. The wildcards for the first two rapid events, in Paris and Leuven, will be announced "as soon as all recipients of event level wildcards have confirmed their participation," says the press release.

Each event in which a player competes will count toward their Grand Chess Tour score and final tour standings. The Tour has a total prize fund of $1,200,000.

The 3 'Illnesses' Of Chess

 

The Chess.com member Canyounotquit wrote: “I really want to know why and how I lost this particular game. I had a piece lead and still I lost badly. I’ve no idea where I went wrong.”

vladiferdor (1714) vs. Canyounotquit (1582)

chess.com Sept. 2016 | 30 minutes each | 1-0

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JS: Everyone loses games. But, while pros will figure out what they did wrong, amateurs usually have no idea where the REAL MOMENT OF DOOM hit them.

Yes, any computer will point things out, but since it’s not speaking and telling you what’s up, all you’ll get is reams of moves that are often way over your head (it will tell you to do this or that, but in most cases you won’t understand any of it!). And so, as losses pile up and frustration raises your blood pressure to new heights, you accept that you’re hopeless, or you blame your openings, or you insist that your opponent was using a chess engine, or you will mark up all those losses as “unlucky.”

I’ve pretty much mentioned (in the zillion articles I’ve written) what the main problems are for those that suffer from the “I lost but don’t know why!” disease.

But let me, once again, list the three of the most important ones for players under 1900, since it’s harder to cure these illnesses than most players think (in fact, many never find a cure!):

• You hang your pieces!
• When you have decided on a move, you fail to figure out what your opponent’s BEST response should be.
  
• You often don’t have an agenda, or you easily throw it away when your opponent makes a threat or perceived threat.
  

Again, there are more chess “illnesses” than these, but I will only focus on the three I listed.

Let’s leap in and see where Canyounotquit turned a “game-over” winning position to a loss.

vladiferdor (1714) vs. Canyounotquit (1582)

chess.com Sept. 2016 | 30 minutes each | 1-0

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Black is a full piece up. That means that White doesn’t even have a pawn for it. On top of that White has no attack, his bishop isn’t doing much, and Black has no weaknesses.

Let’s take a look at Black’s position. Black’s bishop is better than White’s, and his d5-knight is beautifully posted on d5. Black even has a space advantage in the center. 

Since White has no threats at all, Black needs to do the following:

Create an agenda! Do NOT curl in a ball and start to defend or play on the queenside. Instead ask, “Everything is great, but where’s my plan? The center is blocked, White will try something on the queenside (though White can’t really create anything real). That leaves the kingside. White has no pieces on the kingside (other than his king). 

If you do the math, we get the following: White will try and attack on the queenside but it’s rubbish. Black should ignore it. Black has more central space, but it’s not going to knock out his opponent (though if the center opens up then that should favor Black due to his magnificent knights and control over the d5 and d3 squares). The kingside, though, is begging to be conquered.

Thus 16…g5 is the most logical (Of course many moves win easily, but why not brutalize your opponent for daring to play on?).

vladiferdor vs. Canyounotquit

Variation: Black Gobbles Up White's King | 0-1

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16... g5 17. Rac1 g4Not very subtle. 17...g4 is screaming, "Kill the king!" When amateur's see that their king is being threatened, they tend to panic. I'm sure White would have rolled into a ball and died a horrible death if 16...g5 followed by 17...g4 was played. 18. h4g3!Opening files to White's king.19. fxg3 Rhg8 20. Nc5 Bxc5 21. dxc5c6Stopping c5-c6. Of course,(21... Rxg3 22. c6 Qc8would also win easily.)22. Be1Stopping ...Rxg3. Notice how White is now the one defending.22... Ng4Threatening to chop on e3!23. Bf2 Nxf2 24. Rxf2(24. Kxf2 Qg4, 0-1.)24... Rxg3, 0-1 since White has no attack on the queenside, he's a piece down for nothing, the e3-pawn is cracking, and White's king is suffering.

