Month: October 2016

Computer Style of Playing Chess

Photo: Adam Nadel/Associated Press

Photo: Adam Nadel/Associated Press

This NPR article entitled, “20 Years Later, Humans Still No Match For Computers On The Chessboard“, describes best the playing style of computers vs. humans:

“And in those borderline cases when it’s not obvious that you have to retreat, chess players tend to not like to retreat,” Polgar says. “Let’s say you move a knight forward towards your opponent’s king, attacking. Unless you absolutely have to retreat, you rather try to follow up that attack by bringing more pieces to attack your opponent’s king.”

Computers display no such stubbornness. “A computer, if it calculates that the best move is to retreat, it has absolutely no psychological boundaries holding it back from retreating,” Polgar says.

Trash talks start leading to the World Championship match

magnus-carlsen-sergey-karjakin-world-championship-match-2016

On Chess24:

Karjakin: “If Carlsen wants to beat me he needs to show the best play of his life”

Also, did you know that if you type www.sergeykaryakin.com in your browser, it will redirect to magnuscarlsen.com? That’s quite cruel and funny at the same time, whoever devised it.

Personally, though, Sergey Karjakin may not be the most favorite challenger to match-up with Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship this year, but I think this will be the most followed World Championship match ever.

A queen in the game of kings

Philippine pride: Janelle Mae Frayna playing in Baku 2016 Chess Olympiad. Photo credit: David Llada

Philippine pride: Janelle Mae Frayna playing in Baku 2016 Chess Olympiad. Photo credit: David Llada

Janelle Mae Frayna was featured on Inquirer:

With her mother as her inspiration, she says she will be aiming for the GM title next year and the World Championship cycle in 2018.

“I feel I can do it,” says Janelle, who idolizes Hungarian GM Judith Polgar, the greatest woman player of all time.

With the way she played in the World Junior Championship and the Baku Olympiad, which were definitely no less than strong finishes, indeed, we believe she can do it!

Wesley So in Isle of Man (Masters) 2016

Wesley So came in as 2nd seed at the start of Chess.com’s Isle of Man International Chess Tournament 2016 (Masters category), with an ELO rating of 2794. Throughout the duration of the tournament, he played 9 rounds against players with an average rating of 2709. He tallied 4 wins and 5 draws, for a score of 6.5 points, a performance rating of 2767 — below his current rating.

The table below summarizes the opponents and results of Wesley So’s games in Isle of Man 2016:

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/welsey-so-results-iom-2016.csv”]

Isle of Man 2016 (Masters) Final Ranking: Eljanov Wins!

After 9 rounds of chess action in the Isle of Man International Chess Tournament 2016, Fabiano Caruana and Pavel Eljanov came out on top with 7.5 points each. Eljanov wins on tie-break.

Eljanov wins the Isle of Man 2016. Photo courtesy of Chess.com.

Eljanov wins the Isle of Man 2016. Photo courtesy of Chess.com.

Eljanov drew his 9th and final round game against Wesley So to secure his tied top finish in the tournament. The latter finished in 4th place. Replay game below: [replay]

Replay all the games here: Chess.com Isle of Man International 2016 – Masters.

Pavel Eljanov leads Isle of Man 2016 after Round 6

[section_title title=”Ranking after Round 6″]

Pavel Eljanov takes the driver’s seat at the end of Round 6 of Chess.com’s Isle of Man International Chess Tournament 2016. This after he defeated his co-leader from the end of previous round, Alexei Shirov, in Round 6. Check out their game below: [replay]

All the games of the tournament are available here.

Pavel Eljanov in Baku Chess Olympiad. Photo by Baku Chess Olympiad.

Pavel Eljanov in Baku Chess Olympiad. Photo by Baku Chess Olympiad.

Check out more results from Round 6 here.

Check out interesting match-ups for Round 7 here.

Ian Nepomniachtchi wins Tal Memorial 2016

talbanner

A big achievement by Ian Nepomniachtchi in 10th Mikhail Tal Memorial 2016 tournament in Moscow, Russia. He came out the sole leader after he drew his game against Boris Gelfand in the last and final round, while his closest rival in the tournament, Anish Giri, drew his game as well against Li Chao.

The match between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vladimir Kramnik was the only game decided in the 9th round, in favor of the former. Replay games below: [replay]

Replay all the games in: 10th Mikhail Tal Memorial 2016 (Moscow RUS)

Isle of Man (Masters) 2016 Round 5 Report

[section_title title=”Ranking after Round 5″]

Benjamin Bok (ELO 2594) pulled the biggest upset in Round 5 of Chess.com’s Isle of Man International Tournament 2016, when he defeated the world number 7, Hikaru Nakamura (ELO 2787), with the black pieces. [replay]

Bok will be up against Wesley So in Round 6.

benjamin-bok

Replay all the games played so far: Chess.com Isle of Man International 2016 – Masters.

Check out: Isle of Man Masters 2016 Round 5 Results.

Also check out: Isle of Man Masters 2016 Round 6 Pairings.

At the end of Round 5, Pavel Eljanov joined Alexei Shirov in the lead. Full ranking after round 5 follows: