Showing posts with label Levon Aronian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Levon Aronian. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2008

Levon Aronian: Chess programs are our enemies,.. Women cannot play chess


He said so.


These were heavy words. Levon Aronian speaks about his thoughts on computer programs and the "fairer sex" involvement in chess. As most of the cases, great chess players are excellent speakers as well.

"Chess programs are our enemies, they destroy the romance of chess. They take away the beauty of the game. Everything can be calculated. But we still have twenty years, at least...They (chess computer programs) are becoming better, but not more human. Computers don’t have plans, they don’t have ideas, philosophy, aesthetic feelings. Unlike humans they don’t have an inkling of how rooks, knights and pawns should be moved around the board. You know, sometimes when I am playing my games I have the feeling that I am in a fairy tale, that I have been immersed into a world full of fantasy."

Well said Mr. Aronian, but how about this one folks? Also, for obvious reasons, I follows mainly the men's and open category at the Olympiad.

"Women cannot play chess...That is true, but women are generally much too emotional for chess. If they want to play really well they have to change their character and suppress their natural instincts. They have to take on male qualities. After all chess is a rough and hard game."

Miss Arianne Caoili are you hearing this one from Mr Aronian?

Interview conducted by Christian Schwager and Markus Lotter of Berliner Zeitung English translation from chessbase.com

-Photo from Wikipedia

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Aronian wins Amber with 2 games to spare


Round 10 Blindfold

Ivanchuk-Mamedyarov 0-1
Van Wely-Topalov 1/2-1/2
Gelfand-Anand 0-1
Karjakin-Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Aronian-Kramnik 1/2-1/2
Carlsen-Leko 1/2-1/2

Round 10 Rapid

Mamedyarov-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
Topalov-Van Wely 1-0
Anand-Gelfand 0-1
Morozevich-Karjakin 1-0
Kramnik-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Leko-Carlsen 1/2-1/2



Combined scores after 10 rounds

1. Aronian 13½

2-5. Carlsen 11
Kramnik 11
Leko 11
Topalov 11

6-8. Anand 10
Ivanchuk 10
Morozevich 10

9. Karjakin 8½

10-12. Gelfand 8
Mamedyarov 8
Van Wely 8


Here's the highlight matches from the final round.

Ivanchuk,V (2751) - Anand,V (2799) [A29]

Amber Rapid Nice FRA (9), 25.03.2008
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nd5 Bc5 7.d3 Nxd5 8.cxd5 Nd4 9.Nd2 d6 10.e3 Nf5 11.Nc4 a5 12.Bd2 a4 13.b4 axb3 14.axb3 Rxa1 15.Qxa1 b5 16.Na5 Ne7 17.0-0

17...Bg4? Overlooking 18.Nb7 which wins White a pawn. 18...Qd7 19.Nxc5 dxc5 20.Qxe5 Qd6 21.d4 Be2 22.Qxd6 cxd6 23.Re1 Bd3 24.dxc5 dxc5 25.Rc1 c4 26.bxc4 bxc4 27.Bb4 Re8 28.Bxe7 Rxe7 29.Bf1 Bxf1 30.Kxf1 Re4 31.Ke2 f5 32.f3 Re5 33.d6 1-0.

The tragedy in this round was suffered by Magnus Carlsen in his blindfold game against Vladimir Kramnik, overstepping the time in a probably winning position.

Kramnik,V (2799) - Carlsen,M (2733) [E17]
Amber Blindfold Nice FRA (9), 25.03.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 f5 8.d5 Bf6 9.Qc2 Qe7 10.Rd1 Na6 11.0-0 Nb4 12.Qb3 a5 13.Be3 a4 14.Nxa4 exd5 15.Nd4 dxc4 16.Qxc4 Bxd4 17.Bxd4 Nc6 18.Bxb6 cxb6 19.Nxb6 Rd8 20.Nd5 Ne5 21.Qb5 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Nf7 23.Rfd1 Nf6 24.R5d2 g6 25.a4 0-0 26.a5 Rb8 27.Bb7 Nd8 28.Bd5+ Ne6 29.Qc4 Rfc8 30.Qa2 Nxd5 31.Rxd5 Rc7 32.a6 Ra7 33.Rd6 Kf8 34.Qa4 Ke8 35.b4 Ng5 36.Qa1 Nf7 37.Qd4 Qxd6 38.Qe3+ Qe6 39.Qxa7 Rxb4 40.Qa8+ Ke7 41.a7 Ra4 42.Qb7 Qc6 43.Qb8

Black has a knight for a pawn and could go on the attack with 43...Ng5. However, with just seconds on his clock Carlsen played 43...d6 44.Rb1 and then overstepped his time. 1-0.