Carlsen-Karjakin R3 Bilbao Game Analyzed

How would you know that an innocent-looking move like 20… Rc4 would prove to be a disaster for black?

That is what GM Valentin Iotov explains in the video analysis that follow:

Now tell me, will this type of game dominate the World Championship in November?

Check out all the games played so far in Bilbao Masters Final 2016.

Knockout (Matches) vs. Round Robin

Former challenger to the world chess crown, Boris Gelfand, when asked if anyone can beat Magnus Carlsen in the near future:

In matches, in general, anyone could. Carlsen is, of course, the clear favourite, but many would have a chance. As for tournaments – he wins the majority of them. Nevertheless, there are still contenders for his crown. I’m cautious in my predictions.

Perhaps, a majority of top grandmasters would agree that holding a tournament in a knockout (matches) format would yield a totally different result than when usually held in round-robin (or Swiss-system) format. That’s because different players perform differently between the two formats. Sometimes, a certain player acts as an Achilles heel against a particular opponent, but performs poorly when slated with the rest of the participants.

Thus, I think it would be interesting to follow tournaments that incorporate both formats. Maybe a round robin in the early stages that ultimately culminates in four-way knockout matches? Don’t you think?

The Greatest World Championship Rivalry

Perhaps in time for the 2016 World Championship, Dr. Timothy Harding narrates the series of events that went down to become the greatest world championship rivarly in the history of chess:

In their epic World Championship rivalry over the course of five matches and six years, Kasparov achieved a superiority of just two wins over Karpov (21 to 19) with 104 games ending in draws.

The series of games included a few “grandmaster draws” and some blunders, but overall the contests were of very high quality. They represented the highest achievements of the human mind in chess at a time when it was unaided by computers.

A long but exciting read. A trip down memory lane. It makes one wonder, how would the current landscape be so different if computers were not involved in molding the grandamsters of today? Do you think we’ll see the same set of people at the top level chess, or only the ones backed by heavy machineries like the Russians?

The Bilbao Masters Final 2016

For this year’s Bilbao Masters, Wesley So is the defending champion, when he defeated Anish Giri in blitz playoff last year.

The Bilbao Chess press release:

The Final completes its competitive line-up, the strongest in recent years, with So, the winner of last year’s tournament, Nakamura and Giri, who are among the top ten of the international ranking and the 16-year-old Chinese player Yi Wei, the sport’s emerging world star.

The tournament, which has been recognised as one of the most prestigious in the world, will take place between 13 and 23 July at the Campos Elíseos Theatre, alongside the Villa de Bilbao, one of the most compelling Chess Opens of the year in which 140 players will compete.

This year’s edition of Bilbao Masters has truly gone more exciting, because on top of the familiar rivalry between Wesley So and Anish Giri, the organizers are bringing us a treat with the preview of this year’s World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin.

Who will win the 2016 World Chess Championship?

The World Championship is fast approaching. It’s time to put it to a vote. Who’s your favorite to win the 2016 World Chess Championship?

Cast your vote below now: