Mediaboss Marketing

With more plot twists than a whole season's worth of "Game of Thrones," the eighth round of Norway Chess delivered more surprises, shocks, and horrors than anyone could have counted on setting up an exciting last round of the tournament.

Through a miracle of some kind, World Champion Magnus Carlsen on Thursday managed to avoid losing the classical against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and then pulled a win from a chaotic armageddon game. When former World Champion Viswanathan Anand simultaneously lost after a horrendous blunder to GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, the top of the leaderboard changed dramatically.

The ninth and final round will begin on Friday, June 10, at 8 a.m. PT / 17:00 Central Europe.

Just as we were settling for the fact that Carlsen and Anand would be deciding this year's edition of Norway Chess, we had so many head-spinningly complex and confusing games that the commentators would be forgiven if they started doing shots every time the evaluation bar switches by three or more points.

The leader of the tournament, the World Champion Magnus Carlsen vs. the leader of the French Resistance, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. These players have had countless memorable encounters over the years that have fallen in both directions, securing memorable wins for either side.

Carlsen went for 1.d4, looking to see if the Frenchman had the hutzpah to play his favorite Grunfeld Indian or if he would bail to a Queen's Gambit or even allow White the opportunity to play another Catalan. Those alternatives apparently did not look that ideal for Vachier-Lagrave who dug his heels in and threw the Grunfeld on the board.

Not really expecting himself to play a main line, Carlsen went for 7.Bb5+ line in the Exchange Varition. It is not considered particularly critical for Black, but it takes the game away from some of the longer, more forced lines that the Grunfeld is filled with.

Although spending a lot of time in the opening, White seemed to be on the path to securing a small but steady advantage, when he went for 15.Be4 and 16.h3?!, which basically sent the game toward an endgame where Black had an extra pawn.

While it seemed manageable, all the pawns were on the kingside with no apparent weaknesses, Black definitely had some pressure. Add to that, Carlsen had spent a lot of time and that combination of little time on the clock with the requirement of careful defense is a tricky one to handle, even if you are the World Champion.

That combination of issues proved too tricky for Carlsen to handle, and after having defended carefully for nearly twenty moves, the mistakes started creeping in, and suddenly Vachier-Lagrave had a winning position!

Despite considerable more time on the clock, the Frenchman slipped up too, letting go of the advantage, not once but twice, and in the end, gave the world champion a draw in a rook vs. rook + bishop ending. A very narrow escape for Carlsen.

Had Carlsen lost the game, Mamedyarov would have been taking over the lead in the tournament.

Now settling down for the armageddon game is another matter after such a nervy affair. The players did that by repeating the opening from the classical game.

The game became very different from the previous one as Carlsen scrambled hard to get winning chances but over-pushed with a lost position as a result. However, he kept fighting on, Vachier-Lagrave made some mistakes of his own and the endgame was a crazy one with lots of passed pawns for Black and White trying to contain them. He managed to do that, but only after several mistakes by Black.

In what was an indicator of the day that was to come, the early leader and current number two in the standings, Anand unexpectedly went down in a horrendous fashion.

After a fairly quiet and typical Petroff, the chances were more or less equal, both players settling down for some maneuvering to feel out each other's intentions, Anand started playing ambitiously but a little loosely. His 17.Bd3?! followed by 18.g4?! gained space but extended his position somewhat.

Then followed what can easily be described as one of the biggest blunders of Anand's career, 22.Qb5??. As soon as he let go of the queen, he resigned. Afterward, Mamedyarov said that he also thought that Anand's 22.Qb5 was the best move, and only realized that he had a win when Vishy resigned!

Undoubtedly, Mamedyarov, who is a fantastic tactician in his own right would have spotted the winning move fairly quickly.

American GM Wesley So's ambitions to win the tournament suffered a blow when he lost in round seven to the resurgent Vachier-Lagrave. Undoubtedly, he had hoped to compensate for that loss by doing bad things to former FIDE World Champion GM Veselin Topalov.

However, as the Berlin Defense in the Ruy Lopez, an opening So plays himself, emerged on the board, the definition of bad things changed to nothing too serious. Very quickly, the players chopped wood and sent the match-up to the armageddon game.

In Topalov's armageddon games in this tournament, we have often seen him willing to play the same or very similar lines he chose for his classical games. That, however, was not to be in this game... it went in a totally different direction with So playing 1.c4 and heading into a somewhat obscure line of the Symmetrical English.

Black then made the very committal decision of exchanging his fianchettoed bishop on c3, a concept endorsed by the Danish giant GM Bent Larsen. White castled kingside, Black to the queensidethe battle was on. However, it was Black who made the biggest strides after nearly entirely sealing off the queenside with ...b6 and ...Na5.

