Sam Shankland

Day 95

Leave a Comment / Climb To 2000, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Sam Shankland, World Chess Championship /

Rating 1797 (had a great day with three wins out of three, but had two disconnects that impacted my rating).

Puzzle Rush Score 41

Daily Study I had a week off study as I was away on holidays. Coming back to study feels great! Today I did a whole heap of puzzles. My chess.com puzzle rating is now above 2600. During the week the last two games of the World Chess Championship were played. Magnus Carlsen held onto the world championship title. I had a great time following the event.

Here are the round 10 and 11 games with annotations by Sam Shankland.

 

 

 

Day 95 Read More »

Day 94

Leave a Comment / Catalan, Climb To 2000, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Sam Shankland, World Chess Championship /

Rating 1788

Puzzle Rush Score 39

Daily Study Today Nepo made a one move blunder. I was shocked that he missed a very simple idea (one that stood out to me straight away after looking at the natural c5 push). I don’t know what happened, but I feel for him. What a rough way to lose a game in a championship match.

Day 94 Read More »

Day 92

Leave a Comment / Climb To 2000, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Petrov Defense, Sam Shankland, World Chess Championship /

Rating 1783

Puzzle Rush Score 40

Daily Study I caught up with round eight of the World Chess Championship and the result was a tough loss for Nepo. I feel his pain. The game looked like a complete draw and it seemed as though Nepo was trying to push for an advantage in a game where he really needed to play solid and take the draw. By overextending and playing a few inaccurate moves (including a major blunder where he dropped a pawn) Carlsen was able to swoop in and win the game. It would be rather incredible if Nepo manages to bounce back and it looks like Carlsen will regain the title once more.

Day 92 Read More »

Day 91

Leave a Comment / Climb To 2000, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen, Ruy Lopez, Sam Shankland, World Chess Championship /

Rating 1792

Puzzle Rush Score 25 (falling asleep at the computer, but I still did the prescribed daily puzzles)

Daily Study One interesting quote or idea I heard today (which was an idea I already understood, but just stood out differently) was a comment made by Levy Rosman in one of his recap videos. “What is the future of your rooks?” There are many times when I am wondering where to place a rook and which one to move. I think in those times of uncertainty I need to ask myself the question of what is the future of both rooks.

The round seven World Chess Championship match ended in a draw. After such a grueling game yesterday, I was expecting Nepo to take a quick draw if possible. My predictions were close to spot on. Nepomniatchi led out once again with e4 and we had another Ruy Lopez (I am not complaining about that part) and it followed the same opening line as round five, but he didn’t really press and the pieces were traded off to a drawn endgame.

Day 91 Read More »