Tone and Trude with their bruschettas

It was sort of gourmet night.

The lasagne, the salat and the soda.

We had as an appetizer daddles (is this an English word, by the way, should be), antipasti in Italian, and another appetizer was the bruschettas, which here made it to the primo piatti, since there were three of them. It was close to a meal, I got one from each of my sisters and one from my mum, six altogether. Close to a meal.

The balsamico, the oil and the candles. And the hedgehog.

The main corse was lasagna, backed up by salat, excellently made and delightfully tasty.

My mum and I

As desert we had ice-cream with chocolate and strawberries.

Me and I

No American tradition here, except for the day. It was Thanksgiving the Norwegian way, from Jæren, Rogaland. With regards.

Time for stories.

Thank you all!

Now there are ten players who also leave their arguments in their play. Here are my favourites, Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk, together with Russian star team, Kramnik, Nepomniatchi, Svidler and Karjakin, here are Anand from India and Gelfand from Israel, and always entertaining Aronian and Nakamura. On Saturday Carlsen teamed with Karjakin, Nepomniatchi took on Nakamura, Aronian played Anand, Ivanchuk was up against Kramnik and Svidler tried Gelfand. From Russia there are always top High definition live transmission from the game, television on the Internet, with Grandmaster comments in Russia. I always knew it would pay off to learn this language.

We got then entertainment for almost a full six hours from noon Norwegian time. I could hear the comments on my headphones while I did other things, and watch the games when something exciting was going on, as it usually was.  The best chess sites on the internet – Chessbase, The week in chess, Chessvibes – reported that the game between Svidler and Gelfand was rather dull. On the commentary it wasn’t, thy showed some really entertaining variations Gelfand might have missed, and the English based sites surely did miss.

In the other games it was close to unbelievable we didn’t get a winner. We could of course blame Nakamura, Kramnik and Aronian who couldn’t net it in, but I would rather boast Nepomniatchi, Ivanchuk and Anand who put in a great fight and proved that it isn’t over until the resign is given. Carlsen’s position was never that overwhelming.

Also yesterday we got five draws. Also then they were all well fought, and excellent entertainment for us who followed close. Svidler – Karjakin was just spectacular, and Carlsen showed once again that he is willing to play forever to try to convert a small edge. And Ivanchuk, although he looked really tired on the live transmission, he proved that he is always able to bounce back. In the end it was Carlsen who had to be clever to draw.

To morrow we have the set up Carlsen – Svidler, Nepomniatci – Karjakin, Aronian – Gelfand, Kramnik – Nakamura and Ivanchuk – Anand. Carlsen showed on his blog that he is in a very good in Moscow, really enjoying himself in the games. That is how it should be, play for fun, make the most of it. And please, do not suggest anything stupid to avoid draws. We had ten draws this weekend, nevertheless chess as good as it gets. Malatsi!

I hoped to get a post about the candidates in Kazan. There were times I would have named it a catastrophe. It’s very sad for lovers of chess history to see the most prestigious title – the classical world championship – be reduced to some blitz competition. There were obvious something wrong with the format, as there perhaps also were with the players, although I agree with those who claim the players just did what they had to due to the conditions. Hard core classics like me would suggest the old Fischer format, just count the results, players who just draws could play each other to the end of time. Or just lose their spot in the candidates.

That being said, I had Gelfand as a personal outsider all the time. He does what he has to do, and has made some impressive results in knock out formats also earlier. He saves his energy, strikes when he must, and has not a lot of fans he has to please and impress, his nerves are not a second opponent. Pre tournament favourites like Kramnik and Aronian haven’t even played in to many knock out formats, and especially from Kramnik you should not expect he would make it to win one game out of two with white. His strength is that you cannot beat him, he is the master of defence. But as both Radjabov and Grischuk proved, in Blitz this strength doesn’t count that much. And the nerves are on the side of the weaker part. Congratulations to Gelfand, he does very much deserves his title match against Anand. The world should not be to surprised if Gelfand wins. Sadly, the chess world lives with a regime which would make it not to surprising if the match are canceled, or conditions changed.

To day we have a good, old tournament again. In it are some very strong players, maybe even stronger than the ones who played in candidates. I am sure all four of the, Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Karjakin and Nakamura are very eager to beat Radjabov and prove to him and the world that they just as much as him earned their spot in the candidates. Radjabov has done a lot of work in chess playing for a draw, while the other four have looked of ways to win, or just played chess, like Nakamura and Ivanchuk. Carlsen has to prove that he is still a chess players, after spending more time on the catwalk lately, and strangely withdrawing from the candidates. Ivanchuk would very much like to show that it is not just Anand and Gelfand who can play chess after forty. Nakamura want to prove himself at the top level, and Karjakin has to prove he shouldn’t be forgotten.

