Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 9
While the final round of the Tal Memorial provided all the human drama you could hope for, the chess itself at times perhaps left something to be desired. For instance, Shipov describes Grischuk – Nakamura as “a game of woefully poor quality”.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 8
The sensation of the eighth round was Sergey Karjakin’s crushing win over Vladimir Kramnik. Shipov’s report begins, “generational change is inevitable”. Other highlights include the awakening of the “lion” Shirov, and Nakamura and Gelfand paying tribute to Capablanca and Alekhine.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 7
An indication of how much Grandmaster Shipov is enjoying himself is the number of “translator’s notes” I need to add, and this report beat all records. Wang Hao has become “Ivan”, Nakamura scored a victory over Armenian chess, and Eljanov’s play provoked the comment: “Study theory, gentlemen!”
Mikhail Tal and contemporary chess
Moscow’s Tal Memorial honours Mikhail Tal, the “Magician from Riga”, who blazed a path to win the World Championship half a century ago this year. Recalling those days, and how chess has changed since, has been a theme of Ilya Odessky’s tournament reports.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 6
While round 6 didn’t set any records for fighting chess, Grandmaster Shipov does a good job of explaining the opening subtleties that pass the average chess fan by. Highlights include an unfortunate “butterfly effect”, and Gelfand choosing a line that’s “not going to trouble giants”.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 5
Shipov’s impressions of Round 5 included holding back some analysis for his friend Boris, dismissing the “iron lumps” of computers and describing Shirov and Nakamura as players capable of “turning even a dry endgame into a fierce and ultra-complex thriller”.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 4
Despite all the games ending drawn, Sergey Shipov’s express report on round 4 pointed out that there could, and perhaps should, have been four white wins. There was certainly no lack of excitement.
Ilya Odessky returns in style
For sad personal reasons we’ve been deprived of the work of the Russian chess journalist Ilya Odessky of late, but his reports from the Tal Memorial have been a brilliant reminder of what we were missing.
Shipov on the Tal Memorial Rd 3
Sergey Shipov isn’t commentating live on the classical part of the Tal Memorial this year, but he gave a round-up of all the games from the third round for Chess-News. Read on to find out what cockroaches and elite GMs have in common.
Carlsen and the Candidates – a retrospective
Although Magnus Carlsen’s decision to pull out of next year’s Candidates Matches came as a great shock, perhaps we should have seen it coming. It’s worth revisiting this summer’s press, where Veselin Topalov was making the headlines, but Carlsen’s name kept cropping up.