¥

fJ#,.@

Let’s return to our initial position:

vladiferdor (1714) vs. Canyounotquit (1582)

chess.com Sept. 2016 | 30 minutes each | 1-0

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Instead of showing White who is boss with a kingside blood-and-guts agenda, Black starts to do odd things on the queenside:16... Qc6?Walking onto the only file White can use. This takes us to: WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED ON A MOVE, YOU TEND TO FAIL TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR OPPONENT'S BEST RESPONSE SHOULD BE. Sure enough, if you decide to play 16...Qc6 and don't notice 17.Rfc1, then you aren't looking for your opponent's best response. This is similar to another article I wrote titled, Dancing With Yourself. 17. Rfc1Qa6There was no reason to waste time getting Black's queen to a6 (note that the rest of Black's pieces won't be able to help Black's queen... remember: chess is a team game! Make sure you pieces WORK TOGETHER! Of course, Black is still winning easily. But he doesn't have an agenda, and he's giving his opponent a little bit of hope. 18. Qc2 Rd7?!Here is another one of our "illnesses": YOU OFTEN DON'T HAVE AN AGENDA, OR YOU EASILY THROW IT AWAY WHEN YOUR OPPONENT MAKES A THREAT OR A PERCEIVED THREAT. Black doesn't want to put his rook on d7, but he decides that if his knight on d5 moves then Qxc7+ might occur. Yes, that's true, IF you allow it. But why would Black move that monster of a knight on d5? Instead of panicking, PUSH YOUR AGENDA! The sad thing is that once you start playing on one side of the board, and once you allow even a tad of fear to push you around, then you will continue to do so and, in many cases, crash and burn. Instead of the useless 18...Rd7, just 18...g5 tells White that his king is in far more danger than Black's! However, Black is still winning, and winning easily. It takes a lot a mistakes to lose Black's initial position. 19. Nc5 Bxc520. dxc5This opens the d-file, which clearly helps Black. But White really had nothing else to do. 20... Rhd8A good move. Black prepares to smash White down the d-file. 21. Be1 Ne7Black feared c5-c6 (which would be dealt with by the simple ...Qxc6). Once again we are facing one of the 3 illnesses: YOU OFTEN DON'T HAVE AN AGENDA, OR YOU EASILY THROW IT AWAY WHEN YOUR OPPONENT MAKES A THREAT OR A PERCEIVED THREAT. Clearly, c5-c6 wasn't really a threat, but Black is starting to see ghosts (perceived threats). The more ghosts you see, the more you'll defend, and the more chances your opponent will have. Again, 21...Ne7 isn't really so bad since it opens the d-file for Black's rooks. But we'll soon see that Black has already fallen into "ghost city." 22. b4Nc6?Walking into this "illness": WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED ON A MOVE, YOU TEND TO FAIL TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR OPPONENT'S BEST RESPONSE SHOULD BE. In this case Black didn't notice a2-a4 followed by b4-b5, even though that's the only hope White has. As always, Black had many ways to win. One is 22...Rd5 23.a4 Qe6 24.b5 Rg5 (Threatening ...Qxh3) 25.Kh1 Nf5 26.Rd1 Nd5 and it’s over (the threat of ...Nh4 is a killer). Again, if you don't have an agenda that suits the details of the position, you won't play good moves. 23. a4And now Black panics. 23... b5??Our last "illness" rears its ugly head: YOU HANG YOUR PIECES! Ripping his own king's shelter apart, and turning a dead win into a slightly superior position for White. Notice that from move 16 onwards Black never even thought of going after White's king. Black's best path was(23... Qd3 24. Qb2 Qd5 25. Bc3 (25. b5Ne5 26. c6 Nd3is too easy.) 25... Qf5!If Black didn't see the tactics, then(25... Re7 26. b5 Ne5is a dead win. Just guard your stuff, be brave, and do your best to bring your pieces to good squares.) 26. b5 Ne5! 27. Bxe5 Rd2, 0-1.)24. cxb6 Qxb6 25. Qxc6 Qxc626. Rxc6and White, due to his better pawn structure, has a small plus. In the end Black was outplayed in the endgame.

