Hope everyone is having a great start to their week! My voice has been pretty rough lately, so I'm resting and refraining from hour-long Standard videos for the moment 😉 In the meantime, just a heads up that the 2023 World Championship is less than a month away: it starts on Apr. 7 in Kazakhstan! Though we're all disappointed that Magnus will not defend, Ian Nepomniachtchi (winner of the 2022 Candidates) and Ding Liren (runner-up at the Candidates) are two worthy claimants to the crown. My gut instinct is that Nepo is a favorite (perhaps 60/40) due to his match experience and fine form this past year since losing to Magnus. What do you think?
By the way, back in 2019 I played Ding Liren - then World #4 - in a 15+2 PRO Chess League match on Chess.com. If you haven't seen the video recap, check it out below! It was a memorable experience for me, especially in experiencing the speed of sound decision-making that top-level players possess. At times I felt I could match my world-class opponent in move quality, but stringing these accurate moves together *and* doing so quickly is why these players are so strong. This is a paradigm you see in many lopsided rating matchups, and it's rare for me to experience this as a decent IM (I felt the same way the two times I faced Wesley So OTB).
Take care, all! See you in the comments again soon.
John Bartholomew
Hope everyone is having a great start to their week! My voice has been pretty rough lately, so I'm resting and refraining from hour-long Standard videos for the moment 😉 In the meantime, just a heads up that the 2023 World Championship is less than a month away: it starts on Apr. 7 in Kazakhstan! Though we're all disappointed that Magnus will not defend, Ian Nepomniachtchi (winner of the 2022 Candidates) and Ding Liren (runner-up at the Candidates) are two worthy claimants to the crown. My gut instinct is that Nepo is a favorite (perhaps 60/40) due to his match experience and fine form this past year since losing to Magnus. What do you think?
By the way, back in 2019 I played Ding Liren - then World #4 - in a 15+2 PRO Chess League match on Chess.com. If you haven't seen the video recap, check it out below! It was a memorable experience for me, especially in experiencing the speed of sound decision-making that top-level players possess. At times I felt I could match my world-class opponent in move quality, but stringing these accurate moves together *and* doing so quickly is why these players are so strong. This is a paradigm you see in many lopsided rating matchups, and it's rare for me to experience this as a decent IM (I felt the same way the two times I faced Wesley So OTB).
Take care, all! See you in the comments again soon.
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 69