FREESTYLE FRIDAY IS HERE!! Watch The First Broadcast! ft. Magnus, Arjun, Vincent & More!!
chess24
0:00 Now, it does appear to uh to me that I'm receiving some news.
0:03 Chess.com experiencing some technical difficulties uh
0:07 and have decided uh that ultimately
0:09 they are going to restart the tournament due to some DDoS attacks,
0:14 some server attacks that are coming in and contributing
0:17 to some of those technical difficulties that we've
0:20 seen and maybe some players losing on time
0:22 or at least struggling uh from a timebased perspective.
0:25 So, reading this information as it's coming into me right now,
0:28 they've decided to restart the tournament at 9:00 a.m.
0:32 Pacific.
0:33 That's 6:00 p.m.
0:34 CST.
0:36 Uh 9:00 a.m.
0:37 Pacific being my time.
0:39 Um and so, uh that's some information to be uh handing to everybody at home,
0:43 which means about 30 minutes from now,
0:45 we are going to be restarting the tournament from round one,
0:49 ideally having solved some of those technical issues.
0:52 Uh that means we've got 30 minutes uh to take a quick break uh to kind of reset.
0:57 We'll return.
0:58 We'll give you guys another appraise uh
1:00 appraisal uh of how the tournament stands
1:02 and what to expect going forward and then ultimately we'll get into the game.
1:06 So stick around, stick with us.
1:08 We apologize uh for the technical difficulties,
1:10 but we are working through them as quickly as possible.
1:12 We'll see you back here in just under 30 minutes time.
1:18 Heat.
1:20 Heat.
2:02 Hey, hey, hey.
2:06 Heat.
2:07 Heat.
2:08 N.
2:28 Heat.
2:28 Heat.
2:49 Everybody hey everybody.
3:03 Heat.
3:04 Heat.
3:05 N.
3:13 Heat.
3:14 Hey, Heat.
3:35 Heat.
3:36 Heat.
3:37 N.
3:45 Heat.
3:46 Heat.
4:06 Heat.
4:07 Heat.
4:08 N.
5:00 Hey, hey, hey.
5:10 Heat.
5:12 Heat.
5:45 Hey.
5:52 Hey.
5:58 Hey.
6:08 Hey, hey, hey.
6:51 Heat.
6:52 Heat.
6:53 N.
7:56 Heat.
8:14 Heat.
8:20 Hey, hey, hey.
9:39 Hey, Hey, hey, hey.
10:52 Hey, hey, hey.
11:22 Heat.
11:22 Hey.
11:23 Hey.
11:24 Hey.
11:39 Heat.
11:39 Heat.
11:40 N.
12:13 Heat.
12:13 Heat.
12:23 Hey, hey, hey.
12:40 Heat.
12:42 Heat.
13:15 Heat.
13:15 Heat.
13:24 Heat.
13:25 Heat.
13:26 N.
13:34 Heat.
13:35 Heat.
13:36 N.
13:44 Heat.
13:45 Hey, Heat.
14:05 Heat.
14:06 Heat.
14:07 N.
14:29 Hey, hey, hey.
14:41 Heat up.
15:26 Hey baby.
15:43 Hey, hey, hey.
15:56 Heat.
15:57 Heat.
15:58 N.
16:30 Hey, hey, hey.
16:33 Hey, hey, hey.
16:58 Heat.
16:59 Heat.
17:00 N.
17:36 Heat.
17:36 Heat.
17:42 Heat.
18:01 Heat.
18:07 Heat.
18:08 Heat.
18:09 N.
18:35 Heat.
18:35 Heat.
18:57 Heat.
18:57 Heat.
19:32 Hey, hey, hey.
20:12 Hey, hey, hey.
20:33 Hey.
20:57 down.
21:26 Hey, hey, hey.
21:57 Hey, Hey.
23:50 Hey.
23:51 Hey.
25:26 Heat.
25:26 Heat.
26:25 Oh boy.
26:42 Hey, I'm down.
26:56 I Hello everyone and welcome Back to Freestyle Friday,
27:28 Take Two, Electric Bugaloo.
27:32 I'm your host, James Dash, here with Peter Leo.
27:35 We're saddling back up after some unfortunate uh technical difficulties.
27:39 Peter, I'll just let everybody at home know
27:42 real quickly that uh a significant number of players
27:45 uh were ultimately unable to relay their moves
27:48 uh to the server in rounds one and two.
27:50 And that's why we saw maybe an unusual number of players
27:53 losing their games as a result of flagging on time.
27:57 And so ultimately, chess.com has been investigating the issues.
28:00 We have determined that it will be a full restart of the tournament.
28:04 So you can scrap all the results that you saw
28:06 from the first two rounds of the day a bit earlier.
28:10 Uh and ultimately we will just uh kick things off
28:13 as if uh we're starting on a fresh foot here today.
28:17 So, Peter, I'll welcome you back in after that false start,
28:21 if you will, and some results that we'll now forget.
28:24 We're looking at 11 rounds of Swiss freestyle Friday chess action ahead of us.
28:29 How are you doing?
28:32 Yeah, James, I'm actually very happy and very relieved
28:35 because somehow it felt that something is not right.
28:38 We were speculating what could have been
28:41 and uh you know regardless of the results
28:43 as a player you feel that fair play for all is the most important thing.
28:48 So a full restart is absolutely appreciated I think
28:51 by all the players and we got a free warm-up.
28:57 Exactly right.
28:58 So we're we're officially warmed up but maybe
29:00 for those of you who might be joining
29:02 in uh what would have been an hour late to the event now you're right on time.
29:06 we can help warm you up uh
29:08 with a brief understanding of what's ultimately taking place.
29:11 Uh now, freestyle Friday is something that occurs every Friday on chess.com.
29:15 And if you're interested, you can go ahead and try your hand against
29:18 some of the world's best in a Friday matchup.
29:21 Uh but this is the first of which
29:22 we're covering live uh as Freestyle Fridays will
29:27 ultimately deliver us one of the contenders
29:29 for the 2027 uh Feday Freestyle Chess World Championship.
29:33 And so week over week, all of these players are going to be doing
29:36 battle to try and score points, climb the ladder,
29:39 and ultimately see if they can be
29:40 the one to insert themselves in the conversation
29:43 for a future Feday world champion when it comes to the freestyle chess circuit.
29:48 Uh we had our eyes on maybe uh one of the early
29:51 leaders when it comes to the leaderboard in Pronov earlier today.
29:56 Maybe we'll check back in with him, but as well Vincent Kimer,
29:59 who we took uh a look at in our first game of the day.
30:01 maybe one of the guys to have experienced some
30:03 of those technical difficulties had fallen down in round number two.
30:07 Again, full reset.
30:08 Everybody's got zero to their name as we
30:12 have the first games beginning to populate.
30:14 Peter, I think it's natural that we go back to Vincent Kimer.
30:16 See if he can set the pace this time.
30:18 Playing from the black side of the board here in round number one.
30:24 Yes.
30:24 Uh absolutely correct.
30:26 And look at this.
30:27 Just right in time when white made a move C3.
30:30 Similarly, an innocent move preparing probably to activate the bishop on C2.
30:34 But suddenly the knight from E6 jumps on F4 with a double attack.
30:37 Knight D forking the rook and queen and also hitting the pawn.
30:41 And believe it or not,
30:42 there is just no way for white to protect well against this these threats.
30:47 And uh this is crazy.
30:49 He's losing the G2 pawn.
30:51 And this is a handicap now.
30:52 Pawn down for nothing.
30:55 Yeah, Vincent will snap that one up.
30:57 retreat the knight right back to that strong f4
30:59 square uh now protected as well by his centered pawn.
31:03 I guess the only advantage here right now for white is
31:06 that you have slightly better development of some of your minor pieces
31:09 but the price you've now paid is weakening your pawn structure and creating
31:13 an isolated pawn over there on the h file in the long term.
31:16 Vincent will return to some development now uh
31:19 with just a slight edge in this game but still uh you know plenty of time
31:24 to work with here for win on the white side.
31:27 now looking to threaten that dark squared bishop.
31:29 Engine doesn't love the move.
31:30 So what is a tricky position might get all that much trickier here for white.
31:36 Yes, it's clear that black is also trying
31:38 to bring the pieces because as you highlighted Yeah.
31:41 that white got active pieces.
31:43 Yes.
31:43 So black won a very important pawn.
31:45 The knight on F4 is an having an eternal outpost.
31:49 But let's not forget this is freestyle chess.
31:52 And this black's king's position.
31:54 And the same applies of course for white.
31:56 We'll have a kind of tough question to answer.
31:59 Where will it feel safe?
32:01 Yeah.
32:01 Because white's queen and bishops are actually lined up towards the A7 square
32:07 which uh would be checkmate if the rook from A8 would be removed.
32:10 Yeah.
32:11 And it's also clear that the famous castling all the way to the other side
32:16 is out of question here because things
32:18 have already opened up on the king's side.
32:21 So it will be a very tricky position.
32:23 But this I think it's good news for Vincent because
32:26 now he can set up this B6 kind of position.
32:29 Yeah, he also activates the bishop first,
32:30 but potentially B6 and who knows now he might be even able
32:35 to castle all the way to the other side if he wishes.
32:39 Ah, that would be quite the tricky castle because you can
32:42 see here win continuing to to kind of stack pressure looking
32:45 for that rook lift going to slide it over to the B
32:47 file and really mounting an attack on the black king.
32:51 But you still have that defensive resource
32:54 of the long castle uh further down the line.
32:57 Knight jumps to the H file will ultimately trade off for the bishop.
33:01 So a minor piece has left the board on either side.
33:04 But that does give white control of the G file.
33:06 Vincent now offering the trade of rooks here and it will be accepted ultimately.
33:11 So we've uh liquidated quite a few pieces.
33:17 Yes, quite a lot.
33:18 Uh everything is changing.
33:19 Everything goes in very rapid uh pace.
33:22 Yeah.
33:22 Bishop F7, bishop E8.
33:24 Exactly.
33:24 There is this pawn on A4, this vulnerable
33:26 pawn because if white plays the move bishop B5,
33:29 then black can trade and finally set up a very solid king's position.
33:33 Yes.
33:33 There you have B6.
33:34 King B7.
33:35 White's rook on B5 is out of play.
33:39 Yeah.
33:39 Because just alone, yeah, the queen is heading to defense,
33:42 but Vincent will just parry this with uh queen C4, queen D7.
33:46 Yeah.
33:47 on the board and nothing works for white.
33:50 Yeah, this is uh incredibly difficult.
33:53 Uh all of the sudden uh you know, while it looked all good there for white
33:58 in terms of having the initiative to launch the attack,
34:01 like you say, now it feels like my major pieces are kind of stuck.
34:05 They're cemented in place.
34:07 And so it's going to be Vincent who has
34:08 the opportunity to kind of finesse the position a bit.
34:13 Yes.
34:13 And now he activates the quidia.
34:15 He was in time to queen takes F5, queen D3.
34:18 Look at now.
34:19 So, white's queen on B3 is stuck because uh the white's king is vulnerable.
34:23 The rook has nowhere to go.
34:25 White was only hoping and he has to go for a hopeless rook end game.
34:28 Okay.
34:28 Takes takes uh Vincent will activate the rook
34:31 and it should be a technical win in different ways.
34:37 Playing up a pawn.
34:38 Yeah, playing up a pawn which uh is the benefit of having
34:41 picked up that pawn nice and early uh with his knight move.
34:45 Uh, now that feels like an eternity you ago in a 3minute game.
34:49 2 seconds increment.
34:51 Again, as a reminder for those of you who might
34:52 be joining us early on in this Friday morning here,
34:55 round one of an 11 round Swiss looking for Vincent uh to pilot
35:00 this rook endgame with an extra pawn to his name to a victory here.
35:04 Still not going to be easy, but doable.
35:09 Yes, not at all because actually he got little careless.
35:12 He felt like he just brings the king and then he will slowly win.
35:16 But all of a sudden after rook f3 check okay king g6 will be played and now
35:20 it's the money money move that does white have a good move because if not then
35:25 black will just slowly win this position and according
35:28 to computer there is something very special uh
35:31 because if if not then in couple of moves
35:33 black will be already probably close to winning.
35:37 Yeah, I'm I'm use I'm cheating by using the engine lines here,
35:41 but uh the the options for white here are
35:45 primarily to keep that rook on the F file.
35:48 He opts for just a king move as well,
35:51 but largely wanting to maintain this position here from white, right?
35:54 Don't let any more forward movement come here from the black
35:58 side of the board as you're highlighting a possible
36:00 offer of trade for the rooks which would end
36:02 us uh end up in a king and pawn endgame.
36:05 Just wanting to make sure that your king is
36:07 correctly positioned then for the race across the board.
36:12 Yes, but I'm I'm a little bit puzzled that why is this kind of equal?
36:18 Black is a healthy pawn up.
36:19 There is no entry square for white.
36:22 Uh black can also keep on marching with his king.
36:26 Example, king G4 and potentially go king H.
36:29 Okay, Vincent goes H3.
36:30 So he wants to go rook H4 check and then enter with the rook.
36:37 Okay, I think this is practically winning for black.
36:44 Practically winning for him, but he needs to get it onto the board in the end.
36:49 Time though is still going to be a factor
36:51 and ultimately it's Vincent who's got a lot more
36:53 time to his name to work with here up
36:56 against Win who's only got 23 seconds on his clock.
37:00 Oh wow.
37:01 But yeah, this this is kind of very tricky against king H4 because
37:06 if black plays rook g7 setting rook g2 to win the game then white
37:10 plays rook f8 and against rook g2 there will be check and after
37:14 the king has to go to g5 then the pawn on h3 is falling.
37:17 Yeah.
37:17 So there are all kinds of tricks all of a sudden in the position.
37:21 So Vincent will have to mix things up.
37:24 He goes rook E7.
37:26 Look F8.
37:26 King G5 back.
37:32 Everything that you just talked about has played out onto the board.
37:36 Yeah.
37:36 Kicks the king away will be lost.
37:40 Exactly.
37:40 Yeah.
37:40 So, white picked up the pawn and now of course still
37:44 black is trying something but now it should be a draw.
37:50 Wow.
37:50 So expecting it to fizzle although in this moment maybe a bit of a blunder here.
37:57 Yeah.
37:58 Now rook B2 check.
37:59 Rook B2 check is winning.
38:01 Rook B2 check.
38:02 You cannot go forward because of rook B3.
38:04 And if you have to fall back with the king, it's lost.
38:07 Rook B2 check is coming.
38:09 It's a big sled.
38:10 How to protect?
38:11 And I think Win ultimately sees it.
38:14 And that's why you see the delay here.
38:16 Searching for a defensive resource.
38:17 He's going to go for a check of his own.
38:19 adding two seconds to his clock.
38:21 But now the B2 check comes in.
38:22 And now the pawn is off to the races here.
38:25 It looks like Vincent might be coming away with a win after all in this one.
38:30 And ultimately he does get the victory.
38:34 Vincent Kimer by resignation.
38:36 Uh he gets away with it a bit there.
38:37 Peter, as you said, maybe got a little careless
38:40 uh in the middle game there after a winning position.
38:43 took his foot off the gas for just long enough
38:46 uh to create some difficulty for himself down the stretch,
38:49 but ultimately does get that one zero.
38:51 He will be on the winning side of the Swiss system here to kick off the day.
38:57 Yeah, but it also showed that what an incredible defense uh white
39:01 player Guian was was actually delivering with little time on the clock.
39:05 Yeah, finally he faltered because he this rook end game was anyway very tricky.
39:10 Uh but uh there are no easy games.
39:13 This was just the first round and it's not not easy.
39:17 No, it's definitely not easy.
39:18 It'll only get more difficult from here.
39:20 You can already see some of our results and live populating
39:23 in the standings uh over there on Peter's side of the screen.
39:27 We've got a couple live pairings as well uh still up here on my side.
39:31 Diva Deshmuk actually on the back foot right now up against Kyani Serin.
39:36 Kayani, one of the players that we were watching uh pri
39:39 uh p prior to the restart of the tournament for the day.
39:43 But here, a rook and pawn endgame.
39:45 However, it's black who's ultimately got three pawns
39:48 uh to his name up against Divia's singular pawn
39:51 while she will be able to grab one more
39:53 and help equalize that material just a little bit.
39:56 Uh still a very tricky position for her trying
39:58 to defend against the advancement of both of these pawns.
40:02 Yeah, it is just hopelessly lost there.
40:04 Black is just pushing the pawn all the way to F2
40:07 and you will eventually have to sacrifice your rook for the pawn.
40:10 It is uh elemental win and it just shows that Kayani was
40:15 the player who had this difficult game against Vincent prior to that.
40:18 So first runs no easy games.
40:23 It's a super event.
40:27 Yeah, without a doubt.
40:28 Still playing through on this one until that resignation comes in from Divia.
40:32 So, Calani ultimately picking up a win.
40:35 That's going to feel really good as a rebound cuz like you said,
40:38 had that game up against Vincent uh to kick off the day before the restart.
40:43 He took a loss uh that time around.
40:45 Now, he gets to, you know, kick things off with a victory here.
40:48 That's going to be or rather maybe do uh do leagues
40:52 for the momentum that he's feeling going into the second round of the day.
40:57 Yes.
40:58 Also, let's just quickly highlight the names.
41:00 Yeah.
41:01 like okay Pranov is is the leader of the whole
41:05 tournament I mean the whole tour so far
41:08 but also Nia Yakob have in action we haven't seen
41:11 him in the first two runs praes the the very
41:14 young and very strong uh Indian chess player also
41:20 Romesh Chess school has been the second of Vali
41:25 in the candidates tournament helping Vshali win the candidates
41:28 and being able to challenge for for the women title.
41:32 That's an incredible success there.
41:34 So, Pranesh is also playing here.
41:36 Alexander Bournik is here.
41:38 Samin Vidov and we have already talked about uh people
41:43 like Jeffrey Jong uh also we have seen Arain Hamlan.
41:48 So many brilliant players are playing with us today.
41:53 Many brilliant players and all of those brilliant
41:55 players already in to game number two.
41:58 Uh so let's dive in alongside them.
42:01 Taking a look at Vincent Kimer once again.
42:02 This side on the white side or this time rather on the white side of the board.
42:07 As you can see already a castle on the board there.
42:12 First castle courtesy of make.com.
42:14 One of our lovely partners here for freestyle
42:16 chess up against Rose Atwell a fed master.
42:20 So Vincent Kimer the expected favorite in this one
42:23 will now castle to match his opponent.
42:26 uh appreciating the space that he's already grabbed for himself
42:29 here on the left hand side of the board.
42:31 A bit more of a conservative setup if anything here for Rose on the black side.
42:36 But uh right now early on, look at this.
42:40 I mean the pawn like the the control of the center of the board,
42:43 the left side of the board now has
42:45 become control over the center of the board there.
42:47 There's a a lot of pressure here mounting uh for Vincent Kimer.
42:54 Yes, Vincent is having a fantastic uh position.
42:57 Yeah, everything comes naturally.
42:59 The position flows by itself.
43:01 This pawn on E4, knight on E3 combination.
43:04 The knight is threatening to jump to F5.
43:06 Then the bishop from C1 will target the F4 knight.
43:09 Also, black has trouble already in the center with the E5 pawn.
43:12 Yeah, G6 played in order to avoid knight F5.
43:16 I wouldn't even be surprised if the sacrifice would work,
43:19 but there is also no reason at all to the sacrifice.
43:22 Maybe you can just play knight G4.
43:24 Follow it up by putting pressure on the E5 pawn.
43:27 Maybe just activate that queen with queen A2 just to say, "Hello,
43:31 I'm also in the game." Because black's queen on A8 is stuck forever.
43:37 All right.
43:37 So Vincent goes a different way because of the pawn push there by Rose,
43:41 uh, removing the option of that F5 square.
43:44 Instead, he jumps to G4.
43:46 So slightly more conservative move but still achieves
43:48 what you're pointing out there with the arrow
43:50 uh allowing that dark squared bishop to target
43:53 the knight in the center of the board.
43:55 At the same time the pawn which is defending is also being threatened.
43:59 So there's just a lot of tension here and it's ultimately going
44:02 to be up to Rose how she wants to solve that tension.
44:05 She decides to reinforce the pawn and Vincent will take
44:08 that opportunity to now strike on the left hand side.
44:11 just feels like pure aggression uh out of Vincent at this point as once again
44:16 the response is coming on the right wing by Rose and H pawn launching forward.
44:21 Everything's under threat on this board.
44:25 Yeah, I think that this uh this hits Vincent a bit
44:29 because uh he knows that he has an overwhelming position.
44:32 One thing he doesn't want to be forced to spend
44:36 too much energy on finding a very strong move.
