I like th Caruana game.
Pardon our Blunders recap for 1/19!!
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Hello once again everyone and welcome to another weekly recap of Chess.com/TV's flagship show Pardon our Blunders. This week's show was open to ALL members and aired at the usual time of 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern.
There were 12 topics on today's broadcast, including the Blunder of the Week. Most of them dealt with the ongoing Wijk aan Zee/TATA Steel tourney. But there was also a little bit thrown in about the recent 54th Reggio Emilia. So without further delay, here's the rundown of topics. I'll have links for certain topics but not others. Sorry.
#1 - It's been documented widely about Chuky's erratic behavior and results over the board. You just don't know what to expect from him from one day to the next. I myself have been following this and recently posted a blog video interview with some of his WTH moments from Reggio Emilia. And now, while in TATA, playing a game vs. Dutch GM Loek Van Wely in Round 4, oops, Chuky did it again. After the game, Ivanchuk sighed audibly while signing his score sheet, attempted to rip his own head off and walked out but not before giving a karate kick to the door and stormed out. Has Chuky finally lost his head? Have the years of sketchy performances finally forced the Ukrainian GM to go loopy? What's in store for him in the future and will moments like this affect his future tournament invitations?
#2 - Now let's look on the other side of the coin as we talk about one of his opponents during his recent OTB breakdown at Reggio Emilia. Fabiano Caruana, as Black, played Ivanchuk in Round 8 of that tournament and saw witness to another Ivanchuk's "brain fog" moments. Just knowing that you're playing a legend like Chuky can throw you off. But what about as the game progressed. For reference, the game is below along with analysis and comments from the postgame and not my own commentary. Just watch towards the end how Ivanchuk gives away his pieces like a fire-sale:
What sort of strange tournament occurrences have happened to you at your own events? Let us know in the comments below.
#3 - Now we move on to American GM Hikaru Nakamura, who, after his split with Kasparov, vowed to play more chess. But how much is too much? It seems Naka has found out what too much is as his results have not met his expectations. His performance at the Tal Memorial was terrible. At Reggio, Naka had 15 points and was in thick of things fighting for the lead and had 3 games left. So what happened? He lost all three games, needing only a draw to win the tournament. He even tweeted that he knew he was playing too much chess. At TATA, Aronian and Magnus own the show and Naka's at the bottom of the pile. Hikaru needs to take a little time off, catch his breath, reboot his brain so he doesn't get completely worn down halfway through the year.
#4 - Would you love to have a Master (Danny, David, etc.) commentate on your games as you're playing them? That was the subject of the next topic and even some members a while back and David, listening to those members, have recorded a couple of videos doing just that as members are playing and he's giving feedback. How valuable would that be to your game and to your knowledge of chess? Danny does that during his LIVE Sessions games, giving his own thoughts on the games and we have Member Analysis games and Your Games Analyzed for times like this. But as you're playing? It's almost like having coaching sessions on the spot with Masters. Another treat to look forward to on Chess.com.
#5 - With his great performance at TATA this year, will Magnus reach and/or break Kaspy's 2851 peak rating this week? I recently posted a blog using the January 2012 FIDE list where Aronian claimed the #2 spot in the world, 30 points behind Magnus. If Magnus keeps this surge up, he'll surpass his former coach and legend and cement his own place among the elite of elites in chess, up there along with Morphy and Fischer.
#6 - Our very own GM Sam Shankland very recently won the North California International, which took place during the first week of January at North Polytech. There were over 60 players in the Swiss style tournament and several names familiar to Chess.com'rs. Along with this, Shanky has gained 80 FIDE points to go along with his still very shiny GM title. Now a full-time college student, will Shanky continue that great climb and possible become one of America's top players up there with Hess and Naka?
#7 - After the 90-game 1|1 time control deathmatch of last week that Danny won, even though he was the underdog according to a Chess.com front-page poll, will David have a better chance using greater time controls like 5|1? Danny is more used to playing bullet, as David lost games due to time pressure and the like, but it's more even in blitz. So what would the outcome be if 5|1 time controls, perhaps even 3|1 were to be used? I'm sure we'll find out as I'm pretty confident that we'll see a rematch.
#8 - A quick topic here to ask you all if there was any chess death-match match-ups that you'd like to see in the near future? Maybe Shanky vs. Hess? Naka vs. Giri? David suggested the two big boys of Carlsen vs. Aronian. Danny obviously mentioned Brad Pitt vs. Edward Norton, citing the movie Fight Club. But sticking with chess here, what would be your chess dream death-match?
#9 - So as a beginner, how would you spend 5 hrs a week training in chess? All Tactics Trainer (or a program that offers something like it?) 3 hrs of playing, an hour of book study and going over your own games looking for mistakes? Here are Danny and David's suggestion.
#10 - Who's going to win TATA this year? Danny and David both say Magnus by a half to a full point. Quick and easy here. What's your predictions?
#11 - Who would you want to see as a Guest Host for a future PoB show? Well in the next few weeks, a member of the "A" Group playing in the current Wijk aan Zee/TATA Steel tournament will be doing just that. Danny and David obviously gave no more hints than that, but if we look at the "A" group, whoever it is will be an awesome treat.
Blunder of the Week: This week are a few candidates, including Naka's collapse at Reggio, David's predictions on the Death-match or a game between Radjabov and Navara at the current Wijk aan Zee tourney, which you will find below. Move 29. Bc4 is the move in question.
OK everyone that's it for this week. I know this is a long recap but there was a lot of details and many things to discuss, so I apologize for that.
Remember, there is an episode of the BIG Show airing tomorrow at 8 AM Pacific/11 AM Eastern/4 PM London time, open to Platinum/Diamond members.
Take care everyone!
-Mark