6 ms·

Anand retains world chess championship title

63 points by juanefren 16y ago

Anand beats Topalov in the 12th game with black pieces

jpablo 16y ago
It's hard to belive that Topalov played 31... exf5 and 31...fxe4 it seemed extremely dangerous to free the powerful bishop in a8.
- juanefren 16y ago
  I agree, it looks like he didn't see 32...Qe8.
  - jpablo 16y ago
    Even if you don't see that specific move you see that your king is going to a corner. The bishop in a8 controls the long diagonal and is pointing directly at your king. Your rocks are uncoordinated while black's will soon be doubled and will control the d file.
    - pk2200 16y ago
      Yep. Even if Topalov missed 34...Qe8!, he should have seen how dangerous it was to open the diagonal for the bishop and walk his king to h3. Maybe he thought he could outplay Anand in a complicated position, but Vishy was more than up to the task. (His technique for the final 20 moves was flawless.) Maybe Topalov realized that he would be a big underdog in a rapid/blitz playoff against Anand and decided to take his chances in the last slow time-control game. An exciting conclusion to the match!
  - akkartik 16y ago
    I don't see the easier win after 36...Qd8 that several sites have mentioned. Any ideas?
    - gjm11 16y ago
      37. Kh3 Qg5 threatening mayhem on g4. Best is 38. Qg1 to protect g4; then ...Re7 gets rid of the knight, one way or another, and g4 goes bang anyway. 37. Kg3 Qd6+; Kh3 or Kh4 Qh6 threatening mayhem on the h-file. 37. f6 Rf7 followed by hxg4 and g3+ and the WK has nowhere to hide. If, say, 38. Qf1 hxg4; Kg3 to stop this then Qd6+; Kh4 g3+ and White is toast. In some variations B can just play ...Rxf6 instead of ...hxg4, and again the WK ends up with nowhere to hide. (I'm a patzer, or more precisely a rusty club-level player; the above is the result of some experimenting with a strong computer program. I may have missed important things.)
      - akkartik 16y ago
        What's the strongest response to 37. Kxh5?
        mquander 16y ago
        No computer, but 36... Qd8 37. Kxh5 Rc6 and then: 38. f6 Rxf6 39. Rxf6 Qxf6 looks totally hopeless for White, can't defend both h6 and g6 38. g5 Rh6+ 39. gxh6 Rh4+ 40. Kg6 Qf6++ Don't see any other plausible options to prevent 38... Rh6++.
    - jsyedidia 16y ago
      36...Qd8+ only looks better to a computer. The idea is 37. f6 hxg4 38.Nxg4 gxf6 threatening ...Rh7+ or 37. Kg3 Qd6+ 38. Kh4 Qh6! But Anand's 36...g5+ is much easier for a human to play. It's easier to see White's reasonable responses and how to deal with them. Anand never made a move that let go of his winning advantage, and all the (mild) criticisms of his play are based on moves that computers think win a little faster; but a human should play to win as reliably as possible, and that's what he did. I am astonished though by Topalov's mistakes capturing the f and e pawns. They were inexplicable, because they're not really tactical errors at all; they simply show terrible positional misunderstanding.
- greyman 16y ago
  Yes it was interesting to watch how quickly his position crumbled. Overall, it seems to me like Anand is a more mature player and his win in this match was fully deserved. I am looking forward when some stronger player like Carlsen or even the younger guys will challenge him.
  - joeycfan 16y ago
    Me too. I am really looking forward to Carlson challenging him. His training with Kasparov must have really helped.
aditya 16y ago
So, what is a good book on chess strategies mentioned in the article?
- jsyedidia 16y ago
  Depends on your level and interests, but "How to Reassess your Chess," by Jeremy Silman is an excellent book if you're beyond the beginner level.
- rdmlx 16y ago
  "My System" by Aron Nimzowitch - I have a decent size chess library, this is my recommendation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_System
  - draegtun 16y ago
    I totally agree. I've read many chess books and this definitely had the most impact on my chess style & ability. "My System" teaches you chess strategy so along with this I also recommend "Think Live a Grandmaster" by Alexander Kotov. This trains yor brain work like a chess machine :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kotov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kotov
dkarl 16y ago
There's nothing special or interesting in this article except for people who already play chess at a very high level. Heck, I wonder how many Hacker News readers could tell the difference between this game and a game between the two best players in Rhode Island (no offense to Rhode Island.) And the Hacker News readers who can learn from this article already know where to find coverage, so why post it on HN?
- mquander 16y ago
  If you're at all interested in chess (as I expect some reasonable minority of HN readers are) it's rather big news, wouldn't you say? Even if you couldn't tell the difference et al. the article still has a good summary of the event and the game that would be accessible to a club player. It's got to be both more newsworthy and also more interesting than some random Techcrunch headline if you're even a casual chess player, and I won't even start on Wikipedia links, etc.
  - abstractwater 16y ago
    Exactly. I find this far more interesting and hacker-news-worthy than most TechCrunch submissions. Holistic vs. narrow scope commentary.
    - eru 16y ago
      Almost anything is better than TechCrunch. I'd also like to see more Go articles.
      - wglb 16y ago
        Golang or go moku? (I would find either interesting).
        brent 16y ago
        My guess is he meant go and not go, the programming language, or go moku.
amix 16y ago
There's some excellent commentary on YouTube, especially from ChessNetwork [ http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork#p/c/825C29F1B294C194 http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork#p/c/825C29F1B294C19...] and jrobichess [ http://www.youtube.com/user/jrobichess#p/c/31E306A93108AFBE http://www.youtube.com/user/jrobichess#p/c/31E306A93108AFBE ]. jrobichess is yet to release commentary for game 12 thought. Overall some really good games, I thought Topalov was going to win, but he sure made a blunder in game 12 - - maybe he was under too much pressure.
alain94040 16y ago
Ny nephew is ranked at 2200 ELO points, which makes me automatically love chess. Myself, I'm not so good (-:
inboulder 16y ago
GM Giri on on chessbase has had excellent analysis of the whole match, here's his writeup of game 12: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6327 http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6327