44:38 Yeah, he would love to just rely on his hand
44:41 uh and and just squeeze and win the game automatically.
44:44 But after H5, he will have to uh spend time and energy and he goes for it.
44:49 Knight H6 check.
44:50 We might be seeing some tactical uh outcome.
44:54 Knight F5 check.
44:55 The sacrifice that I highlighted earlier is very much
44:59 in the cards and I believe it will be played.
45:04 Well, this is the moment for him to think before he decides
45:08 whether or not he wants to quote unquote throw that knight away.
45:13 And ultimately, he does land on the decision as predicted by Peter Leo.
45:17 A bit of a reaction out of Vincent following
45:21 the speed at which Rose decided to to take back.
45:25 Wonder if uh he thought of something.
45:27 Look at this.
45:29 The king is walking into the center to F6.
45:31 Now Vincent goes D5 kicking the knight away from C6.
45:35 Uh where do you go?
45:36 That was the reason why Vincent also played A5.
45:39 Wants to quiz from every angle.
45:44 And yeah, if takes then he wants to take and move the bishop.
45:47 I think this is very strong.
45:49 Takes takes you remove the bishop and all of a sudden
45:51 with C4 you activate the queen and give a check.
45:54 But Vincent goes for G3.
45:56 Wow.
45:57 I got so excited that I saw that the queen on A1 could deliver checkmate.
46:03 Yeah.
46:03 And and possibly was on his radar as well.
46:07 Uh but he does decide to go a different way.
46:09 Pawn to G3 again.
46:11 Uh just continuing to mount threats uh to this one knight.
46:20 Yeah.
46:18 Okay.
46:18 Let's take knight takes D5.
46:23 Let's let's create some mess.
46:24 Yeah.
46:25 just because finally if the pawn moves ah no bishop C8.
46:29 No, no, no, no.
46:30 This this cannot be right.
46:33 No.
46:33 Yeah.
46:33 At this point, we're just resetting it feels like
46:36 we're resetting the pieces for the next game, right?
46:38 All the pieces returning, you know, back to the eighth rank means you're just
46:41 not going to have enough defenders in place uh to deal with the threats that are
46:45 about to come through here for Vincent Kimer.
46:46 So, he's going to snap off that uh you know,
46:49 singularly strong placed knight there for Rose.
46:52 We do see another flurry of trades of the minor pieces.
46:56 Um, so, you know, maybe a moment to breathe here for Rose ultimately,
47:00 but it's just going to be a reroute of the pieces
47:03 now for Vincent to mount another attack on the king.
47:07 Yeah.
47:07 If if your king is the most active piece in the position,
47:10 that that tells it all.
47:12 Don't do that.
47:13 Yeah.
47:13 F takes E5.
47:14 Luring King takes E5.
47:16 Please come come.
47:17 C4 check is coming.
47:20 Everything is coming.
47:21 Bishop F4, check.
47:22 Queen E5.
47:23 Everything is coming.
47:26 At this point, the king has made, you know,
47:29 a third of the moves on the board here for the black side of things.
47:32 That's not what you want to see at this level of play.
47:35 It is the the type of movement that a player
47:38 of Vincent's caliber is going to easily capitalize on.
47:43 And uh now he just grabs more space with the centralized queen.
47:46 The resignation comes through.
47:48 Vincent Kimer.
47:49 He moves to 2 and 0 to kick off our freestyle Friday.
47:53 We'd expect nothing less uh from a player of his caliber early on.
48:00 Yeah, but we have seen already surprises
48:03 in the tournament and I also see results.
48:06 Pranov has also won comfortably his game.
48:08 Pranesh has also won that basically the favorites
48:11 are cruising but there is a big game.
48:13 There is Iori against Nia Yakub.
48:16 If we could head there that would be fantastic.
48:19 Let's do it because because Cory D is also been there for a very long time
48:25 being a very strong player the the sister
48:27 of Horgei the brilliant peran grandmaster.
48:32 Yeah but that's it.
48:33 Black is winning the game based on this pin against the knight.
48:40 Yeah.
48:40 Knight's completely locked into its position.
48:43 The king as well feels very vulnerable over there on the right flank.
48:50 We do see a little bit of a threat mounted for just a moment there,
48:54 stacking the queen and the rook,
48:56 but uh we'll just see notbeck sidestep out of that one,
48:59 bringing his king up to the seventh rank, tucking it in there.
49:02 Nice defensive resource.
49:05 Now a check and a capture back here.
49:09 Yeah.
49:09 King C8.
49:12 Queen A4 because black has no time.
49:14 Only five seconds.
49:16 Bishop C5, bishop B6.
49:17 Simento and then black wins on the board.
49:22 Well, he finds it immediately.
49:24 5 seconds here to work with for De Desi.
49:28 She's still fighting on doing her best to make things messy,
49:32 but you can see the improvement of the pieces here ultimately for Notrebeck.
49:37 Yeah, that bishop is a monster.
49:39 not only defending but also attacking.
49:43 Yeah, more pieces come off the board.
49:46 So having that extra minor piece to play with is
49:49 what we expect to give Notrebeck the win in the end.
49:52 The time will tick down and that is a two0
49:56 start there for Notrebeck as well to kick things off.
49:59 And so a lot of the names that you called out at the top
50:01 of the day so far through two rounds are feeling very good about their position.
50:05 The question is when do those names start
50:07 running into each other in the Swiss system, right?
50:10 Because as we know they're all destined uh to run into each
50:14 other if they keep performing at the level that they are.
50:18 Yes.
50:18 Sooner or later it will.
50:20 But uh there are so many players.
50:22 Yes.
50:23 So uh usually the top players are seated, right?
50:27 So as long as there are many other players,
50:30 they are always playing against a little lower seed.
50:33 Uh but uh if it continues like this four out of four,
50:37 five out of five then we will have already all those clashes.
50:39 But one should not rule out surprises here because we are talking
50:43 about freestyle chess and we are talking about three plus two time control.
50:47 We did see also now here in this big time scramble
50:50 between Daisy Kore and Lykub that the two seconds increment changes things.
50:55 Yeah.
50:55 That there is no chance of really flagging
50:58 if you control your clock and the position.
51:00 You cannot run out of time.
51:04 Exactly.
51:04 Yeah, we would we would expect nobody to lose on time with that increment
51:08 uh unless something goes horribly wrong or they freeze in the moment.
51:12 Uh but at that point, you are playing largely on intuition and instinct.
51:16 And so again, highlights kind of the importance
51:18 of setting yourself up, you know,
51:20 brilliant brilliantly in the first few m minutes of the game
51:23 so that in those time scrambles down the stretch,
51:26 uh you don't end up in a losing position and you
51:28 can pilot it at least to a draw or a victory.
51:31 as we zoom in on one of the few remaining matchups here in round number two.
51:37 Yes, it was a very very tricky night and gaming.
51:42 Maxim Boris against Huang Du D uh from Vietnam I believe
51:48 or very dou Korea I don't know you have to get confirmation.
51:57 Yeah this can be lost.
52:01 Yes, the the C pawn in play, right?
52:09 Yes.
52:09 And the C pawn is the best pawn in queen endame
52:12 because there are many different pawns which are objectively not winning.
52:16 But the the pawn on C4 according to computer is kind of a victory.
52:21 But in a blitz game, what does it mean that it's just the start of the game?
52:25 You start pushing it, the pawn will go all the way to C2.
52:29 And also white's king on B6 is not ideal because finally the winning
52:35 method is always to interfere with the queen
52:39 against your opponent's queen giving checks.
52:42 Yeah.
52:42 And then white's king is not feeling safe.
52:45 It should be somewhere on H6.
52:47 It should be far away from action.
52:51 Ah so it's a far away from where it wants
52:54 to be which is far away from the action as you say.
52:58 White queen doing her best uh to get involved,
53:00 but ultimately uh black's king is placed so safely.
53:05 Can I afford to trade my queens off if I'm in black's position
53:08 or do I need to keep the queens on until my pawn promotes?
53:12 No.
53:12 No.
53:13 If because you see now also the the white king is very unfortunate there.
53:16 It takes away the possibility of giving further checks.
53:19 That's why this king would have had to be on H6 in order to have some chances.
53:24 Now black just twins the pawn and it is all over.
53:28 Wow.
53:29 Wow.
53:30 He even gives some checks, but this is just just playing with the opponent.
53:36 Yeah.
53:36 And maybe grabbing a couple seconds back right with that two seconds increment.
53:40 You can quickly gain a little bit of time on the clock.
53:43 And there you have it.
53:44 Black taking that one in the queen and pawn versus queen endgame.
53:48 Gets the promotion moving to two and zero.
53:52 joining the likes of some of our leaders here
53:55 through two rounds at the beginning of the day.
53:58 You can see over on the right hand
53:59 side that column of Freestyle Friday uh championship points.
54:05 That's what each player is ultimately fighting for as well
54:07 as their share of $1,000 prize pool here on Freestyle Friday.
54:11 But the more points you get there,
54:12 the better you'll stand in our overall standings over the course of the year.
54:17 And that's how you have an opportunity to fight
54:19 for the 2027 FedA freestyle chess world championship title.
54:23 Uh qualifying out of these freestyle Fridays.
54:26 Pronov definitely going to be one of the guys
54:28 that we have a hyperfocus on throughout
54:29 the day because he's the current overall standings
54:32 leader and he is currently 2 and 0.
54:35 But we won't forget the likes of players like Vincent
54:37 Kimer or Notrebeck or Alexander Bortnik uh Pranesh as well.
54:42 All of them starting at 2 and 0.
54:44 All of them on a collision course for later rounds here today and all
54:48 of them the type of player who can walk away uh our freestyle Friday winner.
54:53 Uh looking ahead towards round number three.
54:55 I don't think too many surprises so far as I'm taking a look at the standings.
55:00 Haven't seen anybody uncharacteristically fall out uh of the overall standings
55:05 just yet and awaiting eagerly those pairings for the third round.
55:10 Well actually there is already action on you know the third
55:13 run has started and even I would say that because
55:17 we have already covered Vincent in great detail in the first
55:20 two runs I see a pairing Alexander Bortik Ana Muzichuk
55:25 I want to go there I want to see this because
55:28 we have already talked about that Bortik is also one
55:31 of the leaders and Anamichuk is leading the women's section so
55:36 let's take a look at these two brilliant uh Ukrainian players.
55:44 Yeah, countrymen.
55:45 Uh but in this moment opponents across the board,
55:49 both of them standing at two and zero.
55:52 We have a slight edge as we dive into the board
55:55 here given uh to Anameichuk by the engine equalizing in that moment.
55:59 But so far the knights are in play.
56:01 We've got symmetry on the lefth hand side
56:03 of the board when it comes to our pawn structure.
56:05 But uh we've foregone symmetry on the right hand side of the board.
56:12 Yes, Bordic has sacrificed the pawn
56:14 for initiative for this monster knight on E5.
56:17 But Anna is doing incredible job to trying to set up squares for herself.
56:22 Bishop F5 or knight F5 stabilizing, coordinating, harmonizing the forces.
56:27 And after all, she's up a pawn.
56:29 If she's able to coordinate, then she will get the advantage.
56:34 This is the same pawn as well that we saw Vincent snap
56:37 up and then pilot to a win in one of our earlier rounds.
56:40 That G pawn uh could become the winning uh the winning key
56:44 or the key winning piece rather for an Musichuk down the line.
56:48 But how about this Alexander Bournick?
56:50 He's going to kind of lash out by striking
56:53 with his C pawn towards the center of the board.
56:57 Yeah, trying to open things up because
56:59 the difference here was that Bortic deliberately sacrificed
57:02 the pawn and there Vincent actually picked it
57:05 up with some great and you see the move
57:08 that I was highlighting that actually black is
57:10 trying to establish this control on with the knight
57:12 on F5 was played by Anamosichuk one move
57:16 later but it is the spirit of the position.
57:21 Well, quick response there from Alexander.
57:25 He's going to go ahead and take that pawn, open up the C file a bit.
57:29 Does allow him very easily then with a castle
57:32 to to get his rook into play as well.
57:36 Yes, but the problem is that if you castle then
57:38 the king goes to C1 and the rook goes to D1.
57:41 Of course, you will have to do this and then king B1,
57:44 rook C1, but it's time consuming.
57:46 Yeah.
57:46 So maybe he prefers to put the rook immediately to C1.
57:51 There you go.
57:53 answers the question almost as quickly as we can ask it.
57:56 Where and how will he get that rook into play?
57:58 He goes for the faster approach like you mentioned.
58:00 Peter doesn't want to spend so much so many
58:03 tempe in order to get the king to safety first.
58:06 But that does kind of mean that his king is now locked
58:09 in the center of the board at least for the time being.
58:13 Yes, but you see he has a clear plan.
58:16 Wants to deliver bishop A5 check when after B6 he
58:20 will have access to the C6 square for his knight.
58:22 That's why the move bishop B5.
58:23 The computer does not like it.
58:25 But these are the moves that drives you crazy
58:27 as an opponent because black's king is unable to castle.
58:31 It's stuck.
58:32 The rook is controlling.
58:33 And you see bishop takes E5.
58:34 A big mistake.
58:35 D takes E5 will happen and open up bishop A5.
58:38 Queen.
58:39 We might be seeing even queen sacrifice.
58:41 Checkmate on B6.
58:42 Wow.
58:43 Wow.
58:44 What's happening here?
58:47 Maybe a bit a bit of crumbling under the pressure here of the moment.
58:51 An ill-advised move makes the plan feel very obvious as well.
58:55 I mean already was the intention here of Alexander
58:58 as you mentioned getting both bishops and the queen more involved.
59:01 Captures with the F pawn.
59:04 I would have expected capturing with the D pawn.
59:08 Exactly.
59:08 Yeah.
59:08 D5 looked like it's almost winning, but Bortik has different plans.
59:12 What What is he up to?
59:13 Okay.
59:14 He's already now anyway having a wonderful position because all
59:17 the positional thumbs that black had in the position has vanished.
59:22 Yeah, it's stuck on with the king on d8 the dark squares white
59:26 has just established full control of the position
59:29 and nothing really moves for black.
59:32 Yeah, it's a good point because I I you know I had mentioned earlier
59:35 that by you know bringing that rook
59:37 over to C1 uh Alexander had essentially foregone
59:41 castling rights at least for the time being keeping his king in the center
59:44 of the board but his king is not the one being pressured or under threat.
59:47 Ultimately he's the one launching the attack.
59:49 So for Anna much more uncomfortable to have her king
59:53 still centralized there and even now we're connecting the rooks.
59:57 King slides up to D2.
59:59 Makes it easy to replace the rook on the Cfile if it's ever traded off.
1:00:03 And now just a bit more jockeying for position.
1:00:05 Trying to kick that light squareed bishop away.
1:00:08 We'll do so.
1:00:11 Yes, Anna is making progress in in order to stabilize her position.
1:00:16 The problem is that practically speaking with 19 seconds
1:00:19 and this position where white can just risk free
1:00:22 put pressure and play on forever uh I don't
1:00:25 really see her surviving this in the long run.
1:00:33 Pawn to H4 had the option.
1:00:36 Yes.
1:00:36 And now white gets access to the G5 square.
1:00:40 Not a problem.
1:00:41 Rook C5 can be played.
1:00:42 Now rook C5 was very tempting.
1:00:45 Ahana, Anna takes and she will try to set
1:00:48 up some blockade because forget about the F5 pawn.
1:00:51 That's not important.
1:00:52 The king safety.
1:00:57 Yeah, that was a very good sequence ultimately for Alexander, right?
1:01:01 Uh in recapturing he ultimately got to move his king to safety,
1:01:05 but without taking that extra time anymore.
1:01:08 Each of the move, you know, right,
1:01:09 recapturing these kind of forced moves feel a lot stronger.
1:01:13 And as we see the eval bar slip even further,
1:01:15 you could see the difficulty uh of the position and ultimately
1:01:19 the resignation here for Anamichuk up
1:01:22 against Alexander Bournik who just he stabilized.
1:01:25 He created such a strong structure, you know,
1:01:27 through the middle game uh and and had a clear, you know,
1:01:31 plan of execution as you mentioned by bringing that uh bishop over
1:01:34 to the left hand side of the board kind of clamping down on black's position.
1:01:38 The safety of the black king never to be found from that moment forward.
1:01:42 And then ultimately Anna crumbling from the black side
1:01:45 of the board at that point with not too many options.
1:01:48 A little bit of fight in the middle game trying to make things tricky.
1:01:51 Uh but didn't find anything to ultimately throw her opponent offkilter.
1:01:57 Yes, it was a typical Borty game.
1:01:59 Yeah.
1:01:59 That he's very tricky.
1:02:00 Creates problem for his opponent.
1:02:02 Uh in this case for her opponent uh and uh and then he's merciless.
1:02:09 Yeah.
1:02:09 Once he gets his type of position.
1:02:12 So Anna was doing extremely well for a very long
1:02:15 time but uh then suddenly she lost control and it
1:02:19 only takes to lose the control a little bit
1:02:22 and then Bournik is already uh using all his chances
1:02:27 and uh we can see over there on our standings
1:02:29 now things are starting to take a little bit of shape.
1:02:33 Uh first thing I note is that Panov actually took a draw in this third round.
1:02:38 So again, one of the guys that we were looking
1:02:40 at as uh the current overall leader and maybe one of the front
1:02:44 runners uh for the daily play has taken a draw and now
1:02:48 falls half a point behind some of our freestyle Friday leaders.
1:02:51 All sitting at three points a piece.
1:02:53 Bournick being one of those players alongside Vincent Kimer.
1:02:56 Still a couple games in play though uh
1:02:59 as I take a look here on my second monitor.
1:03:02 any of them jumping out to you as ones that we want to go to or would
1:03:05 you prefer to go back and look at that draw uh that Pronov ended up in?
1:03:11 Yeah, maybe we can take a look because uh
1:03:13 that was also a heavyweight clash when I was thinking like
1:03:16 which game to choose prior to the run then Marco
1:03:20 Materia against Prana was also very much uh a top candidate.
1:03:25 So let me pull the game up.
1:03:27 Yeah, here it is.
1:03:28 It is only 16 moves uh all together.
1:03:31 But what 16 moves?
1:03:33 It was super interesting.
1:03:35 So what did we see here?
1:03:37 D4 D5 C3.
1:03:38 So far symmetrical and then suddenly something extraordinary happens.
1:03:44 F3 F5.
1:03:44 The symmetry has been broken.
1:03:46 White is fighting for the squares with knight H5.
1:03:50 Knight F7.
1:03:50 Knight F4.
1:03:51 Yeah.
1:03:51 Playing on dark squares.
1:03:52 So it seems like white is achieving something strategically speaking.
1:03:56 Takes.
1:03:56 Takes.
1:03:57 takes on E5.
1:03:58 Knight E5, bishop G5, check.
1:04:00 It almost looks like black is in a hopeless
1:04:03 situation because the king had to move to D7.
1:04:06 So you lose the right to castle.
1:04:08 What happened here?
1:04:09 How did he survive?
1:04:11 Queen E3, rook E8.
1:04:13 And this queen E3 which was so natural.
1:04:15 And after knight C5 check, king C7,
1:04:18 all of a sudden this pin caused some problem.
1:04:21 And finally white even took the repetition
1:04:24 with bishop f4 king d8 bishop g5 maybe showing
1:04:29 little too much respect for pranov but this is also one of the things yeah you
1:04:34 are leading you are leading the tour then
1:04:37 everybody feels like oh my god yeah pranov is very dangerous I have to be super
1:04:41 careful and you might be missing your chances.
1:04:44 Yeah I I'm with you 100% on that.
1:04:46 It does feel like maybe a little bit too much respect
1:04:48 given in the repetition here because one forcing the king movement, right?
1:04:53 No more castling to come.
1:04:54 It's going to be difficult to find that king safety,
1:04:55 but also the squares in which you force
1:04:57 that king to move blocking in those bishops, right?
1:05:00 I'm also hindering your development.
1:05:02 So, I I would have liked to have seen
1:05:04 maybe a little bit more effort to extend the game, improve that position,
1:05:08 and just make your opponent squirm on the other side because
1:05:11 of the difficulty of his ability to kind of move and maneuver his pieces.
1:05:16 Either way, Materia decides, I'll come away with a draw against uh you know,
1:05:20 one of the tournament leaders, and maybe that's enough for him to be
1:05:24 happy to ultimately start climbing the standings.
1:05:26 But two and a half points a piece means
1:05:28 they are now half a point out of first place.
1:05:31 and now solidly in the chase pack if anything.
1:05:37 Yes.
1:05:37 I I don't like the attitude.
1:05:39 Yeah.
1:05:39 Because I know that Marco is a very strong player.
1:05:42 He's very young.
1:05:43 Yeah.
