To be absolutely fair he's 16 years old, it's 21-5 because Magnus flagged due to connection problems but still in 25 games he legitimately beat Magnus 4 times which is nothing to sniff at for a kid.
Chess discussions
- Thread starter Danny1982
- Start date
I know. It's rapid/bullet too though right?
Yeah, they're using like 3 different time controls getting progressively faster. 90 mins of 5+1 blitz, 60 mins of 3+1 blitz and 30 mins of 1+1 bullet.
Gukesh is a classical player. He's not good at rapid or blitz. He did pretty badly in Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz a few days ago. In Indian chess circles people were wondering why he signed up for this - he doesn't even play online.
BTW - Naka, the darling of internet chess players, didn't manage to win either the Rapid or Blitz at Tata Steel. It was Nihal and Arjun Erigaisi who won.
Even the best have bad days - looking forward to Nihal/Giri tomorrow though.
Giri's style is the worst for Nihal to play against. He might spring an upset. Nihal is probably in the top 5 bullet players in the world so if he stays even in rapid / blitz he will win.
Also IMO the whole younger set of players are underrated and we will see a correction in the top of the charts in the next few years, with Magnus being the obvious exception.
8 mins left in Giri/Sarin and it's 11.5-10.5
Last edited:
Went the opposite of what their records suggested but Nihal pulled it out in the end. Him vs Ding last year was a classic so will be fun to watch
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Talking about Chess, this coming Sunday there will be cool ChessBoxing event coming on!
Naka is killing it with the A3 and H3 openings with white 
,
,
Last edited:
Declining the draw and then time wasting before the 50 rule move. Trying to run it down to bullet. Naka just pre-recording the 2400+ version of his disrespect challenge.
Trying to run it down to bullet. Naka just pre-recording the 2400+ version of his disrespect challenge.Hikaru/Aronian
Carlsen/Caruana
Ding/Sarin
So/Lagrave
Some really good Chess to come in the next round.
Carlsen/Caruana
Ding/Sarin
So/Lagrave
Some really good Chess to come in the next round.
Magnus is freakish. One of the scariest, most dominant competitors I've ever seen. Swatted Fabi like a fly.
Fabi literally demolished, I expected Magnus to come out ahead but not like that. Naka/Magnus final will be nice to watch.
Nihal can give Naka a pretty good game if he plays to his best. Needs to not get caught in his own head when playing Naka.
I think Hikaru will come out comfortably ahead, but nowhere near Fabi/Magnus. Nihal will definitely give him some good games but I feel like the experience is going to favour Hikaru, Nihal seemed to very easily go on tilt several times against Giri which I think might go against him here at this stage in his career. But @NM seems to hate Hikaru so I'm sure he will disagree.
I think Hikaru will come out comfortably ahead, but nowhere near Fabi/Magnus. Nihal will definitely give him some good games but I feel like the experience is going to favour Hikaru, Nihal seemed to very easily go on tilt several times against Giri which I think might go against him here at this stage in his career. But @NM seems to hate Hikaru so I'm sure he will disagree.
I like Hikaru a lot. I just like Indian players more. Hikaru should beat him unless Nihal plays out of his skin. That being said, the gap between Magnus and everybody else right now is as wide as it's ever been and he's going to walk this imo. Good prep for the rapid and blitz at end of year too.
Ah my mistake, I took from your recent posts that you really didn't like him. I must have read the tone wrong.
I like Hikaru a lot. I just like Indian players more. Hikaru should beat him unless Nihal plays out of his skin. That being said, the gap between Magnus and everybody else right now is as wide as it's ever been and he's going to walk this imo. Good prep for the rapid and blitz at end of year too.
Good effort from Nihal.
Kind of a golden opportunity missed though, as I think Hikaru was quite off form. Nihal missed some conversions that he really should have taken on another day, even allowing for Hikaru's defence.
Kind of a golden opportunity missed though, as I think Hikaru was quite off form. Nihal missed some conversions that he really should have taken on another day, even allowing for Hikaru's defence.
Magnus Vs Naka the final nearly everyone wanted to see.
Naka is so good at time scrambles
Hikaru playing brilliantly early on!
What was that last opening by Magnus?
Nakamura with a win rate of 77% after 29.5k matches is GOD tier
Think there was a mouse slip going by Hikaru’s reaction
Magnus losing for the 2nd time flagging
Magnus hungover?
What a blunder from World Champion Magnus Carlsen
That now sounds like a reasonable explanation with the way he’s playing today.
Magnus collapsing.. Hikaru is going to take this. Hung a piece and mate in 2. Crazy times!
Kudos to Hikaru though
Kudos to Hikaru though
Bullet games nuts so far
Hikaru probably wins it now. Really great clutch couple of games after the score tied.
Hikaru survives! Not a fan of his running down the clock multiple times in the match but it got him over the line. Deserved too. I thought he played better and Magnus being crap at the start cost him
Feels like taking the ball to the corner in the 90th minute and trying to hold it there. Boring af but I guess effective.
Yeah. Magnus was asked about it post match and said he had 0 issues with it. He actually gave a really good interview afterwards. Said he loved blitz and wanted to play it more, and that the way Hikaru played at the start was the best he's ever seen anyone play in the format.
Said he thinks he's still better and will prove it next time.. Typical Norwegian!
I thought the time wasting at the end was sort of okay, it might have been the difference between winning and losing. After you've battled for hours, if the format allows it then you'd be kind of silly not to take it.
It was incredibly cheesy to be doing it when it was 7-4 or whatever. But that's Hikaru for you. Don't think anyone else would have done that to the same extent.
It was incredibly cheesy to be doing it when it was 7-4 or whatever. But that's Hikaru for you. Don't think anyone else would have done that to the same extent.
Hans, Naka & Carlsen are all playing in the same championshi, wonder if Naka or Carlsen will turn up if they have to play Hans
anyone playing chess on chess.com?
Carlsen wins Rapid World Championship as Keymer, who could've equalized with him, blunders a winning endgame against MVL. Still a fantastic showing to finish second after just turning 18.