43
votes
Accepted
Why do pro chess players look up (look at the ceiling) when waiting for their move?
When you're that good at the game, you do not need to look at the board to have a complete understanding of the position. Especially just after your move is when you're more likely to be visualizing ...
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30
votes
Accepted
The illegal moves in Carlsen-Inarkiev
What rules (if any) cover a situation like this?
3.10.2 of the FIDE Laws of Chess defines when a move is illegal -
3.10.2 A move is illegal when it fails to meet the relevant requirements of ...
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28
votes
Why is Carlsen criticized for poor preparation at World Chess Championship 2018?
Carlsen is being criticized for his preparation with white, particularly e4. He knows that Caruana is going to play the Petrof yet nevertheless Caruana equalizes effortlessly. Carlsen appears to have ...
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27
votes
Why is Carlsen being praised for his tie-break play, when Caruana made several game-losing moves?
Carlsen crushed it, made almost no mistakes whatsoever in rapid. It is as if he was playing at classical time controls.
Chess is about not making mistakes. If your opponent doesn't make mistakes then ...
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24
votes
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Why did Magnus Carlsen not play the World Chess Championship in 2023?
It's not that Carlsen finds the World Chess Championship too easy, but rather that he is losing interest in classical chess as a whole. The reason for that is opening preparation dominates classical ...
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23
votes
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Carlsen-Caruana Game 12
Is the tournament leading to some consensus on how good/bad Carlsen's decision was?
Not quite. As others have pointed out, Carlsen's decision was based on factors outside that one game. With a ...
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20
votes
Carlsen-Caruana Game 12
Is the tournament leading to some consensus on how good/bad Carlsen's
decision was?
No. Consensus on Carlsen's play and decision has already been reached, I would suggest.
Psychologically Carlsen ...
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17
votes
Why is Carlsen being praised for his tie-break play, when Caruana made several game-losing moves?
my feeling is that Caruana lost the game, more than Carlsen won it.
Whenever two players play a game without making any errors the result is a draw. Most games have lots of errors and it is usually ...
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votes
Why is Carlsen criticized for poor preparation at World Chess Championship 2018?
Carlsen is criticized because he's in a defense position (he's defending his title, and doesn't need to win all games), and people want to see crazy games with new things, as simple as that.
While I ...
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14
votes
Caruana vs Carlsen game 10 (WCC) why not 18...Nxb6?
From a purely positional point of view, 18...Nxb6 would have been a
terrible mistake, as it would have allowed white to then forcefully trade the light squared bishops with the immediate Bg4
move, ...
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14
votes
Accepted
Why did Andrea Botez ask Magnus Carlsen “How does the knight move?” after a game in the 2021 World Chess Championship?
During one of the Botez streams, Magnus jokingly asked how the knight moves. Andrea explains in her recent YouTube video.
To answer your question: yes, it is a joke!
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Why did Magnus Carlsen not play the World Chess Championship in 2023?
Magnus himself stated at the end of 2021 after the Nepomniatchi -Carlsen match that he did not have the motivation to contest another challenge unless it was Alireza Firouzja as the challenger.
FIDE ...
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13
votes
Accepted
Why is Carlsen being praised for his tie-break play, when Caruana made several game-losing moves?
Game 1 of the tiebreak: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1937923
37 Rc7 is a brilliant endgame move under time control, that induces the opponent to make the mistake 37...Kxe4. There were ...
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13
votes
Understanding Carlsen's resignation in the rook and pawn endgame vs MVL
Intuitive plan
Notice that black's last check is pushing the white king one row away from their passed e-pawn. Once black promotes the b-pawn, white will have to give up the rook for it. After which ...
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12
votes
Accepted
Before Qe6 in game 6 of the 2021 World Chess Championship, was it really a draw?
Summary. There is no question. It is a theoretical draw (see tablebase).[1]
Obviously to mere mortals, playing on may hold practical chances for one side. GM Nakamura repeatedly said that the ...
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11
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Caruana vs Carlsen game 10 (WCC) why not 18...Nxb6?
After 18 ... Qe8 the bishop on b6 is attacking thin air and isn't very annoying.
After 18 ... Nxb6 19. Nxb6 the knight on b6 is very annoying indeed. The a8 rook is forced to a7 and black's pieces are ...
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11
votes
Accepted
Are there any strict rules which can be imposed on Magnus Carlsen for resigning on purpose against Hans?
Are there any strict FIDE rules for this?
Strictly speaking this is an online tournament organized by chess24.com and is not FIDE rated. That means it is not under FIDE jurisdiction nevertheless FIDE ...
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10
votes
Carlsen-Caruana Game 12
It will not show how good or bad Carlsen's decision was - humans play
and assess differently from computers; there are positions that are extremely
easy for computers, but terribly difficult for ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Does Magnus Carlsen have any openings/opening variations named for him?
In the old days variations were named after players who did serious theoretical work and/or played one line consistently over a longer period.
As openings got more and more analyzed it got ...
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10
votes
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Why are these weak squares important in this situation?
The final position is a very typical position of weak bishop against strong knight.
The knight has good outposts on d5 and b5, where it is supported/protected by white pawns and cannot be challenged ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Seconds of Magnus Carlsen
So far, following seconds have been revealed (NRK, ChessBase):
GM Peter Heine Nielsen (no surprise as he was part of team Carlsen in WCC 2014)
GM Laurent Fressinet (also no surprise as he was part ...
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10
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Why is Carlsen being praised for his tie-break play, when Caruana made several game-losing moves?
Carlsen didn't make any winning!! or distinctly good moves.
I doubt. Carlsen's play was almost accurate. He could exploit almost all of Caruana's mistakes in the rapid games.
Game 1:
Carlsen ...
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Caruana vs Carlsen game 10 (WCC) why not 18...Nxb6?
Several reasons I can think of:
black is obviously playing on the kingside and Qe8 is a useful move aiming to transfer the queen to f7, g6 or perhaps h5 later. Also it might be useful to push e4 ...
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10
votes
Accepted
Pawn Sacrifice Justification
As was stated in the answer to this post made by D M, one idea of capturing in this manner is to open up the g-file for white's rooks to attack black's king. In the game this proved to be a very ...
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Understanding Carlsen's resignation in the rook and pawn endgame vs MVL
In short, the plan you proposed is possible, but it is just too slow, even if black allows it, which is not mandatory. If black permits it, here is a simple win that, although I checked it with a ...
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8
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In the upcoming Caruana, Carlsen final, who will play with the white pieces?
Do you mean in the World Chess Championship 2018?
That will be a 12-game match, and not just a single game. The players will alternate colors, so they both will play 6 games with White.
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8
votes
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Worst tournament performances of reigning World Champions
Looking through this list of strong tournaments, among those that stand out are:
AVRO 1938, where Alekhine finished 6/8.
Tillburg, 1996, where Karpov finished 6/12.
1st Grand Slam Masters Final (2008)...
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Why is Carlsen being praised for his tie-break play, when Caruana made several game-losing moves?
Garry Kasparov put it this way in a tweet:
Carlsen’s consistent level of play in rapid chess is phenomenal. We all play worse as we play faster and faster, but his ratio may be the smallest ever, ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible