CCAS Cap d'Agde 2008 Closing ceremony
After beating X.Bu in the quarterfinal, Magnus lost the blitz-tiebreak to Ivanchuk in the semi.
The rapid games against Bu was quite interesting, as was the first double-edged encounter with Ivanchuk.
I'll revert soon with more comments regarding these games.
In the other semifinal Nakamura rightly trusted his blitz skills. Having held Karpov to a draw with the black pieces, he repeated moves early with white in the second rapid game and won the blitz convincingly 2-0.
In the final Ivanchuk with white looked worse in the ending but a draw was agreed in the end. In the second game, the symmetrical pawn ending with two rooks and a bishop versus a knight looked very drawish but after Ivanchuk allowed the exchange of rooks Nakamura outplayed him in the ensuing ending. 1-0 and a great tournament victory to Nakamura. Congratulations!
Overall Magnus played quite well in the rapid games and scored 8/11 in total, but it would be putting it mildly to say that he was unhappy with the blitz games against Ivanchuk.
As usual the closing ceremony was held in an extraordinary pleasant mood. The head of the french chess federation spoke for everyone concluding that they all needed this week of chess in Cap every 2nd year.
Many thanks to the organiser for a pleasant and enjoyable tournament!
Next tournament for Magnus is the Olympics in Dresden starting November 12th.
Henrik Carlsen
Cap d'Agde, France, November 2nd 2008
Comments:
Btw, I like the picture form the closing ceremony, just like a family picture set up :)
to be ruthless against his oponents
in Dresden.
regards and best luck
Btw, I saw that 3 days ago Magnus had again won a game with black against Ivanchuk with the Alekhine defense. How impressive this game is! To me Magnus looked really outplayed there, with less space, less initiative, even a pawn less - but Magnus judged everything correctly and won in 31 moves, incredible! In which context did he play this game? It wasn't rated was it?
The way he plays is so inspiring...
Pity he doesnt participate in the Blitz WCC, but understandable with respect to Dresden. Btw, maybe I manage to "come over" to Dresden. It would be too nice if I had the chance to have a word or two with you, Henrik... =)
Warm regards and good luck for Dresden!
Martin
thanks for your support!
Martin,
I'm going to Dresden 21st to 23rd only, but please feel free to contact me any of those days :-)
Henrik C.
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