It looks like Magnus found the perpetual check.

These two had to calculate A LOT today. Awesome game to watch over with houdini on and see all the pretty combinations.

Oops I didn't realize that comment was 20min ago, my apologies I posted mine after white played f4 fwiw.

Very interesting game though, enjoyed it With Aronian losing Carlsen and also Radjabov moves within striking distance again, might be an interesting finish!

Oh, I forgot this is Carlsen we are talking about. Forget perpetuals, we are in for at least 3 more hours of this game

wait lol, he didn't go for the perpetual?! I already closed the games and decided to do something else.

I can't really see him winning this but man it must suck to play against Carlsen.

Carlsen is now threatening to crush with Passed Pawn Power (tm).

Topalov needs to retire.

EDIT: Houdini basically hates every move he makes, lol.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised anymore if Carlsen ships this.

Ernst beat Hari in a really nice game and won against the 2 leaders in B group but still has a bad tournament.

Karjakin 5,5/11 with only 1 draw. And when asked about his rollercoaster tournament he's just like lol I don't know why, chess > me.

Variance

very impressive hypnotizing by carlsen!

Six decisive games out of 7 today, and some real awesome ones.

Topalov was hypnotized against Caruana too. Houdini nearly exploded from the bad numbers it was assigning his moves. It really seems like Veselin just doesn't have his fighting spirit anymore. He's been a World Champion and the World #1 and been in some truly epic battles...no shame in calling it a career.

B group also 6 decisive games.

Also black crushing white again in A group even though white had a clear rating adventage.

I like the Navara ending, really show you how strong Q+N is, mate's all over the place.

About Topalov, that was a really hard game to play. Cant blame him for simplifying with 25....,Qxf7. All those houdini wins are so ridicilously deep and complex.
Bb1 at the end was a strange move though. But I'm gonna go with great Carlsen victory and it wouldn't surprise me if he was thinking he was winning the whole game.

Craziest day of the tourney: nice win by Navara against Aronian ( 14. Qxb4? is abnormal ) and even after that game, both players retain the same position in the tournament! Carlsen sacs a rook unsoundly against Topalov but in the complications escapes ( instead of 25...Qxf7?, many other moves should win/retain a big advantage for Black ) and continues to play on justifiably for a full point! Radjabov, after escaping with a draw offer the previous round on move 40, grinds out Gashimov who strangely opts for 12. Nf2?.

Playing for a full point >> drawing ( Van Wely as White loses against Karjakin ). A lot of blood on the battlefields ( one draw in each of A and B sections and both leaders were casualties ) including Ernst scalping Harikrishna where White somehow found his way to a better position after playing consecutively h4, g4, g5, gxh6 and hxg7; it's a game where Black might ask himself where he first went wrong.

Awesome games yesterday.

I was watching live commentary GM Rogers and the houndini eval at the same time.
It was interesting how as soon as Bh4 was played the GM press room appeared to see the threat even though houndini with mega calc could see defense for black.

That contrast is always jarring for amatuer player of my level.

Here is youtube link of navara in the post-match if you havent found hope you like.
He has charming modesty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=132E6bk4pBI

re the Ernst-Hari game: It would be so typical for modern chess if the h4 g4 approach proved to be the challenge to the Lasker wall. I think it was first played in some lower-level game and then Aronian was first to jump on (or start?) the bandwagon.

lol, i was right with the Aronian game and guess who he tried it against, Harikrishna himself. Extra props to Ernst then.

Why? Because of the separation between the computer and humans?

It's probably best to watch the games with both GM commentators and the computer running, since you can see the combinations that you "should" see, which the strong humans will point out...and on the sideline you can see "Chess God" thinking too. Hmmm, thinking about that, maybe Houdini's evaluation isn't REALLY that useful. In a way...since no person will ever see many of the things it's pointing out.

The funny thing is...this growth of chess computers effected the way I view so many other things. For one example, my GPS that I used to call "Travel Rybka" because it would constantly tell me routes to get places that I hadn't gone and wouldn't have ever tried which saved many minutes off of my normal paths.

Point taken.

Just some cognitive dissonance.

I was chatting with someone today about it.

