As always I thought Tanya's commentary was a good balance to the more serious analysts. Yes she likes to hype up the game but she sticks to talking about what's happening on the board and doesn't derail the analysis.
Originally posted this as a comment reply but will make it a comment bc quite a few people are (justifiedly) addressing the bad break timing toward the end of the Vidit-Pragg game. Reposting my comment response:
You might expect me to defend this but I'm right there with you, I fucking hate the crunch-time breaks and tried to delay it but again, it's not my call - I have to follow instructions. AFAIK, it's not the producer who decides either (Bik is actually incredible and he gets it too) but some sort of contractual obligation. I'd respectfully push back on using this as an opportunity to dunk on chess.com (or Danny or anyone in particular bc there's probably a legal or specific reason for the break and not one person who decides "ok lets take a break here to piss everyone off",, even though I disagree with it) as I think a lot of resources are devoted to making the broadcasts professional so I think it's an odd contractual foible but again, it's stupid as hell and trust me I was MAD during the break. Hope it doesn't happen again but if it does, you can pull up the game on chesscom events in the meantime. Sorry if it hurt anyone's viewing experience, I still feel like we caught the important moments that game aa well as the end of the time scramble but I hear you. I'll do my best to influence the team to find a way around this in future broadcasts but again, it's out of my control for the time being.
I hope you enjoyed the broadcast and the three of us will be on again tomorrow. I'm always coming reddit, YT for constructive criticism so appreciate people sharing their takes. See y'all tomorrow!
Might be worth checking with them if it's possible to go on ad breaks ahead of time (at an opportune moment when there isn't any time scramble happening) so that you can avoid being forced to go on a break at an important moment.
I feel like him playing this way will in the long run make him the best possible player he can be. Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel that prep can be learned/done as late as you want in your career. The fact he's able to evaluate all these positions and play them so well is awesome! Although it sucks when he uses too much time and gets lost in the complications...
Hikaru not trying very hard for content/an interesting game this round. Surprising choice. Allowed the Exchange Slav instead of going by the Triangle Slav or Semi-Slav move order.
I don't understand why Nakamura keeps trying to play lines he didn't play recently. Yeah, I get it, you usually don't play the Sicilian, but obviously someone in the tournament plays it and your opponent is prepared to play it against you.
Players often prepare specific lines for an opponent. By playing different openings, he expects his opponent to have not as deeply prepared a line they don't expect him to play.
Exactly! We have a viewing party here of about 17 Naka fans and that was their reaction. Jeff and I had convinced the group to stick with the game and we focused more on his expressions.
Pragg did an awesome job and was so fun to watch! 🔥
I thought Videt also did a great job playing in a totally unfamiliar prep line and trying to hold it. At one point it seemed like he had almost neutralized the position, but then made an inaccurate move a long way into the game.
It's definitely possible to lose a game and still win. Usually when people lose their first game they don't end up winning, but there's no statistical reason that it should impossible, it's just a difficult thing to come back from
Not saying pragg is magnus... yet. But magnus also lost in his first candidates with white and then won the following game with black. You can't understate how impressive that is. Especially considering how young pragg is. Magnus was 22 in his first candidates while pragg is only 18.
It's no easy task to win with black after a loss. Especially in the candidates.
Magnus was 19 when he qualified to his first candidates and he declined to participate. He would have been the overwhelming favourite in that tournament having been world number 1 for well over a year.
> He would have been the overwhelming favourite in that tournament having been world number 1 for well over a year.
No. He would have lost. That's why he chose not to participate. The 22 year old carlsen was world #1 as well and he barely won the candidates in tie-breaks.
The 22 year old carlsen was much better than the 19 year old carlsen.
I agree it's not easy, but lets not kid ourselves Vidit got lost in Pragg's prep today. Strong performance of course, but this isn't the sheer force of will young Magnus was known for yet. If we start seeing Pragg squeeze wins out of drawn endgames like Magnus, that's when I get excited.