In a somewhat desperate attempt to create complications, So sacrificed the exchange, the play got sharper but clearly only to the advantage of Black who had a dominating position. A couple of loose moves let White back in the game, but he never had more than equality, and when So pushed for more, his position collapsed, allowing Topalov to scoop up the full point and the armageddon win.

The return of RiRi! Dutch Anish Giri and Norwegian GM Aryan Tari set summit again as they have a couple of times in recent months.

After his loss in round seven against Mamedyarov, Giri was eager to vindicate himself while Tari, by contrast, was on a high after having beaten Carlsen for the first time in an official game.

For this purpose, Giri opted for the London System, something that seems almost contradictory to his usual, highly prepared, and theoretical approach. He did play a decent novelty, but whether it was born from opening preparation or inspiration at the board is unclear. In any case, he gained an advantage from the opening.

White seemed to steadily increase his advantage and around the time control, it seemed so large that Giri was looking for a way to convert the advantage, but not finding anything obvious, he resorted to playing on his opponent's time trouble. This is usually bad advice and Giri missed several good opportunities in connection with this approach.

Slowly but surely, Tari crept back into the game, and after several mistakes from Giri, Black even gained an advantage. Down to playing on increments, Tari was not immune to making mistakes, and on move 57, he made the decisive error, allowing White an unstoppable passed pawn.

Two players who likely will just want the tournament to be over with, so that they can continue with their lives and, in GM Teimour Radjabov's case, travel to play in the Candidates Tournament which starts next week in Madrid, Spain.

In reply to Radjabov's 1.e4, Wang Hao deviated from his usual Sveshnikov Sicilian, and instead opted for the Petroff, which was likely an annoying surprise for Radjabov who is likely to face the Petroff if he plays 1.e4 in Madrid, leaving him with the dilemma of: do I play my Candidates preparation or can I come up with something else at the board? Luckily, Wang went for 4...Nc6, the line which his countryman GM Yu Yangyi had success in the FIDE Grand Prix in the spring.

Radjabov spent a lot of time on the first few moves and looked certain to end up in time trouble. But as the queens came off the board, he settled into a quicker pace of play. This, however, also manifested itself in that his initiative slowly but surely vanished, and around move 20, the players started to exchange pieces at a steady pace to head for a drawn position.

For the armageddon game, Radjabov, now with a requirement to win the game, did not feel like repeating the Petroff and therefore responded with 3.Nc3, instead going into a Four Knights. Wang then chose the sharp 4...Nd4 gambit line.

Radjabov, however, was wise to avoid crazy tactics with Wang, who performed magic in his armageddon game against Topalov, refusing to eat any gambit pawns, preferring the safety of a balanced position and then waiting to strike.

On move 15, Wang made a committal error which gave him an uncomfortable position and shortly after cost him a pawn. Once with an advantage in his hands, Radjabov never let go and won the game convincingly, never allowing Black even the hint of counterplay.

Round 8 Standings

All Games Round 8

The 2022 Norway Chess runs May 31-June 10, 2022. The event consists of a 10-player single round-robin in a classical time control of 120 minutes for the game with a 10-second increment after move 40. The scoring system is three points for a win instead of the usual one. If the game is drawn, competitors play an armageddon game with the winner scoring 1.5 points and the loser 1 point. The prize fund is 2.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK).

Previous coverage:

Read more:
The Red Wedding Of Norway Chess - Chess.com

Anyone who saw Netflixs smash hit TV series The Queens Gambit will remember when main character and chess prodigy Beth Harmon sees and plays chess on the ceiling in her mind. If anyone actually wanted to try that out, now you can.

Netflix recently announced that one of its new mobile games, The Queens Gambit Chess, will be a chess game based on the popular series. And just like Harmon, players will be able to duke it out on the ceiling if they so choose.

There are currently 22 casual mobile games available, but the release of The Queens Gambit Chess as well as Nailed It!: Baking Bash, both slotted for release later this year, will be the first ones based on Netflixs own content. The streamer is counting on these games to entice new subscribers in addition to retaining current ones as the streaming wars continue to heat up. The company saw its first drop in subscriber numbers in a decade earlier this year, a trend that is expected to continue in the near future.

