On d6? In what line? I don't think I allow this.

I think the Nimzo and the Bogo deserve a mention as dynamic options against the d4/c4 complex of openings.

iirc some of the Qb3 lines from the 90s. Maybe these aren't played any more?

One other thing I should mention is that in the line the video showed where Black played e4, White had played c4. It's a bit dubious under those circumstances because of c5, attacking the dark square pawn chain. If White doesn't play c4 though, and especially if they've ruled it out with Nc3, e4 is frequently an option, with the dark squared bishop continuing to look silly.

Ding
Giri
Vachier
So
Nepo
Aronian
Mamedyarov
Dominguez
Grischuk
Radjabov
Artemiev
Yu
Karjakin
Nakamura
Andreikin
Wojtaszek
Harikrishna
Duda
Svidler
Vitiugov
Wei Yi
Le
Navara
Bu
Wang Hao
Safarli
Abdusattorov
Tomashevsky
Vidit
Jakovenko
Xiong
Firouzja
Dubov
Tabatabaei
Jones
Rakhmanov
Adams
Lu Shanglei
Nihal Sarin
Bartel
Karthikeyan
McShane
Gupta
Narayanan
Huschenbeth
Esipenko
Sethuraman
Ganguly
Alekseenko
Jumabayev
Parligras
Tari
Adhiban
Adly
Mareco
Saric
Piorun
Kasimdzhanov
Maghsoodloo
Sarana
Hovhannisyan
Kovalenko
Gledura
Oparin

Let us gogogogo!

Lol YKW. Thanks for the list .

When are we going to see you in the world cup? Surely you know a thing or two about chess that a 19xx rated player doesn't .

Those are my first round picks!

World Cup? Never.

European Club Cup? In November

Ahh, of course.

Ooo, glad to hear you're in the European Club Cup. Will get the popcorn ready and rail really hard .

So no plans to move the family to Oceania then?

42/64.

I am actually quite pissed, as a bunch of my upset picks went to playoffs and lost there, and then I actually had both Wojtaszek and Navara out (both only after playoffs though) in my initial version, but convinced myself otherwise...

And then some guys were just very disappointing.. But I did also get some quality upsets right, so its nice

R2:

Ding
Dubov
Alekseenko
Harikrishna
Dominguez
Wang Hao
Grischuk
Xu
So
Vidit
Karjakin
Huschenbeth
Nepo
Aravindh
Adhiban
Anton Guijarro
Giri
Xiong
Andreikin
Duda
Mamedyarov
Nihal Sarin
Radjabov
McShane
Vachier
Jones
Nakamura
Svidler
Aronian
Gelfand
Artemiev
Korobov


Not a lot of upset picks this round - I do feel however, that some of those matches will be really close, but in the end the big names will pull through.

What is an appropriate age to begin to teach a child chess?

I'd say 4-6, depending on the child. I teach kids as young as 5 in after-school classes. It can be a challenge at that age to get things to stick, especially in a classroom setting. Our classes are one hour a week, splitting time between teaching on a demo board, and the kids playing each other (and me correcting tons of illegal moves). If you are doing it one on one, and more frequently, it will be easier.

I have taught chess to five-year-old kids one-on-one.

But they have to be internally motivated or (almost equivalently) enjoy successfully solving puzzles.

Keeping their interest requires planning specific lessons where they "get it", thousands of small successes and they eventually catch on to strategy and tactics.

At least IMO.

Low content question.

Why doesn't chess.com (picking them for simplicity) offer electronics to help people access their platform? I'm thinking it would be pretty simple to sell boards of differing sizes that give users the chess.com network.

Do they sell anything physical anymore? The outsource their logo gear sales. With no existing infrastructure to warehouse and ship things I don't think it would pay. Also tech support is a ***** on that kind of item. Some people who would buy such things barely know how to use a computer. No reason they couldn't partner with someone who sells and supports a compatible board, and get a cut from that, but I don't think they would want to do this otherwise.

Yes, however the plural of female dog, "bitches" is not.

22/32.

some picks were based on my liking rather than objectivity, so it's fitting I got burned on those (Korobov, Gelfand, Jones), but really sad that some of my upset picks validated my picks by either having a lead, or comfortably reaching playoffs, but then most of them got rekt there.

R3:

Ding (there is a small chance that Firouzja gets one of his crazy crushing wins and takes it, but I think Ding too solid for that)
Harikrishna (Alekseenko is reaaaaally good, but an in-form Hari is a beast. However, if this reaches playoffs, then I feel like Alekseenko's chances improve and Hari is maybe just a small favorite)
Dominguez (this one is a coin toss to me... Going for Dominguez as he is super solid, and very good in faster controls, which will definitely be reached)
Grischuk (Xu has been my dark horse in both first two rounds and he has pulled through, making me look good. The journey ends here, though)
So (both very good, but I just feel that Vidit is simply not there yet. But it all depends on which So shows up. He has kinda been all over the place as far as his level of play recently, so Vidit might have plenty of chances to take this one if So doesn't find consistency)
Karjakin (another fairly close one, but Karjakin is just a bit above Vitiugov and doesn't really have weaknesses that players of lesser caliber could exploit)
Tomashevsky (Nepo is a better player, for sure. But Tomashevsky is ultra solid, while Nepo is all over the place, with very high peaks, and very low lows. He has not blundered anything yet in this tournament - I feel like he finally will. And if he loses one, he is not winning against Tomashevsky on demand).
Wei Yi (maybe the biggest coin toss of the round. You might think its strange that I picked Anton Guijarro to beat Wei Yi (which he should have, winning first game with black), and now I am picking Wei Yi to beat a much stronger Yu. But Anton's style is just perfect against Wei Yi, and Wei Yi has a tendency of going for an overkill against lower rated guys, which he doesn't do vs his level of opposition. Yu is very good, but I am not convinced at all by his form this tournament. I think this reaches playoffs 95% of the time, and then.. who knows)
Giri (fun fact - I've beaten Xiong many times in tournament games! when his head was barely visible above the table... I honestly would have picked Xiong here, had Giri beaten Najer in regulation, as Giri often plays down to his competition and seems to lack focus a bit when playing vs lower rated guys, while Xiong is someone who would not be shy about going for the throat if the position allowed. But now I have a sense that after surviving such a scare a rejuvenated Giri will go far, and young Xiong is no match yet)
Duda (Andreikin is also very strong, but similar to Nepo in a sense that he has quite high highs, but quite low lows. Duda, though also prone to that a bit due to his age, is a bit more consistent overall. Usually Andreikin can rely on his rapid/blitz to get through some of the earlier rounds, but Duda has shown to be extremely strong in fast time controls, so I do not feel like Andreikin has any edge there, actually the opposite. This is my candidate for Armaggedon this round)
Mamedyarov (Safarli is quite underrated, and has proven that when he beat Shankland in R1, making me look good! He has a tendency to look down on his opposition, which is why I picked Nihal to beat him, which Nihal had a real chance to do after leading 1-0. Safarli will for sure bring his A game vs Mamedyarov, and it will be quite a struggle, but Mamedyarov just too strong to overcome even with Safarli's A game).
Radjabov - (Yuffa is someone who brought me the most frustration this tournament. I know how good he is, far better than his rating. I almost put him down as going through vs Navara, but convinced myself otherwise for whatever stupid reason. Then I spent a bunch of time trying to find out how McShane can beat him, and again found a reason. He definitely has a chance vs Radjabov too, but Teimour does not have some of weaknesses that Navara has, so Yuffa will have to do something quite special to go through this time. Third time is the charm, I guess - JUST GO OUT ALREADY PLS)
Vachier (I dislike Jakovenko with passion for whatever reason. Vachier is better in all aspects of the game and will comfortably go through. Or so I hope
Svidler (I am not really sad to see Nakamura go, but I am sad that I didn't pull the trigger on Nisipeanu pick. I had a sense that he will create a lot of problems for Nakamura in classical games, but Nakamura will escape and then destroy in faster controls, which he didn't get a chance to do lol. But Svidler is not Naka. I am actually amazed that Naka is so strong, which is a testament to his incredible other abilities, as he really does not have nearly the understanding as some of these other guys do, like Svidler. Nisipeanu will try something super aggressive both games, and Svidler will take whatever is on offer and calmly defend.
Aronian (Aronian might struggle this tournament, but not yet. Should be fairly comfortable.
Artemiev (I don't like him much, but cannot argue with his strength. Will be rooting for Le, though).

