Monday 31 August 2020

Champion Of Champions (part three)

HERE is how the tournament bracket looks after two matches.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals
1. Steinitz
v---------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102.5)

8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik
v--------------------------
11. Fischer

13. Kasparov
v--------------------------
4. Alekhine

3. Capablanca
v--------------------------
14. Kramnik

5. Euwe
v--------------------------
12. Karpov

7. Smyslov
v--------------------------
10. Spassky

15. Anand
v--------------------------
2. Lasker

Round of 16
Match Three: Botvinnik v Fischer
Game One
Mikhail Botvinnik - Bobby Fischer
King's Indian Defence
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6
Fischer also played the provocative 4...0-0, but usually preferred with the text.
5.f3
The Sämisch Variation was overwhelmingly Botvinnik's favourite response to the King's Indian.
5...e5
Played by Fischer 12 times in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database compared with 11 for 5...0-0.
6.Nge2 0-0 7.Bg5 c6 8.Qd2 Qa5
A position that does not occur in Botvinnik's games
White scores very well from here in Mega20, a fact reflected in an averaged evaluation from Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 of +71.5 for Botvinnik, giving Fischer a tough task in game two.

Game Two
Bobby Fischer - Mikhail Botvinnik
French Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3
I do not think many chess fans will be surprised to see this position appear on the board in a 'game' between Fischer and Botvinnik.
6...Ne7 7.a4!?
Fischer did not believe in the attacking, but committal, 7.Qg4.
7...Nbc6 8.Nf3 Bd7 9.Bd3
We have reached a position that does not occur in Botvinnik's games
Fischer famously had trouble against the French Defence, despite publicly calling the Winawer unsound., so perhaps it is not surprising the engines give him an averaged score here of just +5.5.
That means Botvinnik wins the match with a score of +66, giving the older generation two wins out of three against their more-modern brethren.
Here is the updated tournament bracket.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals
1. Steinitz
v---------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102,5)

8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik (+66)
v----------------------------Botvinnik
11. Fischer

13. Kasparov
v--------------------------
4. Alekhine

3. Capablanca
v--------------------------
14. Kramnik

5. Euwe
v--------------------------
12. Karpov

7. Smyslov
v--------------------------
10. Spassky

15. Anand
v--------------------------
2. Lasker

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