63 points by juanefren 16y ago

Anand beats Topalov in the 12th game with black pieces

It's hard to belive that Topalov played 31... exf5 and 31...fxe4 it seemed extremely dangerous to free the powerful bishop in a8.

juanefren 16y ago
I agree, it looks like he didn't see 32...Qe8.
- jpablo 16y ago
  Even if you don't see that specific move you see that your king is going to a corner. The bishop in a8 controls the long diagonal and is pointing directly at your king. Your rocks are uncoordinated while black's will soon be doubled and will control the d file.
  - pk2200 16y ago
    Yep. Even if Topalov missed 34...Qe8!, he should have seen how dangerous it was to open the diagonal for the bishop and walk his king to h3. Maybe he thought he could outplay Anand in a complicated position, but Vishy was more than up to the task. (His technique for the final 20 moves was flawless.) Maybe Topalov realized that he would be a big underdog in a rapid/blitz playoff against Anand and decided to take his chances in the last slow time-control game. An exciting conclusion to the match!
- akkartik 16y ago
  I don't see the easier win after 36...Qd8 that several sites have mentioned. Any ideas?
  - gjm11 16y ago
    37. Kh3 Qg5 threatening mayhem on g4. Best is 38. Qg1 to protect g4; then ...Re7 gets rid of the knight, one way or another, and g4 goes bang anyway. 37. Kg3 Qd6+; Kh3 or Kh4 Qh6 threatening mayhem on the h-file. 37. f6 Rf7 followed by hxg4 and g3+ and the WK has nowhere to hide. If, say, 38. Qf1 hxg4; Kg3 to stop this then Qd6+; Kh4 g3+ and White is toast. In some variations B can just play ...Rxf6 instead of ...hxg4, and again the WK ends up with nowhere to hide. (I'm a patzer, or more precisely a rusty club-level player; the above is the result of some experimenting with a strong computer program. I may have missed important things.)
    - akkartik 16y ago
      What's the strongest response to 37. Kxh5?
      - mquander 16y ago
        No computer, but 36... Qd8 37. Kxh5 Rc6 and then: 38. f6 Rxf6 39. Rxf6 Qxf6 looks totally hopeless for White, can't defend both h6 and g6 38. g5 Rh6+ 39. gxh6 Rh4+ 40. Kg6 Qf6++ Don't see any other plausible options to prevent 38... Rh6++.
  - jsyedidia 16y ago
    36...Qd8+ only looks better to a computer. The idea is 37. f6 hxg4 38.Nxg4 gxf6 threatening ...Rh7+ or 37. Kg3 Qd6+ 38. Kh4 Qh6! But Anand's 36...g5+ is much easier for a human to play. It's easier to see White's reasonable responses and how to deal with them. Anand never made a move that let go of his winning advantage, and all the (mild) criticisms of his play are based on moves that computers think win a little faster; but a human should play to win as reliably as possible, and that's what he did. I am astonished though by Topalov's mistakes capturing the f and e pawns. They were inexplicable, because they're not really tactical errors at all; they simply show terrible positional misunderstanding.
greyman 16y ago
Yes it was interesting to watch how quickly his position crumbled. Overall, it seems to me like Anand is a more mature player and his win in this match was fully deserved. I am looking forward when some stronger player like Carlsen or even the younger guys will challenge him.
- joeycfan 16y ago
  Me too. I am really looking forward to Carlson challenging him. His training with Kasparov must have really helped.

