The Essent Super Tournament just started. Judit has White against Sokolov in the first round while Mamedyarov has White against Topalov. The format is double round robin.
Click here to watch the games LIVE.
I will do a wrap up later on and I will do LIVE Commentary in future rounds. Right now, I have to give a lecture to hundreds of educators at the 2006 Magnet School Convention in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Ivan Topalov ???????? is that the same person??? Veselin?
No live comments from Susan for this tourn?
Thank you, Susan, for providing this wonderful link! It’s exciting to watch.
Tim Harris
I hope Judit is going to win, as Sokolov is the most unsportive chess player in history. He only want to analyze if he wins. If he loses he walks away like a little child, over and over again. I saw it many times, also one time in Pardubice somewhere in the 90s when he lost against Susan!
It’s move 27 and Judit has a slight plus. Looks like it could be a draw. I thought her play would be to the queen-side, but…she is a tricky one. Oh, she has played 28 Kf1. What the devil is she up to? It’s was my opinion that her King was adequately protected and it is still to early to move it into the center. Susan, could you explain that for the benefit of us patzers? Did she make an error or does she see something? Thanks for the link.
WOW Mamedyarov had topalov on the ropes, move after move until 28. Bg5? letting black finally equalize. Move after move he was playing best play according to Rybka, and Qh5 would’ve kept up the pressure. I never saw Bg5 sac coming! Draw by perpetual if Toppy takes it, or major losing position if he declines.
Judit seems to be making great moves and maintaining a slight advantage.
Will Topalov take the draw? Or like game 1 of WCC, think he can create a win out of thin air even if it means losing?
Looks like Toppy is taking the draw he was miraculously offered from white who had a winning position!
WOW on 3rd rep Mamedyarov changes his mind about the draw and presses on!
Dumb! If he had wanted to play it out he shouldn’t have given up the advantage with that sac!
As usual, topalov has a way to equalize and picks a worse move to complicate.
I wonder how many won & drawn positions he’s lost doing just that?
anonymous said: “Move after move he (Topalov) was playing best play according to Rybka, and Qh5 would’ve kept up the pressure. I never saw Bg5 sac coming! Draw by perpetual if Toppy takes it, or major losing position if he declines.”
I am not going to say Topalov might be cheating, however, Topalov’s moves matching Rybka give more rise to suspicion than Kramnik’s toilet-breaks in Elista. I think in this context the following quote deserves attention and further investigation. I am quoting from a posting of a certain Fermat at http://www.chessninja.com (link: http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2006/10/kramniktopalov_g8.htm): “I did a detailed analysis of Topalov’s play today. With Rybka. The match was nearly 100% with only couple of variations in the end when he was already winning. I even compared the time Topalov spent on his moves. When it became Topalov’s turn, I started Rybka. And when Topalov made his move, it was nearly always the one Rybka was suggesting. Some of these moves were not suggested by any human players on Playchess or ICC. This is inhuman. The purpose of the anti-Kramnik shenanigans has not been only to push Kramnik off his game (and win the point in game 5) but also to take the spotlight away from Topalov! Just like in Mtel in 2005 and 2006 and just like in Linares 2005 and 2006, Topalov starts without outside help. Then some way into the tournament, usually midway through it, Topalov switches to computer assisted chess. You can analyse this statistically from all those tournaments. You can easily conclude it is two different players. As was the case here. Without a doubt Veselin Topalov is cheating, with outside computer assistance. Not anyone should question this fact anymore. In Topalov’s camp there are people from the Bulgarian secret service. They have some very sophisticated methods to cheat. How they do it, I do not know, but Topalov is cheating. He was a 2700 player, now he is 2810. No other player ever in the history of the game has made such sudden jump in playing ability. Never. And his moves match with computer from the past two years. 85%!. He even played 20 consequent Rybka first choices in one of his San Luis games. This cheater need to be caught red handed and then kicked out of the chess world…. this cheater need to be caught red handed and then kicked out of the chess world. Because anyone who knows something about chess and computers, knows that Topalov has been cheating in the past two years.”
@stefan
No, it was not Topalov, it was Mamedyarov whose moves were matching Rybka in this game!
To be honest I think super gm’s quite regularly see moves that computers do. Its not testament that people are copying computers, rather that computers are finally starting to see like GM’s.
Also, even in my own patzer level games I have had moments where I played several moves in a row suggested by rybka or fritz (sometimes even in non forcing variations etc).
That being said, Judit herself has made a bunch of top 4 move choices from rybka, in a row, this morning. I don’t believe she’s cheating either.
Here’s an example.
Rybka says for move 35. Topalov should play Rxd6 and gain equality.
Toppy chose Nf4 immediately dropping to -1.13.
