why is that obvious from his behaviour? If you mean him not attending the inspection of the position it is quite possible he did not believe it to be a 3-fold repetition and did not want any distractions from the chess-board itself. Many professional players take this approach now, especially when players try to claim draws from the arbiter - the best approach is usually to ignore everything and continue thinking about the position in hand. If the arbiter had done his job properly (which was not too much to hope for ) then the tactic would have worked. I believe Moro was genuinely surprised that the 3-fold repetition was awarded - hence his comment "I cannot count to 3".

Yes, Grischuk-Gelfand in particular. Solid theoretical successes for Black, of course, but still.

So someone tell me why Moro's ....Rb5 doesn't lose at once to Bc6?

Yes, I sort of knew that. But still - has it been played?! It's on one scoresheet, but not on the other. And it's not on the board.

Ray Keene won his GM title on this rule - his opponent played a move which produced the same position for the third time, but this time with Keene to move, which meant Keene was winning. The arbiter naturally rejected the claim, but the losing move had to stand. The (Chilean, I believe) player protested like mad and I think refused to continue.

So if you write down one move but tell the arbiter you intend to play another one, your claim fails? Don't see much sense in that, but there's a few rules I don't see much sense in.

So is Pono going to win, I wonder? I thought he was much better eariler, but I'm not so sure now.

Gosh, well all of a sudden my predictions look rather good. It seems to me that Gelfand took the draw from a position of strength because he was short of time. Disappointing that if the record is right Carlsen-Mamedyarov just agreed instead of making GG do the work (actually I wonder whether the move you say you intend to play is actually officialy part of the game score? Maybe not and that's why it's not on the official site.)

I wonder if Aronian missed ...Re1+ or just saw he was lost and allowed it for the crowd. If he traded queens first I'm sure the ending was lost, but you'd try a bit of token resistance, wouldn't you?

Fine game by Svidler though, looked so easy. I can't think taking the man on in the Grunfeld without some very solid prep behind you is a good idea.....

Now I just need Pono to win for a full house.

And isn't the Pono-Moro game amazing? I don't know about you but I thought it was all about attacking. Now it turns out it's all about stopping Black developing properly. I guess that's the modern Sicilian for you - where's Dvoretsky when you need him?

IMJohnCox wrote on 11/08/06 at 13:41:56:


A good question - I am presuming Grischuk has prepared this line, which is why I am fascinated to see what happens - all of his pieces are active but I cant exactly see how he can get at the Black king. I will go for lunch and come back to see what happened in these games later today  

I don't really understand Grischuk-Gelfand. What does White have for his pawn after 22....f5 now, for instance?

Yes - Shirov-Leko is an interesting one for the other thread elsewhere on the Marshall, will be interesting to see what happens there, and also the Grischuk-Gelfand Petroff looks fascinating. This is a fantastic line-up for a tournament, lots of good fighters in there.