¥

fJ#,.@

Okay, I know a lot of you will say, “This is beginner stuff. I don’t do it!”

Really? I’ve looked a many hundreds of Chess.com games from players 1000 to 1900, and just about all of them make these errors now and then or, in most cases, often. If you decide to ignore the three illnesses, that’s fine, especially if you’re a masochist and love the feeling of losing again and again.

The fact is that most players are not aware of these three illnesses (or at the least one or two of them).

And the only way to fix this problem:

1. Be aware of it! If you aren’t aware of the three illnesses, you won’t be able to cure them.
2. Once you’re aware, you need to train yourself to avoid the horrors that the three illnesses create. To do this, you have to look for all three before you move and, over time, it will become an unconscious, and fairly quick, scan. When this becomes a normal part of your calculations, you’ll be shocked at your vastly improved results.

Here’s a typical (but extremely instructive) example:

broadwayjeff (1592) vs. lovechess2016 (1508)

chess.com January 21, 2017 | 30 minutes each | 1-0

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12. e5White thinks that he's attacking since his king is castled while Black's is in the center (of course, White has weakened his own king by playing g2-g4). White's perspective makes some sense, but both sides seem to be unaware about Black's ace in the hole: he has two bishops vs. White's two knights. And here we see the problem with 12.e5: by advancing the e-pawn he allows diagonals to be opened which, in turn, makes the bishops forces to be reckoned with. 12... fxe5?!This move forces White's f3-knight to capture on e5, when the knight suddenly becomes extremely strong. We will also see that Black fell for two of the 3 illnesses. The first is: WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED ON A MOVE, YOU TEND TO FAIL TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR OPPONENT'S BEST RESPONSE SHOULD BE. In this case Black didn't realize that after White recaptures on e5 his light-squared bishop would be attacked. The second is: YOU OFTEN DON'T HAVE AN AGENDA, OR YOU EASILY THROW IT AWAY WHEN YOUR OPPONENT MAKES A THREAT OR A PERCEIVED THREAT. Black's agenda should have been to nurture his bishops, but instead he nurtured White's knight. In other words, Black didn't have an agenda. Instead of 12...fxe5, Black could just play 12...e6 which solidified his center, or(12... h5which tells White that his king isn't as safe as he thought it was. A sample: 13. exf6 hxg4 14. fxe7 Bxe715. hxg4 Qd6and though Black's a pawn down, his bishops are clearly better than White's knights, and White's king can't be particularly happy. Note that16. Kg2runs into 16... Qf4when White is dead lost.)13. Nxe5It's only now that Black realizes what he's done. He didn't know it, but he was yet another victim of, WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED ON A MOVE, YOU TEND TO FAIL TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR OPPONENT'S BEST RESPONSE SHOULD BE. Fortunately, Black's still very much in the game! 13... Bh7??Once again not seeing White's best response. Instead of being pushed around, Black should have played(13... Qd6when 14. Nxg6 (14. f4Bh7leads to a very interesting position. I prefer Black!) 14... Qxg6is very comfortable for Black (his dark-squared bishop will prove to be much better than White's knight.)14. Qf3Doh! And Black can resign. In fact, no agenda and not taking the time to look for your opponent's best responses will, if you are playing a reasonably experienced player, almost always lead you to a chessic grave.14... Bg6(14... f6 15. Nxc6 Qd7 16. Qxd5)15. Nxc6 Qb6 16. Qxd5 Qxb2If your king is in the middle of the board and you're facing a monster attack, opening new lines for the enemy rooks can only lead to complete destruction. 17. Na4It does the job, but even better was(17. Ne5! Ra7the only way to stop a quick mate 18. Rab1when the only question left is which piece will die first, the Black queen or the Black king.(18. Qc6+ Kd8 19. Rab1is also the End of Days.))17... Qxc2I would have preferred to leap into an active volcano, but since there was no volcano around, I guess 17...Qxc2 was a good substitute.18. Nxc5 e6 19. Qd7#

¥

fJ#,.@

Believe it or not, this little game offers a lot of important lessons. Both players (and those that are reading this article) should go over it carefully.