I came to the conclusion it was more to do with the GM's having a better handle of what the actual players involved defensive mindset is like and I guess the average 2500+ capability of defending that kingside tsunami precisely enough.
vs a 'optimal' defensive evaluation given by houndini

carlsen opens strong today, his money spend on kasparov paying off

http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook/yearbookpoll.aspx

It's game 1 and if you click on view there's some analysis. Ballsy from Ernst indeed.

When I saw it was 35 minutes I thought there was no way that I would watch it till the end...

But I did, nice analysis, his memory is pretty good

You got to root for him, guy is ofcourse a little weird but he's really friendly.
I played a blitz game against him once in some side event and he took the time to analyse a little bit at the end (I'm lol 2100) and greeted me later that tournament. Very unlike GM behaviour in my experience.

Answers at the little intervieuw at the end were very honest.

Yes - I got that impression Fred.

A man like that has integrity.


Carlsen - Kamsky heating up.

18.bxc6 e2 19.Qb1 Qe3+ 20.Kh1 Qf2 21.Rg1 Rae8 22.Nc4 Nxg2 23.Rf1 exf1=Q+ 24.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 25.Rxf1 Ne3 26.Rc1 Re7 27.Ne5 f4

I prolly always snatch the bishop but houndini like black if carlsen goes materialistic

hmmm I had no idea that there was live commentary from Rogers so posting the link for others like me

http://live.tatasteelchess.com/p5/livecommentary.html

He thinks Carlsen is in serious trouble already.

Gata Kamsky has proven a torublesome opponent for Magnus Carlsen, knocking him out of the 2007 World Cup and also beating him in a playoff for ninth place in the 2005 World Cup. Their career classical score is currently equal, though Kamsky and Carlsen have not met in any form of the game for three years. In those three years, Carlsen has dominated the elite tournament circuit and, with Aronian's misstep yesterday giving the Norwegian a chance to take yet another title, it is hard to see the American stopping a determined Carlsen today.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5
Trying the Marshall Gambit, which has scored so heavily for Aronian in recent years, but Carlsen has a trick up his sleeve...
9.d4!?
A move with an extremely modest reputation. Both 9...Nxe4 and 9...exd4 are supposed to be completely satisfactory for Black, with the latter supposed to lead to something approaching a forced draw after 9...exd4 10.e5 Ne4 11.Nxd4 Nxe5 12.f3 c5 13.Bf4 Bf6 14.Bxe5 Bxe5 15.Nc6 Bxh2+
9...dxe4 10.Nxe5 Bb7
Another solid option. Now the critical question is whether the line 11.Nd2 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13.Nxe4 Nxe5 is anything for White, and of course Black has other options such as 11...Bd6.
11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Bg5
An improvement on the old 11. Bg5 plan, which can be well met by 11...Nxe5. Now it is becoming clear that Black will have problems with his e4 pawn. This wouldn't be a critical issue if Black could fight back with ...c5, but Kamsky may not wish to speculate on 12...Bb7 13.Nd2 c5!? 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.dxc5 without pregame preparation. The position looks a lot like a Gajewski variation of the Spanish (8...d6 9.c3 0-0 10.h3 Na5 11.Bc2 d5!? 12.d4) but even in the Gajewski Black sometimes finds it hard to prove compensation for the pawn.
12...Nd5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Nd2 f5
Kamsky has found a radical solution to the problem of his e pawn, but at some cost. Carlsen can plonk a knight on e5, via f3, immediately, while 15.c4!?, intending 15...bxc4 16.Nxc4, with both 17.Ne5 and 17.Na5 looming, might be even better.
15.f3
1h25m Greedy, but since it is played by Carlsen, perhaps better than it looks. After 15...e3 White intends to isolate the pawn with 16. f4 and round it up later. It certainly looks suspicious for White to the naked eye, but Carlsen will do a lot for a pawn and, given his clock position, this may well still be preparation by him.
15...e3 59m 16.c4 Nf4! 17.cxb5+ Kh8!
1hr 0m Great play by Kamsky! Now 18.bxc6 Qg5 wins material for Black, while the computers claim that 18...e2! is even better, close to winning for Black. 18.Nc4 seems to be the only move to keep the game afloat but after 18...Qg5 19. Nxe3 Rae8! only Black can be better.
*

Carlsen in the tank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Bz9...ure=plpp_video

Apparently Carlsen blundered Nxb2 in the game against Topalov :O