Carlsen is by many a favourite. He is hungry for victory again, he made it to easily to the top, perhaps, and just started to lose interest, it seemed. Now the world don’t agree he is the best anymore, and he has again to show his skill at the board. My favourite this time is Ivanchuk. He made a strong victory at Cuba recently, his playing strength at his best is nothing short of nobody. And I think he would like to show Carlsen that even at his best, he is just better. Both of them started out with remarkable wins today. Ivanchuk in a Kings Indian against Radjabov. The old man showed the kid Radjabov something in his own opening, it was highly impressive. And Carlsen just showed how to play the Queens gambit for a win, and win it. It takes two to play for draw, and the draw death has not taken chess yet, obviously.

Tomorrow already my two favourites will meet, Ivanchuk with white, Carlsen with black. I think both of them will play for a win. Just one of them will make it, and I think it will be Ivanchuk. No Sofia rules needed that game.

Our correspondent in Moscow nowadays is Mr. Hans Wilhelm Steinfeld. He is full of himself. This is the fourth time he is correspondent in Moscow, no one has earlier taken on a fourth period of our correspondents anywhere. In a small country like Norway, a man like this can make himself a position. There are not that many in our country that know Russian and journalism, and is able to talk like you have to talk on the radio. Yesterday mr. Steinfeld visited the world championship in Blitz-chess in Moscow, where our boy Magnus Carlsen as usually is doing very well.

As a side comment from a blogger who is critical to Carlsen’s withdrawal from the true world champion cycle: Carlsen is usually doing very well on the board, off it he could clearly do better.

Likely Mr. Hans Wilhelm Steinfeld doesn’t know anything about this, or he doesn’t want to bother. He will focus on the blitz chess, and on who will become the champion in this event. There was not a line in the reportage that blitz chess is like fun, it is not taken very seriously, people are relaxed, and often smile as they lose, as can be seen on the many videos from the event. To Steinfeld the short time just increases the tension, the player has “to fight his opponent, the board (or was it his nerves?) and the clock”.

There was a short clip with an interview of the always polite Henrik Carlsen, father of Magnus. He said the results from the first day was higher than expected, Magnus was leading the field together with Aronian, and like “time will show what will be the result in the end”. Magnus himself wouldn’t give an interview between rounds – very, very, very understandable for any chess player, -, and our busy correspondent didn’t have the time to wait for the end of yesterdays rounds (even how exciting they were, according to him).

So instead of the chief player Steinfeld made an interview with the chief arbiter. Steinfeld as usually made it sound like he interviewed the president of Russia, or the president of the universe. Little does he know, that a chess journalist never interviews the chief arbiter, what does he know, his opinion is as high valued as his skill in chess, as is usually below Grand master level, to say the least. He knows a lot about arbiting, though, and they do a lot for chess and we should thank them. But when they talk about the game and who will win the tournament, it is of course a little funny.

This time Steinfeld as usual wanted his type of sensational high-class interview. He asked question about how good Magnus Carlsen really is, and what is the essence of chess, and other high sensational high-class questions. The arbiter answered as quiet as he could, and Steinfeld as the true journalist he is, misconducted just anything. For instance he claimed that Moscow is like a chess metropol, which it of course is, as the capital of the obviously best chess nation in the world, but the explanation that Carlsen traveled here, even though he soon had an important tournament in Italy… Italy? Has there been an important chess tournament there ever?

The reportage was broadcasted as “the letter from our correspondents” this morning on our state channel NRK radio. For Norwegian speakers (and learners it can be found on the NRK net site www.Nrk.no” My comments are made from memory, and may contain some inaccuracies, I am not sure it was the chief arbiter or some other arbeiter, for instance. But the spirit of the reportage should be truly captured. And for the chess fans of the world, the final day of the blitz championship is to-day at 1300 Moscow time, 1000 Greenwich. Aronian is now in the lead with 18,5, our Magnus has 17, and the next ones are on 16 and 15,5. There are 10 more rounds to go. I will be stucked to the servers. See you perhaps on the ICC!

The reason Carlsen gives in an open letter to FIDE, given from chessbase, is that the conditions are unfair, and that there has been too much changes. This is at the moment just somewhat true, the conditions for the matches have not been fairer for years. After Kasparov dropped out from the FIDE system in the early nineties the title has been both unfair, and unclear. In the system named classical world championship, there was no cycle whatsoever. Kasparov just decided who to play now and then. He even turned down the one who actually qualified once, when there was an attempt on candidate matches, and decided to play Kramnik, instead of Shirov. The reason: Kasparov claimed that Kramnik was just better even though he lost to Shirov, and a match with Kramnik thus would be “more interesting”. As we all know, Kasparov lost that match, and never got a rematch. Kramnik adopted the way of Kasparov, not to play anyone, and just keep the title.

