randomGuy Posted October 31 Posted October 31 42 minutes ago, Gollum said: Beautiful and innovatively designed trophy, and venue. Best of luck to not just the players but also the organizers in Goa and AICF. I am sure India will host the best ever Chess WC, and players will have a gala time enjoying Indian hospitality at its finest. It is good that the world cup is happening in India. Goa doesn't deserve advertising as a tourist destination.... people are having bad experiences.
Gollum Posted October 31 Author Posted October 31 1 minute ago, randomGuy said: It is good that the world cup is happening in India. Goa doesn't deserve advertising as a tourist destination.... people are having bad experiences. I was there last a decade back, loved the place and people.
randomGuy Posted October 31 Posted October 31 (edited) 2 hours ago, Gollum said: I was there last a decade back, loved the place and people. I went in arnd 2010.. good office outing, private hotel beach n everything. But from past few years many people are feeling it has becoming expensive, polluted, feeling unwelcome, taxi mafia etc. Iirc foreign tourists are down big time Edited October 31 by randomGuy New guy 1
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 2 minutes ago, randomGuy said: Right on cue I'd played in India before (in 2019 in Kolkata), so I had a general idea of what the conditions would be like. But FIDE, to their credit, managed to surprise me. There's nothing to say about the chess aspect. It's one of those places you won't regret leaving.
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 For the first time, it looks like we won't have a Russian in candidates (unless some crazy upsets happen in this WC). Also no Russian in world's top 20. No wonder they try to undermine others, be it Kramnik, Grichuk, Nepo or Dubov. Pathetic, graceless bunch. Nepo has proved himself to be the second most despicable man in the chess world behind Kramnik. He also bullied Naroditsky a lot, behind the scenes and in Russian circles. Will always be grateful to Ding for preventing this manchild from becoming world champion. randomGuy and New guy 1 1
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 Wesley So resigned in a drawn position, was behind whole game and short on time. Knocked out. Aravind lost to his buddy Karthik Venkatraman to exit the WC. Vidit and 12 year olf Faustino Oro head to TBs tomorrow, really hope Vidit makes it to next round. Very important tourney for him and Arjun. Pragg anyway should make the candidates cut based on his FIDE Circuit results. Nakamura will qualify based on rating, so no other event apart from WC for these two. randomGuy 1
randomGuy Posted November 5 Posted November 5 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Gollum said: Right on cue I'd played in India before (in 2019 in Kolkata), so I had a general idea of what the conditions would be like. But FIDE, to their credit, managed to surprise me. There's nothing to say about the chess aspect. It's one of those places you won't regret leaving. Iska match to delhi me Diwali (aqi 999+) par hona chahiye tha. Iski rating bhi drop kar gayi ~2725. Dheere dheere irrelevant ho jaega bechara.. Edited November 5 by randomGuy Gollum 1
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 (edited) 4 minutes ago, randomGuy said: Iska match to delhi me Diwali (aqi 999+) par hona chahiye tha. Iski rating bhi drop kar gayi ~2725. Dheere dheere irrelevant ho jaega bechara.. I am sure India will host a bunch of tournaments in the future. Don't invite people who disrespect us, our people, or try their smear campaigns. If it means no Russians, so be it. I am sure there are enough foreigners who appreciate the opportunity to play here. Saw Aronian, and a few Chinese, American players giving interviews and they were happy with the arrangements. This idiot loses to a lower ranked player and says "It's one of those places you won't regret leaving.", he can get lost. Edited November 5 by Gollum New guy and randomGuy 1 1
randomGuy Posted November 5 Posted November 5 9 minutes ago, Gollum said: Wesley So resigned in a drawn position, was behind whole game and short on time. Knocked out. Aravind lost to his buddy Karthik Venkatraman to exit the WC. Vidit and 12 year olf Faustino Oro head to TBs tomorrow, really hope Vidit makes it to next round. Very important tourney for him and Arjun. Pragg anyway should make the candidates cut based on his FIDE Circuit results. Nakamura will qualify based on rating, so no other event apart from WC for these two. Recently keymar has broken out very well. Anish Giri also pushing himself. Candidates field will be strong.