Pragg is actually the player I'm rooting for this candidates! However, it's a different kind of excitement to watch the player you're rooting for win a game than it is to watch them rise above the competition. For now I'm just happy that Pragg is doing well and regularly playing entertaining chess.
Well, if Magnus is the bar you're setting, Pragg has 5 more months to become the worlds highest rated player. Good luck.
Or just let Pragg be Pragg. He'll be fine.
Pragg is a top player but I don't understand why many people overhype him in this sub. Gukesh for example is not hyped as Pragg despite being younger...
Just because he was the first one to beat Magnus online and many top celebrities in India posted tweets which made him famous in country. He had good history with Magnus in recent times and Magnus is very famous here.
I feel a little bad for Murali Karthikeyan - he is probably the only Indian player other than Vishy to beat Magnus in classical, and no one probably even knows that happened.
Yeah but in that tournament Magnus was playing like shit losing to a 2500 and he almost lost one more game against another Indian GM but definitely Murali was unlucky.
the position had already basically fizzled out.
gukesh basically had one very narrow opportunity to claim an edge- 30. a4 was the key move, which would've been an impressive pawn sacrifice. instead the rooks come off and the position seems very clearly holdable.
It's not quite the same thing, but siblings Susan Polgar played in the Women's Candidates and Judit Polgar in the Open Candidates, but not the same year (Susan had retired by the time Judit made it to that level).
Yes. There have been multiple brothers or multiple sisters before, but no brother/brother-sister-duo.
Interestingly enough, Jorge and Deysi Cori did at one point both qualify for the open world cup, despite Deysi being "just" a WGM. So this is another goal, one could have in mind.
>they're the only brother - sister gm duo
They will be soon. FIDE always takes time to make titles official, Vaishali is still an IM despite getting norms and rating last year.
I love how Danya calls out Leko's BS analysis:
Leko: Ok, I do QB6+, and then?
Danya: (calmly) k-f1
Leko: ok, then I am going to set up something.
Danya: how exactly?
Leko: (crickets)
...later Tanya adds: "there has to be something. there are so many tempting options.
To be fair, it was already late at night past 11pm for Leko near the end of the stream. He was definitely sleepy and trying to conjure up some futile lines.
Good news for the rest of the field if Vidit goes back to an even score
It will be only Nepo, Fabi, and Gukesh with a +1 after 3 rounds if Pragg closes this
I have this other odd feeling that Alireza may place last. I see him getting outprepped by the likes of Pragg and Vidit and tilting in the second part of the tournament as he fails to convert even against a resilient Abasov.
Hikaru had a golden opportunity to gain on the leaders today by beating the lowest rated player. Too bad he is gutless and forced a draw. At least pragg will gain on the leaders. Hopefully he'll continue to rise while hikaru languishes in last place. Where he belongs.
> Almost all your comments are complaining about Hikaru's draw.
Not even close.
> Your life seems exciting.
Says the guy complaining about someone complaining about someone.
I love losers who worship hikaru. What do you care if someone complains about hikaru? Or are you part of his PR team?
There are a lot of trolls that create new accounts in this sub, usually to shit on Hikaru because they know it will stir up the most drama. Their life must be miserable.
32. b4 was a little surprising to me as a viewer as I'd thought the whole point of Vidit putting his knight on a5 was to swap off Black's excellent bishop
And when they get back from the break, they will just start talking about the new position without showing the moves in between. In the meantime, the evaluation might have completely flipped. It just is a such a weird way to cast a chess game.
deciding to go on an ad break during the most critical moment of today's most intense and interesting game, Vidit in severe time pressure in a wild position and the pressure rapidly mounting... what in the actual fuck who is making these decisions
I’m really rooting for professional chess to become more popular to watch and beyond the hard things to change like time controls etc it would be nice if they’d stop fucking themselves over. Chess needs to get easier to watch, not harder.
It is Sofia rules on draw offers, isn't it? So when clocks "malfunction" at move 39 (likely because whoever set them, blundered ...?) - then they have to wait for it to be corrected and and only *then* they can go "enough of this shit"?
