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Carlsen beats Kramnik, McShane beats Short on d1.


Can someone explain what is going on in McShane-Short from today? In particular, from move 40 to 60 or so White, who has a definite advantage, does absolutely nothing except shuffle his pieces back and forth to all the combinations of squares where they would not actually be en prise, being careful not to allow a repetition. I don't think Black has to do anything special here to defend, although I could be missing something. I haven't checked this with Rybka.

Is it simply that there is a time control at 60 and McShane decided to get there as quickly as possible, figuring Black would also sit tight and do nothing, so he would get more time to figure out how best to convert his advantage? It all seems a bit ridiculous either way.

[Event "Chess Classic"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2009.12.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "McShane, L."]
[Black "Short, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2615"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "325"]
[EventDate "2009.12.08"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qf3 bxc6 7. Nc3 d6 8.
Qg3 Qg6 9. Bd3 a5 10. Bd2 Nf6 11. f3 Ba6 12. Ne2 Nd7 13. Bxa6 Rxa6 14. Qxg6
hxg6 15. Nf4 Bd4 16. Nd3 c5 17. c3 Bf6 18. O-O-O a4 19. Kc2 g5 20. h3 Be7 21.
Nf2 Nf8 22. Ng4 Ne6 23. Ne3 f6 24. Nc4 Kf7 25. Be1 Nf4 26. Rd2 g6 27. Bg3 Nh5
28. Bh2 Ng7 29. Bg3 Nh5 30. Bh2 Ng7 31. Re1 Rb8 32. Rdd1 Rba8 33. Rd2 Rb8 34.
Ra1 Rba8 35. Rc1 Rb8 36. Bg3 Nh5 37. Bh2 Ng7 38. Rg1 Rh8 39. Rf1 Rh7 40. Rd3
Rh8 41. Rdd1 Ne6 42. Rh1 Ng7 43. Rhe1 Rha8 44. Bg1 Ne6 45. Rd2 Rh8 46. Be3 Bf8
47. Rh1 Bg7 48. Rd5 Ke7 49. Rh2 Raa8 50. Rh1 Ra6 51. Rd2 Raa8 52. Re1 Ra6 53.
Bf2 Raa8 54. Bg3 Ra6 55. Ne3 Kf7 56. Rd5 Bf8 57. Rdd1 Bg7 58. Rh1 Raa8 59. Rh2
Ra6 60. Rdh1 Raa8 61. h4 gxh4 62. Rxh4 Rxh4 63. Rxh4 Ra7 64. Rh1 Ra8 65. Bf2
Nf8 66. Be1 Ra7 67. Bd2 Ne6 68. Bc1 Ra8 69. Bd2 Rd8 70. Bc1 Re8 71. Rh4 Ra8 72.
Kd3 Ra6 73. g3 Nf8 74. f4 Nd7 75. Rh2 Ra7 76. Bd2 Rb7 77. Be1 Bf8 78. g4 Kg7
79. Bg3 c6 80. f5 g5 81. Rd2 Nb6 82. Ke2 Rd7 83. b3 d5 84. c4 axb3 85. axb3
dxe4 86. Rxd7+ Nxd7 87. Bc7 Kf7 88. Nd1 Ke8 89. Nc3 Be7 90. Nxe4 Bd8 91. Nd6+
Ke7 92. Nc8+ Ke8 93. Nd6+ Ke7 94. Nc8+ Ke8 95. Bg3 Nb6 96. Nd6+ Kf8 97. Nb7 Ke8
98. Nxc5 Be7 99. Ne4 Kd8 100. Be1 Nd7 101. Bc3 c5 102. Bb2 Ke8 103. Kf2 Kd8
104. Kg2 Ke8 105. Kh3 Kf7 106. Kg3 Ke8 107. Bc3 Kd8 108. Kh3 Kc7 109. Bb2 Kc6
110. Nc3 Nb6 111. Kg3 Bd8 112. Kf3 Be7 113. Ke3 Bd8 114. Kd3 Be7 115. Ke4 Bd8
116. Nd5 Nd7 117. Bc3 Kd6 118. Be1 Kc6 119. Bg3 Nf8 120. Kd3 Nd7 121. Kc2 Nf8
122. Be1 Nd7 123. Bg3 Nf8 124. Kb2 Nd7 125. Ka3 Ba5 126. Ne7+ Kb6 127. Bd6 Ka6
128. Nd5 Bd8 129. Bg3 Ba5 130. Ka4 Bd2 131. Bc7 Bc1 132. Bd8 Bb2 133. b4 Bd4
134. b5+ Kb7 135. Kb3 Be5 136. Kc2 Bd4 137. Kb3 Be5 138. Be7 Bd4 139. Bd6 Bf2
140. Kc2 Ka7 141. Kd3 Kb7 142. Ke4 Bd4 143. Be7 Be5 144. Ne3 Bf4 145. Ng2 Bg3
146. Kd5 Bf2 147. Ke6 Ne5 148. Bxf6 Nxc4 149. Bxg5 Na3 150. f6 Bd4 151. f7 Bg7
152. Bf6 Bf8 153. Be7 Bg7 154. Bxc5 Nxb5 155. f8=Q Nc7+ 156. Kf7 Bxf8 157. Bxf8
Kc6 158. Nf4 Kd7 159. g5 Nb5 160. g6 Nd4 161. g7 Nf5 162. g8=Q Nh6+ 163. Bxh6
1-0

Prop bet on longest game of the tournament?

Edit - even more impressive is the king walk white uses from 101-114. I assume McShane is just screwing around to show that his position is so good he doesn't need to do anything useful and he can still win. It makes me wonder if there's history between the two. Do they dislike each other?

I think the explanation is here:

Rules: Classical time control 40/2, 20/1, g/15'+30". Sofia Rules will apply with three points for a win.

A combination of the time control (Where its possible to accumulate oceans of time by doing nothing.) and 3 points/win

I don't think they dislike each other, but could be wrong.

Accumulating an enormous amount of time must be the right explanation. I don't see what 3 points for a win would have to do with it -- it's not as if White risks losing by playing this way.

The ChessFM commentary from ICC is surprisingly awesome for this. I hadn't listened to ChessFM in about 2 years and when I did last it was fairly mediocre. They're really rocking for the commentary right now at least. If you have an ICC account using blitzen or dasher: "tell webcast listen"

I heard that game lasted upwards of seven hours ... so unreal

We have league matches that last up to 7 hours...

Also, without knowing Luke McShane's nationality, I was going to make some snarky comment given where it sounds like he's from. Glad I wiki'd it first.

I wonder have the players been asked to play to the kings for the benefit of the public. Quite a few games have featured endgames that would normally be agreed drawn 10 or 20 moves earlier, Short-Ni from today is one of the clearest examples.

There's no reason to play out a trivial technical draw, but they are playing by Sofia rules. 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw. No agreeing to quick draws. And $ for results. A large chunk of the overall prize pool is being given out in fan selected game of the days and other such perks.

It seems Carlsen is playing a bit sloppy his past couple of games. Missed a number of wins in his game yesterday and today he went from having a great position to struggling for a draw which Naka was happy to acquiesce to without much of a fight, which Carlsen is undoubtedly pleased with. They were both in time trouble today though, and yesterday Carlsen seemed to start blitzing out moves when his opponent was in time trouble. Wonder if there's something to that.

I think draw offers are not permitted.

Nakamura - McShane was excellent. McShane sacrifices the exchange for two pawns, proceeds to own Naka.