The FIDE system at the time was not a World Championship, but a lottery, where pure luck was more important than quality of play. This produced world champions like Khalifman, Kasimdzhanov and Ponomariov, players who never dominated neither top class tournaments, nor the rating tables.

Before this the reigning world champion had to be beaten in a match. In case of a draw, the champion kept his title. There were no rapids or blitz game to decide, like to decide the winner of a marathon by a 100 metres race. And if the champion lost, he had the right for a rematch. The title has never been fairer in the history of chess.

Carlsen also compares the privileges of the world champion as if Spain was given place in the soccer final in 2014. But this is not a good comparison, chess is not like soccer, it’s more like boxing, and in boxing you should of course beat the reiging champion, to become the new one. The classical chess championship matches are history of the best chess produced, always remembered, while most of the tournaments are quickly forgotten. It’s a big loss for chess if the matches are abandoned.

It is also a question about chess personality. Long matches favours players with patience, who are hard to beat, and who take their chances when they got some. Tournament chess favours players who take risks, wins a lot, but also loses. All though Carlsen has a style which would fit very well both in tournament play and in matches, the thought fells into mind, that he just want the system where he is most likely to win. A true champion will just win in the system which is offered. Great stars like Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov managed to do just that, in a system a lot more unfair than the one Carlsen complains about now.

In young age Carlsen most of the time has kept his path clean. He has played the game at the board, and made his best moves there to reach the number one spot on the rating tables. If he had stucked to that path, he might well has been the youngest world champion in history of chess. Now he very well might be never a true champion at all. For in mine – and many other chess fans – opinion, the way to be the champion of the world, is to beat the reigning champion in long, hard matches, with many games, so that the title is not dedicated by luck, but quality of play.

Viswanatan Anand is the 14′th champion in this system. I am very sad Carlsen will not be number 15, and I hope he will rethink his decision. Carlsen should play the matches, win the title, and only then suggest changes in the qualifier systems. Until then he has everything to prove.

Pictures from Bråstein, Rogaland

By the way, some of the photos are made by me. You will know by the quality, mine are poorer.

I post also one of the Mikhailov-church.

This is a picture of the Mikhailsky church. It was demolished by the Soviet communists, and reconstructed in post Soviet times in the nineties.

The pictures are taken with a Nikon N5000. I am an amateur, my camera is new and I don’t quite know the features yet, so don’t blame the camera for my mistakes!

I was just playing with the thought, what if each and every letter of the alphabet got their team of chess players through history, at their very best, and given they would get all the tools needed to prepare with modern opening theory. We are here speaking of talent, including talent of working hard.

The rules are as in the olympiad: 4 players + 1 stand in. I do not remember enought players to fill in all the blanks, but it should do as a start. More will be added later, and of course, you can just add your suggestions in the commenary field!

A: Alechin, Anand, Aronian, Adams, Averbakh

A very strong team. Ulf Andersson from Sweden could perhaps be a better substitute than Averbakh, and I am not sure Adam qualifies for a seat in this strong team.

B: Botvinnik, Bronstein, Beligavsky, Boleslavsky, R. Byrne

The top tables are amazing, but then it gets weaker. Bareev should perhaps take the place from Byrne or Boleslavsky.

C: Carlsen, Capablanca, Chigorin, Caruna, Cheparinov,

Perhaps a bit patriotic to put Carlsen ahead of Capablanca, Carlsen has stilll something to prove. Worse is which player should join them? They could get lot’s of point on the top boards, just to lose on board 3 and 4. Chigorin is a strong  player from early Soviet time, he could collect some points. Caruna could of course be a great player, he just isn’t there yet. Chpearinov was a great talent, but seems to have stopped his progress a bit.

D: Donner, Dominguez, Dreev, Darga, Dvoretsky

Some less knwon players here. Dvoretsky is very good writing books, but his play is not as a great as his writing.

E: Mark Euwe, Eljanov, Ehlvest, Efimenko, Evans

The perhaps weakest and least acnowledged of the classical world champs, this dutch has done more to chess politics, than chess theory, perhaps. He was a very good leader of what today is FIDE, in fact perhaps the best ever to lead the chess world. So he could lead the tournament. Evans is the man of the gambit.

F: Bobby Fischer, Salo Flor, Fine, Furman, Fuchs

If only we could include Fritz in this letter. Or else Fischer can do nothing to make this letter the best, as he would insist it should be.

G:  Geller, Grischuk, Gligoric, Gelfand, Gushimov,

Some good players here, and hard to judge which one to play at which table. Boris Gulko should perhaps be included instead of Gushimov, I am just impressed by Gushimov lately.