1:05:43 He's the big hope of Italian chess.
1:05:45 I mean, sorry, the the French chess only his name is so Italian.
1:05:50 Uh that I I want to see him, you know, uh succeed.
1:05:55 And he got a great chance.
1:05:56 And look at the clock situation.
1:05:58 235 against 138 at this moment.
1:06:00 Take your time, find the move and uh we
1:06:04 see the top move queen d4 suggested by the computer.
1:06:07 But it's if it would be a computer move, I would not be talking about it.
1:06:11 It's a very human move, very natural move because you pin the king
1:06:15 and you are preparing to open up the position.
1:06:18 Yeah.
1:06:18 For example, the big difference compared to the game is that after queen D4,
1:06:22 if black plays the move rook E8,
1:06:24 which he would have done anyway probably because it's the useful move,
1:06:27 then white is able to open up the position with E4.
1:06:31 And then you follow it up with bishop C2 and you castle.
1:06:35 Yeah, the long castle will be king to C1, rook to D1 like in classical chess.
1:06:40 And it is basically almost out of question that black can survive this.
1:06:46 It is a hope I mean very dangerous position but it only took him one
1:06:50 move and he got you see he spent less than 20 seconds for queen E3.
1:06:55 You have to feel and sense the critical moment
1:06:58 that here you could have taken even maybe 40 seconds you
1:07:01 play queen D4 and then there was would have been
1:07:04 no way Marco would have not crushed through in this position.
1:07:08 Yeah.
1:07:08 So, uh, perhaps a learning opportunity, uh, again,
1:07:12 as he'll reflect on it, I'm sure, at the end of the day,
1:07:15 if ultimately, uh, the rest of the results don't
1:07:18 go his way and put him into solid position.
1:07:20 But away we go into round number four already.
1:07:23 And you can see over on the left hand side of your screens there,
1:07:26 some of the live pairings that we have in play.
1:07:29 Um, obviously we've got Vincent Kimer and Alexander now going headtohead.
1:07:34 Uh, two of our tournament leaders.
1:07:35 That could be a fun one to take a look at.
1:07:37 Just stylistically, I'd like to see how maybe Vincent deals
1:07:40 with a player like Alexander who likes to play with some tricks,
1:07:44 ask some questions, poke and prod at his opponent,
1:07:47 but Vincent uh you know playing ever stable uh typically and then the one
1:07:52 at the top of the screens as well or top of the standings as well.
1:07:55 Perhaps we can take a look at that one as it concludes.
1:07:57 But we'll dive in first with Vincent Kimer who's
1:08:00 already got a minute advantage on the clock ultimately.
1:08:04 Couple pawns uh fairly well advanced but not
1:08:07 too many of the major pieces in play.
1:08:10 Need to remind ourselves of the starting
1:08:12 position though here because it does look like we had a castle to get that yeah
1:08:16 rook that you're highlighting there involved already.
1:08:20 Yes, because thanks to this pin there is
1:08:22 the possibility of jumping with the knight to C5.
1:08:24 But then black just falls back with the queen to8 and if
1:08:27 it does not deliver decisive blow then it would be premature.
1:08:31 So Vince plays bishop E4 after spending quite some time
1:08:34 is probably hoping to what is he hoping to achieve?
1:08:38 I was trying to highlight something which was not even possible.
1:08:41 I did not realize that the the queen on E1 rook F1 combo.
1:08:45 I thought like Vincent wants to activate the queen on the long diagonal.
1:08:51 G5 played but now already I can play knight C5.
1:08:56 Okay.
1:08:56 Vincent goes H4 H6.
1:08:59 What I wanted to highlight that maybe
1:09:01 after this change of structure already going
1:09:04 for this takes takes is kind of possible
1:09:07 because there's this eternal f5 square then for white.
1:09:11 Uh tempting knight to c5 I can confirm was the best move in the position.
1:09:17 So good eyes there Peter on that one but Vincent decides not to go for it
1:09:22 ultimately things are kind of locking up on the right hand side of the board.
1:09:26 Still a little bit of tension with those two pawns staring at each other.
1:09:29 uh but feels like it'll be a little bit more difficult to make
1:09:31 uh too many improvements or advancement on the right hand side of the board.
1:09:35 But the bishops feel very strong uh ultimately
1:09:38 for for Vincent in the long run working with the pair,
1:09:41 but also great sightelines for each of them uh across the board.
1:09:47 Yeah, but I would also highlight that no no.
1:09:49 Knight takes D4.
1:09:50 I don't like knight takes D4.
1:09:51 Okay, maybe it's possible, but I thought like black should try
1:09:54 to establish control of the E5 square somehow.
1:09:57 Uh that that kind of came as a surprise.
1:10:00 What is Bournick up to?
1:10:01 How he wants to strategically uh approve his decision?
1:10:08 Because if white just plays B3.
1:10:10 Yeah, there you go.
1:10:10 Queen A4.
1:10:11 Wow.
1:10:13 FC instantly bleeds out.
1:10:14 What a what a move.
1:10:20 Is so is A2 a poison pawn or can
1:10:22 we afford to to take it and then retreat diagonally?
1:10:26 Yeah, but then rook A3 the pawn on A7 will be hanging.
1:10:30 Yes.
1:10:31 So it's what a move and it was clear that anticipated the queen A4 move.
1:10:35 Bishop D5 played.
1:10:39 Now what does it mean?
1:10:40 If white plays the move rook A3, I think black will sacrifice the queen,
1:10:43 it will be a position of queen sacrifice.
1:10:45 Yeah.
1:10:45 So Winston doesn't let it happen.
1:10:47 Goes takes I'm almost surprised.
1:10:50 I'm a little surprised we took that bishop trade.
1:10:53 All my opponent's pawns are on dark squares
1:10:55 and I just gave up my light squared bishop.
1:10:59 Yeah, but it's about fighting in the center.
1:11:01 Yeah, energetic play.
1:11:03 And black has not yet castled.
1:11:05 So Vincent is very much hoping that he
1:11:07 can just storm through black's defensive lines.
1:11:11 Yeah, just a kick that knight away to start with.
1:11:17 And he'll do that.
1:11:19 Knight now going to have to retreat.
1:11:22 Two options where to go.
1:11:24 It goes a little bit more central.
1:11:27 This surprises me again.
1:11:29 The E5 square.
1:11:30 Why to block things?
1:11:32 I'm surprised.
1:11:35 Knight D4.
1:11:37 Bing down to 10 seconds on the clock.
1:11:39 How do you navigate this?
1:11:40 The knight is getting trapped.
1:11:41 Bishop G1 is coming.
1:11:46 Oh, lashing out.
1:11:47 Maybe that that right there might be feeling a bit of the time pressure.
1:11:51 An ill-advised pawn push, but can Vincent capitalize on it?
1:11:55 It would be on that we're looking for here.
1:11:58 And he does go for
1:11:59 it.
1:11:59 He takes.
1:12:01 Yeah, he takes.
1:12:02 Yeah, you need to open up the position.
1:12:03 Yeah, DC.
1:12:04 Knight C6.
1:12:04 But what is the followup?
1:12:07 Yeah, but that that's a nasty pin now.
1:12:08 Our our uh knight is completely stuck in that position.
1:12:12 Not the most accurate here.
1:12:14 Wow.
1:12:14 But look whoa look at black's king just evocated to the other
1:12:18 side of the board with 5 seconds on the clock.
1:12:21 Castles a total shock.
1:12:25 Yeah, you've got to remember that resource in freestyle chess.
1:12:28 It'll always come as a surprise late in the game to see
1:12:31 the king make such a huge movement to the opposite side of the board.
1:12:35 Still a tricky position though here for Alexander and an even trickier.
1:12:38 Yeah, the queen is trapped.
1:12:40 The time is looking terrible for Alexander as well.
1:12:42 And you can see a bit of resignation on the face.
1:12:45 The question is whether or not the resignation will be on the board.
1:12:47 Slapping his head even.
1:12:51 Yeah, it's a it's a piece.
1:12:53 Yeah.
1:12:53 Just when he felt like his king got to safety, then his queen gets trapped.
1:12:58 But that was the that was the strategy of Winant.
1:13:01 Yeah.
1:13:01 That he sense that I don't have to go for checkmate.
1:13:04 I can just control everything.
1:13:08 Now queen E1 professional move.
1:13:10 Take that queen away.
1:13:14 Bring that bishop also into the game with bishop G1
1:13:17 would be tempting but also some break with E4 E5.
1:13:20 Yeah, he he goes for bishop G1 should move quick.
1:13:25 Alexander looking for those finishing touches with only 14 seconds on the clock.
1:13:33 Yeah.
1:13:34 Rook H3.
1:13:34 Bhnik Vino is very tricky.
1:13:36 Yeah, he's trying to set up some confusion.
1:13:39 Vincent picks up the pawn.
1:13:40 Wow.
1:13:41 Really?
1:13:43 Queen D2.
1:13:44 Queen B1.
1:13:44 Be careful.
1:13:46 Be careful.
1:13:50 Kings are out of control.
1:13:51 Queen F1.
1:13:52 Check.
1:13:52 King C3.
1:13:54 What's happening?
1:13:54 Oh, Vincent saw something for a moment there.
1:13:58 O.
1:13:59 And rook A7.
1:14:00 Knight safe.
1:14:00 Now he's winning.
1:14:01 But it was crazy.
1:14:04 Yeah, it looked like there was even a moment where
1:14:07 uh the computer recognized and Vincent recognized that there was
1:14:11 maybe a winning move for Alexander didn't find it
1:14:17 and so ultimately he is right back in the driver's seat.
1:14:19 Now the pawns are getting vacuumed up
1:14:21 here and that's the resignation by Alexander Vincent.
1:14:25 He comes away with it.
1:14:26 Four points to his name in a heavyweight
1:14:28 matchup there up against Alexander Bournick.
1:14:31 an exciting one down the stretch to say the least.
1:14:34 Uh and again maybe a move uh in there where there
1:14:37 was an opportunity uh for a sucker punch and a strike back.
1:14:41 But either way, the young German comes away
1:14:43 with the victory and he's undefeated through four rounds.
1:14:48 Yes, that was a very important win.
1:14:50 But we before analyzing it,
1:14:52 let's head to Pranzu's Yakub Buoya because that's also a very important game.
1:14:58 It seems like Yakubo is in a total
1:15:00 control delivering checkmate and also up three pawns.
1:15:07 Wow.
1:15:07 Up four pawns.
1:15:08 A pawns equal in the material uh outside of the pawns.
1:15:14 But as you can see now even the rook will
1:15:16 fall and that's a quick resignation there by uh Panesh.
1:15:20 So that's a 40 start here for Notbeck as well.
1:15:23 one of the people that you called out at the top
1:15:25 of the day uh as someone to keep your eyes on.
1:15:29 Those young Usuzbekian players in general uh should be feared uh over the board
1:15:34 and particularly it feels like in freestyle chess they they play with no fear.
1:15:41 Yes, no fear.
1:15:42 But okay, Yakub is an incredible player.
1:15:44 Yeah, he was very close of qualifying to the candidate tournament.
1:15:48 Yeah, the World Cup in Goa.
1:15:50 He was the semi-finalist from the top four players, the top three qualified.
1:15:55 Yeah, he was the unlucky one not making candidates but brilliant
1:16:01 player not just in in freestyle but also in classical.
1:16:04 He's already I think 2700 and will be climbing forward.
1:16:11 Well, right uh right as we expected around round four is
1:16:14 where the standings are really starting to take some shape here.
1:16:17 As you can get a look at the uh
1:16:20 overall standings for the day through four of 11 rounds.
1:16:23 We do have three players sitting pretty undefeated at the top.
1:16:26 Notbeck, Vincent, and Dao.
1:16:28 Uh they are all going to be fighting
1:16:30 for their share of $1,000 in the prize pool,
1:16:33 but as well those freestyle Friday points.
1:16:36 And then of course a whole slew of players
1:16:39 at either three or three and a half points
1:16:41 still well within reach of our top contenders
1:16:44 and still seven rounds to go to make their moves.
1:16:48 So nothing is decided just yet and ultimately the pairings
1:16:52 will get closer and more difficult as the day rolls on.
1:16:58 Yeah.
1:16:58 Wow.
1:16:58 And Marco material.
1:17:00 Yeah.
1:17:00 Whenever he does not settle for a draw, he wins.
1:17:03 Yeah.
1:17:04 He's three and a half to four of of course.
1:17:08 Yeah.
1:17:08 It's it's kind of a joke.
1:17:10 We all all understand.
1:17:11 Yeah.
1:17:11 Because Yeah.
1:17:12 There's this respect.
1:17:13 Yeah.
1:17:13 That okay.
1:17:14 You you face Pranov and you are not sure of yourself.
1:17:17 Yeah.
1:17:17 It's very similar when you play against Magnus Carson, you see ghost everywhere.
1:17:23 Yeah.
1:17:23 Because he's so strong.
1:17:25 He can create he can create problems from every angle and everybody knows that.
1:17:29 Yeah.
1:17:29 And that plays on the mind of the play already prior to the game.
1:17:33 And then he feels like if there's this safety net
1:17:35 that I have the chance to shut the game down
1:17:38 then already before the game probably you you kind of settle
1:17:41 in your mind that I going to take that chance.
1:17:45 Yeah.
1:17:45 To and that means that you are slightly
1:17:48 on the defensive side right from the start and I remember
1:17:52 that this was one of the key issues playing Gary
1:17:55 Kasparov that you have no right to be afraid of Gary.
1:17:59 You have to respect him as maybe the greatest player of all times.
1:18:02 Yeah, but if you are up against him,
1:18:05 no fear, enough respect, but believe in yourself.
1:18:08 That's the only way to to fight.
1:18:11 Well, maybe you can even speak more on it
1:18:14 both from the perspective of your own career,
1:18:15 but also from the perspective a as a coach uh for the younger generation.
1:18:20 H how do you instill that idea?
1:18:23 How do you get to a place uh you know both as a player but also
1:18:26 as a coach uh where you ultimately have the confidence to send you know let's
1:18:32 say somebody like Vincent Kimer up against
1:18:34 Magnus Carlson that they'll have that belief right
1:18:37 that they ultimately have to have that belief
1:18:38 that they can unseat the current world number one.
1:18:41 That's a very I think a difficult idea to kind of inject
1:18:44 into a person uh when they're staring at a monolithic figure across the board.
1:18:51 Yes.
1:18:51 because uh it is not enough to tell him don't be
1:18:55 afraid and be fearless and and go for it because if
1:19:00 if if you feel like you are not strong enough then
1:19:03 those are just words and you will not really believe in it.
1:19:07 Yeah.
1:19:07 So you really have to work as as hard as possible in the training to be able
1:19:13 to create for yourself the circumstances that you can
1:19:17 believe that even if I'm up against Magnus Carson,
1:19:20 yes, he's probably the stronger player, he's the best in the world,
1:19:23 best of all times, but I still have a chance because I'm strong.
1:19:27 Yeah, this was always the the the main kind
1:19:31 of idea that I was trying to give Vincent.
1:19:33 Yeah, that respect enormously important but focus on yourself.
1:19:38 If you are strong enough, if you think you are strong enough,
1:19:41 then you can take on any player.
1:19:44 I imagine uh in standard chess maybe at times it can be easier too to kind
1:19:49 of fall back on your preparation or the confidence
1:19:51 in your preparation uh around openings or maybe
1:19:54 something that you and your team have identified as a as a line that you want
1:19:58 to play towards uh or an understanding of how
1:20:01 your opponent's approach you know might ultimately play out.
1:20:04 In freestyle chess, you don't have the benefit of being
1:20:07 able to fall back on some preparation and say,
1:20:09 "Okay, well, as long as, you know, I adhere to the principles of uh, you know,
1:20:13 of what I've been studying and and the lines that I
1:20:15 want to go for, the tricks that I'm, you know, planning to to lay out in front
1:20:19 of my opponent." When it comes to freestyle chess,
1:20:23 it is both, you know, a good thing and a bad thing.
1:20:26 It seems that it's a level playing field.
1:20:28 Uh, it's great that we both don't know.
1:20:30 So maybe, you know, if I find that one unique idea,
1:20:33 I can ultimately take down, you know, the world number one.
1:20:36 But by the same token,
1:20:38 this means that in the moment with three minutes to my name,
1:20:41 I need to outplay the world's best.
1:20:43 And that is also a really difficult kind
1:20:46 of I think thing to to wrestle with mentally.
1:20:51 Yeah, for sure.
1:20:52 In in freees, there is just no safety net.
1:20:55 Yeah, because you are on your own right from the start.
1:20:57 Okay.
1:20:58 Sometimes if you have the white pieces
1:21:00 and there are there is a very solid construction, you can play it safe.
1:21:04 Yet we we have seen this narrative already that you
1:21:07 just make very reasonable solid moves and you ask your opponent,
1:21:12 do you mirror my strategy when you are limiting your chances to win
1:21:16 or do you try to break the symmetry and accept the worst position for example?
1:21:21 Yeah, but those are also quite rare positions.
1:21:24 That's the beauty of freest that you also never know
1:21:29 exactly what's going on and computer is not always right.
1:21:34 Yeah, I noticed already positions which computer thought like this is
1:21:38 not so bad but practically humanly on top level it
1:21:42 was very unpleasant and there were positions where computer at the starting
1:21:45 position gives a clear advantage for for the white player
1:21:49 for example but as a even as a top player you
1:21:52 don't really understand how do I navigate this position yeah so
1:21:56 one should also not be fooled by computer evolation freestyle
1:21:59 at the beginning because it comes down to human perspective very Yeah.
1:22:04 And you ultimately you just don't have the time, right?
1:22:07 Uh you're plopped into these games immediately.
1:22:10 You're taking a look at the position and and the the clock starts ticking.
1:22:14 You have to make a move.
1:22:15 You don't have the benefit of of 3,
1:22:16 five, 10 minutes uh to evaluate the position.
1:22:19 So it does feel like to a degree even
1:22:22 the approach early on has to be about minimizing risk even.
1:22:26 I mean for for yourself when you're taking a look at these positions or uh
1:22:30 you know imagining putting yourself in the position
1:22:32 of these players right now would you
1:22:36 be playing to maybe your normal characteristics as a chess player or do you feel
1:22:41 like your approach and your play style would change in this kind of a format?
1:22:45 Do you feel like people are going to be less
1:22:48 aggressive and less or more risk averse rather let's say
1:22:51 when it comes to how they ultimately approach these games
1:22:54 because of the nature of freestyle chess and so little time?
1:22:59 Yes, things change when when it's three minutes time control.
1:23:02 Yeah, for example, my feeling is that you should not try
1:23:05 to punish your opponent at all at the beginning because uh that would
1:23:10 require from you spending too much time and if something backfires then
1:23:14 you have no time to react for the rest of the game.
1:23:16 Yeah.
1:23:17 So my strategy certainly would be to try to go along my intuition, my feeling.
1:23:23 Yeah.
1:23:24 Stability, safety first, but at the same time getting control of the position.
1:23:29 Yeah.
1:23:29 So safety doesn't mean trying to play for a draw.
1:23:32 No, no, no, not at all.
1:23:33 But just that you don't do anything fancy.
1:23:36 You make sure that you are following some kind of a logic behind your moves.
1:23:41 Yeah.
1:23:42 Because then you can play faster.
1:23:43 If you are trying to use that, ah, wait a second.
1:23:46 Maybe if I find the brilliant move here, I can get a clear advantage,
1:23:49 but I have to spend two minutes and then
1:23:51 I'm stuck with with one minute on my clock.
1:23:53 That that is too much of a risk to take.
1:23:55 It's probably better to just rely on your intuition
1:23:58 and make your move that basically comes from your soul.
1:24:02 Yeah.
1:24:02 Because all the top players have their spirit and follow your spirit.
1:24:08 Yeah.
1:24:08 I didn't I'm I'm still waiting for for my chess spirit to uh to become
1:24:13 fully formed uh and then watch out for me in the next freestyle Friday.
1:24:17 I'm telling you that it is it's an interesting point because
1:24:20 it does feel like maybe it's more of an underdog mentality.
1:24:24 the idea that you'd look for kind of that one knockout punch,
1:24:27 that one really tricky move early on that can completely warp the position,
1:24:33 but ultimately it does feel like over the course of 11 games,
1:24:36 you the people who are going to find themselves at the top
1:24:39 of the standings are the players who who have that more controlled approach,
1:24:43 who ultimately just have the fewest number of mistakes or poor moves,
1:24:47 you know, at the end of the day than, let's say, brilliant moves.
1:24:51 I think it's almost more about
1:24:52 minimizing the mistakes than maximizing the brilliancies.
1:24:58 Yes, there you you can put it put it like this and also by just
1:25:02 making normal moves which are good maybe not
1:25:05 best but it puts pressure on your opponent.