Read the original:
Where will you be able to play chess on the ceiling? - Government Technology

With Indias brightest chess star R. Praggnanandhaa defeating world champion Magnus Carlsen twice within a span of three months this year, the prospects and popularity of this ancient sport have never been brighter in the land of its origin.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who is now known just as Pragg worldwide by everyone fearful of mauling his numerology-compliant name, created history this year by defeating world champion Magnus Carlsen twice--first at the Airthings Masters online chess tournament in February and then at the Chessable Masters online rapid chess competition in May. And in the process of doing so, he has ushered a new era of interest and popularity for the battle fought on 64 squares.

The first major impetus in the country for chess, of course, came from Viswanathan Anand, our first homegrown Grandmaster (GM) who achieved the title when he was barely 20 in 1988. His meteoric rise in the global chess landscape led to a boom in the sport's popularity, with chess academies springing up everywhere, schools and colleges encouraging chess players like never before and more and more tournaments being held across the country.

The next 22 years saw India produce 22 more GMs, including the female Grandmaster in Koneru Humpy. However, in just 12 years since then, from 2010 till date, that number has swelled to 73, with Bharath Subramaniyam, a 14-year-old from Chennai, the latest to join the elite list in January this year.

Interestingly, Anand, Pragg and Bharath Subramaniyam all hail from Chennai. Tamil Nadu has played a key role in India's emergence as a chess power by contributing 26 Grandmasters, a whopping 35 per cent of the country's 73 GMs. Maharashtra comes a distand second with 10, closely followed by West Bengal with 9.

Pragg, a boy genius who is now India's brightest candidate to become world champion, shook the earth when he achieved the GM title at the age of 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. Earlier, he had already made waves when he became International Master at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so. Pragg's rise to eminence has been accompanied by the emergence of several prodigies from India, who have been reducing the average age of active Grandmasters in the country.

The landscape is now strewn with the exploits of dozens of youngsters, such as Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D, Sankalp Gupta and Arjun Erigaisi, to name a few. The fact that the top 10 male junior players in the country are all GMs is testimony to the reservoir of talent in India. And Pragg's wins over Carlsen will only inspire even more youngsters to take to chess and bring more glory to the nation. Chess is truly one of the areas where India is reaping its demographic dividend.

Read more:
Winning moves: Whats it with Indias spectacular prowess in chess? - Frontline

Twitch streamer xQc, real name Felix Lengyel, was not flattered when a fellow content creator and fan urged him to stop broadcasting sponsored gambling sessions and switch back to chess instead. xQc has been down this road many times before and since he decided to switch to an all-open endorsement of gambling on his channel.

As one of the most-watched content creators on the Amazon-owned platform, this decision was bound to ruffle some feathers, including those of his father who lambasted the streamer publicly. The fan was clearly taking an issue with the fact that xQcs position changed rapidly from one of apologizing about having ever streamed gambling content to one that openly endorsed the practice.

Naturally, xQcs Twitch chat and Reddit forums have been filled with opinions for and against the streamers choice to stream gambling. Other content creators, to name Asmongold, Mizkif, and Amouranth have all weighed in on this moral choice.

On Sunday, a fan decided to take another shot at dissuading xQc from pursuing his hobby, but instead of going to xQcs channel, the streamer decided to record a separate video. xQc came upon this video while browsing Reddit where a topic called Juicer begs xQc to stop gamba and play chess again caught his attention.

So, xQc decided to watch. He didnt dwell much on this appeal, but simply said Chess? Thanks, man. He then continued with his stream seemingly unperturbed by the latest poke at his life choices. xQc has become somewhat inured by people constantly appealing and urging him to do one thing instead of another.

An issue to some has been the fact that he should be a role model, but Asmongold, a wide-mouth streamer who got recently banned from Twitch over Diablo Immortal shenanigans, said that nobody should expect streamers to be role models, and that they were just people and get to do whatever they want.

However, xQc has admitted to being an actual gambling addict while playing through huge piles of money. The streamer told his fans not to worry, though, because he was one of those lucky individuals who could afford to be a gambling addict. You may not want to be a role model, but this is definitely the wrong message to send, no matter what you do.

See original here:
Twitch Streamer xQc Wont Take Chess over Gambling - GamblingNews.com

The U.S., diplomatically, economically and militarily, is in a 3D chess match with China and losing on all three tiers. The Biden administrations inability to see the interchangeability, interdependence and interaction of the playing pieces competing in the three planes country-specific, regional and global is allowing China to dominate each playing field. This, despite Beijings considerable tactical disadvantages in positioning, moving and fielding its own assets throughout the game.

Consider the Washington Posts recent report, based on information from unnamed Western officials, that China is secretly establishing a military presence in Cambodia at Ream Naval Base, an undertaking that, if completed, will allow the Peoples Liberation Army Navy now the worlds largest navy to dominate the Gulf of Thailand and by extension Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. If operational, the base would give Chinese leader Xi Jinping one more means of asserting leverage, if not control, over these four key Southeast Asia nations.