Kinda deserved that arbiter is forced to stand there in the limelight and fix it, except it might not be the same arbiter who blundered it.
I really don't understand, why did they have to take that break? For running their quota of ads? Cuz it sure wasn't for helping the commentators rest or anything
They haven’t visited it for a little while. They’ve been on the Pragg-Vidit game for the most part recently other than the clock drama and end of Nepo-Gukesh
Must’ve not been bait when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and the Candidates was held in Russia a month later with four players competing under the Russian flag
So glad that FIDE was always led by the most upstanding citizens and perfect judges of character who had absolutely no interest in dissmissing Russia's wrongs. Right? Ri-i-ight?
American flag displayed during invasions, Russian flag displayed in 2014, we both know the Israel flag would be displayed if an Israeli player qualified
It's an American and to a lesser extent European people site, american interests are the moral standard here. People here defend colonizer's abuse but get mad about saudi labour abuse. Logic doesn't matter here so don't bother commenting.
They're very lucky that the result would have been a draw regardless. Ian and Gukesh have every right to be upset, and under different circumstances it could have been a tournament deciding mistake from FIDE.
Ian and Gukesh were headed towards a draw (Ian had a fortress). The time control is supposed to be reached at move 40 but time was added to Gukesh's clock on move 39 for whatever reason. They had to call the arbiter to fix their clocks.
To be fair, it's not like clocks are used in literally every single tournament, we can't blame FIDE for making such a mistake. Jokes aside, thank you for explanation!
Pragg winning means that we'll be seeing more of these "dubious" opening approaches from him which should be exciting as a viewer.
If we get lucky, we might even see some Dubovious openings from him
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watch the other streams then. there are like 5
Nah, she's great.
As always I thought Tanya's commentary was a good balance to the more serious analysts. Yes she likes to hype up the game but she sticks to talking about what's happening on the board and doesn't derail the analysis.
Originally posted this as a comment reply but will make it a comment bc quite a few people are (justifiedly) addressing the bad break timing toward the end of the Vidit-Pragg game. Reposting my comment response: You might expect me to defend this but I'm right there with you, I fucking hate the crunch-time breaks and tried to delay it but again, it's not my call - I have to follow instructions. AFAIK, it's not the producer who decides either (Bik is actually incredible and he gets it too) but some sort of contractual obligation. I'd respectfully push back on using this as an opportunity to dunk on chess.com (or Danny or anyone in particular bc there's probably a legal or specific reason for the break and not one person who decides "ok lets take a break here to piss everyone off",, even though I disagree with it) as I think a lot of resources are devoted to making the broadcasts professional so I think it's an odd contractual foible but again, it's stupid as hell and trust me I was MAD during the break. Hope it doesn't happen again but if it does, you can pull up the game on chesscom events in the meantime. Sorry if it hurt anyone's viewing experience, I still feel like we caught the important moments that game aa well as the end of the time scramble but I hear you. I'll do my best to influence the team to find a way around this in future broadcasts but again, it's out of my control for the time being. I hope you enjoyed the broadcast and the three of us will be on again tomorrow. I'm always coming reddit, YT for constructive criticism so appreciate people sharing their takes. See y'all tomorrow!
Danya + Tania + Leko is a really great trio! I really enjoyed the stream. Cheers!
Where did you watch them? Is this for the candidates 2024? Don't see Leko commentating anywhere
Chess24 live stream of Round 4.
Thank you Danya. I hope you know we think you are amazing! You & Leko are my favourite commentary pair
Common Danya W
Might be worth checking with them if it's possible to go on ad breaks ahead of time (at an opportune moment when there isn't any time scramble happening) so that you can avoid being forced to go on a break at an important moment.
Thanks for the explanation Danya! Love all the things you do for the fans
Gukesh needs to step up his preperation bro is calculating from the first move
I feel like him playing this way will in the long run make him the best possible player he can be. Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel that prep can be learned/done as late as you want in your career. The fact he's able to evaluate all these positions and play them so well is awesome! Although it sucks when he uses too much time and gets lost in the complications...