1:25:08 Yeah.
1:25:08 Because uh it is not easy to come up
1:25:11 always with a good move which also suits the position.
1:25:14 Yeah.
1:25:15 So if already you can find a good move that suits
1:25:17 the position that's already basically the winning strategy in this time control.
1:25:22 Yeah.
1:25:22 Because then you can play faster.
1:25:24 You might get a slight advantage.
1:25:26 You might get a uh you you might be up
1:25:30 on the clock and then this combination of uh different
1:25:34 elements are adding to the pressure on the opponent and finally
1:25:38 there will be a mistake that you can capitalize on.
1:25:42 Yeah.
1:25:42 Well, so while we've been waxing and waning on what we've seen so far,
1:25:46 the players have had a short break.
1:25:48 Uh they're allotted a six-minute break
1:25:50 uh following rounds four and rounds eight.
1:25:53 We want to make sure that they have that opportunity
1:25:55 to step away from their computers, go to the restroom, grab a sip of water,
1:25:59 whatever uh whatever they need before they reset into a fifth round,
1:26:03 which we're diving into currently.
1:26:05 And once again, we'll go to two of our tournament leaders here.
1:26:09 for Vincent Kimer.
1:26:10 Four points to his name up against Pronov who sits at three and a half.
1:26:14 So half a point behind.
1:26:16 A decisive victory here for either player would do wonders
1:26:19 in terms of creating some more separation in the standings.
1:26:22 It's going to be Vincent from the black side of the board.
1:26:24 Pronov from the white side of the board.
1:26:26 And off we go.
1:26:27 Uh we can see already the fianetto bishop
1:26:30 here uh for Pronov with the white pieces.
1:26:33 Vincent has that option available to him and he'll elect to go there now.
1:26:37 So with slightly differing move order,
1:26:38 we still find symmetry through the first five or so moves of the game.
1:26:44 Yes, symmetrically but uh with lot of finesses
1:26:48 because the reason that those moves are played.
1:26:51 Yeah.
1:26:51 First of all, also because of respect.
1:26:54 Clay both players have respect for each other.
1:26:56 Vincent knows that prom is very dangerous.
1:26:59 He plays with the black pieces.
1:27:00 So safety first approach is kind of required.
1:27:03 and Panav knows that he's up against Vincent
1:27:05 who is the big maestro of freestyle chess.
1:27:09 So it's it's kind of interesting to see the the the approach of of Pranov.
1:27:15 Normally he's very aggressive and now he takes it uh slowly.
1:27:19 Just wanted to highlight one small nuance here at the start
1:27:24 that after B3 E6 that was a threat of bishop A3 check.
1:27:28 Yeah, that was the reason why Vincent played the move E6.
1:27:31 That's why the move bishop B2 happened.
1:27:33 That's how Vincent played the move F5 getting the symmetry and after E3 setting
1:27:38 bishop A6 check V said no thank you I will stop you with bishop B7.
1:27:43 So those were the ideas behind these moves and then we see
1:27:46 the action uh heating up G4 long castle and knight CC on the board.
1:27:56 So castle commitment here by Vincent.
1:27:58 were set up to castle as well for Pronov.
1:28:02 The question is whether or not he will elect to go for it.
1:28:07 Yeah.
1:28:08 And he was the one who was able to get the G2 G4 break
1:28:12 in this kind of strategically very important because
1:28:15 white has also this very nice little move.
1:28:17 Queen G1 to G2 putting some more pressure on the long diagonal also
1:28:22 freeing the rook into the game potentially also targeting the pawn on G7.
1:28:27 So Vincent opted for D5 and after G takes F5, E takes F5.
1:28:33 Vincent wants to measures.
1:28:38 Yeah, he understood that if he just stays passive, it's not going to work.
1:28:42 He will be slightly worse.
1:28:44 And he's trying to create chances if that knight lands on E4,
1:28:47 that will be everybody's game.
1:28:49 And forget about computer evolation that white is better here.
1:28:52 It's just a very complex middle game position.
1:28:58 Well, looking for them to solve and work through some of those complexities.
1:29:01 Then you can see Vincent bit of a stunned look on his face
1:29:07 at the moment trying to find a or chart a pathway
1:29:10 forward and giving a good think here as the clocks are
1:29:13 just about to equalize at a minute and 38 seconds a piece.
1:29:18 Retreating move from that knight also opens up
1:29:23 the dark squared bishop on the long diagonal.
1:29:25 Got Peter highlighting a couple knight jumps to get uh the white
1:29:30 knight positioned neatly towards the center of the board as well,
1:29:33 eyeing that E5 square.
1:29:36 Yes, bishop F6 had to be played.
1:29:38 It was also the move that in my mind was kind of almost obligatory.
1:29:43 The problem however for Vincent is that he's fighting
1:29:46 against himself here because he would love to be white.
1:29:49 Can you imagine if Vincent is playing with the white would be so happy.
1:29:53 So, but he understands the problems.
1:29:55 He understands what white is playing for.
1:29:57 Yeah.
1:29:57 All these dark squares trying to establish the conto.
1:30:00 So, he's also trying to somehow make sure that his queen
1:30:03 will get into the game as quickly as possible.
1:30:06 Activated to E6, but he has to keep an eye on the G7 pawn.
1:30:10 Yeah.
1:30:10 Because eventually after, for example, queen E6, bishop F6,
1:30:14 knight takes F6, the pawn on G7 could be hanging.
1:30:17 Maybe you can even sacrifice it for initiative.
1:30:19 It's a very dynamic position.
1:30:25 Now the castle comes through.
1:30:28 So we're mirrored in terms of our king setups.
1:30:33 Still pretty congested in the back here.
1:30:34 Now opting for the trade.
1:30:38 Look on B2.
1:30:39 This slightly surprised me.
1:30:40 I was expecting queen E6.
1:30:42 Now I'm I'm believing that probably Vincent will go G6,
1:30:45 queen G7 check, and then the knight will be activated.
1:30:50 No, he goes bishop A6.
1:30:52 Wow, that was his idea to try to stop this knight D3 business.
1:31:03 All right, but Pranov will take that opportunity
1:31:04 to just uh grab some more control
1:31:06 over the dark squares at the center of the board there with another pawn push.
1:31:11 Kind of locking things up here in the center.
1:31:16 Yes, I'm not liking this waste of tempo with bishop A6.
1:31:20 But okay, Vincent wanted to provoke D4 because then he also gets
1:31:23 his possibility to jump with the knight, but he takes on D.
1:31:26 Wow, C takes D3.
1:31:28 Yes, it stops this, but uh this structure is very tricky now.
1:31:35 Yeah, electing to double his pawns, right?
1:31:36 He had the option to recapture with the rook,
1:31:38 but like you say, goes for the pawn instead.
1:31:40 does allow him to kind of stop the forward progression of the black knights,
1:31:44 but it might create some long-term problems for him down the line
1:31:48 if we do liquidate and get into more of an endgame setup.
1:31:52 Yeah.
1:31:53 Now, Vincent is very happy with black.
1:31:54 Yeah.
1:31:54 The king moves away.
1:31:56 King B8.
1:31:57 If queen comes to E6, black has the potential to be better now.
1:32:03 Potential to be better now.
1:32:05 Looking to realize that potential.
1:32:06 finally gets the queen off the back rank and onto that diagonal.
1:32:10 However, she is staring into a pawn chain for the time being,
1:32:14 but does allow another rook to enter the game as well.
1:32:18 So, improving the positioning timer.
1:32:22 Yes.
1:32:22 And his idea is that white is unable to break
1:32:25 with e4 because the queen always targets the d4 pawn.
1:32:27 Yeah, that that's the whole point.
1:32:29 and now slowly uh just stabilizes knight E2 the knight somehow
1:32:35 try to get to G1 bishop G2 knight FC knight E5
1:32:40 this is the dream scenario for white then all and that's what
1:32:43 Pab is going for setting up the knight G1 knight F3 idea that's a very slow plan
1:32:52 maybe he's missed it
1:32:53 slow but it's effective if if it gets there it's it's a problem
1:32:59 and He is going for it.
1:33:00 Two more jumps that knight needs to make to land on the E5 square.
1:33:04 One more at this point.
1:33:05 So has Vincent moved quick enough is the question.
1:33:09 But but now ready the knight on B4 is established.
1:33:12 Yes, there is the fork.
1:33:13 But do you really want to give up that wonderful knight?
1:33:16 It's it's a question.
1:33:18 And it's time scramble.
1:33:19 20 seconds against 15.
1:33:22 Yeah, in the time scramble he does elect to trade off the knight for the rook.
1:33:27 He's going to take the material points and hope
1:33:29 that he can pilot this to an endgame win.
1:33:33 More tension mounting here at the center of the board.
1:33:36 Still seven pawns a piece to work with here.
1:33:41 Yes.
1:33:41 And too many of the knights are jumping and after E5, the bishop on H1 is dead.
1:33:45 This can be good for black.
1:33:47 It's very tricky.
1:33:51 Yeah, that's very committal to bring that pawn all the way up to E6.
1:33:55 Very committal.
1:33:56 But does not love the capture here.
1:34:00 Yes.
1:34:00 No.
1:34:00 No.
1:34:01 Because now suddenly white's rook gets access to the E file.
1:34:05 The pawn on E6 was blocking white's play.
1:34:11 Yeah, it might might have felt like
1:34:13 it was constricting the position for Vincent.
1:34:15 He wanted to remove it, but ultimately he's granted that white rook access now.
1:34:22 And also the queen opened up the file.
1:34:26 Yeah.
1:34:29 Wow, it took completely winning.
1:34:34 Stunning.
1:34:33 Yeah, it's checkmate.
1:34:37 Resignation here for Vincent Kimer.
1:34:39 You can see the disappointment as well.
1:34:41 Letting that one slip away in what was a fairly even position.
1:34:46 Ultimately, it is going to be uh Pronov who takes it and he leapfrogs
1:34:51 Vincent in the standings from three and a half up to four and a half.
1:34:55 and now knocking uh Vincent down a peg through five rounds.
1:35:03 Yeah, it was a huge win and uh yeah,
1:35:06 that that's actually a position that we can also
1:35:09 if we have a chance to revisit because it was
1:35:12 so instructive and so difficult to understand with 10 seconds
1:35:16 on the clock that actually that was a poisoned pawn.
1:35:19 Don't touch that pawn.
1:35:20 But now all eyes on Nier back against Kong.
1:35:25 Will he be able to convert it?
1:35:27 Normally it's a very drawish kind of position.
1:35:33 That's a good question.
1:35:34 With an extra pawn to work with, can white get this one over the line?
1:35:38 But it's going to be a checkfest as both players around.
1:35:45 That's a bad move.
1:35:45 F5.
1:35:47 Rook F5.
1:35:47 And knight's winning because the king is blocked.
1:35:50 Oh no, what a mistake.
1:35:54 This is now construction that the black
1:35:56 king seemingly is close but cannot interfere.
1:35:58 The rook on F6 cuts on the six rank
1:36:01 and white is walking shoulders away from the other side,
1:36:04 other angle and then just wins the game.
1:36:08 Rook G6 first doesn't matter now.
1:36:10 King G4 is coming and rook E6.
1:36:13 Check is coming and F5 is coming and it's game over.
1:36:15 The king is cut.
1:36:18 Oh no.
1:36:20 By all accounts, what could have been a draw is
1:36:23 now looking to end in a decisive victory here for Notbeck.
1:36:28 And this is a very important matchup.
1:36:29 Two players who sit at four points a piece means Notbeck will move up
1:36:33 to five points and current first place
1:36:36 in the standings here on Freestyle Friday.
1:36:40 There's the resignation.
1:36:41 It comes through realizing off the tail end of a single blunder in the endame.
1:36:46 Not he's going to get it over the line.
1:36:47 He moves up to five and0.
1:36:50 You can see there on the right hand side
1:36:52 of your screen sole possession of first place through five rounds
1:36:55 in the standings just being chased right now by Pranov and Materia
1:36:59 as well as a whole slew of players sitting at four.
1:37:01 But this is where maybe we can go back and take a look at that Vincent
1:37:05 game the position that you were talking about
1:37:07 Peter try to identify where it all went wrong.
1:37:12 Yeah.
1:37:12 Well, all that long one could say that you remember
1:37:15 I was mentioning that the white knight was heading towards E5.
1:37:18 But at the same time, Vincent provoked A4.
1:37:20 So he has the knight on B4 to balance the knight on E5.
1:37:23 So I would say it's roughly equal position.
1:37:26 Uh but then Vincent blunted the exchange with queen D6.
1:37:29 He just wanted to stabilize.
1:37:31 Uh white opts for picking up the rook, but it's because the position is closed.
1:37:37 It's not about the exchange.
1:37:39 It's the potential E34 break that is
1:37:42 the problem that white is opening up the position
1:37:44 and if the E file opens then the rooks
1:37:46 will have the chance to invade into black's position.
1:37:49 So Vincent is trying to keep the position closed.
1:37:52 Queen CC knight G8 E4 knight F6 and here
1:37:57 it was a very tricky moment also for Pranov.
1:37:59 He was down to 17 seconds against 19 we are seeing there on the screen.
1:38:04 uh and he should have probably just
1:38:06 kept the control with something like rook E2.
1:38:08 But how do you understand this with 17 seconds on the clock?
1:38:12 So he pushed the pawn to E5.
1:38:14 But the reason why I did not like it that suddenly this bishop
1:38:17 on H1 is out of the game for the rest of the game.
1:38:20 The pawn chain of black is such a formation
1:38:23 that that bishop has just no way of entering the position.
1:38:27 So knight H5 was played.
1:38:28 White has to push E6.
1:38:30 Otherwise, if black is in time to get the knight to E6,
1:38:33 then it will be strategically kind of winning for black.
1:38:36 We slowly start to put pressure from every angle.
1:38:40 So, E6 had to be played.
1:38:41 Queen D, Queen E7, rook E, Queen D2, rook D6 already.
1:38:47 I did not like rook D6 because I sense
1:38:49 that with little time on the clock is going after this pawn.
1:38:52 Don't touch this pawn, please.
1:38:55 was my trainer coach of Vincent screaming
1:38:58 to me because you just have to sit tight.
1:39:02 How is white breaking the position?
1:39:04 I just don't see it.
1:39:05 You can just sit and uh also you can go
1:39:08 with knight to g7 just that maybe I can capture later on.
1:39:12 You can also put the king on c7
1:39:14 coming closer and wait for white to do something.
1:39:17 In any case, it's everybody's game.
1:39:20 Probably it would have ended in a draw.
1:39:21 Instead, Vincent picks up the pawn.
1:39:24 But then look at the next couple of moves.
1:39:26 Just shows that why it was such a bad idea.
1:39:29 The rook activates itself.
1:39:30 You are forced to trade.
1:39:32 Rook takes E5.
1:39:33 And now the white queen will step behind the rook.
1:39:36 And there will be this enormous power on the E file to enter.
1:39:41 And that's it.
1:39:42 After queen E3, it was clear that there are too many
1:39:45 antiqu squares in uh black's position and no way to survive.
1:39:51 So a very important win by Panov.
1:39:56 A hugely important win there uh for Panov overcoming Vincent Kimer.
1:40:00 But a very instructive moment as well, right,
1:40:02 where it can be very easy to get caught up uh
1:40:05 in in the threat maybe that that pawn appears to be uh and feeling
1:40:10 the need uh to either remove it andor identifying it as hey it's
1:40:13 a weakness at you know hey it's off sides it's on the sixth rank.
1:40:16 It's an easy thing to target.
1:40:18 But to your point, it was almost a defensive resource for Vincent as well.
1:40:22 If you can just blockade it and keep it there,
1:40:25 it also makes it hard for white to progress any further.
1:40:28 And by snapping it off,
1:40:29 you in fact opened up an avenue for white to kind
1:40:32 of get back into the game and uh and put the pressure on.
1:40:35 So uncharacteristic there for Vincent in a way
1:40:38 down the stretch who normally plays so calm,
1:40:41 cool, and collected.
1:40:41 But he will fall down to Panov in the fifth round of the day.
1:40:45 But off we go into the sixth round.
1:40:48 Uh and we'll uh first take a look at the overall standings because
1:40:51 as you can see we have a sole leader at this point through five rounds.
1:40:55 It's not Yakaboyv who right now has five wins, zero draws or losses to his name.
1:41:01 So a half a point lead over Pronov and Marco Materia uh out
1:41:06 as we move into the second half of the day if you will.
1:41:10 And so uh we'll find a board to hop to and it would make sense that we
1:41:13 go to our current tournament leader up against
1:41:15 Pronnov who coming hot off that win against
1:41:18 Vincent is going to look to do the same here and maybe strike back take first
1:41:22 place back with five and a half points to his name at the end of this round.
1:41:26 He's playing from the white side of the board
1:41:28 against our leader in notbeck on the black.
1:41:33 And it's a symmetrical position,
1:41:35 very tricky position because it's so difficult to navigate.
1:41:39 And I believe here in positions like this where there is no clear
1:41:43 path forward that it is so difficult to play in a blitz blitz game.
1:41:49 Yeah.
1:41:49 With three plus two seconds that what you understand that yeah,
1:41:52 white has the break with E4.
1:41:54 Black has the break with E5 seemingly symmetrical.
1:41:59 But when is the right time to open up the center?
1:42:01 The king side the uh kings are stuck yet for the moment in the center.
1:42:06 And also the construction with bishop on C8 and bishop B8.
1:42:11 There is no clear path for long castle with knight on E8, queen on F8.
1:42:14 There's also no clear path towards the other side of the board.
1:42:18 And that's why the move f7 f5 is very professional
1:42:23 that you make sure that you stop your opponent of playing e4.
1:42:26 At the same time, it also somehow isolates the knight on g3
1:42:32 because the this pawn on f5 without the break of e to e4.
1:42:35 What is this knight really doing on g3?
1:42:38 And black will have the chance of potentially activating
1:42:40 that knight from e8 to e4 which will be a very
1:42:44 powerful piece or also in the long run black will
1:42:47 be the one who will have the break and already you
1:42:54 can kind of see pranov probably not happy uh
1:42:57 to make the pawn move that he just made but it's
1:43:00 feeling necessary at this point and just like that notbeck
1:43:03 will strike towards the center of the board that connect three.
1:43:07 Yes, we have a trade of pawns,
1:43:08 but right now he's got total control over the center.
1:43:14 Yes, this is uh this is the kind of position that I talked
1:43:18 about that if you establish the control and then your moves are coming easy.
1:43:23 This case, you can not only put pressure on the board but also on the clock.
1:43:27 Yeah, he's already up 30 seconds and his moves are coming very naturally.
1:43:31 Yeah, he just stabilizes now.
1:43:32 The knight will come.
1:43:34 Uh, knight f6 probably is the most natural
1:43:37 square because maybe the bishop will go to d6.
1:43:40 Uh, he will also be able to play the queen to e7
1:43:43 then castle traditionally to the short side like in classical chess.
1:43:48 Yeah, also white is doing the same uh by castling but black has established
1:43:52 the center control the long the long run uh advantage is in black side.
1:44:00 So all he needs is stabilizing moves queen e7.
1:44:02 You can play a tempo.
1:44:05 Yeah.
1:44:06 Following your plan.
1:44:07 I I do see one problem piece for each player though, of course,
1:44:10 would be the light squared bishop for black
1:44:12 and the dark squared bishop for white.
1:44:14 Right now, they're currently tucked behind uh all
1:44:17 of their own pawns that are sitting on like colors.
1:44:20 So, maybe some difficulty getting those pieces involved in the long
1:44:23 term and uh a problem they'll each want to solve over time.
1:44:29 Retreating move here for the knight.
1:44:30 opens up the queen on that uh E file
1:44:33 just targeting now what is a backwards pawn going
1:44:36 to be a long-term weakness it feels like
1:44:38 for the white position and white's going to lash out here
1:44:43 but he's trying to yeah he used the chance the momentum to go
1:44:46 f to play this f4 forc idea and I'm not sure that Niac
1:44:53 made the right decision to let this happen because now this construction
1:44:57 with the isolate pawn and the white knight beautifully is sitting on d4.
1:45:01 It feels like it compensates for all
1:45:04 the other strategical problems that white was facing before.
1:45:09 Uh now all the other pieces already doing fine.
1:45:13 I would not even mind being white now.
1:45:18 A computer wouldn't mind it either given it straight zeros at this point.
1:45:22 So after what was a point point and a half advantage
1:45:24 there for notbeck uh earlier on things have equalized a bit more.
1:45:29 And you can see white has managed to get all of his pieces involved in the game.
1:45:34 Rooks are now connected and moved to central files looking
1:45:38 to maybe improve that dark squared bishop that you've highlighted there.