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 (edited) 4 minutes ago, randomGuy said: Recently keymar has broken out very well. Anish Giri also pushing himself. Candidates field will be strong. Giri has qualified based on the Grand Swiss, him and the German GM, Bluebaum. Vincent is seeing an upsurge but won't take Naka's spot, because the way it is calculated is average rating of the past 6 months, and Naka has a huge headstart, he just has to meet minumum games criterion which he is doing by playing in random low rated tournaments in US and Canada. Edited November 5 by Gollum randomGuy 1
Gollum Posted November 5 Author Posted November 5 Must say, Indian and Chinese players are so polite and well behaved. Never make excuses even when they underperform, show grace in the toughest of times, zero entitlement. Few goras like Aronian are classy, but overall there is something about the Asian powerhouses. randomGuy and New guy 1 1
Gollum Posted November 6 Author Posted November 6 (edited) Vidit through Hans, Nihal elmininated. Pragg somehow survived, but now 10+10 TBs. Edited November 6 by Gollum randomGuy 1
Gollum Posted November 6 Author Posted November 6 Pragg on the brink of elimination, against an Uzbek born Aussie. So many upsets in this format, even Carlsen struggled to crack this tournament for many years before finally winning one.
MechEng Posted November 7 Posted November 7 On 11/5/2025 at 9:21 PM, Gollum said: Right on cue I'd played in India before (in 2019 in Kolkata), so I had a general idea of what the conditions would be like. But FIDE, to their credit, managed to surprise me. There's nothing to say about the chess aspect. It's one of those places you won't regret leaving. Russian chess players sound more snobbish than English first class cricketers from Boycott era. Gollum 1
New guy Posted Saturday at 11:20 AM Posted Saturday at 11:20 AM (edited) @Gollum was there ever such craze for a chess player in india? Did Vishwanathan Anand ever get such a fan following? It bodes well for future of chess in india. Edited Saturday at 11:22 AM by New guy Gollum 1
Gollum Posted Saturday at 12:21 PM Author Posted Saturday at 12:21 PM 34 minutes ago, New guy said: @Gollum was there ever such craze for a chess player in india? Did Vishwanathan Anand ever get such a fan following? It bodes well for future of chess in india. There was, but not like nowadays. Chess has become more massy post-pandemic, also India hosts more events now, just in the last 30 months or so we have hosted an Olympiad, World Cup, supertournaments in rapid/blitz (Tata sponsored in Kolkata) as well as classical (Chennai Masters), women's GP, strong opens etc. Earlier our people couldn't recognize players other than Anand. Now Gukesh, Pragg, Arjun, Vidit, Nihal all have fanbases. Hope it reaches craze like in peak Soviet times where players transcended the game, for instance look at the reception for Mikhail Tal in Riga (capital of Latvia) after he had beaten Botvinnik in the 1960 match (Moscow). It had political ramifications, because Tal had beaten the Russian chess patriarch/Kremlin's champion/poster boy of Russian intellectual dominance. That time, Russian dominance in USSR was overpowering, Russian had replaced Latvian as the official language in Latvia, many patriotic Latvians and political dissidents/intellectuals/poets/writers were executed, sent to the Gulags or made to disappear, it was basically an imperial occupation of their land by the communists sitting in Moscow. Tal's victory was a symbol of defiance for his people and even today he is regarded as the greatest Latvian of all time. Likewise the Karpov-Kaparov matches in second half of 80s were full of political undertones. It wasn't just a tussle between the 2 best players of that era, but a clash of polar opposite ideologies at a time when USSR was in crossroads, Karpov the eternally loyal communist and lapdog of Moscow vs Baku born jew Kasparov who advocated for Soviet dissoloution and democracy. New guy and MechEng 2
Gollum Posted Monday at 03:59 AM Author Posted Monday at 03:59 AM Gukesh, Nodirbek, Anish all knocked out. Meanwhile Hikaru books his candidates spot by rating, reached the 40 classical games cutoff yesterday.
Gollum Posted Monday at 04:03 AM Author Posted Monday at 04:03 AM Today is a rest day From tomorrow, some mouth watering clashes Yu Yangyi vs Sindarov Pragg vs Dubov Shankland vs Rapport Esipenko vs Keymer Wei Yi vs Parham Maghsoodloo Aronian vs Wojtaszek Leko vs Arjun
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