Let the World Championship begin!

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Let the World Championship begin!

Hi Hugh:

Tie break Wed., May 30 ( not Tuesday ). You got the time right! 50% = pass.

Bob

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: Let the World Championship begin!

I am going to go over Karpov-Kasparov games from the '80s. As in music, same in chess, those times seem to have been golden. Unfortunately, this match is a disappointment - 9 short draws, 1 blunder, 1 uninspired game, and 1 active draw where nobody was really in danger.

[Gordon Ritchie]

When to Offer a Draw?

Just watched the live stream from Moscow with Kramnik commenting. He was dumbfounded by Anand's decision. His judgment is that while the position is certainly drawish, Anand had all the chances plus a huge time advantage. At the least, Anand could have probed for another few moves to make Gelfand uncomfortable. He was astounded when they shook hands on Anand's instigation. At the press conference, Anand simply shrugged and observed that when there was no life left in the position he didn't want to prolong the agony. A striking contrast. Make of it what you will.
BTW, when asked about their record in quick chess encounters, Anand claimed he could not recall. Fat chance. By my MegaBase, it appears he has crushed Gelfand +10=18-1 i.e. 10:1 on decided games, 2:1 overall. Perhaps this is the simplest explanation for Anand's disappointing unwillingness to take risks over the board in classic encounters.

[David Ottosen]

Re: When to Offer a Draw?

Anand simply shrugged and observed that when there was no life left in the position he didn't want to prolong the agony.

Imbalanced position with B vs N, substantially different pawn structures, kings very different level of activity = no life according to our WC. I mean, if you say "look, I think I'll win the rapids so I decided to draw" or "I'm not in my best form right now" or whatever, I can respect that. Calling this position lifeless or referring to playing it as "agony" is pretty appalling for the purported best player in the world.

[Hal Bond]

Re: When to Offer a Draw?

Odd indeed. Odder when we see that the prize fund is split 60-40 after 12 games, but 55-45 after tiebreaks.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Let the World Championship begin!

This match has been disappointing. I didn't expect the excitement of Spassky - Fischer, where Fischer powered his way to through the Candidate matches and carried through in the final. But, I did expect more excitement than we have seen. Gelfand did emerge from quite a large field in in the knockout qualifier.

Possibly short draws which don't go much past the opening and not much out of computer analysis will become the norm.

For the love of the game, the organizers should turn off the live feed. These dull games are easier to take when flipping through the finished games than watching them live.

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: Let the World Championship begin!

This match has been disappointing. I didn't expect the excitement of Spassky - Fischer, where Fischer powered his way to through the Candidate matches and carried through in the final. But, I did expect more excitement than we have seen. Gelfand did emerge from quite a large field in in the knockout qualifier.

Possibly short draws which don't go much past the opening and not much out of computer analysis will become the norm.

For the love of the game, the organizers should turn off the live feed. These dull games are easier to take when flipping through the finished games than watching them live.

Sports commentators sometimes say "It's a real chess match out there today" or something similar. Now it would be silly for a chess commentator to say that so what should they say to convey the excitement of the match? "It's turning into a real curling match out there"?

[Michael Yip]

Re: Let the World Championship begin!

It's a slumber party out there!
At least Gelfand is going with Grunfelds and Sicilians as opposed to Petroff's and Slav's.
Hard to believe anyone is watching. I lost interest ages ago.