Cheater is back - 34th. MEMORIAL E. CRESPI 2013

I had the idea to play chess in Milan, Italy for more than a year.
Fortunately, this Autumn, Michael de Verdier and I decided that it would be the right time to complete our plans for the second part of 2013 and we took the decision to play in Milan.
International festival in Milan are one of those open tournaments that you can not easily find on a chess map of Europe, but there has always been a very good players.
As we expected the same thing this year, we decided to contact the organisers as soon as possible.
However, this year there is a big surprise in the starting list.

We are top of the league

I knew it that November will be properly filled with the articles and reports on this blog.

On Friday 22nd November, Magnus Carlsen became the 16th World Champion, and as in my last article I predicted exactly how the last game will end (also I predicted the result of the match, before it started) I have no intention to go deeper in the analysis of this match. You can find that everywhere on the Internet.

In this article I will write about start of Swedish Elitserien, the highest division in Sweden.

Anand-Carlsen 3:6

Nothing can stop Magnus Carlsen of becoming 16th World Champion in chess (undisputed).
That fact is the most important thing that we can take from today´s game.
Carlsen´s lead now is the whole three points, and he need only one draw from the last three games to become that what was his dream when he started to play chess.

Michael de Verdier: Anand-Carlsen 3-5

Before I leave the word to Michael de Verdier I have to say something about my analysis of game number six. I showed the position which not reached in the game number six.
The real position was reached before h3, gxh3, Rg6 sequence, so my analysis were two tempos down for White.
It is proved by extended analysis that in that case White really could save a draw with b2-b4.
There is no big difference in that, because if you have to play the only moves to save a draw in the position when couple of moves before that he could drew in his dream, then it is most probably that you will not find these moves.

Elitserien 2013/2014

It is only four days before start of the new season in Swedish league, Elitserien.
This article will be some sort of a preview, with forecast of four players from four different clubs.
Before their opinion I will write some thoughts and facts about the league.

Anand-Carlsen 2-4

Eventually we got some decisive games in the last two games, and it seems that everything goes as the most people foreseen.
Magnus Carlsen will be the next (16th) World Champion in chess.
He won the games number five and number six, and now has a +2 lead in this match.
I still can not see how Anand can win the single game with this strategy, not to say to win another two games without losing the single one.
This match is for now, the one way road.

de Verdier´s thoughts: Anand-Carlsen 2:2

For the report about games four and five, I´ll give the word to occasional guest blogger here, Mr. Michael de Verdier:
He wrote about the games, but also some general thoughts about this match.

Not so minor details

Today we could see very good game by Carlsen and Anand, but I will wait for my report about WC match until they finish their fourth game.
In the meanwhile, I want to show you one game that I played on my recent tournament, in which the luck changed sides couple of times.
I was in control for the most of the game, when I missed one good resource of my opponent.
After then I was probably lost, but somehow managed to save the game.
As usual, there will be some questions to the readers.

Anand-Carlsen 1-1

I don´t know what is general opinion about the start of this match, but I am hugely disappointed.
I did not expect from Anand or Carlsen part to go for everything in the very beginning or to play for a public, but a bit more volume in the games could be expected.
The first two games were more boring then the games in Gelfand-Anand match.

Anand-Carlsen

This text will be my modest contribution to the biggest chess event in 2013.
All possible predictions are available on every corner of chess world and this site will not be an exception.

Welcome to Belfast

During my stay in Cork and Dublin, Michael de Verdier and I took decision to visit the capital of Norther Ireland, Belfast.
Usually when I visit some city, you can notice that on this blog, as I like to make an pictorial reportage.
This particular city left very deep impression on me, so I need to write something about it.
I shall try to do that in a way that you can not already find on the Internet.