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    Yeah, it's pretty unappealing from your point of view. It's a very closed position where nothing will happen fast, but my material advantage gives me pretty much total control now I've dealt with that double rooked column danger, so you can either lose slowly or resign. Your privilege to choose, but I would have resigned already in your position (mind you, I am usually an early resigner as I have very little patience for playing losing positions for long). [Edit: was that draw offer serious?]

    Meanwhile I have been having an absolutely cracking game against Levin, whose well-marshalled forces pulled back a material deficit of several points over a series of moves where there was so much going on that each move required thinking through dozens of permutations (which Levin evidently handled rather better than I did).

    And one of those matches against Sam where it looked kind of even until suddenly it very much wasn't, nice one Sam.

    Second game against Etienne is yet another one where I'm being out-played by fewer pieces.
    Last edited by Evariste Euler Gauss; 17-10-2018, 21:15.

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      Hmpf.

      But yes, right up until I played when tired last night I had so much fun going through permutations. Your knight queen combination that would have threatened my rook when you sacrificed your knight was lovely.

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        No, it wasn't serious. I thought that was obvious.

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          I thought it probably wasn't. Easy to mis-click in response though.

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            Just by way of managing expectations, I should mention that I'll be away this weekend, from around 6pm-ish tomorrow (Friday) until probably around 3pm-ish on Monday. My shitty smartphone is not working properly at present, so I shan't be making any moves in that period (which may be just as well in the interests of family harmony anyway). It's an absence of a tad under 3 days so I'll make sure it's not my move in any games before I go and then there's no risk of a time-out, but I thought I'd mention it so that nobody's thinking "get a sodding move on, EEG!".

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              Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
              Just by way of managing expectations, I should mention that I'll be away this weekend, from around 6pm-ish tomorrow (Friday) until probably around 3pm-ish on Monday. My shitty smartphone is not working properly at present, so I shan't be making any moves in that period (which may be just as well in the interests of family harmony anyway). It's an absence of a tad under 3 days so I'll make sure it's not my move in any games before I go and then there's no risk of a time-out, but I thought I'd mention it so that nobody's thinking "get a sodding move on, EEG!".
              Thanks for the notice. I just made a move in our game, so if you make another one somewhere during this day, I'll wait with my next one until Sunday or so and Bob's your uncle.

              Never heard of that brand of smartphone before.

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                Oh, I swear by it. Quite regularly.

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                  So, we have a clubhouse leader, with Levin having finished on 8.5 points. I can reach 8.5 points with two wins over Wouter, but I'm certain I'd lose the tie-breaker to Levin. Both EEG and Wouter have their destiny in their own hands - if they win all their remaining games they will win. EEG has the easier task of the two as he only has to win 3, compared to Wouter's 4, and one of them is against Bored.

                  I think we could be some time though as Wouter is still on game 1 against both me and EEG and both look set for lengthy endgames.

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                    Tempting fate here, obviously, but I make myself favourite now in my first game against Wouter after his 34. b4, which seemed to overlook my right to capture en passant. Maybe I'm overlooking some obvious flaw in my reasoning, but I'm pretty sure that will put me a minor piece up (and so R+B vs R) within the next two moves. I think Wouter has been (maybe still is) very busy at work. On the other hand, I'm plenty capable of losing a match after going a minor piece up, as some of you will recall from personal experience.

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                      Originally posted by Etienne View Post
                      So, we have a clubhouse leader, with Levin having finished on 8.5 points. I can reach 8.5 points with two wins over Wouter, but I'm certain I'd lose the tie-breaker to Levin. Both EEG and Wouter have their destiny in their own hands - if they win all their remaining games they will win. EEG has the easier task of the two as he only has to win 3, compared to Wouter's 4, and one of them is against Bored.
                      Oi! No, fair point.

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                        Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                        I think Wouter has been (maybe still is) very busy at work.
                        I have, and I am. This continues to remain the case up to and including November 9, after which more relaxing times should arrive.

                        Spoils are rolling in at work right now too, so it's all been worth it. But winning this tournament is going to be very difficult indeed.

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                          I've really enjoyed this one, and I'm not just saying that due to my current position. I think everyone took Ivory Tower's comments on board and the chess has been much better for it.

                          I may have to actually study endgames though. It would be an understatement to say I was surprised when the analysis engine told me I was 12 moves from mate in the game I drew against Etienne. I just could not see it, or any way of forcing it.

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                            Yes, thanks all. And sorry I've not been joining in the discussion – I've been (and am still on) my trip. But it was another enjoyable tournament!

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                              I've found myself getting sucked into watching the first game of the world championships. I've been glued to it for the last hour now. (and in that time it feels like there have about 4 moves)

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                                Luckily I broke my addiction to this game about 4 hours ago. It is still going on.

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                                  It looks like it was quite interesting for a while but not sure why they didn't agree a draw about an hour ago. The Guardian is doing live commentary but it could do with a bit more explanations. For instance on move 40 or so Carlsen apparently blundered. But beyond telling us that he did they don't say why and it's not an obvious one like he lost a piece. I assume it was because he allowed Caruana a passed pawn but I'm not sure, and I imagine plenty of readers are of a similar level of understanding. Just before that they quoted Susan Polgar calling a move inaccurate but again no explanation why.

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                                    Yeah I was watching the chess.com coverage. I don't think the mbm style works for this
                                    It has finally been put out of its misery now

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                                      I'll be there for Game 7 on Sunday week. There's a reasonable chance it'll be eventful, as it follows a rest day and Carlsen has his second consecutive game with White.

                                      Mind you, I'd better check the time of the last train home.

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                                        What I tend to do with the big ones is wait until afterwards and then read the reports and play through afterwards. It's a lot easier to pick up the 'narrative' (if you will) of a game when you're seeing the whole thing over the span of a few minutes.

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                                          Today's seems to be the carbon copy of yesterday. White (this time Carlsen) gets into time problems and falls behind. Now we're in an end game involving a rook each and a few pawns, which black is still sort of ahead in but the draw seems inevitable.

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                                            And indeed just as I write that they shake on a draw

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                                              What I tend to do with the big ones is wait until afterwards and then read the reports and play through afterwards. It's a lot easier to pick up the 'narrative' (if you will) of a game when you're seeing the whole thing over the span of a few minutes.
                                              What I tend to do is not attempt to follow any grandmaster matches at all, from the World Championship downwards, except perhaps very occasionally with the benefit of expert commentary pitched at my dimwit level. I suspect that the true narrative of such matches, in the sense of the "what if" analysis that underlies the players' decisions each move, would largely pass me by entirely without someone there to point it out and explain it to me in nice easy steps. I'd be likely to have an illusion of following, based on guessing that the rationale for the moves was something simpler than, and very different from, the actual thinking. So I simply don't bother trying.

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                                                Haha, yes that's what I should have said; read a match/game report or two, and then perhaps spend a bit of time playing it through with some analysis to hand.

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                                                  This is the most readable and comprehensible thing on the WC that I've read so far.

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                                                    Thanks for that Levin. It's a good read

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