A Summary: Norway Chess 2015

In the middle of writing this, my computer crashed. So I had to rewrite 2/3 of it. And I also expect that I ought not to have said that. Bother.

I left my creativity behind when writing the title for this post. Anyways, I did wish to post my favourite games (there are two) and a few final words regarding Norway Chess.

Favourite Games:

In these two PGN files, the times of the moves were already there and I didn't want to spend time removing them, so you'll get to read that as well.

The runner-up in my favourite games competition was this one:

Despite Magnus advising the public not to try the opening "at home", I think I may find it of use sometime. It's very inspiring.

And the winner of my favourite games competition was this one:

Before the last two rounds, I wasn't much of a fan of Giri, but his win over Topalov and his remarks in his post-game interview from Round 9 may have slightly changed my opinions.

Remarks on the Performances of the Individual Players:

Veselin Topalov: $75,000 is a lot of money for one little win on time.

Vishy Anand: It is never unexpected that he finishes second. The unexpected was the one who finished ahead of him.

Hikaru Nakamura: Looking past his good performance, one must be glad that pieces and not words are used to play chess.

Anish Giri: Many thanks for Round 8 and the remarks on "black's h-pawn".

Fabiano Caruana: Not such a great tournament, but a great policy of honesty.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: Not a complete comeback, but what can one say? Once a chicken, always a chicken, I guess. Except that MVL was only 50% chicken at best. He got a Norwegian ice cream for appearing in The Confessional most times. The thing didn't even live up to its name.

Magnus Carlsen: What can one say? One is depressed, of course, but who would have sacrificed any last bits of hope for the achievement of a second? None other.

Alexander Grischuk: First time in his life when he hasn't been in time trouble... but then he goes and gets himself lost again. Hope he had fun in the blitz, real or not.

Levon Aronian: More honesty and a slight, slight comeback...

Jon Ludvig Hammer: The ugly ducking turned into a (metaphorically) beautiful swan. And then there is more honesty.

_________________

Norway Chess this year was one of the most dramatic tournaments in recent years (last year's Sinquefield Cup being another), and although the results, for me, were less than satisfactory, I enjoyed watching the games.

I, of course, had many more comments, but they are all lost amongst my many thoughts already.

And for the final flourish...

Favourite Quotes of the Tournament:

"I'm devastated."
-Levon Aronian

"Small hint: it's not a Car-uana."
-Jan Gustafsson

"At least I'm still second-best on the board."
-Jon Ludvig Hammer

"If we talked about the things that went right, I think that we would have a more relevant conversation."
-Magnus Carlsen