H: Hort, Huebner, Hracek, Hodgson, Harikrisna

Hort and Huebner are players from the past, Haririsna is a temporary player from India. Soon can perhaps our Jon Ludvig Hammer come in on this team? As soon as he beats Harikrisna, he’s in.

I: Ivanchuk, Inarkiev, B. Ivkov, V. Ikonnikov, Alexej Ilusjin

Ivanchuk is a fantastic player, but he never made it to the title of wold champion. And the players to help him, won’t help much here. There are not many players starting with this letter.

J:Jussupov, Janowski, Jakovenko, Jobava, Jukhtman

It is a question which team Jussupov shall join, as his name is sometimes spelled with a “J”, sometimes with a “Y”, Yussupov. On the Fide list he is spelled with “J”, so here he is. He somewhat strengthens a team which will not fight at the top anyway.

K: Kamsky, Kalifman, Karjakin, Kazhimdzhanov, Koblents

The dream team of Kasparov, Karpov, Keres and Korchnoi with Kramnik as substitute is of course unbeatable. Arguably two of the greatest and longest ranging world champions in chess history, togheter with two of the best that never made it. A player like Kramnik don’t even qualify for the team. Kaidanov and Krasenkow also starts with this very, very strong letter.

L: Lasker, B. Larsen, Leko, Ljubojevic, Liljental

 Now this is a strong team. The psycological strong Lasker at the top table, the great Dane Larsen as second, and then a hard working hungarian in Leko. The great Ljubojevic from his hidays should also be able to get some points.

M: Morozevich, Mamedyarov, Movesian, Marshall, Murphy

I like Moro a lot, but he uses to lose playing skill against though opponents. Here he faces the thoughest opponents in chess history. Maybe he should be placed on board 4, as a tactic? Good old Murphy is included as a substitute. The great Brasilian Mecking is left out.

N: Najdorff, Nimsowich, Nunn, Nakamura, Nei

Here are the letter for the openings, and for chess books. Nakamura come in as a wild card on board 4.

O: Alexander Onischuk, F. Olafsson, Helgi Olafsson, M. Oleksienko, A. Obodchuk,

Not many great players with this letter. There should be a way to find a better player than Obodchuk, who lost badly (by taking a draw after 12 moves) against Gelfand in the world cup 2009, first round. Appart from him, the letter is made up by players from Iceland.

P: Petrosian, Portisch, Judith Polgar, Polugaevsky, Panno

The best defender in chess history joins up with the best attacker, and the all time best woman chess player. The great russian player Panov should perhaps be included in the team. The same could Ponomariov, but I think he still has something to prove.

R: Radjabov, Reshevsky, Ribli, Rubinstein, Rublevsky

Some very young and some very old, here. The set up of the team is not obvious.

S: Smyslov, Spassky, Shirov, L. Stein, Svidler

If any could do something with the amazing K’s, it would perhaps be the S’. Two of the great world champions joins with a lot of top class players, but none perhaps at the very peak. Steiniz could be another player to join here, but I think he is to early to join the list. He hasn’t the talent for hard work, needed. Sokolov could also be mentioned.

T: Tal, Topalov, Timman, Taimanov, Tarrasch

Tal is mine and many others favourite, but that is more due to excitement of play, than quality. He lead a very exciting team though, Topalov at his best was easily the top rated player in the world for month, he could beat anyone. Timman is the best dutch player of all time, and Taimanov is best remembered for having lost 6 – 0 to Fischer. He was a great player, also.

If they needed more players, they could use Torre.

U: Uhlmann, Unzicker, Ufimtzev, Mikhail Umansky 

The old german player can’t do much to save this letter. Umansky is a not very known and not very skilled (rating as of 23.11.09 2455, he is born in 1952), so he gets his place because there are not many good chess players starting with the letter “U” around. The letter is not present in Kyrillian. That explains a lot.

V: Van Wely, Vallejo-Pons, Volokitin, Vaganian, Vachier Lagrave

This letter won’t make it.

W: Wang Yue, Wang hao, Wade, Wen Yang, Waitskin

There are not many great chess players starting with w. They are saved by the chinese. Wen Yang is a less known player from China, but he is rated 2518 at the moment, and he is born in 1988. Waitskin is the american chess player best known from the Chessmaster series on PC, and also from the film “Searching for Bobby Fischer”. But seach a great player, he never was, and never became.

Y: Yusupov, Yermolinsky, Yudasin, J. Yakovich, Yu Yangui

Yusupov was a strong grand master at his best, but here he compeates with the best in chess history, and will falter. Yu Yangui introduced himself to the chess scene by beating Movesian in the first round of the world cup in Kanthy Manisk.

Z: Zaitsev, Zhong Zhang, Zhou Weiqi, Vladim Zvjaginsev

The chinese save this letter so it can come up with a team, at least. Russians and chinese make up the team.