Chess World Championship: Carlsen-Caruana

[Federberg]

WHAT THE FUCK!!! DRAW???

 

[Federberg]

and Magnus offered it! wow...

 

[DarthFed]

Well, makes sense to me man. Pride before the fall. Caruana in serious trouble yet Magnus knows this match is his now. As a fan I'm very disappointed but trust me I get it!

 

[DarthFed]

Damn I'm disappointed LOL. Wow

 

[Federberg]

The psychological implications of this are amazing. Girl even thinks Magnus is having a break down. That's a bit hyperbolic but seriously this is bordering on arrogance if Magnus is saying I'm beating you in rapid... period

 

[DarthFed]

One could argue Magnus could've waited to the time control and I think he should have, but white's position wasn't yet harmless to where Carlsen didn't have to even worry about losing.

 

[Federberg]

Kramnik is really slamming this

 

[Federberg]

Well, makes sense to me man. Pride before the fall. Caruana in serious trouble yet Magnus knows this match is his now. As a fan I'm very disappointed but trust me I get it!

This is so negative though mate. Magnus had the better position, very little risk of losing, had a huge advantage on time. You're the world freaking champion, show it!! There'll be no pity for him if he somehow loses

 

[Federberg]

I have to assume this is a health issue. Will watch the post match interview

 

[DarthFed]

I said from the beginning that the reason Magnus has a big edge in this match is due to tiebreaks and how it'd affect them psychologically. Magnus is winning this now. Black still had weaknesses, one big mistake or a couple inaccuracies and he could be in trouble.

This is much smaller scale example but I played a tourney in Chicago and was up 1/2 a point going into the last round. A win or draw assured me solo first and $5,000. I got up an exchange, clearly had a far superior position and time wasn't a huge factor. I had offered a draw earlier when i was clearly ahead and got a quick rejection. But even at the moment it was still at least minorly dangerous. He finally offered a draw and I thought for maybe 2 seconds about "finishing in style", thought there is zero chance I lose. I have a lot of faith in my game but still the decision was frickin easy. I shook his hand, chatted that dude up, did everything short of offering to take him out to eat! I'm a prideful MF and I guarantee these guys are as well. But no need to be stupid. Magnus won the match today.

 

[DarthFed]

But with that said I think Magnus should have waited until time control. Maybe with Fabi in time trouble he makes a couple minor slips and then you truly reach a position where it is draw or win. He wasn't at that yet. And if Caruana's position didn't deteriorate before time control then offer the draw. That's the approach I may have considered.

Caruana has played well under time duress this match but Carlsen is probably 90-10 favorite in the rapid tiebreak

 

[Federberg]

I said from the beginning that the reason Magnus has a big edge in this match is due to tiebreaks and how it'd affect them psychologically. Magnus is winning this now. Black still had weaknesses, one big mistake or a couple inaccuracies and he could be in trouble.

This is much smaller scale example but I played a tourney in Chicago and was up 1/2 a point going into the last round. A win or draw assured me solo first and $5,000. I got up an exchange, clearly had a far superior position and time wasn't a huge factor. I had offered a draw earlier when i was clearly ahead and got a quick rejection. But even at the moment it was still at least minorly dangerous. He finally offered a draw and I thought for maybe 2 seconds about "finishing in style", thought there is zero chance I lose. I have a lot of faith in my game but still the decision was frickin easy. I shook his hand, chatted that dude up, did everything short of offering to take him out to eat! I'm a prideful MF and I guarantee these guys are as well. But no need to be stupid. Magnus won the match today.

That's fair enough. My point though is that it isn't really in the spirit of a bad ass champion. I do get it. And to be fair I've been listening to the press conference. Magnus made the same point as you. He felt white was under pressure but didn't think he could find a way to break white down without taking risks

 

[Federberg]

But with that said I think Magnus should have waited until time control. Maybe with Fabi in time control he makes a couple minor slips and then you truly reach a position where it is draw or win. He wasn't at that yet.

Caruana has played well under time duress this match but Carlsen is probably 90-10 favorite in the rapid tiebreak

Yes exactly that's my issue. This really feels like a minor choke to me. In a funny way Magnus has now put tremendous pressure on himself, if he doesn't win there'll be questions

 

[DarthFed]

That's fair enough. My point though is that it isn't really in the spirit of a bad ass champion. I do get it. And to be fair I've been listening to the press conference. Magnus made the same point as you. He felt white was under pressure but didn't think he could find a way to break white down without taking risks

And he left out the unspoken reason haha. Not that he should say "I'm clearly superior to him in rapid time control"

 

[DarthFed]

But damn I disappointed. Great game that chess is there are times a draw just ain't fair.

 

[Federberg]

Magnus had better not listen to the press in the next few days otherwise the pressure will pile on him like a mfer. This is damaging to his reputation

 

[DarthFed]

Well it all comes down to the TB. If he wins as expected does it really make much sense to harp on this draw offer? If he loses...well then yes this will be an issue.

Anyways, one hell of a match. The surprise for me is that both guys seemed to play better with black than white.

 

[Federberg]

Well it all comes down to the TB. If he wins as expected does it really make much sense to harp on this draw offer? If he loses...well then yes this will be an issue.

Anyways, one hell of a match. The surprise for me is that both guys seemed to play better with black than white.

They both certainly played better with black, particularly Magnus. But you can't seriously think the guys in the locker room aren't going to be thinking that Magnus has been a bit of a pussy. He's just made life difficult for himself and at the very least his number 1 ranking is now in jeopardy

 

[tennisville]

That was a huge blunder from Magnus. I feel the pressure got to him and I feel he will be the one choking in the tie breaks

 

[Federberg]

That was a huge blunder from Magnus. I feel the pressure got to him and I feel he will be the one choking in the tie breaks

That could be the case. To be honest I felt that Magnus was going to offer a draw in this game pretty much no matter what happened. He'll probably get away with it... if he avoids listening to any of the chatter in the chess world in the next 48hrs. He's by far the better rapid player. But my goodness he's put serious pressure on himself now. If for example he loses a game first he'll be perfectly human if he questions his decision to offer a draw in a better position. Let's not go overboard, his position was better, Fabi with white, was under serious pressure, but it wasn't a winning position. My issue is that if he had at least used his advantageous time to see if Fabi could stop the position from getting worse before move 40 it would have been ok to offer the draw then. But to do it at that point when Fabi could easily have sunk into a lost position in the next few moves... that was a choke at best