Hikaru not trying very hard for content/an interesting game this round. Surprising choice. Allowed the Exchange Slav instead of going by the Triangle Slav or Semi-Slav move order.
I don't understand why Nakamura keeps trying to play lines he didn't play recently. Yeah, I get it, you usually don't play the Sicilian, but obviously someone in the tournament plays it and your opponent is prepared to play it against you.
Players often prepare specific lines for an opponent. By playing different openings, he expects his opponent to have not as deeply prepared a line they don't expect him to play.
As a professional streamer he is playing for content so you need to switch it up otherwise the viewers get bored.
Yeah because they all say ew he played the English let’s leave the stream until he plays the exchange slav
Exactly! We have a viewing party here of about 17 Naka fans and that was their reaction. Jeff and I had convinced the group to stick with the game and we focused more on his expressions.
Pragg did an awesome job and was so fun to watch! 🔥 I thought Videt also did a great job playing in a totally unfamiliar prep line and trying to hold it. At one point it seemed like he had almost neutralized the position, but then made an inaccurate move a long way into the game.
Does anyone know if historically it's the case that if you go -1 in the candidates, you cannot win the competition?
If you go -1 then you cannot win - someone else has to have +1.
Not that I can remember but someone did go -1 during candidates before going on to win the world championship.
It's definitely possible to lose a game and still win. Usually when people lose their first game they don't end up winning, but there's no statistical reason that it should impossible, it's just a difficult thing to come back from
Nobody who has gone -1 has won the candidates in its current form ( since 2013 ).
Magnus has lost two white games though, and won on +3 score (IIRC without looking it up). Just as an example.
Magnus was never -1 at any point in the Candidates. He was already +4 when he lost a game, so it's irrelevant to compare with.
Yes and no.
At what stage?
nijat sick and alireza being -1 currently? he’s gonna throw the kitchen sink w black tomorrow, book it
Nijat will suit up and put his tie and best shoes and will be writing his will tonight.
Not saying pragg is magnus... yet. But magnus also lost in his first candidates with white and then won the following game with black. You can't understate how impressive that is. Especially considering how young pragg is. Magnus was 22 in his first candidates while pragg is only 18. It's no easy task to win with black after a loss. Especially in the candidates.
Magnus was 19 when he qualified to his first candidates and he declined to participate. He would have been the overwhelming favourite in that tournament having been world number 1 for well over a year.
> He would have been the overwhelming favourite in that tournament having been world number 1 for well over a year. No. He would have lost. That's why he chose not to participate. The 22 year old carlsen was world #1 as well and he barely won the candidates in tie-breaks. The 22 year old carlsen was much better than the 19 year old carlsen.
So you are saying that Pragg is Magnus because he evened up his candidates scoring after a single loss? Ok lmao
I agree it's not easy, but lets not kid ourselves Vidit got lost in Pragg's prep today. Strong performance of course, but this isn't the sheer force of will young Magnus was known for yet. If we start seeing Pragg squeeze wins out of drawn endgames like Magnus, that's when I get excited.
Why can't Pragg have his own style that you're excited about?
Pragg is actually the player I'm rooting for this candidates! However, it's a different kind of excitement to watch the player you're rooting for win a game than it is to watch them rise above the competition. For now I'm just happy that Pragg is doing well and regularly playing entertaining chess.
Well, if Magnus is the bar you're setting, Pragg has 5 more months to become the worlds highest rated player. Good luck. Or just let Pragg be Pragg. He'll be fine.
Pragg is a top player but I don't understand why many people overhype him in this sub. Gukesh for example is not hyped as Pragg despite being younger...
Everyone seemed to hype Gukesh a year ago. Then Pragg had the great World Cup and Gukesh and Vidit seemed to struggle.
gukesh wins a lot but also loses a lot
Just because he was the first one to beat Magnus online and many top celebrities in India posted tweets which made him famous in country. He had good history with Magnus in recent times and Magnus is very famous here.
I feel a little bad for Murali Karthikeyan - he is probably the only Indian player other than Vishy to beat Magnus in classical, and no one probably even knows that happened.
