Perpetual Chess Dingfest #36, May 5, 2023

Ding Wins!

Did you guys and gals hear that Ding won the World Championship? We have a lot of interesting insights from the match as chess fans continue to process the new world order. Aside from lots of Ding, I am highlighting some other interesting articles about chess at the grassroots level, and a couple helpful chess improvement posts. I will leave you all to it. Have a good weekend- Ben

From David Llada’s Twitter

Ding Wins

GM Serper on why there so many decisive games “It is difficult to argue that both grandmasters made many mistakes in very tense and complicated situations—but this was a feature, not a bug. It was simply impossible to play these kinds of positions perfectly unless you had the convenient option of looking at the engine's suggestions on your monitor.” (Chess.com Blog)

Leonard Barden weighs in (It would be fun, but I don’t think what he proposes will happen!) … “Ding’s potentially most significant statement was that he was ‘ready for all challenges, including playing against Carlsen if he wants to recover the title, or to defend it against the young stars’. Could that remark open the door to a Carlsen v Ding match in 2024, played outside the normal qualifying route to the Candidates, and incorporating some rule changes to accommodate the all-time No 1? Sponsors would line up to back such a mouthwatering event.” (The Guardian)

FM Leonxto Garcia with a fascinating interview with the new World Champion. ““I remembered how Albert Camus talks about the concept of resistance. The idea is that if you see that you cannot win, do everything in your power to resist. And that memory gave me the determination I needed.”" (El Pais)

Sean Ingle with more fascinating World Championship backstory. Did someone steal Nepo’s sleeping pill? (The Guardian)

How often is the reigning World Champion the most accurate current player in a given year according to ChessMetrics? ChrisWMac on Reddit took a Look (Chess Reddit)

Other Chess

Tepe Sigeman has kicked off with a fun lineup of veterans and young guns including Gelfand, Svidler, Erigaisi and Gukesh. Shahid Ahmed runs down the first round. (Chessbase India)

Tactics from a Superior Position! What tactic did Erigaisi uncork here? Answer on move 20 here

More Helpful translations from Tarjei Svensen from Magnus’ most recent interview “"I will definitely try to remain number one, with a decent margin. But when I play so few events, I don't feel it's as important. It's not top of mind most of the time."“ (Chess.com News)

GM Maurice Ashley hosted a Popular Event for Collegiate African American Players. Daaim Shabazz of the ChessDrum notes- ““This tournament shows that there are overlooked segments … not just the African American segment, but also the young segment.” (Melinda Matthews for Chess Life Online)

The SuperBet Invitational kicks off Soon in Burgeoning Chess Powerhouse, Romania. Eduard Frey looks at Romania’s rich Chess History (Chessbase News)

Chess in Schools

Speaking of GM Ashley, he makes the case for Chess in Schools Programs here (Elizabeth Heubeck for Education Week)

…And Speaking of Chess in School Programs, here is a story of a Successful One in Corsica (Phil Hoad for Guardian)

Chess Improvement

Vjekoslav Nemec shares some tips for When and How to Analyze Your Chess Games (Chessentials Blog)

FM Nate Solon shares some data based observations about how opening preferences change as you climb the rating ladder. (Zwischenzug Blog)