 "Chess (#1160)")
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave "three-peated" at Biel, winning the premier event for the third time in a row. Vachier-Lagrave scored 6.5 from 10, with a performance rating of 2825. Radek Wojtaszek was second with 6. Michael Adams and David Navarra tied for third-fourth with 5.5 each. Pavel Eljanov had a slight minus score with 4.5, while Richard Rapport took a hammering, scoring only 2.
Everybody lost at least once. Rapport was the only player who did not win a single game. Wojtaszek was winning in the last round versus Navarra but allowed a draw under time pressure. Adams was very lucky as Eljanov blundered a full rook in the last round.
Vachier-Lagrave rises to #16 with 2744 on the live rating list. There is an incredible traffic jam at the top. Magnus Carlsen leads of course, with 2853. But an unprecedented five players are sitting above 2800. Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov share second -third with 2816 each. Hikaru Nakamura is #4 on 2814 and #5 Fabiano Caruana has 2808.
In a controversial move last year, Fide decreed young (Under-18) players with sub-2300 ratings would get a "boost". Ratings are calculated by a mathematical formula. The difference between actual score and expected score is multiplied by a constant factor, "K" to add or subtract rating.
For this specific age group and rating cohort, K was increased to 40, from an earlier 30. K is 10 for all ratings above 2400. So a big jump is possible and subsequent corrections are less large. For example, a young player with Elo 2290 may score 5 points above expectancy and gain 200 Elo to go to 2490. If he subsequently scores 5 points below expectancy, he loses only 50 Elo.
This change has meant massive gains for some young players. John M Burke of the US is a 14-year-old. He was rated at 2258 in June. He gained 280 Elo in July, jumping to 2538. Burke is clearly very talented. He played three events in a row in June, facing 5 GMs scoring 3/5, and playing 13 IMs scoring 8/13. But it is hard to compare this with prodigious past performances due to the K changes.
The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY, (White: David Anton Guijarro Vs Black: Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Lake Sevan 2015) is almost like an endgame problem "White to play and win". White had a win with 52.d7! Rfd6 53.Rf8 Rc7 54.Rfxf7 Rc3 55.d8Q Rxd8 56.Rxb7+ Ka8 57.Ra7+ Kb8 58.Rfb7+ Kc8 59.Ra8+ Kxb7 60.Rxd8 when victory is easy. Instead, he played 52. Rdd7? and after 52.--Rb6! 53. a5 Rb5 54. Rxf7 Rxf7 55. Rxf7 Rxa5+ 56. Kb4 Rd5 57. Rf6 Kb6 58. Kc4 Rd1 59. b4 Kc6 (1/2-1/2, 64 moves) it was drawn.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
Everybody lost at least once. Rapport was the only player who did not win a single game. Wojtaszek was winning in the last round versus Navarra but allowed a draw under time pressure. Adams was very lucky as Eljanov blundered a full rook in the last round.
Vachier-Lagrave rises to #16 with 2744 on the live rating list. There is an incredible traffic jam at the top. Magnus Carlsen leads of course, with 2853. But an unprecedented five players are sitting above 2800. Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov share second -third with 2816 each. Hikaru Nakamura is #4 on 2814 and #5 Fabiano Caruana has 2808.
In a controversial move last year, Fide decreed young (Under-18) players with sub-2300 ratings would get a "boost". Ratings are calculated by a mathematical formula. The difference between actual score and expected score is multiplied by a constant factor, "K" to add or subtract rating.
For this specific age group and rating cohort, K was increased to 40, from an earlier 30. K is 10 for all ratings above 2400. So a big jump is possible and subsequent corrections are less large. For example, a young player with Elo 2290 may score 5 points above expectancy and gain 200 Elo to go to 2490. If he subsequently scores 5 points below expectancy, he loses only 50 Elo.
This change has meant massive gains for some young players. John M Burke of the US is a 14-year-old. He was rated at 2258 in June. He gained 280 Elo in July, jumping to 2538. Burke is clearly very talented. He played three events in a row in June, facing 5 GMs scoring 3/5, and playing 13 IMs scoring 8/13. But it is hard to compare this with prodigious past performances due to the K changes.
The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY, (White: David Anton Guijarro Vs Black: Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, Lake Sevan 2015) is almost like an endgame problem "White to play and win". White had a win with 52.d7! Rfd6 53.Rf8 Rc7 54.Rfxf7 Rc3 55.d8Q Rxd8 56.Rxb7+ Ka8 57.Ra7+ Kb8 58.Rfb7+ Kc8 59.Ra8+ Kxb7 60.Rxd8 when victory is easy. Instead, he played 52. Rdd7? and after 52.--Rb6! 53. a5 Rb5 54. Rxf7 Rxf7 55. Rxf7 Rxa5+ 56. Kb4 Rd5 57. Rf6 Kb6 58. Kc4 Rd1 59. b4 Kc6 (1/2-1/2, 64 moves) it was drawn.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player