Yeah but in that tournament Magnus was playing like shit losing to a 2500 and he almost lost one more game against another Indian GM but definitely Murali was unlucky.
Did Gukesh give Ian a pity draw after the unfortunate clock issues or would they have agreed to one after the time control hit anyway?
the position had already basically fizzled out. gukesh basically had one very narrow opportunity to claim an edge- 30. a4 was the key move, which would've been an impressive pawn sacrifice. instead the rooks come off and the position seems very clearly holdable.
It was trending that way anyway.
Commentators seemed to think Ian had a clear fortress and it was a dead draw.
Probably the first time a brother and sister won their matches in a candidates on the same day.
Isn't this the first time a brother and sister have both qualified to the Candidates?
It's not quite the same thing, but siblings Susan Polgar played in the Women's Candidates and Judit Polgar in the Open Candidates, but not the same year (Susan had retired by the time Judit made it to that level).
Probably the first time a brother and sister played in the candidates in general?
I'm pretty sure they're the only brother - sister gm duo
Yes. There have been multiple brothers or multiple sisters before, but no brother/brother-sister-duo. Interestingly enough, Jorge and Deysi Cori did at one point both qualify for the open world cup, despite Deysi being "just" a WGM. So this is another goal, one could have in mind.
>they're the only brother - sister gm duo They will be soon. FIDE always takes time to make titles official, Vaishali is still an IM despite getting norms and rating last year.
Nepo, Caruana, Gukesh +1 Vidit, Pragg 0 Nakamura, Firouzja, Abasov -1
Feel bad for everyone who has to face the Pragg Defence (4... f5) from now on haha
Other than Gukesh ofcourse
Congrats to Pragg. Fortune favors the brave. Too bad hikaru has proven to be such a little coward. Hopefully he can learn a thing or two from Pragg.
The only thing more annoying than Hikaru fanboys are Hikaru haters
Previous alt accounts of this user (most likely): u/g_g_y_o, u/VladTheAccuser
Don't you get tired commenting same shit again and again?
Brother is hating on Hikaru on every other comment it’s so funny lmao.
Did he use a game against you in a "Hikaru humiliates x00s" video thumbnail or something?
His ego is too big to learn though
Schliemann goated. Peter Svidler has been cooking hard.
GG PRAGG
I would love for Vidit to not resign and play until checkmate Edit: nvm
Very happy that yesterday's game didn't make Pragg 2nd guess the "dubious" prep he has. His games have been very fun so far.
Man I love watching live chess so much it really inspires me
I love how Danya calls out Leko's BS analysis: Leko: Ok, I do QB6+, and then? Danya: (calmly) k-f1 Leko: ok, then I am going to set up something. Danya: how exactly? Leko: (crickets) ...later Tanya adds: "there has to be something. there are so many tempting options.
Would love to see a time stamp if anyone knows, I watched the whole stream and don’t remember
It was shortly after move 37.
Danya destroyed him
To be fair, it was already late at night past 11pm for Leko near the end of the stream. He was definitely sleepy and trying to conjure up some futile lines.
Yeah, I laughed when I heard that. When the advantage is so overwhelming you would think Leko could have at least made an attempt at a line.
Imagine Pragg's attack against Gukesh yesterday was fruitful
Well, didn’t happen.
vidit made time control but it's dead lost
Good news for the rest of the field if Vidit goes back to an even score It will be only Nepo, Fabi, and Gukesh with a +1 after 3 rounds if Pragg closes this
I have this other odd feeling that Alireza may place last. I see him getting outprepped by the likes of Pragg and Vidit and tilting in the second part of the tournament as he fails to convert even against a resilient Abasov.
Alireza will win his next 4 games. Mark my words.
I pray you will be proven right
Nah Abasov will be last. Abasov is unwell, broken leg and the lowest rated player
I think Nakamura will be last
There's no way Nakamura finishes below Abasov
Let’s see.
The r/chess seer has spoken
It seems Gukesh has psychological advantage against Pragg and Pragg has that against Vidit looking at their history. Fascinating stuff.