1:45:42 Notbeck will improve his dark squared bishop and connect his rooks.
1:45:46 Maybe looking to control the C file in the long term, the only fully open file.
1:45:50 He does that now with rook to C8.
1:45:53 Of course.
1:45:54 Yeah, he's combining the elements because there are also
1:45:57 some tactical shots like who knows if if the bishop
1:46:00 gets to C3 then you have to reckon
1:46:02 with bishop takes A3 because the bishop would be hanging.
1:46:05 But after knight B3 he can just fall.
1:46:07 Wait a second.
1:46:08 Bishop A4 was possible.
1:46:10 Bishop A4 was very unpleasant but okay bishop B6 also good.
1:46:15 Now black has again established control.
1:46:21 Knight D6.
1:46:22 Got control but still we play A5.
1:46:31 Yes.
1:46:31 And the knight is ready to jump to C4 or to jump to E4.
1:46:35 Now again, black is in the driver's seat.
1:46:37 And it is so much easier to suggest moves for black.
1:46:41 That's why white's clock is ticking down.
1:46:42 Bishop CC played.
1:46:46 Good call out on the clocks.
1:46:47 Twice the amount of time his opponent has to work with here.
1:46:51 Notbeck.
1:46:51 Onus is on him to make a move as his clock is about to hit 40 seconds.
1:46:57 Looking for a response and how to improve pieces.
1:47:01 Yeah, at at least white has now again once again stabilize his construction.
1:47:05 Yeah, with 26 seconds on the clock, this is what you need.
1:47:08 And Nier back is slightly uh nervous
1:47:11 because he understands he has a good position.
1:47:13 But what do I do with it?
1:47:18 Yeah, it feels like waiting moves at this point, right?
1:47:22 Yes.
1:47:23 And knight D4.
1:47:24 But this transformation of structure I actually like for white.
1:47:29 Okay.
1:47:29 Takes takes.
1:47:31 White is super solid.
1:47:32 Look at this construction cement.
1:47:36 Super solid.
1:47:38 Yeah.
1:47:39 Norm normally David How right now would be screaming
1:47:41 about the connect four and and that for black
1:47:44 things are looking pretty but as you point out
1:47:46 it's still a super solid structure here for white.
1:47:49 All the important pieces uh in his position
1:47:53 beautifully placed working in concert with each other.
1:47:56 He's got to identify what threats are coming forward here from black.
1:48:00 We're highlighting it now.
1:48:01 Expecting that light squareed bishop to jump in.
1:48:04 But now looking to break the structure here on the right hand side of the board.
1:48:07 Yeah.
1:48:08 Yeah, a new front is opened and this bishop on C3 is vital against black's king.
1:48:14 Bishop takes D4.
1:48:15 It will his idea is to capture with the queen.
1:48:17 But does white have an intro?
1:48:19 F G6.
1:48:20 Exactly.
1:48:20 White has the intro and rook G2 is coming.
1:48:27 Queen G4.
1:48:28 Rook G2.
1:48:28 How do you survive this with this king on G8?
1:48:33 He's going to offer the queen trade.
1:48:35 But of course, Pronav will not accept in this moment.
1:48:39 And how about that?
1:48:40 Uh trade of pieces.
1:48:42 It's going to be the bishop for the rook.
1:48:45 Yeah, he had to sacrifice the exchange
1:48:47 in order to kind of stabilize his king position.
1:48:52 Queen F5.
1:48:53 Queen H4.
1:48:56 Now, it's an advantage position for white,
1:48:58 but can he find the win or will he get it on time?
1:49:02 You can see there both players working with very few seconds to their name
1:49:06 and the position is going from bad to worse here for notbeck.
1:49:11 Yes.
1:49:11 And again, white opens up the file.
1:49:14 Very instructive to sacrifice.
1:49:16 And now queen E5.
1:49:18 Queen E5 seemed to have won the game of okay, king E6.
1:49:23 Now black cements.
1:49:24 Now the king is active.
1:49:25 So white is sacrificing the rook to pass to open black's king side.
1:49:32 King's conac accuracy here though gives another opening for Pronov.
1:49:36 He doesn't find it.
1:49:37 Oh no.
1:49:38 Oh no.
1:49:39 Oh no.
1:49:40 It should be checkmate.
1:49:42 Now it should be rook G2.
1:49:46 We need to and you can see king gets chased over to the side of the board.
1:49:50 O very offsides.
1:49:52 A knowing nod there from Panov as he's
1:49:55 looking to put the finishing touches on this one.
1:49:57 Resignation here for Notrebeck.
1:49:59 What a showing out of Pranov there.
1:50:01 Moving up to five and a half,
1:50:03 unseating the current Freestyle Friday leader in that head-to-head
1:50:08 matchup in our sixth round of the day.
1:50:10 He now jumps into sole possession of first place.
1:50:12 Five and a half points to his name.
1:50:16 Yes.
1:50:16 And he has taken down Vincent as he
1:50:18 had taken down Jakob have two direct competitors.
1:50:21 But Vincent game is still in progress against Marco Materia.
1:50:25 Vincent in a in a lot of trouble by being two points down.
1:50:28 But this is a very special cons.
1:50:30 It might be draw.
1:50:31 This rook end game despite being two pawns up might be draw.
1:50:35 It's crazy.
1:50:35 Chess is crazy.
1:50:36 You just go back with the rook to E8.
1:50:41 Yeah.
1:50:41 Help me understand why why this could be a draw because by my untrained eye,
1:50:45 I would see, you know, a rook and pawn against rook a lot of times
1:50:49 can still find its way to a winning endgame.
1:50:51 You're telling me with two pawns, this is still possible to draw?
1:50:56 Yeah.
1:50:57 King D3 because there is no way to get
1:51:00 past with the black king and whenever the king
1:51:02 comes then white gives millions of checks and the black
1:51:05 rook is tied to defense of both pawns.
1:51:07 Yeah.
1:51:07 So it's a very special construction.
1:51:10 King to D3.
1:51:12 King D2 check.
1:51:14 King D3.
1:51:14 Nothing changes.
1:51:17 Vincent just has to prevent that king from making
1:51:19 its run to the other side of the board.
1:51:21 He even manages to pick up the pawn.
1:51:23 And now will be a tradeoff.
1:51:25 Rooks.
1:51:25 See.
1:51:25 Look at that.
1:51:26 You can see he he kind of feels like he got away
1:51:28 with something there by the look on his face on the camera.
1:51:31 Half a point a piece.
1:51:33 The draw between Maria and Vincent Kimer.
1:51:35 It keeps them within striking distance in our overall standings.
1:51:39 Uh but I'm sure neither is incredibly
1:51:41 happy uh you know with their overall position.
1:51:43 For Vincent, he'll be happy to have come
1:51:45 away with a draw in that specific circumstance,
1:51:47 but we know he expects uh probably better of himself.
1:51:50 for Marco Materia.
1:51:51 He might be looking at that saying, "Hey,
1:51:52 that was my opportunity to get a full point over somebody like Vincent
1:51:57 and be sharing first place right now as opposed to be chasing first place.
1:52:04 Yeah, the tournament is uh very interesting
1:52:07 because Prrenav is running away with it.
1:52:10 On the other hand, there are so many players right behind and no break at all.
1:52:16 the the the very next round has already started.
1:52:20 The seventh run has already started.
1:52:22 No mercy.
1:52:23 No mercy for the players.
1:52:26 That's right.
1:52:27 That's right.
1:52:27 Only breaks coming after games four and game eight.
1:52:30 So, off we go into round number seven.
1:52:33 Maybe we take a look at Pronov from the beginning uh if we can.
1:52:37 And that is what we will do.
1:52:38 He is the tournament leader as of right now.
1:52:41 Half a point separation over the rest.
1:52:43 But one of those guys looking to take him
1:52:45 down here uh right now is Da Kuang Doui.
1:52:49 He's playing with the white pieces here against Pranov.
1:52:51 And already we've got a queen out onto the board.
1:52:54 So uh that makes me wonder.
1:52:59 It's like a Scandinavian.
1:53:00 It's like a Scandinavian.
1:53:02 Yeah.
1:53:02 E4 D5.
1:53:04 How did this happen?
1:53:05 Yeah, actually it was a Scandinavian.
1:53:07 E4 D5.
1:53:09 ED.
1:53:10 Queen D5.
1:53:10 Knight GC.
1:53:11 Knight B6.
1:53:12 and D3.
1:53:13 Really the Mon has D3.
1:53:15 This this shocks me.
1:53:16 I cannot believe.
1:53:17 It's almost like ah but the problem was white was unable
1:53:20 to push D4 because then black castles and takes over the position immediately.
1:53:26 There's a pin
1:53:27 on the D file.
1:53:29 That's the reason why he opted for this.
1:53:31 But this is too passive.
1:53:33 I don't like this.
1:53:34 Yeah, he had to play more tentatively.
1:53:36 It's also it's interesting because the queen gets
1:53:38 to come out almost for free in a way.
1:53:40 Normally a knight could jump out and start threatening her immediately, right?
1:53:43 But as we can see here, the white knight has to develop on to either B3 or D3.
1:53:49 Doesn't put the queen under threat.
1:53:50 So we have this centralized queen that normally could be something that you
1:53:53 chase around the board and it just doesn't feel like that's an option.
1:53:59 Yes.
1:53:59 Uh certainly not.
1:54:01 It it looks like uh black has a normal position but uh yeah
1:54:06 also black has the problem that the knights are a little bit strange.
1:54:12 Normally they are on c6 on f6 in classical chess.
1:54:14 Yes.
1:54:15 So if we are trying to think in Scandinavian
1:54:18 terms then then this doesn't do us any
1:54:22 any justice because completely different rules applies.
1:54:26 This bishop f3 ideas hang in the air of hitting the queen.
1:54:30 Now also knight a5 hitting that bishop.
1:54:33 Why can't I play knight a5 combined with bishop f3?
1:54:36 Did miss this?
1:54:39 Yeah, I like bishop f3 a lot.
1:54:43 But I can combine it with knight a5 and bishop f3 hitting that bishop.
1:54:52 Well, if I go knight a5, what's the response?
1:54:57 I don't know.
1:54:57 But wow.
1:54:59 C4.
1:55:00 C4.
1:55:03 Interesting.
1:55:02 That wasn't on our radar.
1:55:05 Not at all.
1:55:05 Well, he heard me talking.
1:55:07 He heard me talking about chasing the queen around.
1:55:09 He said, "Okay, I'll chase the queen around.
1:55:10 Here's how you do it." Yes.
1:55:14 But the C4 really showed me like my voice
1:55:17 disappeared for a second because I just didn't know, you know, my don't do this.
1:55:22 But then I'm having a closer look and I kind of understand why it is possible.
1:55:27 So yeah, it's it's it's a very spec specific position.
1:55:31 Normal rules don't apply here without a doubt.
1:55:37 So bishop to A4 now.
1:55:43 The knight coming forward
1:55:46 gets the miss from the engine, but it feels like a pretty natural move.
1:55:51 just improving the position of the knight, moving it towards the center,
1:55:54 maybe even bringing it all the way over to C6.
1:55:59 Yes, it is heading to C6 in order
1:56:01 to establish the blockade that we we know in classical.
1:56:06 But wait a second.
1:56:07 Okay, H7 pawn is hanging.
1:56:09 But luckily, this is not end of the world because we can move out the bishop.
1:56:13 Sometimes the rook is lost in freestyle chess after some queen takes H7.
1:56:17 But this is not the case.
1:56:18 We just move And we pretend that it was all part of the Yes.
1:56:25 He And because ah bishop E7, knight C5, knight C5 is the problem.
1:56:30 Forget about the pawn.
1:56:31 After bishop E7, I have this move.
1:56:34 And uh if you take DC, your knight has nowhere to go.
1:56:38 This is the problem.
1:56:39 You So back to the official position.
1:56:42 Yeah.
1:56:43 Queen takes C7.
1:56:43 Forget the po.
1:56:44 The problems are the the real problems are the problem.
1:56:50 That's words to live by right there.
1:56:54 The real problems are the problem.
1:56:56 And he's realizing those problems.
1:56:59 He's got to connect the rooks, right?
1:57:01 That's that's how you save the rooks.
1:57:02 But now, yeah, knight C5 feels like a natural follow.
1:57:05 This should have been the idea.
1:57:06 So, you would expect not too much time to be spent to make this move.
1:57:12 Wow.
1:57:13 But he castles.
1:57:16 Yeah.
1:57:17 Okay.
1:57:17 It's possible.
1:57:18 But this case, we have a game.
1:57:19 This is not a decisive move.
1:57:24 No, definitely a more conservative approach.
1:57:26 He's going to get the king to safety.
1:57:28 Connects his own rooks.
1:57:29 You can see the long term bringing the rook over to D1 C1.
1:57:33 Looking to push those pawns further forward.
1:57:37 But at some point, we're also going to have to bring our queen back.
1:57:40 First, we're going to have a trade of the minor pieces.
1:57:42 That almost feels like it improves white's position for him, though.
1:57:46 Right now we've opened the A file.
1:57:47 I can just stack rooks if I want on the A file.
1:57:52 Yeah, but he wants to put pressure on the D4 pawn with some bishop F6.
1:57:57 Yeah, that is his idea.
1:57:58 The big question will it work?
1:58:01 Because white can also start moving with D4 D5 and then after EDCD.
1:58:06 Yeah, EDC CD.
1:58:08 And then we will have the option of eventually sacrificing
1:58:11 the pawn with D6 and uh break black's construction and knight retreats.
1:58:20 For example, not D6 is very tempting on the board.
1:58:25 Wow.
1:58:25 Wow.
1:58:28 Very aggressive move, but I like it.
1:58:32 Dawangi, he sees his moment.
1:58:34 He's going to strike.
1:58:36 The engines loving the position more and more as the game develops.
1:58:40 We see the the knight used to disconnect,
1:58:42 but it's going to be a sacrifice to the exchange.
1:58:43 Now the pawn follow falls.
1:58:48 Yeah, this ends the game because bishop G5 adds to the problems.
1:58:55 Yeah, that that's a nasty pin right there onto the king.
1:58:58 So, the queen will sidestep it,
1:59:00 but that allows for the check as well with a pin onto the rook.
1:59:05 Knockout blow.
1:59:05 Bishop C5.
1:59:06 Knockout blow.
1:59:09 Rook a checkmate is coming.
1:59:10 And you can see it.
1:59:12 Wow.
1:59:12 The knockout delivered in that moment.
1:59:15 Pranov who was the tournament leader.
1:59:17 He ultimately falls down in that moment.
1:59:19 So just like that, the standings will flip once again.
1:59:24 Already through what is it?
1:59:25 Seven rounds now here.
1:59:26 Peter, we've had three different players each having sole possession
1:59:30 of first place at a different time throughout the day.
1:59:33 And still nothing is decided.
1:59:35 It's only half a point, you know, separation between first, third.
1:59:40 You can see Bortnik even now joining,
1:59:42 rejoining at the top of the standings as well as he
1:59:45 moves to six points to his name out of seven.
1:59:50 Yes, Borik has won.
1:59:51 Vincent has won.
1:59:52 Yes.
1:59:52 So all the the superstars are coming closer and closer,
1:59:56 but all eyes on Marco Matelia against Jakoba because those players are
2:00:01 fighting to to catch up with the So what's at stake here?
2:00:08 Black has sacrificed the pawn, but black has a very solid construction.
2:00:12 So very good compensation.
2:00:15 Queen takes H5.
2:00:16 White is picking up another pawn,
2:00:18 but really the king on C2 can get into big trouble.
2:00:25 Oh, don't know about that rook just now.
2:00:33 Yeah, forget the pawns.
2:00:35 I don't even need to grab them anymore.
2:00:36 Yeah, white may have spent too much focus
2:00:38 on picking up the pawns down the stretch here.
2:00:42 He's now going to have to give away the rook check.
2:00:45 Oh, why did he do this?
2:00:51 Queen F7 check.
2:00:52 It's a per queen C4 check.
2:00:54 It's a perpetual.
2:00:55 Oh my goodness.
2:00:55 I cannot believe it.
2:00:58 I'm stunned as well.
2:00:59 I'm stunned.
2:01:04 Wow.
2:01:04 I mean, Marco Materia, he gets away with something there, finding a draw.
2:01:09 Wow.
2:01:09 I mean, again, it was already a fairly even board state.
2:01:12 maybe with a smite a slight advantage towards
2:01:14 black even while the material advantage was for white.
2:01:16 But I I think we should pull that back up,
2:01:18 Peter, and and roll it back a few moves.
2:01:20 Let's understand how he got perpetual.
2:01:25 Well, the situation was that white has lost the control.
2:01:28 He's done to six seconds on the clock.
2:01:30 He's about to get checkmated.
2:01:31 And then he makes a desperate last attempt to I don't know.
2:01:37 I don't think that he was hopping on anything because after rook C7 it's
2:01:40 clear that if you take with king you get queen f7 check and why do
2:01:43 you calculate this at all you can pick it up with the bishop and you
2:01:47 are rook up no checks and okay after f takes c6 you might maybe
2:01:52 have to fall back with the queen to d6 but I mean come on we
2:01:56 are no maybe we can even just go rook g2 we can go rook
2:02:00 g2 queen d5 check king a7 and then rook takes d2 checkmate is coming
2:02:04 and and game over but in any is your opponent can do no harm to you.
2:02:09 You are up a rook and instead he picked it up
2:02:11 with the king thinking like I will anyway deliver checkmate on D2.
2:02:17 But the problem was that white is not picking up the rook.
2:02:20 White can keep on harassing black's king because
2:02:22 king B8 lands into queen takes G8 check.
2:02:25 So that's why the king has to step forward.
2:02:27 Then white picks up the pawn with a check and there's nowhere to run.
2:02:30 King B7, queen takes D5 check.
2:02:33 If you play king B8 then I can pick up the rook with check.
2:02:36 You can't do that.
2:02:37 King A7 will be met by queen F7 check like in the game and king A6.
2:02:41 The diagonal is long enough that I can
2:02:44 chase the king and an incredible miracle escape happened.
2:02:49 Yeah.
2:02:49 So, so in a number of ways uh weirdly
2:02:52 this draw perhaps the most stunning result uh that we've seen
2:02:56 so far today just because there was something as simple
2:02:59 as a retreating bishop move to pick up that rook.
2:03:02 you're a whole rook up in the endgame and now you can pilot that to a victory.
2:03:07 But the time scramble and as we talked about earlier,
2:03:10 I think in so many ways the winner of freestyle Friday
2:03:14 days are going to be the players who make the fewest mistakes.
2:03:18 That was an unforced error right there.
2:03:20 And that is one that is ultimately going to come
2:03:22 back uh and eat away at you mentally uh if you don't end up in first place when
2:03:27 you could have come away with a decisive victory there.
2:03:29 And instead you had to settle for a draw.
2:03:31 Absolutely very well put because let's not forget that also Jakob had
2:03:37 just lost the game to Pranov where he also had a good position.
2:03:40 Yes.
2:03:40 So suddenly he had a wonderful run and he
2:03:43 created trouble for himself and creating trouble for yourself
2:03:47 is the worst the the biggest enemy
2:03:49 of a chess player because if your opponent outplays you,
2:03:52 it is so much more easier to get over
2:03:55 it that okay my opponent played a brilliant game.
2:03:57 He was stronger.
2:03:58 Okay, let me focus better.
2:03:59 Let me play stronger.
2:04:01 Uh, but when you had a winning position and then you let
2:04:03 it slip like this, that will haunt you forever during the tournament.
2:04:08 Yeah, I can get over my opponent outplaying me.
2:04:11 It's a lot harder to get over outplaying myself.
2:04:13 Uh, either way, we've got two players who now lead
2:04:16 the rest of the field with six points to their name.
2:04:19 That's Dao Kuang Dui and Alexander Bortnik.
2:04:22 Currently, we have four players in that chase pack only half
2:04:25 a point behind them with five and a half points to their name.
2:04:28 And then a whole slew of players who've
2:04:30 got five points still within striking distance again.
2:04:33 If either of those leaders take a decisive loss,
2:04:36 anybody else puts up a full point, they're right back tied for even.
2:04:40 We still have four rounds to go heading into round number eight here shortly.
2:04:44 Uh this is where we will expect again the action to continue to heat up,
2:04:48 but also I think where the conversation maybe begins, Peter,
2:04:52 around the the tournament meta, if you will,
2:04:55 and how you start adjusting your play based
2:04:57 on your standings because ultimately you want to grab those points.
2:05:02 You want to grab the prize money, right?
2:05:04 And so you might have to start playing
2:05:07 to the to the standings and to the eventual results.
2:05:11 If you're a half a point behind or you're a full point behind first place,
2:05:14 you might have to start taking more risks to get those decisive victories
2:05:18 if you ultimately want to claw your way back up to the top.
