"this match isn't the most important event in Kramnik's life. It's unlikely he'll decide to show off his most precious analysis"

Hehe, excuses, excuses :-)

NxC3
WOOOOOWWWWWWW

mc donald *generation
*candidates matches

mc donald *generation
*candidates matches

Brilliant game.

Shipov takes chess commentary to a whole new level. And the translation is unbelievably good. Good work guys and thanks.

Nice game by Kramnik.

Seriously! Is Shipov translating the world championship? I would wish for that. And I would wish for the games to be as exciting as here (although there is a lot less at stake here). The Nxc3 was so much better than my alarm clock this morning!

21. Rxe6?!

Shipov comments are phenomenal: he is a poet. I remember (when I was a kid) his similar comments on Kasparov-Kramnik 2000 WCC match. Only Yermolinsky can be compared to him in this poetry-like fashion.

Some time ago I advocated a match between Aronian and Carlsen, just for the fun of it (and to skip all FIDE politics). There was a reaction that this wasn't realistic; who would be interested in a match about the title 'the best of Carlsen and Aronian'?
Now we have a great match about the title 'the best of Kramnik and Aronian', with great fighting games. I admit, it owes a lot to Shipov's great comments. What I like about them, is that he risks making mistakes by giving live comments, not knowing the result of the game.
These kind of matches are the essence of chess. It's not about the best crusher of the weakies, like sometimes in open tournaments, not about tactical draws as in top level tournaments, not too much about psychological pressure as in some WC matches. It's just two well-prepared top players showing their very best chess.
Please, more of this!

Game of the year?

Kramnik playing 1.e4, followed by the Scotch Four Knights, castling long, and Aronian answering with a queen sacrifice on move 11.

It's a good thing I'm not a betting man, that opening was about the last thing I expected.

The 'friendly' nature of this match is nicely underpinned by the way the players are conducting themselves post match.

Aronian explaining his g5 move: "I was preventing the draw and I managed to do it" *laughing*

I loved aronians description (16:10 of the post match video) of the computers recommendation of Rb8 as a 'very sad move'.

To me, this comment underpins my dismay at the over reliance on the computer by the commentators.

The players are not computers, they are highly intelligent and creative people playing fighting chess, it's a battle of technique, with tension and courage in abundance as they test each others ideas and seek to impose their game. This is also why the psychology of the moves described by the players during the post-mortem is infinitely more interesting to me than the computer evaluations.

Like most people, I can see the computer evaluation and main lines as I follow the game, so there's no need for the commentators to provide that. They are in my opionion there for "Color" commentary to impart to us the subtleties that the computers can't articulate.

Sure, lets bust out the engines and seek the numerical truth of the game at an appropriate point, but during live commentary and post match doesn't strike me as the time to do so.

That was a good entertainment thanks to russian boy

Kramnit played 1. e4 !! shock of the day for me.

Great game Vladimir!
Congratulations.

Don't lose hope: you can still regain that title...
Play with your heart and you'll never be disappointed with your play again.

Congratulations to Levon for the fighting game.

This has to be the most exciting game I've watched in 2012 so far. Well done to both players.

right after first game when kramnik lost I saw few posts stating that Kramnik/Anand is weaker players !! You must feel shameful if you ever have such thing in your mind.

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This game just answer the call of times, entertaining chess.... just to please the fans all over the world :)

many thanks to chessvibes for this coverage, I particularly enjoy the annotations attached to the games, highly amusing!

great game, so fresh ! as fresh as Shipov comments !!!