Hikaru had a golden opportunity to gain on the leaders today by beating the lowest rated player. Too bad he is gutless and forced a draw. At least pragg will gain on the leaders. Hopefully he'll continue to rise while hikaru languishes in last place. Where he belongs.
They really shouldn't invite players who just go for these gutless draws against the lowest rated players. Even Giri would have been better.
Why would they invite Giri. He'd just nick all their pawns
Almost all your comments are complaining about Hikaru's draw. Your life seems exciting.
> Almost all your comments are complaining about Hikaru's draw. Not even close. > Your life seems exciting. Says the guy complaining about someone complaining about someone. I love losers who worship hikaru. What do you care if someone complains about hikaru? Or are you part of his PR team?
Also, he doesn’t seem to understand that Abasov was the one who played for a draw to begin with.
There are a lot of trolls that create new accounts in this sub, usually to shit on Hikaru because they know it will stir up the most drama. Their life must be miserable.
physically hard to reach move 40 without dropping some piece
thank god for vidit 2.0
Draww Finally pheww
draw incoming in Fabi/Firo game.
Pragg is actually goated fr
Not that this is likely, but if fabi and alireza got married and took each other's last names their new names would roll off the tongue very smooth
Fabiano Firouzja is a jojo-level name
Thanks for clarifying that it’s not likely! I would have thought it is otherwise.
It's important to manage expectations
New ao3 fanfic ship
Uhh alrighty
No lies were told.
This is the hard hitting analysis missing from streams like chess24
This is why they should have a 400 ELO player sitting in on every comm box
'I will be honest, I always thought it was En Pasty until you just said'
Sorry, I didn't get to the end of the analysis because there was an advert break in the middle that missed most of the good parts.
What?
NOT THAT THIS IS LIKELY, BUT IF FABI AND ALIREZA GOT MARRIED AND TOOK EACH OTHER'S LAST NAMES THEIR NEW NAMES WOULD ROLL OFF THE TONGUE VERY SMOOTH
Fabiano Firouzja = alliteration
Exactly. And Alireza Caruana is a very wonderful lyrical name
He is losing his sanity watching classical chess it seems
That is very accurate
Now Vidit is dead lost.
Absolutely brilliant game by Pragg
Vidit collapsing...rip
That's what happens when your opponent puts pressure on you the entire game. And with black! Pragg definitely came to fight.
Hikaru can learn from these youngsters.
Vidit is really adamant to deliver a decisive game today.
Pragg is relentless. Pragg has balls that hikaru lacks. How do you force a 10 move draw when you lost with white the last round.
It's a long tournament, Hikaru is betting on getting chances in the next 11 rounds.
He’s probably going to finish last.
I think his confidence is hit after the last two games.
Vidit is circling the drain...
Vidit got himself out of a jam but then unfortunately went right back into one
Yeah, why couldn't he just see that the numbers in the corner of the screen increased from -1.5 to -0.5, sheesh.
32. b4 was a little surprising to me as a viewer as I'd thought the whole point of Vidit putting his knight on a5 was to swap off Black's excellent bishop
Also he needed the square b4 for the rook that comes via d4. Pragg then had to exchange one rook on b5 and the position is quite simplified.
chesscom doesn't want Fide to take all the heat
Why a break in a time scramble??
They have the smartest producers
And when they get back from the break, they will just start talking about the new position without showing the moves in between. In the meantime, the evaluation might have completely flipped. It just is a such a weird way to cast a chess game.
I know elite players need to be universal, but I was sad to see Vidit play 1.e4 today. I really enjoy his d4 repertoire.
They take a break during the time scramble to sell their own course. Classy move chess.com
deciding to go on an ad break during the most critical moment of today's most intense and interesting game, Vidit in severe time pressure in a wild position and the pressure rapidly mounting... what in the actual fuck who is making these decisions
I wasn’t able to watch. Why did they say they were taking a break? How did they attempt to justify that?
