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Thanks Paul, that's very interesting to see the different approaches as to what is accepotable in relation to winning reactions and game etiquette in general.

I've just been watching the last 10 minutes of Chess.24's live (at the time) feed of game 14 (beginning 4;18;30 - see below) and GM Naroditsky's suggested move for Ding after Gukesh played Ke5, was "okay, so rook f2, rook b1 check....." and GM Leko didn't disagree, and it was only when the eval. bar dropped to zero that they both saw it, so clearly Ding wasn't the only GM who missed it.

I think I'm just a bit peeved at all the online Monday morning quarterbacks that seem to be opining on this at the moment.

https://youtu.be/rqA9mvyI0j4?t=15501

I saw that same video, Brendan. The part you mention was really funny...Although I have to mention that far prior to that moment, GM Leko explained very clearly that trading one set of pieces (Bishops leaving Rooks or Rooks leaving Bishops) with 3 K-side pawns against 2 would be an easily drawn endgame, BUT that trading all the pieces would be a losing Pawn endgame for White.

I think that some other commentators spotted the blunder faster.
Howell and Houska called it immediately - see 4:28 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec_SkIkHs1Y
- but they may have been looking at the evaluation. Ditto Chessbase India.

Thanks for the David Howell's and Jovanka link, I hadn't seen that and am a fan of both.

Geeker, in the link you sent me I noticed Gukesh remains at the table and resets all the pieces except for the Kings, which he leaves side by side in the centre of the board - do you know if this is just a personal idiosyncracy of his or is there another reason for it, perhaps related to protocol?

Brendan, I saw commentary to the effect that Gukesh always resets the board. He was doing it in every game. Some other players, most notably the respected "chess gentleman" GM David Navara, are known for this.

Leaving the Kings in the center of the board is required. Big tournaments use "DGT" boards with electronic sensors, and that particular position of the Kings (is it e4 and d5? I never noted the details) signifies that the game is concluded. If the players didn't put the Kings there, an arbiter would.

Many thanks Geeker, I've always put a very high value on good manners, so that pleases me immensely:-)

Oh, I just looked it up...
At the end of a game, the Kings are placed in the e4-e5-d5-d4 square region. Both Kings on Black squares indicates Black won, both on White squares indicates White won. One on Black and one on White indicates a draw.

I just bought some nice e-books on sale from Forward Chess. They have a number of interesting titles at big reductions.

These e-books have game viewers (so you can play through the games) and Stockfish engine (so you can examine variations and evaluations).

I got:

Famous book "Life and Games of Mikhail Tal" ($9.99), as my old low-quality Batsford paperback fell apart on first reading years ago;

"The Livonian Knight: Selected games of Alvis Vitolinsh" ($4.99). I am a fan of Vitolinsh and many such less-known tactical wizards.

Can also recommend Vol. 1 of Andrey Terekhov's Vassily Smyslov biography, which I already own in physical form.

I'm also seriously considering the (physical, from Thinkers Publishing) book "Forgotten Genius: Life and Games of Albin Planinc". Planinc was a spectacular tactician who had mental problems and a short career. But the book is too pricey :-(

Wow! An actual check mate on the board - and between Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlson no less!

Yes, that was funny. On the video, Jan Gustafsson (good to see him commenting again) says "He blundered mate in one!...Hans living rent-free in Magnus Carlsen's head...I didn't think that was possible!"

Brendan, you can also find a really sad video of Ivanchuk vs. Naroditsky blitz from the same event. Danya played the King's Indian. Chuky, one of 2 players (Kramnik) to cause Garry Kimovich to abandon the KID, lost on time and broke into tears at the board.
It's from Chessbase India, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_evi2X-PY0c