In 3D terms, China is strategically positioning itself to win at the country level, thereby building and strengthening its hand at the regional Pacific level, while tightening its growing global economic advantage on the third plane. Further, China is aggressively deploying this strategy throughout the Pacific region including in the Solomon Islands and in making overtures to Fiji and other Pacific island nations to join a policing and security agreement. Meanwhile, amid this clash of opposing ideological worldviews, the Biden administration to date has not filled key ambassadorial vacancies in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and Thailand.

Like all chess games, pawns get played and lost and Beijing certainly is not winning every move. Washington successfully forestalled Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis island-hopping efforts to effect a Chinese counter to President Bidens new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. But it is the U.S., by and large, that is reacting to how its pawns are first played and then removed from the board. Beijing is keeping Washington off balance, despite the strength and reach of the American military and economy.

Beijing is dominating each level of the U.S.-China 3D chess match by its calculating use of feints on one tier to distract from its machinations on another. By building and militarizing three artificial islands in the South China Sea, China is exerting military pressure on Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and their trade routes countries that, along with Taiwan, maintain territorial claims to these waters while drawing in U.S. military resources frees up space for China to maneuver on a Pacific regional and/or global level. Further, China excels at not being distracted by diversions, including North Korea or Russias war in Ukraine unlike Biden, who keeps pivoting from one regional crisis to another.

Google Biden and pivot and youll get news headlines showing the Biden administration is continually pivoting in its policy approaches: Hawkish pivot on Russia-Ukraine, Bidens pivot on oil production, Pivot to the economy, and Bidens China pivot. Now imagine playing a 3D chess game and constantly changing your strategy mid-game instead of controlling the flow of the game, you are constantly reacting to your opponent. In terms of China, it is as if Washingtons answer to Beijings shrewd chess moves is to spin the wheel and hope that it lands on a winning pivot strategy.

Even the latest Biden administration approaches to China are perplexing and appear directionless. Oon May 23, Biden spoke of unilaterally reducing tariffs on Chinese goods, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken undercut him a few days later, saying the U.S. will not tolerate Beijings lack of reciprocation in facilitating U.S. access to Chinese markets. Similarly, when Biden was asked during his recent trip to Japan whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily, he answered, Yes, its a commitment we made. But Blinken just two days later reiterated Washingtons One China policy. Inexplicably, the Biden administration cannot even agree internally on strategy, let alone identify which Chinese rooks, knights and bishops should be captured and removed from the 3D chess board.

One possible explanation but not an excuse for the administrations policy schizophrenia is Beijings historical willingness to enter into a war even if militarily or economically unprepared for it. Certainly, there are plenty of flashpoints suggesting Beijing may be nearing such a juncture with Taiwan. The Peoples Liberation Army Air Force recently interdicted Canadian and Australian maritime surveillance aircraft operating in international airspace over the East China and South China seas. Beijings wolf warrior diplomacy is becoming ever more aggressive, now threatening to downgrade ties with Israel over a Jerusalem Post interview of Taiwans Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. Plus, tellingly, China last November began ratcheting up its warnings to Biden regarding Taiwan, including asserting that the U.S. is playing with fire.

Fear of what China may do in Taiwan or elsewhere must not dictate U.S. strategy, nor should Maginot Line mentality infect or dictate national defense strategy guidance. Defensive moves do not win chess games, let alone a multi-tiered 3D chess match. To win, you must go on the offensive. You must keep your opponent off balance.

Biden has multiple ways to do so. If Taiwan desires independence, especially after witnessing Russias devastation of Ukraine, the U.S. should support Taipei with ironclad security guarantees. Encourage Japan to rescind Article 9 of its constitution, thereby giving Tokyo an offensive military capacity to further deter Beijing. Recognize a patchwork of economic and bilateral military agreements, including the new Indo-Pacific pact and AUKUS simply are not cohesive enough to ensure and guarantee containment of China.

Alongside Australia and Japan, Biden should begin building consensus toward a Pacific charter in the spirit of NATO. It is time for the U.S. to stop playing for a tie and start crafting a 3D strategy to win.

Mark Toth is a retired economist, historian and entrepreneur who has worked in banking, insurance, publishing and global commerce. He is a former board member of the World Trade Center, St. Louis, and has lived in U.S. diplomatic and military communities around the world, including London, Tel Aviv, Augsburg and Nagoya. Follow him on Twitter @MCTothSTL.

See the article here:
The Biden administration is playing 3D chess with China and losing - The Hill