Giri or Caruana will win!!!

Caruana - Nakamura looks crazy with those double-iso'd passers on the 3rd and 2nd ranks. I obviously know ****all about assessing positions, but the engine seems to think Fabiano is crushing. Let's hope it's right.

Yeah, White has a great position. If anything the computer usually underestimates this kind of position, since it might find some superhuman defence, but Caruana probably doesn't need to play with computer accuracy to find a mate on the kingside.

So, Svidler again struggling to convert a good position. What the **** is wrong with him?

Svidler is about to suffer a nervous breakdown, or he already did a few days ago. His play is just not what you expect from a 7-time russian champion. It looks like this is way too much pressure for him.

On the other hand, allowing Karjakin to escape to a draw means that a russian still has chances in this tournament. I think Peter lost to Kramnik when Vlad still had chances to catch Carlsen.

Nice remark by Nepo in the analysis: When you played g5, it looked like you wanted to get mated.

Maybe it's not a nervous breakdown, maybe Svidler just wanted to throw the full point and Karjakin failed to find the forced win after all.

St. Louis guys + Hansen (Chessbrah) talking about the games live now HERE.

I would love to see a fixing game scandal exposed in the Candidates.

And the utter **** show it would become.

Sigh, so exhausting rooting for Svidler. He could be like +3 this tournament with the positions he's had.

Happy to see Scumamura lose at least.

I don't even want to waste my time watching that Naka video.

You have to put it in perspective. The positions he got came straight from work with his seconds and his memory. When he had to make moves of his own, he pretty much had the worst performance of the whole field (including Topalov) and he actually makes the impression that he doesn't belong in this tournament. It's pretty sad that a guy like Kramnik has to sit it out, because he would have converted Svidler's positions to a full point without a doubt.

On the other hand, Anand's seemingly brilliant victory over Svidler was simply 100% reproducing engine moves. Anand didn't have to make a single decision of his own, so this game could have been also won by a trained monkey or some random spectator who had the moves written on a piece of paper. It's not Anand's fault that Svidler stepped on such a mine, but it's not exactly an impressive game of chess either.

I would be very upset as Karjakin to give Svidler so many chances. His position seemed absolutely busted. Karjakin knew more in that opening phase. Also Anand did have to think during the last few moves in his game v Svidler.

Svidler is a nice guy with a lot of knowledge, but also extremely lazy and superficial. The tournament put him into an uncomfortable situation where knowing forced draws in the Marshall and the Grünfeld, that are usually sufficient in category XXII tournaments to keep his rating and collect the cash for showing up, is not enough.

In his younger days he was better prepared (= better engine lines) than the competition, therefore he won the russian championship - in the absence of Kasparov - quite often, but nowadays he is basically just a drawmeister, one level below Giri and one level above Gustafsson. Those guys never finish last in a tournament, but they never finish first either.

Don't get me wrong. I am not claiming that he is finished or something. It is a structural problem. Humans aren't better than engines and in such tournaments they have to compete with engine analysis. There is absolutely no chance to beat Stockfish or Komodo over the board, but that's exactly what you get when you play against Anand for instance. Nobody in this tournament is a big favorite, because nobody is a favorite against engines and they all play like engines for the first 20-30 moves. Once the smoke clears it is all about converting the advantage or holding on to a draw and that's exactly where Svidler's display was rather poor so far. In fact, he was clearly the worst player in the field in that area.

hey guys i'm back to catch up with the candidates, if you want some analysis i'll be here!

Thanks Shandrax for a series of informative knowledgable posts with no trolling.

lol Anand could really ship this thing, again. Boooooo.

After today there will be 4 players within half a point at the top. Still anybody's game.

There is no champion but Carlsen, and Anand is his challenger.

How ****ing boring will that be?

Ugh, Aronian losing to Anand was the only result I definitely didn't want to see.

At least Caruana held and remains a half point behind the leaders.

Anand is a beast and seems to be playing the best chess. It anyway feels like the future is a troll to make us watch 10 more matches between the model and the bald.

I looked a little and I couldn't find any lines on Anand to win the candidates at this point. Anyone know what his current odds are roughly at.

I'd say Anand to win at this point is a snap fade at 3-1, prob not at 4-1. I wonder what the market price is.

This site has Anand at 2.3-1. He was 7-1 before the tournament started.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betting/Chess/

I don't care who wins just as long as it isn't Anand. I mean the guys great, but come on...