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I am looking for replays similar to chessgames.com's format but which don't contain any spoilers (winner, list of moves, text or images that could give a hint as to how the game went on...) to enjoy as much as possible the games of the 2013 Candidates Tournament currently being held in London:

Does anyone know about a website offering such replays?

PS: just to clarify, I'm not looking for live coverage, such replays posted once the game has been played.

Max
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  • I haven't really heard of spoiler free chess games before. It usually shows all of the moves along with the victor. – Travis J Mar 14 '13 at 09:24
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    :( I hope there are some out there. Just makes a huge difference not knowing who won or how many moves there are left when reviewing a game, it's almost as if you were seeing it live. Also, it becomes much more difficult to have an objective analysis of moves and positions when you know who's won anyway. – Max Mar 14 '13 at 09:43

4 Answers4

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If you use Scid, then you can turn on the option "Hide next move". That also hides the result of the game. The option is intended for training purposes (solitaire chess, also known as "guess the next move").

You can download a PGN file of the games, and open it with Scid. Don't open the game list window (because it shows results), but first turn on the hide next move option and then choose "Next game" (ctrl-down).

That's one way.

RemcoGerlich
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  • That's a good idea, now I need to find a website which shares those PGN files without saying who the winner is: `do you know about such a website?` – Max Mar 14 '13 at 15:04
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    We'll see when the tournament has started. Perhaps Mark Weeks' world championship pages will update during the tournament (http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indx.htm), or there will be a PGN link from one of the tournament sites, probably at http://london2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=4 . – RemcoGerlich Mar 14 '13 at 15:42
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    @user359650, got any friends who'd be willing to download and then send you a PGN of the games without spoiling them? That'd work. – ETD Mar 14 '13 at 23:19
  • Indeed that would work. I'm surprised though no website is offering such replays, and I can't imagine people watching all the games live as it seems way too time consuming, so I guess people just watch replays knowing who's won, a bit sad IMO. – Max Mar 15 '13 at 07:39
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Here is some more detail about RemcoGerlich's solution for those who want:

  1. Download the PGN file for desired round from http://london2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=4

    enter image description here

    note: the PGN file contains the all the matches for that round (i.e. 4)

  2. Download and install Scid (http://scid.sourceforge.net/download.html)

  3. Open Scid and hide the right hand side tab (which shows list of moves and winner) by dragging it close.
  4. Hide the next moves (Option->Game Information->Hide next move)
  5. Open the PGN file (File->Open)
    note: Scid will automatically load the first game
  6. Switch to whatever game you want (Game->Load (previous/next) game)

Following that method here is the information I see about each game (displayed at the bottom):

enter image description here

Max
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Also, chessgames.com has an option to hide results:

TIP: Some people don't like to know the result of the game in advance. This can be done by registering a free account then visiting your preferences page, then checking "Don't show game results".

Daniel
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  • Not bad. Few problems reomain though: if you browse the games via the tournament page (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=80233&crosstable=1, which seems the only convenient way to do so, otherwise you need to make manual searches for every game) the first thing you see at the top is the overall ranking, you also see number of moves in games table, and list of moves when replaying the game. – Max Mar 20 '13 at 11:18
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I use FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) combined with my favourite Chess GUI (graphic user interface) of all time, BabasChess.

I logon to FICS via BabasChess and type in the console "ex GMCarlsen -1", or "ex GMKramnik - 1" and flick through the moves of their last game using ALT - Left arrow, making sure the moves of the game are not displayed (right click board, turn off moves).

The Candidates tourny is on too late for me to watch live, so this has been my routine every morning for the past week.

Of course, if you want to watch the games live FICS relays them and you can chat and discuss the game in the chat window.

b1_
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  • Thanks for sharing `FICS`. Btw, I do have the same morning routine where I review the previous day's games while having breakfast, nice way to get up I found :) – Max Mar 29 '13 at 09:57