BOTW: 2018.11.03

John Upper's picture
Submitted by John Upper on Sat, 11/03/2018 - 18:14

Carlsen - Caruana, the Women's World Chess Championship, and six FIDE Cadet World Championships make for a busy Best of the Web...

FIDE Women's World Chess Championship
November 3 - 23, 2018. Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

64-player knock-out tournament to determine the 2018 FIDE Women's World Championship. All the top women, except Yifan, are competing.

Format: 2 game matches with rapid playoffs if necessary.

There were two upsets in the first game of round 1:

  • Iranian WIM Mobina Alinasab (2236) defeated IM Elisabeth Paehtz (2495) with Black.
  • Canadian WIM Maili-Jade Ouellet (2125) drew with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2534) -- see annotated game in upcoming post.

Links

Note: Khanty-Mansysk is 9 hours ahead of EST.

2018 FIDE World Cadets Chess Championship
November 4-15, 2018.
Santiago di Compostella, Spain

11-round Swisses to determine the FIDE World Champions in the U8, U10, and U12 age groups in both Open and Girls sections.

26 Canadians are playing:

Sect Rank Name FIDE Rating
U8g 51 Chen, Rae 0
U10g 85 Mok, Gillian Xi-Lin 1084
  31 Qu, Greta 1360
U12g 99 Jiang, Kate Yuhua 1201
  108 Qian, Jessica 0
       
U12 54 Kang, Dorian 1953
  63 Chen, Max 1910
  86 Rusonik, Max 1814
  96 Zhao, Jeffrey R 1738
  101 Windram, James 1704
  121 Guipi Bopala, Prince Eric Jr 1607
  174 Srinivas, Atharva 1275
  197 Fedyushchenko, Alexander 0
       
U10 188 Jiang, Eric 0
  201 Wang, Zhixing (Daniel) 0
  3 Zhong, Kevin 2038
  13 Chandra, Anand Rishi 1953
  17 Atanasov, Anthony 1916
  25 Ning, Eric 1870
  29 Xu, Daniel 1854
  126 Han, Johnathan 1378
  128 Yuen, Noah Nathaniel 1364
       
U8 107 Jiang, Zihao William 0
  114 Mane, Arnav 0
  132 Wang, Xiuqi (Arthur) 0
  136 Zuo, Zichen (Roger) 0

Link
Official Site

2018 World Championship: Carlsen - Caruana

November 9-28, 2018.
London, England

A 12-game match between title-holder Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, in London November 9-28th, 2018.

Notes:

  • The first World Championship match between the #1 and #2 players since the Karpov-Kasparov matches. 
  • Carlsen's 2835 rating is only 3 points higher than Caruana's, making this the closest Carlsen has come to losing his #1 ranking in 8 years.
  • This is Carlsen's first match against a younger opponent (27 v 26).
  • Carlsen is by far the better rapid player, a significant advantage in a short match with rapid tie-breaks.
  • Caruana had one terrible event in 2018 (TATA Steel, 5/13, 11th) but has been the best player in the world since then: 
    • 1st at the Candidates Tournament (9/14) to qualify for the World Championship Match;
    • 1st at Grenke Chess (+4 = 5 -0; 1 point ahead of Carlsen);
    • 2nd at the US Championship (+6 =4 -1); 
    • 1st at Norway Classic, despite losing the Carlsen in round 1;
    • =1st at the Sinquefield Cup with Carlsen and Aronian;
    • Two silver medals at the 2018 Batumi Olympiad for Team and result on Board 1.

 

Links

Official Site: https://worldchess.com/
World Chess has bought the exclusive rights to broadcast live images and moves from the World Championship, and offer a pay-per-view service. The last two times they have done so, their coverage was marred by technical glitches for the first two days... but was also made free for the first few rounds. Their chess content is good -- Judit Polgar is a serious and enthusiastic commentator -- but they also try to appeal to a broader audience with VR video, spectator interviews, and relentless tweet rehashing. Buyer beware.

New in Chess Preview
New in Chess has produced a free 50-page preview, including annotated games from both players and opinions from various GMs. You have to send them your email address, but can unsubscribe to their mailing list at any time.

Online Commentary
The Chessbrah twitch channel will have live commentary by GMs Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton. It's free, but you're encouraged to subscribe if you like what they do.

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