This is a question for @MayanActuary and @LususNaturae: I’m looking at your game right now and it involved the Yugoslav Attack in the Sicilian Dragon. I thought the purpose of the Yugoslav was for white to castle queenside, so that it becomes a marching of the pawns against the king. In this game, white castled kingside. Is this to avoid deep Sicilian theory and just mix it up, or was it not deemed safe to castle queenside from white’s perspective?
My game against Dzibanche?
By the time it came to castle, most of the minor pieces were exchanged off; after Qd4+ Kf8, castling Q-side falls under attack quickly with Rc8 and controlling the c file, whereas white’s attack (normally one would put pressure on c3-h1 diagonal, pushing h4-g4-h5 with a K-side pawn storm) would be too slow with the minor pieces not subject to attack.
I figured I had the more developed position post-liquidation, and just wanted to attack the e column ASAP.
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Agree with LususNaturae’s opinion. The mating attack from a Yugoslav was liquidated, and king safety was greater on the kingside than queenside.
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Watching the eval bar in this Hikaru/Fabiano game almost gave me a heart attack. Thank goodness Hikaru managed to pull it off. What a boss.
Edit: I set up the position on chess.com right when Fabiano resigned, and played the engine from then on. I managed to do very well until it became a King+Knight+Bishop vs King game. I don’t know how to do that checkmate so I couldn’t finish the game 
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The knight-bishop checkmate is like trying to herd 1 cat.
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It makes me feel better knowing that there were two grandmasters (one of them was a Women World Champion) who could not checkmate their opponents in 50 moves with a bishop and knight. They probably never needed to use it during a game so probably forgot the technique.
Even Hikaru admitted in his analysis that had the game went on, he could see a scenario where Fabi would sac his bishop to get the pawn (which is what happened in my game vs the engine). Basically all of my moves were considered either best of excellent, so there was nothing I could do to prevent it coming down to knight and bishop vs king.
I think Magnus previously said he wouldn’t defend his title if anyone other than Alireza won the candidates tournament. As Alireza cannot win, it would appear that 2nd place has become important to play Ian for the championship. Currently, Hikaru, Ding, Teymur, and Fabiano are all within a half game of each other. Do we think Ian will play one of these for teh championship, or will Magnus relent and agree to face Ian again?
I think he won’t defend his title, as he has nothing to prove and doesn’t really want to face Ian again after last time. He said at this point, it’s just gotten so boring that he lacks joy in doing it (waiting for a challenger, then going through more months of waiting of prep, etc.
Also, I personally want Hikaru (my favorite player) to become World Champion, so the only way that can happen is if Magnus sticks to his word and Hikaru finishes 2nd.
Will say Ian vs Hikaru would be a really exciting WC match.
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Pretty hilarious that the ranking is the opposite of Magnus’ choice.
In other news, draws are dumb and ruin everything.
Hikaru just moved into 2nd place after Duda resigned.
In related news, here is Hikaru checking Ian’s last name for spelling:
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It is going to be awkward with a million hikaru fans not really wanting carlsen to play.
hikaru’s a prick and a great streamer, he’s not that appealing to me as a World Champion. I believe an equal part of WC title should be acting as an ambassador for the game, inviting new people in, and h’s brashness and “i literally don’t care” attitude isn’t going to do that.
Not that champions before Magnus have done a lot in that respect, what with their only-slightly-more-charisma-than-an-actuary personalities, but at least they’ve pretended to like the other players and the game.
I always assumed the “I literally don’t care” attitude is a huge joke on himself? Like, part of why Hikaru is so fun to watch is his obvious sensitivity to games as well as comments.
Agree that he can be a bit of a prick sometimes. Probably less so than many other internet personalities, but it would be nice if chess were safe from the general toxicity of the internet.
Well he lost, so his chances at becoming World Champion are basically over.
Still when it comes to how much players have done to bring interest to chess, I would put Hikaru up at the top, WC champion or not.
The fact that he finished 4th in the Candidates while making YT videos/streaming Titled Tuesdays is amazing. If he really spent more time like the other candidates on preparation, he probably would’ve finished 2nd.
Hey all,
I’ve been fairly busy lately and I know the last tournaments have ended. I’ll be getting the tiered tournament up and running again. I’ll send out links and invites by the end of the week.
If anyone has any special requests or wants to join that previously hasn’t played let me know!
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@Rick_Groszkiewicz didn’t you say you’re done with Daily games?
I think I’m also out for awhile.
@Seasplash you are correct. I no longer play any “slow” chess games.
I made a post on the actuary subreddit. So far got one person.
Please include: elai4203
Will post again if I get anymore usernames soon.
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I’m also out this time. (golfer6392 on chess.com)