Pardon our Blunders recap for 2/24/2012!
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Good evening everyone. Even though I'm writing this recap more than 6 hours after the show began and wasn't even present at the show because of my wonderful health, I'm up tonight, watching it and getting the recaps done.
This week's episode was open to ALL Members and began at 1 PM Pacific. Now I'm not going to make the recaps lengthy like the last couple. I just don't feel well enough this time around to do that, so let's get to the topics and whatever links I was able to find:
1 - Magnus on CBS - For about 11 or 12 minutes this past Sunday night, we were treated to something we hardly ever see in mainstream media; an interview with a chess player on television. Did his persona help or hurt the way people view chess and its players? He seemed laid back, almost humble and not full of himself, despite being the best in the world at what he does. Did he captivate the audience or just prove to the world that chess and the people that play it are just as nerdy as they thought?
2 - Naka and the U.S. Championships - After sitting out of the 2011 campaign, American GM Hikaru Nakamura accepts a wild-card invite to this year's festivities in St. Louis seeking his 3rd U.S. title. The funny thing is though, last year, he was doing commentary on site as the tournament was going on. Why? Why show up to talk about it when he declined to play? Basically to me that was a kick in the face to the tournament and the players involved. I guess common sense and decency got the better of him this year. Not many people thought that Naka would accept since he's ranked #6 in the world and this "big dog" now "lowering" himself to play for the U.S. Title. We'll just have to wait and see what kind of performance he has. Being the best in the country, you'd think he'll win. You never know.
3 - # of players at U.S. Champs?: There are 12 players (10 for the Women's side) participating in the tournament this year. How many *should* there be? More? Less? The numbers over the years have ranged from just 2 (a single match) to 64. Myself personally I think the number is just fine the way it is. 12 is not too much or too little in my books. Anything less is not enough although I do share Danny's idea of 16 and it being an elite event and have some people get the shaft. There were 16 players last year and there easily could've been more, but certain people not getting in creates controversy, possibly making the tournament more interesting. David thinks 12 is too little because there's not enough games going on at once to generate interest. I guess it all depends on the people. Everyone is going to nit-pick every year, this one and that one, so pleasing the masses is definitely not going to happen.
4 - Invite system - If you wanted 16 players at the tournament, how would your "invite system" be created?
Danny: The top 10 by rating (David immediately calls out "Boring.") 2 by Qualification (by winning qualification tournaments) 3 Wild-cards, and an invite to the U.S. Junior Champion.
David: 2 people by rating and the rest by qualification. The top 4 players of the previous year and the reigning champion would get some of those spots. The U.S. Junior champion would also get a spot. The rest would be handed out to 2 rating spots, 1 or 2 by wild-card and a qualification tournament.
Danny then changed his tune as a new idea came up influenced by the "Top Chef" TV show and it's new format this year. He's not the pop culture king of Chess.com for nothing.
5 - Sharma vs. Shahade - This coming Sunday will feature Chess.com's 2nd Deathmatch as the two commissioners from the United States Chess League clash. Arun Sharma takes on Greg Shahade, who just recently un-retired to get back in the game. David and Danny had the first DM several weeks back and there's more in the works, including one with Sam Shankland battling Robert Hess. Now as the guys do commentary on Chess.com/TV, what are the predictions being made for the winner?
Danny: Shahade because he's a stronger player and that he's Sharma's boss, so that might be an intimidation/karma factor that helps him.
David: They're both excellent blitz players and were never rusty when they became inactive. And perhaps the boss thing should work the other way and Sharma wanting to stick it to Shahade instead of the other way around.
There are three different time controls: 5|1, 3|1 and finally 1|0. The first stage getting 75 minutes, the second gets and hour, and the final 45-minutes are bullet. It's definitely going to be grueling either way.
6 - Aronian/Kramnik - At the end of April, Vladimir Kramnik takes on Levon Aronian in a 6-game friendly Classical match in Zurich, Switzerland, as they both prepare for the Candidates tournament later this year. When I first heard and blogged about this, I knew it was going to be much MUCH better than the World Championship match that begins in early May between Anand and Gelfand. Obviously it's a slap in the face to the more important match and whoever scheduled this must've wanted to do just that. Personally I'm looking forward to this with eager anticipation. Yeah I'll be watching every move of every game between Anand and Gelfand, but I'm sure I'll need at Mt. Dew IV and a box of Kit-Kats just to get through every game.
There was a heavy debate during this talking about if Anand is still the World Champion. He is in name, but not in practice, especially recently.
7 - What match are you looking forward to more? We we know my take on this subject from last topic and the debate continued in this topic with Danny and David. So until Anand loses the Championship, he's still considered champion, right? Does FIDE need to change it's system and cycle to make the World Championship interesting again? Here you have Kramnik/Aronian that will clearly steal power from the title match. The guys agree that the Kramnik/Aronian match will be the one to watch.
8 - Nimzo or Slav? - Which is the better opening you ask? Danny went with the Nimzo-Indian (naturally, since he's a Nimzo player) played by people who wear purple sweaters (Michael Adams.)
Danny: If black wants more winning chances and something more dynamic, the Nimzo would be the way to go. If black was looking for early equalization, then it would be the Slav. The Nimzo at the highest level offers better winning chances for black.
David: The Slav is easier to learn. c6 d5 work's well against any Closed White opening. Nimzo means you have to learn the Queen's Indian also or the Catalan as well as some English Openings.
9 - No Super Tourneys - It's been a quiet week in tournament play as Gibraltar, TATA, and Aeroflot have all been completed and there's not much going on right now. It could be a relief to some (like chess journalists) who are busy most of the time. But this is the time of the year that the Amber tournament would be held, so it's sad as well. Quick topic.
10 - Aeroflot Blitz - The Aeroflot Blitz had 117 GMs playing, why did the GMs focus on that moreso than the actual Open tourney? Names like Morozevich, Svidler, Grischuk and Karjakin all graced the Blitz event. It could be that they just wanted to play blitz and not have the patience for longer games. It could also be individual scheduling that made them participate more. Possible in the spirit of Amber they just wanted Blitz or didn't want to put effort into preparing for a 9-round tourney
11. B.O.T.W. - USCF not inviting Shanky! - Last year, GM Sam Shankland was in the top 4 (finished 3rd) of the U.S. Championships. Where is he this year? It's a big snub I think by the USCF for not inviting him, but it could be a big motivator for him. Shanky had a chance of winning the Championship this year and something is wrong with the USCF or the tourney organizers for not inviting him. Seirawan should not have been invited over someone who finished 3rd the previous year. Hopefully as the guys mentioned this will just motivate Shanky to the point where as Danny said, he'll be the best in the country by January 2013 behind Kamsky and Nakamura.
So that's it everyone. I guess the recaps got to be long anyway, even without PGNs and YouTube videos. Just don't sue me for false advertising. I don't have much to give.
See you all Sunday for the deathmatch between Arun Sharma and Greg Shahade. The broadcast begins at 10:30 AM Pacific/1:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM London time and is open to everyone!
Have a good night!
-Mark