10/16. Things are heating up, so this is gonna be super interesting!

R4:

Ding - as mentioned previously, Alekseenko is very very good. However, similarly to Firouzja, just not good enough yet to take on someone as solid as Ding. I can see this potentially going to playoffs with two draws in classical, as Alekseenko is quite solid himself, but I will be surprised if it reaches even the second rapid stage.
Grischuk - oooh, the coin tosses begin early this round. Dominguez has shown amazing resilience versus Wang Hao, being down twice. However, I still give Grischuk the edge in faster time controls, where he has historically shown in these World Cups to just dominate up until the very late stages. There is about 1% chance that this gets decided in the classical portion.
So - Vitiugov has went through, but didn't really convince me that my comment about him was wrong, as it was more Karjakin losing that Vitiugov winning. Anyway, So seems to be in very good shape, and I maintain that Vitiugov does not have the tools to take him down. But, its a short match, where one move can decide anything, like in Vitiugov's match vs Karjakin. I do hope that does not happen this time around
Nepo - extreme coin toss here. Both have proven their abilities in all time controls, Yu is more solid and stable, but Nepo is mercurial. I sense that the good side of Nepo will show up and that will decide the match.
Xiong - this is the one where my brain says Duda, but my heart says Xiong. Duda, at the current moment, is a better overall player, I have no doubt about that. He already belongs in the elite and I expect him in top10 soon. Xiong will be in the top 10 as well, just maybe a bit later. But Xiong definitely has the tools and the bravery required to take down an opponent like that, and I have disappointed him by not pulling the trigger on him last round vs Giri, so whatever, let's go Xiong this time around!
Radjabov - Mamedyarov is stronger, but I always liked Radjabov more for some reason, and was sad when he basically stopped playing. I am glad he has returned, and feel like he has a chip on his shoulder to prove that he should be in the conversation for Azerbaijan's No. 1. Mamedyarov is similar to Nepo in the mercurial sense, so you never really know what you will get. If he brings his A game, it will be nigh impossible for Radjabov, sadly. But he won't bring his A game, so Radjabov it is
Vachier Extremely tough pick, as I very much like them both. I probably like Svidler even more, but I have to give a slight edge to Vachier mainly due to the fast time controls. Svidler is no slouch himself and will give Vachier a run for his money, though. Won't be sad whichever way this ends, honestly, as one of the guys I am rooting for will go through.
Aronian If there is a dark-horse pick in this round, it's Le. His quite demeanor means that he is usually talked about much less than the other guys, but don't let that fool you, he is amazingly strong. Strong enough to take down Aronian? In a vacuum, absolutely yes, in this particular format and with Aronian in the kind of form he has demonstrated in earlier rounds? Do not think so. Wouldn't be at all surprised if this goes all the way, though, and then of course anything can happen.

Nepo and Radjabov are two of the few chess players who have somehow rubbed me the wrong way. Both kind of seem like asses.

I like following your running picks - keep 'em coming!

At least one reader, yay!

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id...-playing-chess

The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

Xiong with the clutch must win today!

I've been reading too