The response from his opponent is g3, exactly what Rybka says.
Judits last move, and opponents response were exactly top choice by rybka.
Topalov has now missed 2 chances (Be8 instead of Ng6 would’ve equalized) and Rxd6 instead of Nf4 would also have equalized. Toppy got himself in a hole early on and is missing every chance to even equalize and except for the bishop sac, his opponent has been cashing in on Rybka’s 1st choice for many moves in a row now.
To be honest I think super gm’s quite regularly see moves that computers do. Its not testament that people are copying computers, rather that computers are finally starting to see like GM’s.
Agreed.
However, the thing that is damning about Topalov is his jump in rating. It really is an unprecedented jump and strongly smells of cheating.
Topalov is going down in the ending – I can’t see how he could escape that.
Woohoo!!! Topalov lost! Sorry guys, but from now on I’m always rooting for Topalov’s opponents!!
Oh yea, and btw: GO JUDIT !!!!! :-))
BTW – the Topalov/Danailov entity got smashed by a small pale boy today … uiuiui – the chimera is dropping back to a 2750 level – uiuiui
i wonder how Morphy, Steinitz, Pillsbury or Fischer would have done with the glass pieces used in the crown tournament of Essent …
no offence meant – but i could not resist 🙂
Does anywhone here use linux? (‘coz I think playchess is terribly laggy in linux, or does everyone else also see the strange clocks in Judit’s game? (on my playchess programme it is her move but blacks clock is ticking?!)
D.K.
“the chimera”?
Are u nutz??
Judith is kickin Sokolov’s ass in their game.
Nice victory for her.
Chimera (Greek Χίμαιρα (Chímaira); Latin Chimaera) is a monstrous creature made of the parts of multiple animals (or humans… my addendum)
source: wikipedia
why nuts? (in german it is schimäre – so i thought it is “chimera” in english – a fabulous creature – as outlinerd in an interview of Danailov – i quote: “Topalov and Danailov are the same person”
🙂
After Judit’s 45th move, Fritz 9 rates her as having +/= to +/-, depending on Sokolov’s response.
It’s move 46 and Judit just played Be4…I’ve played through enough of her games to know something special is about to happen! Yes, I see that the Bishop threatens Bg6, but there’s something else…I feel it. Judit doesn’t disappoint very often. GO JUDIT!!!!
45. Ke2, h5
46. Be4
…and now Fritz gives Judit a +/- , 5.60 advantage if Black plays Rg8.
This is a very nice game by Judit, I like how she moves the play from one side of the board to the other! This line is alos nice:
46.Be4 Rg8 47.e7 Re8 48.Rd8 Rxd8 49.exd8Q+ Qxd8 50.Qxb5
And a clear win ;D
GO Judit!
D.K.
Topalov has lost. This isn’t good for him. We’ll see what the next game has in store.
GM Judit Polgar is playing very well! Go Judit!!
T.H.
irishspy,
Polgar is comfortably winning there.
Fritz is idiot!
I can’t imagine Sokolov will play on much longer. He’s being crushed into the G and H files.
Polgar is comfortably winning there.
That’s basically what I said.
There is still an insinuation of cheating via Rybka. I don’t believe that anyone, including Topalov, though I despise his team’s recent behavior against Kramnik, is cheating.
For the conspiracy theorists…how would it even be possible (forget Toppie’s wristwatch…this isn’t James Bond) for him to cheat????
Enlighten us all. Because Rybka on its own could beat any of these great players. If he was cheating, then he’d win. Pretty simple.
Congratulations Judit & Susan!
GM Judit…congrats!
Now…defeat Topalov. We all know you can and will!
I’m surprised at Topalov’s loss.
Congratulations Judit! I’m so happy to see you in good form!
anonymous,
Deep Fritz running at 4 processors,
is probably stronger than Rybka (which is not optimized yet for multiprocessor running)
Rybka 2.1 is optimized for multiple proseccors!
*JUDIT won!!! (a very nice game!)
D.K.
Sorry made a typo: processors *
D.K.
Judit won indeed! I would have love to see the face of Sokolov when he resigned! Hahaha!
why not 45… Qh2 for Sokolov?
I think that all 45 . . .Qh2 would achieve is to take the queen even further away from defence of the e8 square. The black queen and bishop have no threats as the white king can easily hide on the queenside. A great game by Judit, I hope she shows Topalov that 1.e4 is a valid opening tomorrow
I was not happy with Danilov’s tactics. But I do respect: Give Kramnik and chance when he did not have to on rating difference. Playing SO quickly after losing a very disappointing WC match. I salute his grit and putting himself on the line. If I take away the bathroom affair, he is a class act.