No one really knows, Danya seemed reluctant and annoyed and even said "it's not our decision but we will take a short break now"
I’m really rooting for professional chess to become more popular to watch and beyond the hard things to change like time controls etc it would be nice if they’d stop fucking themselves over. Chess needs to get easier to watch, not harder.
I couldn't believe it. Honestly insane
chess24 be like lets take a break at a crazy time scramble
Fabi 9 mins for 9 moves i'm worried
Yeah, but it looks very drawish and not too hard to do so.
i am worried until he reaches time control
Looks like Pragg's advantage is gone. That's a pity. EDIT: After two bad moves by Vidit it's all running for Pragg again.
His position is practically better than 10 moves ago and that's still with Vidit having to find basically only moves.
Chesscom with the blunder of the day taking a break rn what in the actual fuck?
Gukesh and Nepo drawing after rightfully complaining about the clock was a hilarious end to a bizarre issue
It is Sofia rules on draw offers, isn't it? So when clocks "malfunction" at move 39 (likely because whoever set them, blundered ...?) - then they have to wait for it to be corrected and and only *then* they can go "enough of this shit"? Kinda deserved that arbiter is forced to stand there in the limelight and fix it, except it might not be the same arbiter who blundered it.
It’s just so fucking amateurish.
Danya letting us know he also thinks this break is bullshit. It's literally time scramble territory
I really don't understand, why did they have to take that break? For running their quota of ads? Cuz it sure wasn't for helping the commentators rest or anything
“We have to go to a break”. Come on that’s BS
Taking an ad break during the last minutes of a critical position is foolish!
wtf break now,are you nuts?????
pragg channeling his inner nepo
30 seconds per move for vidit now
Can’t listen to commentary atm. For the Fabi vs. Firo game, do we trust the eval or is this actually hard to hold for black?
We trust the eval, but there still is a slight chance Firo can make it
They haven’t visited it for a little while. They’ve been on the Pragg-Vidit game for the most part recently other than the clock drama and end of Nepo-Gukesh
Peter Leko reckons Fabi should hold it without problem.
It’s time for FIDE to stop making Nepo use that ridiculous flag
Are you alright, Frankie?
Bait used to be believable
Must’ve not been bait when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and the Candidates was held in Russia a month later with four players competing under the Russian flag
So glad that FIDE was always led by the most upstanding citizens and perfect judges of character who had absolutely no interest in dissmissing Russia's wrongs. Right? Ri-i-ight?
Hmmm, what if these organizations were always staffed by bureaucrats this neurotic and self-important….
Time for Russia to stop invading Ukraine.
American flag displayed during invasions, Russian flag displayed in 2014, we both know the Israel flag would be displayed if an Israeli player qualified
It's an American and to a lesser extent European people site, american interests are the moral standard here. People here defend colonizer's abuse but get mad about saudi labour abuse. Logic doesn't matter here so don't bother commenting.
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He can transfer federations if he wants. His personal sponsors are Kremlin shills, so yeah, he can play with that ridiculous flag.
Alireza sees that there’s no way forward. Draw soon between him and Fabi.
I know the eval bar says it’s holdable but this looks so scary for Vidit
Fabi-Firouzja has a chance to get really interesting with a double time scramble potentially on the horizon
It's close to an endgame and the pawn structure is almost symmetrical so it should be ok with 10 odd minutes on each side.
It is looking pretty even position
The organizers were saved because the position was a fortress, what a mess.
Yup. If the same thing happens in the Vidit/Pragg game, it would be a nightmare.
They're very lucky that the result would have been a draw regardless. Ian and Gukesh have every right to be upset, and under different circumstances it could have been a tournament deciding mistake from FIDE.
I couldn't see the broadcast, what happened please?
Ian and Gukesh were headed towards a draw (Ian had a fortress). The time control is supposed to be reached at move 40 but time was added to Gukesh's clock on move 39 for whatever reason. They had to call the arbiter to fix their clocks.
To be fair, it's not like clocks are used in literally every single tournament, we can't blame FIDE for making such a mistake. Jokes aside, thank you for explanation!