Sergey Karjakin plays a novelty in the Open Catalan ⎸2018 Candidates, Round 8

March 19, 2018 NHaselton Uncategorized

Hanging PawnsMon, March 19, 2018 9:07pmURL:
Embed:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Sergey Karjakin, Catalan Opening, Open (E05)
2018 Chess Candidates Tournament, Round 8

Top level chess is becoming more and more influenced by engines and, recently, even by artificial intelligence. Due to the recent match between Alpha Zero and Stockfish the Catalan Opening has become the go to weapon for players with the white pieces who wish to ensure the highest possible advantage out of the opening.

In this game Mamedyarov chose the Catalan, which is now statistically one of the most common opening choices at the Candidates Tournament, and Karjakin played a prepared novelty; c6 (instead of a6, b6 or Nc6).

The move isn’t completely new, as it was played before, but never at the top level and in such a major event. The Catalan is considered to be “resolved”, and theoretically well known, but the move c6 might bring new insigths and ideas into the Open Variation of the Catalan.

The game was eventually drawn, as they entered a queenless endgame on move 20 and there wasn’t too much to play for for either side.

After round 8 Mamedyarov is in second place with 5/8, and Karjakin has 3.5 which is far below his expected performance.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

<div id="puzzlebot-container"></div>

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.polyfills.min.js"></script>

<script>
  var board = null;
  var game = new Chess();

  function onDragStart(source, piece, position, orientation) {
    // do not allow dragging when game is over
    if (game.game_over()) return false;

    // only allow white pieces to be dragged
    if (piece.search(/^b/) !== -1) return false;
  }

  function onDrop(source, target) {
    // see if the move is legal
    var move = game.move({
      from: source,
      to: target,
      promotion: "q" // always promote to a queen for example simplicity
    });

    // illegal move
    if (move === null) return "snapback";

    // update the board position
    board.position(game.fen());

    // get a random move from the engine
    window.setTimeout(makeRandomMove, 250);
  }

  // make a random move
  function makeRandomMove() {
    var possibleMoves = game.moves();

    // game over
    if (possibleMoves.length === 0) return;

    var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleMoves.length);
    game.move(possibleMoves[randomIndex]);
    board.position(game.fen());
  }

  // initialize the chessboard
  function init() {
    var config = {
      draggable: true,
      onDragStart: onDragStart,
      onDrop: onDrop,
      position: 'start'
    };

    board = Chessboard('puzzlebot-container', config);

    makeRandomMove();
  }

  $(document).ready(init);
</script>