2:05:20 You can't just settle for smooth draws
2:05:23 from this point forward if you're chasing.
2:05:27 Well, but I think that draws were not an issue in this tournament at all.
2:05:31 Yeah, everybody's fighting.
2:05:33 Everybody's uh looking forward for action.
2:05:36 Yeah, this is freestyle chess as you
2:05:37 highlighted before that there is no safety net.
2:05:40 You can never choose a solid opening and then just sit on some solid structure.
2:05:46 Here we always get some crazy mess and with combined with this three minutes
2:05:50 time control that there is just never enough time to digest the new position.
2:05:55 Yeah, you have to keep on carrying it tremendous pressure on the players.
2:06:00 Yeah, it's I think the the best way to fight in the last couple
2:06:05 of uh runs just to do exactly the same way like you did before.
2:06:10 I don't think that you can suddenly
2:06:12 start uh changing your mind mindset that okay from now on I will be more
2:06:18 solid because immediately opponents will use that chance.
2:06:21 Bournik is doing I think exactly the the right approach.
2:06:25 He's going for it.
2:06:26 He plays very much in Bournik style.
2:06:28 Let's see if he gets rewarded for it.
2:06:31 And synergy is officially broken uh on this board.
2:06:35 They had mirrored their moves essentially up
2:06:37 until this most recent by each player.
2:06:40 We have a knight advanced
2:06:42 into opponent territory for both players but on opposite sides of the board.
2:06:46 Currently perhaps creating a square here just or I guess he's getting his
2:06:53 Oh, go ahead.
2:06:53 Sorry.
2:06:55 Yes.
2:06:55 Now, I just want to say that I think that the knight
2:06:57 on G5 is giving the white queen more access uh to be activated.
2:07:05 And this is also what black is doing with G6.
2:07:07 But you see that thanks to the knight G5 move,
2:07:10 white's queen is kind of wide open already on the long diagonal.
2:07:13 Who knows if he can follow it up with E4 or at least a timely E4.
2:07:17 Uh but uh there is some hope for white to create something here.
2:07:23 Most definitely.
2:07:24 Knight C5.
2:07:24 He as well.
2:07:25 He's got going to mirror that knight jump on the left hand side of the board.
2:07:29 But quick response here by Dao to kick it back and away.
2:07:35 Yeah.
2:07:35 Now, white will do the same.
2:07:37 Probably B3.
2:07:40 And then if the knight falls back to D6, white can play knight E5.
2:07:44 Wow.
2:07:44 Isn't black in a lot of trouble all of a sudden?
2:07:51 See if it plays out.
2:07:52 Knight as you've called it.
2:07:57 Wow.
2:07:57 Does he have the time?
2:08:03 That's a good question.
2:08:04 Very ambitious move.
2:08:05 Yeah, FC is a super ambitious move.
2:08:07 I just thought like knight E5 was very strong.
2:08:10 No need for fancy business.
2:08:16 Well, he's forcing time to think.
2:08:18 with black.
2:08:22 But G7, no no
2:08:27 no no no.
2:08:27 You had no no right to wait here.
2:08:29 You had to do something.
2:08:31 And besides what's happening after knight E5.
2:08:33 This knight is is still the bishop on B1 is hanging.
2:08:37 Okay.
2:08:38 You see this is this is freestyle chess.
2:08:40 You think like okay knight E5 seems to be winning.
2:08:42 But actually the bishop on B1 I'm losing my mind.
2:08:45 So that bishop has to first be developed before you can move that knight.
2:08:51 It has to be a clear bishop f4,
2:08:57 I guess.
2:08:57 Yeah.
2:08:57 Just just to connect the rook to the bishop as a defensive resource.
2:09:01 That's what he'll go for.
2:09:04 Yes.
2:09:04 Bishop F4.
2:09:09 Yeah.
2:09:09 And long castle.
2:09:10 But okay, now finally if knight E5
2:09:13 But if knight E5 is possible, if it's legal Yeah.
2:09:15 and it's on the board, then how will black react?
2:09:19 Takes takes king B7 fall.
2:09:25 I mean the king is black king is quite safe now because all
2:09:28 of white's pieces are over on the right hand side of the board.
2:09:32 So longterm does feel like black has
2:09:35 you know achieved some level of king safety.
2:09:37 But now I still struggle for a way to get the rest
2:09:40 of my pieces involved and maybe to ultimately launch an attack.
2:09:46 Yeah.
2:09:46 The big question who is attacking whom?
2:09:48 Yeah.
2:09:48 Because there are so many different aspects in the position.
2:09:51 Yeah.
2:09:51 Knight H7 eliminating that monster knight and setting up
2:09:55 then the F7 F6 break is a very smart idea.
2:10:02 Well, you have to trade it off, right?
2:10:04 Otherwise, you're getting forked by that pawn.
2:10:09 Yeah.
2:10:10 Yeah.
2:10:10 But I I feel for Bournik because yeah, he goes for C4.
2:10:14 I got fooled by this knight E5 that knight E5 will be
2:10:17 super strong and then uh black just shows that forget about it.
2:10:23 I know what I'm doing.
2:10:28 Yeah.
2:10:28 Pretty spectacular that this one has played out in the way that it has.
2:10:33 Yes.
2:10:34 and and there are still plenty of but knight C6 is probably not enough.
2:10:37 Black can just pick it up uh with with king C6.
2:10:40 So yeah, takes takes but it's not a happy decision to just fall back.
2:10:47 Yeah, but if you had asked me five moves ago
2:10:49 maybe or so which position I would have preferred to play,
2:10:52 I would have taken white in a heartbeat.
2:10:54 And and how this one's been flipped on its head is quite stunning.
2:11:00 Yes.
2:11:00 No, this this position fooled everyone including me.
2:11:03 I I don't recall myself, you know, blundering a piece,
2:11:06 the bishop on B1 for for 30 seconds.
2:11:09 It's it it just absolutely unheard of.
2:11:12 I'm still under complete shock uh that yeah,
2:11:15 this freestyle chess you can never feel safe.
2:11:17 Always the ultimate boss is freestyle.
2:11:22 But now I think the thing that I'm looking at here is just
2:11:25 how poorly it feels like the white queen is placed on the board, right?
2:11:29 It just feels like it's light years from getting involved in this game,
2:11:32 cut off on its diagonal by that black knight and needing to reroute multiple,
2:11:40 you know, tempo here in order to get more involved in the game.
2:11:45 Yeah, he used to get Yeah, but queen D7.
2:11:50 Exactly.
2:11:51 Queen D7 was a big problem.
2:11:52 Now, knight E3 check is a huge threat.
2:11:54 Winning the queen, the knight is hanging, so the knight has to fall back to F4.
2:11:58 But we are just losing material.
2:12:00 Yeah.
2:12:00 G4.
2:12:00 Okay.
2:12:01 Played.
2:12:02 But white will not survive.
2:12:03 Cannot survive this.
2:12:09 Starting to look very ugly here for Bournick.
2:12:12 But yeah, time can still be on his side
2:12:14 here while he is disadvantaged on the board.
2:12:17 Can he play quick enough?
2:12:18 Can he ask enough questions and make it tricky enough for his opponent?
2:12:24 Five.
2:12:24 Maybe just play F5.
2:12:25 Okay.
2:12:26 He goes for a direct.
2:12:28 Wow.
2:12:28 Super confidence.
2:12:29 Knight takes F3 gets approved by the computer.
2:12:32 Rook D2.
2:12:32 Queen D3.
2:12:33 Checkmate is a big set.
2:12:34 So, white has to pick up the G6 pawn.
2:12:37 Queen G6.
2:12:39 And then Queen D.
2:12:40 Castles.
2:12:41 Castles.
2:12:42 Wow.
2:12:42 With seven seconds on the clock.
2:12:46 Well, to remember that he has that resource even is pretty massive.
2:12:50 And And look at that.
2:12:53 where it is, but the engine says he's right back in it.
2:12:58 But he loses on time exactly the moment when Wow.
2:13:02 But okay, it's so difficult.
2:13:04 It's just so difficult because rook H8 is a big threat.
2:13:08 What do we do?
2:13:11 Yeah, but you can feel for him there.
2:13:13 Alexander Bortnick, you can see it on his face.
2:13:19 Disappointment.
2:13:18 No.
2:13:18 And you know there was this this incredible stunning defense.
2:13:21 We have to show it just we have to show it because it's incredible.
2:13:25 And it was so difficult to find.
2:13:27 I turned on the engine and then the engine shows it that you could have
2:13:31 forgotten about the but your mind is you are down to 5 seconds on the clock.
2:13:35 You think like how do I stop rook H8?
2:13:37 No.
2:13:37 No.
2:13:38 You don't stop it.
2:13:39 You play rook B1.
2:13:41 Rook H8.
2:13:42 Of course seems like black wins and then you have rook E7 check.
2:13:46 If black leaves the rook, then you pick up the rook.
2:13:48 There's no problem.
2:13:49 The knight defends your king.
2:13:52 And once you go king A8, then you play rook H7 and protect on the H7 like this.
2:13:57 Okay, this is completely crazy.
2:13:59 And poor Bhortnik exactly at the moment when he was
2:14:04 back looed on time because was unable to find the defense.
2:14:09 Wow.
2:14:09 Well, he could probably be forgiven for not finding
2:14:11 that in the mere seconds that he had to do so.
2:14:14 But uh again, kind of goes back
2:14:17 to the point where especially in freestyle chess,
2:14:19 but in the game of chess in general, you know,
2:14:22 even down the stretch, you're not necessarily out of it.
2:14:25 All it takes is that one misposition,
2:14:26 that one opportunity that your opponent gives you uh
2:14:29 with the door open for you to charge right through it.
2:14:32 That opportunity was there.
2:14:33 It was not capitalized on uh by Bournick.
2:14:35 So, Dao now moves to seven points out of eight rounds here.
2:14:40 He's in sole possession of first place while we have a couple more games
2:14:43 and a couple more results still to trickle
2:14:45 in here at the conclusion of our eighth round.
2:14:48 But you can see three players at six and a half points a piece on our standings,
2:14:51 just half a point behind that tournament leader.
2:14:54 And then three players at six points, still within striking distance.
2:14:58 That's the main thing.
2:14:58 As long as there's one more round to go and you're within one point,
2:15:02 you can ultimately close the gap as we get towards the latter rounds of the day.
2:15:07 But that's the man to beat right there.
2:15:08 Da Kong Dwayi with seven wins to his name,
2:15:12 one loss, but currently eyeing 10 freestyle Friday points.
2:15:17 And to climb that leaderboard, chasing the likes of Aranov,
2:15:20 who sits in second shared with Vincent Kimer and Marco Mataria.
2:15:27 Wow.
2:15:28 Dramatic finish we will have.
2:15:32 That's exactly right.
2:15:32 We will have a very dramatic finish.
2:15:34 which I had mentioned earlier that after rounds four and rounds eight,
2:15:37 the players are given five to six minutes
2:15:39 for a quick bathroom break and a water break.
2:15:41 We're going to give you at home the same
2:15:43 opportunity ourselves as well as casters to go refresh,
2:15:46 rehydrate, and then get back in just in time
2:15:49 for the uh concluding three rounds of the day.
2:15:52 So, stick around.
2:15:53 We'll catch you back here in just a few
2:15:54 minutes for Freestyle Friday and all of the action live.
2:15:57 See you soon.
2:16:03 Hey.
2:16:04 Hey.
2:16:05 Hey.
2:16:31 on your Heat.
2:17:35 Hey, Heat.
2:18:10 Hey, hey, hey.
2:18:11 Heat.
2:18:12 Heat.
2:18:13 N.
2:18:21 Heat.
2:18:22 Heat.
2:18:23 N.
2:18:31 Heat.
2:18:32 Heat.
2:18:33 N.
2:18:41 Heat.
2:18:42 Heat.
2:18:43 N.
2:18:59 Hey, hey, hey.
2:19:35 Hey, hey, hey.
2:19:52 Hey, hey, hey.
2:20:14 Hey, hey, hey.
2:21:06 Hello y'all.
2:21:07 Welcome back to Freestyle Friday with uh James Dash and Peter
2:21:12 Leo through eight rounds of 11 in our Swiss format here.
2:21:16 Peter, things are starting to heat up as we
2:21:18 do have one player in sole possession of first place.
2:21:21 Three players immediately behind him at uh 6 and 12 points a piece.
2:21:27 But away we go into that ninth round as we kick things
2:21:30 off with that tournament leader Dao Kuang Doy up against Vincent Kimer.
2:21:34 One of the three players who could leapfrog him in the standings right here,
2:21:38 right now if he gets a decisive victory.
2:21:41 He's playing from the white side of the board and already we have
2:21:44 questions being asked in this one as we have pawns staring at each other.
2:21:49 C5 D4 at the moment.
2:21:52 A little bit of tension created
2:21:53 instantaneously that Vincent will look to relieve,
2:21:56 but this allows a rook early out onto the board as well.
2:22:02 Yeah, very interesting position.
2:22:03 And knight A6 played.
2:22:05 The point was that if black captures back the pawn on C5.
2:22:09 Yeah, Vincent follows it up with C4.
2:22:11 Knight takes C5.
2:22:13 Uh that if the rook would have captured back just because this was so important.
2:22:18 I think the idea after D takes C5,
2:22:20 rook takes C5 was that white might have the move B4 and hitting on the rook
2:22:26 and setting up the trade of the dark square
2:22:28 bishops when black will lose the right to castle.
2:22:31 Yeah, that was kind of a very important small little trick.
2:22:35 So instead the following things happened.
2:22:39 Uh things heated up.
2:22:41 We are getting a classical type of position.
2:22:44 the maroti uh similar to maroti structure
2:22:47 from from English we see situations like this.
2:22:51 The white knight is heading to the d5 square.
2:22:53 Yeah, Vincent is setting up the knight moving towards the d5 tiny little
2:22:59 edge and very much to Vincent liking
2:23:03 such small advantages nourishing those small advantages.
2:23:09 Yeah.
2:23:09 And right away feels super easy to complete his development
2:23:12 as you're highlighting rook to D1 already stacking on that semi-open file.
2:23:18 The knight still has that pathway to the eventual D5 square.
2:23:23 F2 to F3 though creating a little bit more
2:23:27 of a pocket maybe for the king to slide up
2:23:29 at some point and eyeing that E4 pawn push possibly
2:23:32 or preventing the knight from dropping jumping forward onto E4.
2:23:38 Yes, I think it was purely prophylactic.
2:23:40 Yeah, taking away any knight jump to E4 and he understands
2:23:44 that his other knight will be heading
2:23:47 uh towards D5 and transformation of structure.
2:23:50 Okay, so Vincent actually senses that this C takes D5
2:23:54 transformation is more beneficial than just keeping the D5 square.
2:24:00 Very interesting strategy decision without a doubt.
2:24:06 He wants to get he wants to get the queen to D4 and establish total control.
2:24:11 And by the way, the knight will not head to F4.
2:24:13 It might head to E3 and then to G4 and knight A6.
2:24:17 Checkmating ideas might be coming after queen D4 check.
2:24:20 King G8.
2:24:21 Very tricky position.
2:24:25 All right.
2:24:25 Looking for Okay.
2:24:28 Decides to wait on the queen D4 with check.
2:24:32 Instead, he's going to continue to offer this rook trade, but on his own terms.
2:24:38 Yes.
2:24:38 Because then it comes with a check and he will
2:24:40 be establishing control of the only open file, the C file.
2:24:43 So, it's a very very kind of high class move.
2:24:48 Look, the computer did not appreciate it,
2:24:50 but I believe Vincent was very happy of playing this move,
2:24:55 putting tremendous pressure.
2:24:58 Yeah, just continuing to improve the position.
2:25:00 Move over move.
2:25:01 Now we've got the rooks double stacked on the E file.
2:25:04 You can see the E valbar continues to like
2:25:07 the improvement that Vincent is finding for his pieces.
2:25:10 Knight coming forward as well, getting more involved.
2:25:12 So he does end up on the F4 square,
2:25:14 but this is because he can now target exactly that D5 pawn.
2:25:19 Still a check in play here for the queen.
2:25:21 Just kind of spoiled for choice is Vincent at this point.
2:25:26 Exactly.
2:25:26 Yeah, he has this.
2:25:27 He knows that he ideally would play both moves,
2:25:31 queen D4 and knight takes D5 together, but it's impossible.
2:25:35 And then you have to kind of measure it that how do I start?
2:25:39 Yeah.
2:25:39 And I believe keeping the threat.
2:25:41 Yeah.
2:25:42 This was always kind of that as as children, we were as kids,
2:25:45 we always taught that the the threat
2:25:49 of uh the threat is stronger than the execution.
2:25:52 Yes.
2:25:52 So keeping in your pocket the threat and not revealing it right away and it's
2:25:57 makes your opponent so much harder to react to.
2:26:04 Well, we're seeing that difficulty of where to go next
2:26:07 here with the black pieces play out on the clock.
2:26:10 35 seconds to the minute 47 for Vincent Kimer.
2:26:13 It's going to be just a a tepid pawn push over here.
2:26:17 F7 F6 does prevent the diagonal that that queen
2:26:22 would be finding checks on in the long term.
2:26:25 So now the queen will slide up still to D4
2:26:27 but without the benefit of a check to come along with it.
2:26:32 Yeah, but the combination of factors yeah that the weakness on F6,
2:26:36 the pressure on the Cfile now there are certain things to calculate.
2:26:43 Vincent is looking that can I win by force?
2:26:46 Is there a way?
2:26:46 Because it looks like there might be some tactical shots already in the air.
2:26:58 Yeah, it is a little difficult to plot a pathway forward.
2:27:03 He has scored 96% accuracy.
2:27:05 Just going to trade.
2:27:08 Exactly.
2:27:08 I was I was wondering about exactly this this lines but I
2:27:12 was not sure if this takes takes rook f7 and is this winning?
2:27:16 If it's not winning I don't like it because it
2:27:18 eases my opponent's but probably incent has seen one move further.
2:27:26 Um I'm not 100% sure but okay it looks very tempting.
2:27:31 Yeah, it looks tempting, but if anything, it gives, you know,
2:27:35 black the best position he's had in quite some time, right?
2:27:40 Still advantage to Vincent, but it feels like you've given maybe a few
2:27:44 opportunities for this one to begin to equalize.
2:27:50 Yeah, to to me it was a shock because I
2:27:52 this was the reason why I was saying that there
2:27:54 are tactical shots and I was calculating this line
2:27:56 and I did not see why it is so great.
2:27:59 Uh but okay, he's putting pressure and uh Kuang has no time on the clock.
2:28:05 That is the problem.
2:28:06 A3 played.
2:28:08 Where is this knight heading?
2:28:10 Yeah, he's got to go back to D5, I think.
2:28:14 Yeah, with a check.
2:28:15 But then white in this with king E4 hits the knight and knight C6.
2:28:20 Check is coming.
2:28:20 He's losing a pawn.
2:28:23 Yeah, there goes the pawn right there with the check and the fork.
2:28:28 So now we're one point up in material,
2:28:31 but beyond that, we now have two isolated pawns,
2:28:34 two pawn islands here for black that he's going to have to try and defend.
2:28:37 And now it feels like there's maybe too
2:28:39 many holes in the Swiss cheese here for black.
2:28:44 Yeah.
2:28:44 No, this is hopeless.
2:28:45 It's basically designable position.
2:28:47 There's just no way to putting up the knight on B2 is kind of trapped as well.
2:28:52 Yeah.
2:28:52 White can just play A4.
2:28:54 White can do anything.
2:28:55 B5 check.
2:28:56 Yeah, B5 check played.
2:28:58 And then knight is coming.
2:29:02 Or you just you just enjoy the position.
2:29:05 That works.
2:29:06 Yeah, he's choosing to enjoy.
2:29:08 He's choosing to bask in the glory of the position and soak in the sun rays
2:29:14 because actually he can also combine A4, A5, and G5.
2:29:18 And who will stop those?
2:29:19 Yeah, that's what he is going for.
2:29:22 There's just no way to D5.
2:29:25 But okay, now D5 gives also up the D5 pawn.
2:29:28 Yeah, G5 played.
2:29:32 And after king F5, we just pick up with the king.
2:29:37 Okay, he's going to go D6.
2:29:38 But yeah, you can see the difficulty there for black.
2:29:40 The king can't defend against the pawn
2:29:42 and protect his own pawn at the same time.
2:29:44 So now he's going to go on the chase.
2:29:46 This means we have a pawn hanging.
2:29:47 We could pick up at any point.
2:29:49 We are going to push to A5 first.
2:29:51 And the resignation comes through.
2:29:53 Vincent Kimer.