aditya 16y ago

So, what is a good book on chess strategies mentioned in the article?

jsyedidia 16y ago
Depends on your level and interests, but "How to Reassess your Chess," by Jeremy Silman is an excellent book if you're beyond the beginner level.
rdmlx 16y ago
"My System" by Aron Nimzowitch - I have a decent size chess library, this is my recommendation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_System
- draegtun 16y ago
  I totally agree. I've read many chess books and this definitely had the most impact on my chess style & ability. "My System" teaches you chess strategy so along with this I also recommend "Think Live a Grandmaster" by Alexander Kotov. This trains yor brain work like a chess machine :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kotov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kotov

dkarl 16y ago

There's nothing special or interesting in this article except for people who already play chess at a very high level. Heck, I wonder how many Hacker News readers could tell the difference between this game and a game between the two best players in Rhode Island (no offense to Rhode Island.) And the Hacker News readers who can learn from this article already know where to find coverage, so why post it on HN?

mquander 16y ago
If you're at all interested in chess (as I expect some reasonable minority of HN readers are) it's rather big news, wouldn't you say? Even if you couldn't tell the difference et al. the article still has a good summary of the event and the game that would be accessible to a club player. It's got to be both more newsworthy and also more interesting than some random Techcrunch headline if you're even a casual chess player, and I won't even start on Wikipedia links, etc.
- abstractwater 16y ago
  Exactly. I find this far more interesting and hacker-news-worthy than most TechCrunch submissions. Holistic vs. narrow scope commentary.
  - eru 16y ago
    Almost anything is better than TechCrunch. I'd also like to see more Go articles.
    - wglb 16y ago
      Golang or go moku? (I would find either interesting).
      - brent 16y ago
        My guess is he meant go and not go, the programming language, or go moku.

amix 16y ago

There's some excellent commentary on YouTube, especially from ChessNetwork [ http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork#p/c/825C29F1B294C194 http://www.youtube.com/user/ChessNetwork#p/c/825C29F1B294C19...] and jrobichess [ http://www.youtube.com/user/jrobichess#p/c/31E306A93108AFBE http://www.youtube.com/user/jrobichess#p/c/31E306A93108AFBE ]. jrobichess is yet to release commentary for game 12 thought. Overall some really good games, I thought Topalov was going to win, but he sure made a blunder in game 12 - - maybe he was under too much pressure.

alain94040 16y ago

Ny nephew is ranked at 2200 ELO points, which makes me automatically love chess. Myself, I'm not so good (-:

inboulder 16y ago

GM Giri on on chessbase has had excellent analysis of the whole match, here's his writeup of game 12: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6327 http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6327