KQ versus KR, part two

September 23, 2017

In my last post, I looked at the K and Q versus K and R endgames, one of the four endgames of the Apocalypse, which occurred in both of the semifinal matches of the World Cup, and I introduced a couple of new ideas or at least new terminology, the “seesaw maneuver” and the “back-against-the-wall […]

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The Seesaw in the KQ vs. KR Endgame

September 21, 2017

Watching the World Cup is just like watching a master class in endgames! We’ve already had three matches decided by very difficult K+R versus K+B endgames, with equal pawns on both sides. Today, in the semifinal round, the masters decided to teach us a class in the infamous K+Q vs. K+R endgame, with no pawns […]

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An Introduction and an Opportunity

September 18, 2017

I’m glad to make a two-part announcement today. First, my blog is going to start partnering with Susan Polgar’s blog, “Chess Daily News.” Don’t worry, my posts will continue to appear here as they always have, but they will also be cross-linked at CDN. The second part is that Susan is herself starting a new […]

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One Little Pebble

September 14, 2017

Every landslide begins with one little pebble. And then another, and then a few rocks, and then a boulder, and then a whole hillside is moving … That’s what it must have felt like for Alexander Grischuk when he was on the receiving end of an overwhelming, out-of-the-blue attack by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fourth […]

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Chess is Not Math

September 13, 2017

People who know I have a Ph.D. in math often think that mathematics must help me in chess. But I have to tell them: not really. Having a mathematical mind is somewhat useful: in both subjects, it’s good to be able to hold in your mind long strings of “if this, then that.” But it […]

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2017 World Cup — Round 3 Complete

September 11, 2017

The 2017 World Cup fashion show… er, chess tournament… has now finished three rounds, and the upsets continue! Fabiano Caruana went down to defeat at the hands of Evgeny Najer, and both Levon Aronian and Anish Giri lost games to their lower-rated opponents before coming back to defeat them. The final 16 are now set, […]

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Tbilisi Memories

September 10, 2017

The FIDE World Cup is going crazy with upsets! Just look at the world’s top players on the September rating list and how they are doing so far, after the “classical” part of round 3. Carlsen — OUT Vachier-Lagrave — Tied, 1-1 Kramnik — OUT Aronian — Tied, 1-1 Caruana — Tied, 1-1 Mamedyarov — […]

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Scandal Ruins World Cup’s Best Day

September 9, 2017

In a fairer world, we would all be talking about Xiangzhi Bu today. At the World Cup, he just defeated the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, in a game straight out of the nineteenth century. Bu played a daring bishop sacrifice on move 15; Carlsen accepted his challenge instead of meekly heading for a draw by […]

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2017 World Cup – Round 2 Complete

September 8, 2017

The playoffs of round 2 in the World Cup happened today, and as you’d expect with closer matchups and faster time controls, there were a few upsets. Probably the most notable one was Hao Wang over Boris Gelfand. Even though the rating difference wasn’t so big, Gelfand is one of those people whose reputation is […]

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Daniil Dubov — a young Tigran?

September 7, 2017

In round two of the 2017 World Cup, two more big names went down to defeat: former World Champion Viswanathan Anand (the #10 seed) and the most recent World Champion challenger, Sergei Karjakin (who was seeded #12 here). Things are getting real! Anand was completely outplayed by Canadian grandmaster Anton Kovalyov, who won the first […]

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