2:29:54 Just like that, he strikes back from 6 and 12
2:29:57 points up to seven and a half now through nine rounds.
2:30:00 He's going to snag first place away
2:30:03 from our tournament leader in a decisive victory over him.
2:30:08 And and you can see those very delicate moments.
2:30:11 Yeah.
2:30:11 That surviving that losing position against Marco Materia,
2:30:16 you know, give him the comfort.
2:30:18 And he has taken down Yakubya with the black pieces.
2:30:20 Now he's taking down Kong with the white pieces.
2:30:24 Just that that scary game that he survived
2:30:27 opened him and for Yakub exactly the opposite.
2:30:29 He missed those chances that we talked about that it will hard
2:30:33 he has lost the game to Vincent and is out of contention.
2:30:38 Yeah.
2:30:39 And it is Marco Materia who's standing side by side
2:30:42 with Vincent Kimer right now at the top of the standing.
2:30:44 So again, he might be thinking back
2:30:46 to that very same game and saying, you know, hey,
2:30:48 if I had been able to put a kibash on that, if
2:30:51 I had been able to slap Vincent Kimer down in that moment,
2:30:54 it would only be me standing alone at the top.
2:30:57 But instead, I'm locked in a battle right now with just two
2:31:00 more rounds to go and two players at 7 and a half points.
2:31:03 Uh, obviously, we await their pairings.
2:31:06 Uh, and still some games to conclude here in the ninth round because
2:31:09 there are opportunities for others to join them at the top of the standings.
2:31:13 We've got Pronov and Bortnik right now battling it
2:31:16 out with 5 seconds a piece by quick math.
2:31:19 Materials even, but it's a knight on one side, a bishop on the other as we see
2:31:24 a pawn fall here for Bournick with the black pieces.
2:31:28 Who's winning here, if anyone?
2:31:31 Yeah, maybe no one.
2:31:32 King D4.
2:31:33 Very precise.
2:31:33 Knight takes B6 is met by King C3.
2:31:36 So, yeah, King E2, Bishop D8, King D2.
2:31:41 But this is tricky.
2:31:43 Now suddenly white is in trouble.
2:31:45 G5 played bishop.
2:31:46 He's going to offer up.
2:31:48 Yeah, he gives away one pawn in order to create
2:31:51 a weakness and snap up a pawn on the other side.
2:31:56 No, but this is not working out because the pawns are too weak.
2:32:02 Yeah.
2:32:02 Now he's going to drop a pawn of his own here.
2:32:04 Three pawns to two, but the black king has infiltrated.
2:32:11 Wow.
2:32:11 And now he survives.
2:32:12 So, okay, the game will be drawn.
2:32:17 Incredible.
2:32:17 Yeah, there was there was a winning moment there though for black,
2:32:21 but didn't have enough time to find
2:32:24 Yeah, we we can have visit afterwards because it was very very interesting.
2:32:28 Was not not obvious.
2:32:32 Now, this looks like a fortress.
2:32:34 This is just a Yeah, now it's a blockade.
2:32:37 A fortress.
2:32:41 and your heart breaks a little bit here for Bournick because this is
2:32:44 now it's a couple games now down the stretch where he's had,
2:32:48 you know, winning opportunities, maybe some small chances,
2:32:52 doors that have been propped open that he hasn't been a able to squeeze through.
2:32:56 So, he's going to have to settle likely for a draw again in this one and just
2:33:00 sit kind of half a point behind the rest
2:33:03 of the players that he's looking to chase.
2:33:07 James, I will be showing then not only that exact moment when Borik was winning,
2:33:13 I will show the position that Panov had.
2:33:15 You might be changing your mind.
2:33:18 Oh, okay.
2:33:19 Okay.
2:33:19 I look forward to it as the draw is
2:33:21 agreed to here uh between both of these players.
2:33:24 So, each getting half a point to add to their score line.
2:33:27 Seven points for Pronov and six and a half for Alexander Bournick.
2:33:30 But right away, I turn to you then, Peter.
2:33:33 Break it down for me.
2:33:34 Surprise me.
2:33:37 Yes.
2:33:37 Well, first of all, uh let me show you the position that I first saw.
2:33:41 This was the moment when I already joined and uh the viewers
2:33:46 could not yet see the the position and I thought like okay,
2:33:48 Pranaov will win and then after the move king D6,
2:33:52 he made this incredible mistake by because okay, he has this dominant knight.
2:33:58 Yeah, he can according to computer I give knight E8 check
2:34:01 and he's winning because uh the king moves away king E6 you play
2:34:07 king F3 complete domination the king is setting to come to E4
2:34:11 the knight can give check jump around and target all the black weaknesses.
2:34:15 Uh but instead of this he made the incredible blunder
2:34:20 of pushing f4 and all of a sudden after he takes f4
2:34:24 his knight is hanging and not just the knight is hang
2:34:27 but he has just lost the pawn and he cannot capture back.
2:34:30 Clock was ticking down from to 5 seconds.
2:34:33 Then he luckily had this knight f5 check.
2:34:36 King e5 g4 and he establishes this fortress position.
2:34:40 Bishop C1, King F3, Bishop D2, Knight H6, King E6 back.
2:34:49 And of course, Bournik had to repeat.
2:34:52 He had to repeat.
2:34:53 He was lucky enough to to stay in the game.
2:34:55 Instead, played the move bishop C1.
2:34:56 And now, Computer screams that there is this study like move.
2:35:00 Knight F5 to H4, winning the game for Pana one more time.
2:35:04 The knight becomes more dominant.
2:35:06 White is starting to play king e activate the position
2:35:09 and if black plays king e5 then now white can push
2:35:12 g6 and f takes g6 knight g6 you pick up
2:35:15 the f4 pawn and the knight is fantastic piece plus a pawn.
2:35:20 So missed opportunities for both sides.
2:35:23 I would finally argue that it had a logical
2:35:25 conclusion that the game end in a draw because king
2:35:29 e4 f3 king f3 bishop king e5 super important
2:35:33 king e5 bhortnik very alert activating the king not allowing
2:35:37 this grip because pav was definitely can't go bishop g5
2:35:41 king e4 and good luck protecting this position because white
2:35:44 has super control of the things but just quickly
2:35:48 to rush to that position that we saw knight b8 Apparently,
2:35:53 it's completely winning, but it's winning with a very delicate little touch.
2:35:58 Bishop D6, hitting the knight, which anyway wants to come to C6.
2:36:01 So, it's counterintuitive.
2:36:03 But after knight C6, you fall back with the bishop to C7 and all you have to do
2:36:07 is guard that A5 pawn because that pawn will win you the game.
2:36:11 And then you pick up the B3 pawn and you get access to A4.
2:36:14 And then it should be an elemental win.
2:36:16 a very difficult move to find this bishop d6 with 5 seconds on the clock.
2:36:22 Yeah.
2:36:22 So again, the the nature of freestyle chess.
2:36:25 Both players at different points in the game had opportunities.
2:36:28 Both of them at times letting those opportunities slip.
2:36:31 Either way, they go to half a point a piece.
2:36:33 We're already into round number 10.
2:36:36 So, we've got to catch up with some games here because again,
2:36:38 just two rounds to go now for each of our players
2:36:41 to finalize and solidify their place in the standings here.
2:36:45 Everybody hunting for that top spot or at least a podium finish,
2:36:48 a little bit of prize money,
2:36:49 some freestyle Friday circuit points to add to their name,
2:36:52 and ultimately the ability to climb the ladder.
2:36:55 Uh we've got Materia and Kimer who are our current front runners.
2:36:58 So Marco Material would be one matchup to look at.
2:37:00 Otherwise, Vincent Kimer,
2:37:02 I'd say we lock in on either of our two front runners who
2:37:05 are looking to continue to separate from the rest of the Chase pack.
2:37:08 Peter, where would you like to go?
2:37:11 Let's go to Winston because he's already in a lot of trouble.
2:37:13 He's seemingly lost with white.
2:37:15 Uh, how did he lose the console?
2:37:17 Yeah, look at this.
2:37:18 It is just move 10.
2:37:20 It's move 10.
2:37:21 And apparently it's a completely losing position.
2:37:24 Well, it it looks very bad because black
2:37:26 has not sacrificed anything for this monster attack.
2:37:29 By the way, you can't go to D1 because of queen H5 check.
2:37:33 And Vincent cannot believe it.
2:37:36 Just cannot believe it.
2:37:37 Losing in 10 moves in a very important game.
2:37:42 Yeah, he's stunned just as we are.
2:37:47 Wow.
2:37:51 And there's no way to fight because even after king F1, King H.
2:37:55 Yeah.
2:37:56 Yeah.
2:37:56 King F1 had to be played.
2:38:01 Mhm.
2:38:01 But Navin needs a miracle to survive the next couple of moves.
2:38:04 Not Not to talk about the game.
2:38:06 Just next couple of moves is a miracle, right?
2:38:09 I mean there's because at this point king king is ultra unsafe
2:38:14 but now you can't get your your rook on G1 involved in the game.
2:38:19 It's going to be incredibly difficult and yeah just
2:38:23 so much pressure clamping down on white's position right here.
2:38:28 Yeah.
2:38:29 How you are not getting checkmated?
2:38:30 That's the big question because with this king
2:38:34 on F1 and you lost the right to castle,
2:38:36 you have never any safety and that the king will
2:38:39 stay in danger zone till the end of the game.
2:38:43 This queen H5 is a monster move.
2:38:45 You can just sacrifice the rook and I think it was just played.
2:38:48 Yeah, queen H5.
2:38:50 It was killing move.
2:38:51 Gets the double Xclam.
2:38:57 If anything, it's a double xclam just
2:38:59 for how dominant the position is here for black.
2:39:04 Yes.
2:39:05 And the problem is that of course with white you would
2:39:07 at least want to pick up something but bishop takes I I thought
2:39:13 like queen f3 check is a very strong move but computer says
2:39:17 that bishop g2 check but that is I think impossible to see.
2:39:20 So, queen f3 check.
2:39:22 Knight f2 is the position that the players are calculating.
2:39:25 And then knight h3 and you're in a complete box.
2:39:28 Vincent clock is also ticking down to 19 seconds.
2:39:32 What will he play?
2:39:35 He might not even play at this.
2:39:37 Okay, he does.
2:39:37 He's going to bring his knight out to F2.
2:39:41 Doesn't want to admit defeat just yet,
2:39:43 but realizing the disastrous nature of his position,
2:39:46 he gives away the bishop in the end.
2:39:48 He will capture back with a pawn here on F4.
2:39:52 Castle coming through.
2:39:55 Yes, for our player.
2:39:56 And black's king is enjoying the party far away from action.
2:40:01 And white's king is in the middle of dire straits.
2:40:05 So takes takes.
2:40:08 Black can pick up the pawn.
2:40:09 Black can give up.
2:40:11 Black can also give the check and pick up the D5 pawn.
2:40:13 Also the knight can jump from H8 to G6 joining the party.
2:40:21 Vincent.
2:40:21 Queen D4.
2:40:22 A fancy move.
2:40:22 Queen out.
2:40:24 O.
2:40:24 Queen D5.
2:40:26 Picking up.
2:40:26 Queen D5.
2:40:27 Knight D5.
2:40:28 Knight takes F4.
2:40:28 Knight D5 was a fork.
2:40:30 Was a problem.
2:40:31 And E5.
2:40:37 Just 10 seconds a piece.
2:40:38 So, still looking for Victor to play accurately here.
2:40:43 King D1.
2:40:44 You have to try to run.
2:40:46 Yeah.
2:40:47 He's going to attempt that run.
2:40:51 The queen will infiltrate once again on to G2.
2:40:55 There goes the pawn.
2:40:56 Trade of pieces at the center of the board.
2:40:58 Less and less material here for Vincent to work
2:41:00 with though in a collapsing position to boot down two pawns.
2:41:05 But but at least he survived checkmate.
2:41:08 Yes.
2:41:08 So I think he's happy that he's still in the game.
2:41:10 And he rook on G2.
2:41:12 Oh no.
2:41:14 Cannot believe this.
2:41:16 And Vincent can't believe it either.
2:41:20 Oh, what a disastrous way for that game to end for Victor.
2:41:27 Vincent again.
2:41:28 He's stunned.
2:41:29 It's back in his chair.
2:41:30 Go ahead.
2:41:31 Sorry.
2:41:33 Yes.
2:41:33 I wanted to say that actually Victor
2:41:35 should have closed this game before because he
2:41:38 had all the chances already when he let Vincent escape to this kind of stuff.
2:41:44 When after rook G2, I already did not like
2:41:47 rook G2 because suddenly with this king on C8, there are all kinds of checks.
2:41:51 Yeah, Vincently jumped on the possibility setting up the queen
2:41:54 a check perpetual ideas and the players are down to 5 seconds.
2:42:00 It's already not easy to to win this.
2:42:02 He should have look at this position.
2:42:04 He had this position with not sacrificing anything.
2:42:08 White is getting checkmated.
2:42:10 a crushing position and then Vincent somehow hangs
2:42:14 on and then not only survives but wins.
2:42:17 This is absolutely crazy.
2:42:20 Yeah, I I mean good good on Vincent to keep the game at least running, right?
2:42:24 To keep it moving, to keep the to keep the game
2:42:27 going and again relying on a a mistake from the opponent, right?
2:42:32 And that is that is the nature of it.
2:42:33 did he did require a mistake out of Victor to get that one back,
2:42:36 but that mistake did come and immediately
2:42:39 the resignation will follow because he realizes
2:42:42 that somebody like Vincent Kimer given that opportunity
2:42:45 is ultimately going to take the victory.
2:42:46 So just like that in what looked like maybe a dead lost position.
2:42:51 Vincent now finds himself at 8 and a half points.
2:42:53 He's now leading the tournament once again.
2:42:55 Half a point lead over Pronov who also
2:42:58 just took a decisive victory over Natalyia Buksa.
2:43:01 So he gets a full point to keep himself within striking distance.
2:43:05 Two players at eight points now chasing down Vincent Kimer with one round to go.
2:43:11 But Vincent, a guy who's already qualified as you mentioned by winning Grank,
2:43:15 he's looking to go ahead and take the top
2:43:17 spot here as he joins us for a freestyle Friday.
2:43:23 Yes.
2:43:23 Okay.
2:43:24 But I'm still under complete shock.
2:43:26 And I believe also Vince, if we have a little time,
2:43:28 let's just see how did this first 10 moves happened.
2:43:31 How did he end up in losing position like this?
2:43:34 Because we know that he's the big freestyle maestro.
2:43:37 What happened in which trap did he fell?
2:43:40 He or or did he I mean really what happened here?
2:43:46 Okay, F4, he outsmarted himself or he missed something.
2:43:50 B3.
2:43:51 Okay, everything fairly logical,
2:43:53 but black has certainly solved all his problems.
2:43:57 So, Vincent being very ambitious, he goes for knight CC and he got hit by G5.
2:44:02 Oh, wow.
2:44:04 Look at this.
2:44:05 All of black's pieces are lined up to make this move perfect.
2:44:11 The rook opens up.
2:44:12 The queen from B8, the bishop from A8 are jumping on white's position.
2:44:17 And all of a sudden, white is lost.
2:44:19 Yes.
2:44:19 So just one careless move after B6, knight C3.
2:44:22 He should have first taken care of the the king's side.
2:44:26 Yeah, the right side of the board.
2:44:27 But instead played the natural looking looking move,
2:44:29 knight C3 and got hit by G5 and things got completely out of control.
2:44:34 In fact, he just lost.
2:44:37 But how interesting is that?
2:44:38 So often uh on the freestyle circuit, we talk about the threat that is inherent
2:44:44 in those cornered bishops and cornered queens, right?
2:44:47 So, in some ways, it's almost surprising to me that a player
2:44:50 like Vincent maybe forgot it or overlooked it for a moment, right?
2:44:54 And fell victim to that very same thing.
2:44:57 What I feel like is one of the few trends
2:44:59 that we've so far been able to identify, you know,
2:45:02 only a year or two into the freestyle chess journey
2:45:05 at this point is always the threat of those dormant diagonals,
2:45:10 that queen, that bishop staring you down from either
2:45:13 A1, A8, H1 or H8 and finding a way to involve them.
2:45:17 And it was uh a beautiful move uh at least
2:45:21 from the black side of the board to get the winning position.
2:45:23 unfortunately could not take that winning position
2:45:25 and convert it into the victory in the end.
2:45:27 Vincent Kimer though sitting at 8 8 and a half as I mentioned before.
2:45:31 Pranov and Dao, they're the two who are chasing at eight points
2:45:34 a piece and Mataria still within striking distance at 7 and a half
2:45:38 but at this point he relies on Vincent or Prana or Vincent
2:45:41 rather uh falling down in the final round with a decisive loss.
2:45:45 A victory would equalize.
2:45:47 This is the overall standings as it appears through 10 rounds today.
2:45:52 We've got Vincent right now looking
2:45:53 to take home 10 freestyle Friday circuit points.
2:45:58 Again, he doesn't need them to qualify to the World Championship,
2:46:02 but it does mean that somebody else is not getting those 10 points
2:46:05 in their quest to qualify for the 2027 Fed Freestyle Chess World Championship.
2:46:12 One more time, we see this narrative.
2:46:14 Yeah, that Bortik missed out that win at the end against Pranov and went
2:46:18 on to lose to Yakubo and Pranov surviving that scare wins and makes a huge jump.
2:46:24 Yeah, that carrying this momentum.
2:46:27 Yeah, this these kind of things are super
2:46:30 important because the players never have any breaks.
2:46:32 Yeah, you finish your game and like in two seconds or five seconds sometimes,
2:46:36 okay, you get the luxury of 10 seconds to get ready for the next game.
2:46:42 It's it's absolutely mind-blowing.
2:46:46 It is.
2:46:46 We're we're demanding a lot out of these players here on a Friday morning,
2:46:51 Friday evening, wherever you are around the world.
2:46:53 Thank you so much for joining us here as we uh or reach the ultimate
2:46:58 round uh coming out of the penultimate round
2:47:00 and into the final round here, round 11.
2:47:02 Only a few players are in position to take the top spot,
2:47:06 but of course uh there's a reason to play
2:47:08 for everything in terms of the podium finish.
2:47:10 Again, $1,000 prize pool being split amongst
2:47:12 the top finishers as well as those allimportant
2:47:15 circuit points if you want to qualify
2:47:17 towards the 2027 Feday Freestyle World Championship.
2:47:21 I do see the pairings are out and now I see the clocks beginning to tick.
2:47:26 So, we should dive in to our uh final round here.
2:47:29 I think no better place to go than Vincent Kimer.
2:47:31 He is the guy who if he gets it done here and now with a decisive victory,
2:47:35 he locks up the top spot.
2:47:37 He's the only guy with eight and a half points uh to his name right now.
2:47:40 Can move to nine and a half and be
2:47:42 uncatchable in his matchup against Arujia at the moment.
2:47:48 Yes, I think already whatever happens you also have to give
2:47:51 huge credit to Afuza Hamdanova uh
2:47:55 player from Pakistan extremely impressive performance.
2:48:01 Yeah, playing this I don't know how much experience she has with with freestyle.
2:48:06 I think that she did play in the grand event
2:48:09 which certainly gave her fantastic uh experience playing against the very
2:48:14 best players on the hotel stage there in in a playing
2:48:18 hall packed with three and a half thousand players.
2:48:22 It's it's a very special event.
2:48:25 I had the honor of doing the commentary.
2:48:27 It was always you know like uh just looking at the playing hall
2:48:30 you got this feeling that wow you are in a very special place.
2:48:34 Mhm.
2:48:35 Without a doubt.
2:48:36 Yeah.
2:48:36 The biggest of the live events, right,
2:48:38 where you really get to see kind of you both both the top dogs,
2:48:42 the big names, the people that you expect
2:48:44 to be there uh when all the dust settles,
2:48:46 but you also get to see a lot of the newer faces or uh you know,
2:48:50 kind of what we'll say is the future of the chess world,
2:48:52 right, at an event like Grank.
2:48:56 Yes.
2:48:56 And look at what Aluza is doing.
2:48:58 Actually she puts tremendous pressure on Vincent.
2:49:01 White's knight reached the beautiful destination H5.
2:49:05 Puts this tremendous pressure on the G7 F6 pawns.
2:49:08 Vincent was unable to develop the knight from F8
2:49:11 which means that there is no easy way of castling.
2:49:14 Yeah, he goes knight F4 trying to get rid of one of those monster knights.
2:49:19 So at least he managed to trade down one.
2:49:23 But the problems are not running away.
2:49:25 Where do you go with your bishop at all?
2:49:29 Yeah, it's either retreated all the way back to, you know, C7 D.
2:49:35 Yeah, there it is.
2:49:36 C7.
2:49:38 Yeah, but suddenly this queen D1 it is very un very annoying.
2:49:43 At least I was very bothered by this queen D1, queen H5 idea.
2:49:50 I'm sure that white also has many other moves but intuitively
2:49:54 with the knight stuck on f8 and the king still
2:49:57 on on e8 and white having already completed the uh
2:50:01 the development by playing short castle and the knight being on g3.
2:50:07 It is crazy.
2:50:10 Well f4 actually she beat she beat me to the suggestion of the move.
2:50:14 I was wondering if you know you you played E3,
2:50:17 do you just try to pile the pressure on, grab some space by pushing F4?
2:50:21 It's already supported by the rook.
2:50:26 But now, but she plays queen D1 now.
2:50:30 Yes, queen D1.
2:50:31 But now at least Vincent can play queen E7.
2:50:33 I felt like at least we are in time
2:50:35 to get our queen to protect against queen H5 check.
2:50:41 Okay, Vincent goes F5.
2:50:42 He has completely different ideas.
2:50:44 Okay, D4 striking the center.
2:50:49 It was a quick response there by Fujia.
2:50:53 I'm going to have to grab that up.
2:50:54 All right, the queen's involved.
2:50:56 Nicely centralized.
2:51:01 Yeah, I I think at this moment Vincent is very much in in the same
2:51:06 mood like in the previous game that how do I survive this scare?
2:51:10 But now at least he can start a counterattack opening up feels like
2:51:15 the bishop and the rook.
2:51:19 Yeah.
2:51:19 Can we just Can I not just go knight to H5 and looking at F6?
2:51:26 You can, but Knight H5 will play rook G6.
2:51:29 I will just block it.
2:51:34 Gotcha.
2:51:34 But okay, knight F6 check because actually you are supported.
2:51:38 You are supported by a lot of pieces, but she plays queen D1.
2:51:42 Not a move that the computer likes.
2:51:46 Well, she's now looking queen to E7.
2:51:51 Yeah.
2:51:51 Was maybe looking for the reroute.
2:51:52 Yeah.
2:51:53 On to H5 here with the check.
2:51:57 But this doesn't achieve too much.
2:51:59 The question is, do we block?
2:52:01 We have a couple options for blocking.
2:52:03 or do we just slide the king to the left?
2:52:08 Yeah, if you would have asked me a couple of moves ago,
2:52:10 I would say ah queen f7 and I'm very happy.
2:52:13 But knowing that already I feel happy with black and long castle
2:52:16 is being a serious option just advocating king from the danger zone
2:52:20 and then delivering tremendous pressure and now Vincent will be trading
2:52:24 the queens and we'll jump with the knight to e5 or to h4.
2:52:29 at this boss.
2:52:30 The rook is hitting on G5, but there will be some bishop F6.
2:52:39 I felt like the knight jumps to E5 or to H4.
2:52:42 I wasn't completely sure.
2:52:47 Bishop's bishop F6 is an interesting resource.
2:52:51 That's what she'll go for.
2:52:52 Does defend the pawn at least for the time being.
2:52:56 Yeah, Vincent picks up the pawn on G2 quite quickly.
2:53:01 Yes, but there is some bishop D1 or E4.
2:53:03 Okay, white is but knight E3.
2:53:06 You shouldn't have allowed this knight E3
2:53:09 because if the the light squareed bishop
2:53:11 is captured then black is not totally safe.
2:53:18 Yeah, this game completely turned on its head here.
2:53:21 Yeah.
2:53:21 And now so black is winning material because if the knight moves
2:53:24 bishop takes E4 wins not only the pawn but wins the house.
2:53:29 Oh my goodness.
2:53:30 Yeah, the position's completely falling apart here for A Fuja.
2:53:35 Yes, that's it.
2:53:35 And then Vincent wins the game and wins
2:53:37 the tournament by playing two completely crazy games that he
2:53:42 will be shaking his head and me as a coach I will be very critical of that.
2:53:47 No, no, no.
2:53:48 I don't care that you won the I don't
2:53:50 care that you won the tournament if you win,
2:53:52 but how could you have paid like this?
2:53:54 That's how I feel as a coach.
2:53:57 Yeah, that that's a that's a that's a call that I think a lot
2:54:00 of people would love to be a fly on the wall for because yeah,
2:54:03 that is that's a probably a difficulty both as a player
2:54:06 and as a coach to be in a position where uh you know,
2:54:10 you you come away the winner,
2:54:11 but that you still need to have that ability to look critically on your own
2:54:14 play and identify those points where if a couple things have gone differently,
2:54:19 you wouldn't be at the top of the podium.
2:54:21 You wouldn't be in that number one spot.
2:54:25 Exactly.
2:54:25 Yeah.
2:54:26 So now basically white has to design I think.
2:54:28 Yeah that's what Afroua does.
2:54:31 The knight is trapped on H5.
2:54:32 Vincent wins the tournament.
2:54:34 Big congratation to him.
2:54:35 But the day for Vincent is only beginning because
2:54:38 we have a big talk about these last two games.
2:54:42 Yes.
2:54:42 Yeah.
2:54:43 A big talk to come.
2:54:44 But how some seemingly poetic though this finish uh if I may.
2:54:49 The very first of the freestyle events from last
2:54:53 year at the beginning of our circuit in Weisenhouse.
2:54:55 It was Vincent Kimer who comes out on top, takes the the first place slot.
2:55:00 And now in our first live freestyle Friday streamed for the world to see.
2:55:05 Vincent Kimer as well comes out on top.
2:55:08 He kind of continues to separate himself and prove
2:55:10 himself to be one of the best within the format.
2:55:13 And it's a good example of what all the players
2:55:15 below him in these freestyle Fridays are chasing, what they're after,
2:55:19 the level of competition that they're going to have to rise to if they want
2:55:23 to qualify in and contest for that world
2:55:25 championship next year through these freestyle Fridays.
2:55:31 So I think for example, Prrenov knowing that he's leading,
2:55:34 he still has a game we should be heading there.
2:55:36 I believe he's against playing against up against Vhidov.
2:55:40 A very interesting kind of end game because it looks super drawish.
2:55:43 If it would be a classical game, the players would agree.
2:55:46 But with few seconds on the clock, is someone playing for a win at all knowing
2:55:50 the tournament situation or they will finally feel like,
2:55:53 okay, we both played a good game.
2:55:55 What to do?
2:55:56 We have to settle for a draw.
2:55:59 Yeah, I think if you're Pranov, you definitely want to fight for the win.
2:56:03 Um because a win here puts you into second.
2:56:06 Right now, you're sitting in third at uh eight points.
2:56:09 A draw will tie you for second alongside Marco Materia,
2:56:13 but a full win gets second place, which is a few extra points and uh
2:56:19 a sizable difference in the prize pool as well.
2:56:21 So, he's going to fight on as long
2:56:23 as he feels like there are any winning chances.
2:56:26 Right now, it's looking like a fairly drawish position.
2:56:30 Yes, if if anyone then it is black who can play.
2:56:33 The good news for Prenov is that he can just sit and wait.
2:56:37 Just shuffle the rook on the second.
2:56:39 Okay, he first plays G3.
2:56:41 He doesn't change anything because whenever black plays rook BC,
2:56:44 there's a rook check on the fourth rank.
2:56:46 Uh that's the defense he's relying on.
2:56:51 So expecting this one very much so to fizzle to a draw in the end.
2:56:54 A little bit more shuffling of pieces here.
2:56:56 Looking to see if anybody will make an uncharacteristic mistake,
2:56:59 but we can expect both of these players point totals to go
2:57:02 from 8 to 8 1/2 and 7 to 7 and 1/2.
2:57:06 A strong showing by both players here.
2:57:08 Aladd 12.
2:57:14 A share of second place there alongside Marco Mataria.
2:57:17 Eight and a half points a piece,
2:57:19 but still a full point behind the likes of Vincent Kimer.
2:57:22 You can see you share fourth place as well between Dao
2:57:24 and uh Mo uh Mohammadi at uh eight points a piece
2:57:30 and then a three-way tie at seven and a half
2:57:33 before we round out the top 10 here with seven points.
2:57:35 So that was the marker of making it into the top 10.
2:57:38 Now, as you can see, all those players are going to walk away
2:57:41 with freestyle Friday championship points there in the rightmost column,
2:57:45 but it's Vincent Kimer who gets 10 to his name.
2:57:47 Somewhat irrelevant for him in the overall arc of the year.
2:57:51 Again, more than anything, what it what it means is none
2:57:53 of the other players managed to get those 10 points,
2:57:56 which they very much need if they want
2:57:57 to get the freestyle Friday bid to the world championship.
2:58:00 Pronov, he'll add five points to his total,
2:58:03 he already led the overall standings.
2:58:05 It's Marco Materia then probably of all
2:58:07 the players that we would look at as somebody who made some real progress today
2:58:10 in the overall standings being second to Vincent Kimer,
2:58:14 but gaining two points in his chase against Pronov in the overall standings.
2:58:20 But on the other hand, I think also Pranov can be satisfied because
2:58:23 he's leading the field and he gets five points.
2:58:27 He also had a wonderful event.
2:58:29 Uh he okay there were all this crazy tops turvy moment.
2:58:34 Yes.
2:58:35 So it's very difficult to highlight that.
2:58:37 Yes, he could have won against Bournik.
2:58:39 He could have also lost that game.
2:58:41 So normally finally it always equals out throughout the event.
2:58:46 Uh but he keeps the lead.
2:58:48 I think I think Bhournik will be kicking himself
2:58:52 a bit of not making more out of his chances.
2:58:56 Uh because I agree Jakob Boy played a fantastic
2:59:01 event and that game against Mater Marco Material.
2:59:05 Yeah, when he could have captured back the rook
2:59:07 with the bishop and it's game over and it's probably his tournament.
2:59:11 Uh and then things got completely out of control.
2:59:14 Finally losing the last run to Conrad hold finishing with a disastrous uh
2:59:20 tournament having had five out of five and playing brilliant chess early on.
2:59:26 Yeah.
2:59:26 Such is the nature of freestyle chess as well as the Swiss format.
2:59:30 Right.
2:59:30 For a lot of these players, they would have started the day very hot,
2:59:33 maybe three, four, five wins in a row.
2:59:35 And then as those pairings get more and more difficult,
2:59:38 we start to see some of the losses,
2:59:39 some of the draws come through and the standings really begin to take shape.
2:59:43 Uh we speak about the ups and downs,
2:59:45 uh the topsyturvy nature of freestyle Friday.
2:59:48 It's probably not an easy choice.
2:59:50 Uh but Peter Leo, I now put it to you.
2:59:52 We've got to come up with a make.com move of the day.
2:59:56 across 11 rounds, was there any particular move,
3:00:00 any player that impressed you the most?
3:00:02 Any move that stood out as being the lynch pin
3:00:06 for the results that we see here on our screens today?
3:00:11 You actually put him on the spot because I feel like we have seen so
3:00:15 much we have seen so much action that I was about to lose my mind.
3:00:20 Yeah, because I was looking left and right, back and forth games,
3:00:23 crazy games and uh do we get some help from someone, some hint, any candidates?
3:00:31 Because then if we get candidates,
3:00:32 then it will be easier for me to to to select that.
3:00:36 Ah, of course that was something very special.
3:00:40 Yeah, we don't have any.
3:00:41 Although maybe in the future, in the future,
3:00:44 I will keep an eagle eye on on the chat uh like the Twitch chat in the future.
3:00:48 If any viewers want to throw out what they feel like was a move of the day,
3:00:51 we can take some candidate moves from from chat in the future.
3:00:55 I think today we might be being left to our own
3:00:58 devices though uh to come up with a critical move.
3:01:02 I you know what's interesting is I can think of more
3:01:05 blunders today that feel like they shaped the results necessarily
3:01:10 than somebody who laid a trap you know and had
3:01:13 uh you know maybe who came who created their own opportunity.
3:01:19 Yes.
3:01:19 Because of course uh I'm having Vincent Gibbs in my mind.
3:01:24 Yeah.
3:01:24 There was this game against Pranov when he captured the pawn,
3:01:28 the poisoned pawn with the rook on E6.
3:01:30 And I had this feeling like no, no, no, no, no, don't do that.
3:01:34 But I don't know if that is that is certainly not the move of the day.
3:01:40 O yeah, it's it's kind of tricky.
3:01:44 Well, Pranaf had Prof.
3:01:47 Yeah, because somehow I have all the missed
3:01:49 opportunity in my head from from all the players.
3:01:54 Well, we could also do that, too.
3:01:56 I think it's it's okay for us to use a moment to be instructive.
3:01:59 We could show maybe with the blunder a blunder
3:02:02 and show what the proper move would have been, right?
3:02:05 You know, how to how to keep the game alive or maybe they to, you know,
3:02:08 to to keep it within a winning position for one
3:02:11 player where they ultimately did let it slip through their fingers.
3:02:15 Uh, I think there's no rules ultimately when it
3:02:17 comes to the the Make.com move of the day.
3:02:20 The rules are for us to decide what qualifies and what does not.
3:02:25 Yes.
3:02:25 Well, actually then uh I would I would even call for the game between Vincent K
3:02:31 and Victor the the penultimate game this G6
3:02:34 G5 because that was like such a shocker.
3:02:38 It just highlights that how tricky
3:02:40 and how complex and difficult freestyle chess is
3:02:43 that Vincent Kimer basically who has also won
3:02:46 this event by surviving that move later on.
3:02:49 uh could also have been fooled.
3:02:52 Yeah, I I think then maybe let's go with G6 G5 if you agree with me.
3:02:55 But if you have any other suggestion, I'm absolutely free to
3:03:00 No, I And again, I like this because I think it it it keys into what
3:03:04 is becoming at least one of the few
3:03:07 common and identifying themes within freestyle chess, right?
3:03:10 What are those early threats on the board?
3:03:12 What are the things when you get especially in these faster time controls
3:03:15 again without the benefit of an analysis portion you get dropped into a 3-2
3:03:21 you know blitz game you only have so many seconds to identify
3:03:25 a couple key factors right and I think one of the things that we'll
3:03:29 constantly look at is cornered queens cornered bishops and the threat that they
3:03:32 lay with just a single pawn move to open them up and if
3:03:36 you don't properly identify that threat if you don't give that threat
3:03:39 the proper amount of weight in your response you can fall victim to it.
3:03:43 Now, in this case, Vincent ultimately is able to weather the storm,
3:03:46 but it could have been disastrous.
3:03:49 Yes.
3:03:49 Yeah.
3:03:49 Basically, G6 G5 could have turned the whole tournament up and down.
3:03:55 Yes.
3:03:55 So, I believe that this this definitely deserves to be the move of the day.
3:04:00 Move number six.
3:04:02 It is move number six.
3:04:04 And black takes over and white gets a almost
3:04:07 hopelessly lost position from a seemingly normal one.
3:04:10 I think there is no better way to illustrate the complexity of freestyle chess,
3:04:15 fishandom chess than to highlight this moment.
3:04:20 Yeah.
3:04:20 So simple as that, right?
3:04:21 And and and the idea that a game could hinge on one move six,
3:04:25 but two, a pawn move.
3:04:27 Uh but more importantly, what the pawn move,
3:04:29 as you're highlighting with these arrows here,
3:04:31 represent in terms of all of the threats that it's enabling in one moment.
3:04:36 And the way that the pieces in some way were already set
3:04:39 up to work in concert with each other from the starting position, right?
3:04:43 That bishop, that queen, that rook, they didn't move.
3:04:46 They didn't need to move to be effective.
3:04:48 All they needed was for their sightelines to be opened up,
3:04:51 for the pawns to be in the right place.
3:04:53 Vincent didn't identify the, you know, the the weight of that threat initially,
3:04:58 and he suffered for it greatly throughout the game.
3:05:02 But of course, due to the caliber of player that he is, he stuck with it.
3:05:06 He held strong and he was ultimately able
3:05:08 to kind of weasle his way back into that one.
3:05:10 But again, maybe a part of the conversation you'll
3:05:12 be having is there should never have been that opportunity.
3:05:15 We shouldn't have been in that position to begin with.
3:05:17 We should have been able to see this one ahead of time.
3:05:21 Yeah, for sure.
3:05:22 And I I completely believe in it that after the move G6 G5,
3:05:27 Vincent was falling from his chair.
3:05:29 Yeah, he was so upset that how could I have missed it and now I'm lost.
3:05:33 Yeah, those are the swords that crosses your mind once you are hit with G6 G5.
3:05:38 And beautifully highlighted James that the the reason
3:05:41 why it is so easy to underestimate
3:05:43 the potential of this move that black has not developed a single piece yet.
3:05:47 Yeah, that is the absolutely shocking uh situation.
3:05:51 Let's just put the pawn back to G6.
3:05:54 So, one would argue I'm making a developing move with the knight.
3:05:57 My opponent will also maybe develop the knight to C6.
3:06:00 It will be a slow affair.
3:06:01 I'm coming out with my knight.
3:06:03 I'm playing a strategical game.
3:06:05 And all of a sudden, black ignores all of that and says, "Wait a second.
3:06:09 I only need this one pawn push to make all my pieces come to life at once.
3:06:15 And there is just no way for white to hold on to all
3:06:18 the all the problems that uh that are opening up against him.
3:06:23 And the next couple of moves I think just highlighted takes takes
3:06:27 knight E6 bishop D3 knight takes F4 bishop takes H7 queen E5.
3:06:33 It would have been not only our move of the day it would have been the game
3:06:37 of the day if Victor would have rewarded
3:06:40 himself because he really deserved to win this.
3:06:43 Uh and also queen H5.
3:06:46 Let me just show one more time this.
3:06:48 What happens if Vincent picks up the rook?
3:06:50 Yeah.
3:06:50 If white plays bishop takes g8 then white can simply play queen f3 check.
3:06:56 This is the human move.
3:06:57 Let me highlight what computer says and why
3:06:59 we don't like to play against computer.
3:07:00 Computer says I have this tremendous bishop g2 check.
3:07:04 It's crazy.
3:07:05 What is this?
3:07:06 You are sacrificing your best bishop and yeah I'm taking this.
3:07:11 You give queen f check.
3:07:13 And if the king moves then knight d
3:07:15 knight takes g2 is the checkmate against king g1.
3:07:18 You can even choose between knight H3 check or queen takes G2 checkmate both.
3:07:23 And if you play rook F2 then queen takes H1 checkmates.
3:07:28 And of course the best move is knight F2.
3:07:30 But it also does not have because queen takes G2,
3:07:33 king E1, queen G1 delivers checkmate.
3:07:36 So basically thanks to the move of the day,
3:07:40 black could have delivered checkmate in 15 moves to to Vincent Kimer.
3:07:46 Absolutely amazing.
3:07:47 If Vincent falls for bishop takes G8, of course,
3:07:50 he was fighting on with knight F2, queen takes H7, G.
3:07:54 But after long castle, uh it's clear that black should have won this game.
3:07:58 100 out of 100.
3:08:01 Yeah, I'm glad we had the follow-up though and we
3:08:03 showed the showed these preceding moves because I think
3:08:06 it does it kind of brings full circle the reason
3:08:08 why we've chosen it as the move of the day.
3:08:11 The move of the day.
3:08:12 It could have been the game of the day.
3:08:14 Unfortunately, it didn't materialize there.
3:08:16 and Vincent Kimer will get away with a little bit
3:08:18 of something ultimately taking the first of our live freestyle Fridays.
3:08:23 A reminder for you at home,
3:08:24 if you want to participate every single Friday on chess.com freestyle Fridays,
3:08:28 you can go ahead and throw your hat
3:08:30 in the ring with the world's best compete and who knows,
3:08:33 maybe qualify for the 2027 Freestyle
3:08:36 uh Feday Freestyle Chess World Championship.
3:08:39 That's going to conclude our broadcast though.
3:08:40 So, Peter, thank you so much for joining me.
3:08:43 We are doing these live streams once a month.
3:08:45 They will be every second Friday uh throughout the year.
3:08:49 So while the event happens every Friday for you as a player,
3:08:52 you can join us on one once a month rather
3:08:54 to spotlight the top level play alongside myself and Peter Leco.
3:08:58 For now though, that's going to do it for us.
3:09:00 We'll see you in June.
3:09:01 Until next time, stay healthy, stay safe, and be good to each other.
3:09:04 Good night.
3:09:16 Hey, hey, hey.
3:09:43 Hey, hey, hey.
3:10:02 Heat.
3:10:03 Heat.
3:10:04 N.
3:10:15 Heat.
3:10:33 Heat.
3:10:39 Heat.
3:10:40 Heat.
3:10:52 Heat.
3:10:54 Heat.
3:11:14 Heat.
3:11:15 Heat.
3:12:17 Hey, hey, hey.
3:12:31 Heat.
3:12:33 Heat.