Chess World Championship

[DarthFed]

Glad to see him finally come out fighting this game, the only way is to take it to Carlsen like this. I don't see anything to save him here but I'm not the defensive genius that Carlsen is.

 

[DarthFed]

Anand blundered unbelievably, wow

 

[DarthFed]

Be1 and the game was over

 

[DarthFed]

Well that talk before about there being no huge blunders... that's gone. Sometimes one can be lucky in chess.

 

[Kieran]

As promised: Tania Sachdev:

28 moves in, the champ has 10 minutes left and it seems Carlsen has gone on the attack, jamming his Queen. Will be interested in your analysis later, Darth...

Oh, Anand just quit! A loss for him, now down 3-0. Over to you, Darth, why'd he quit? Surely he looked strong about 3 moves beforehand?

 

[DarthFed]

As promised: Tania Sachdev:

28 moves in, the champ has 10 minutes left and it seems Carlsen has gone on the attack, jamming his Queen. Will be interested in your analysis later, Darth...

Oh, Anand just quit! A loss for him, now down 3-0. Over to you, Darth, why'd he quit? Surely he looked strong about 3 moves beforehand?

He blundered, he had the right idea of allowing the extra queen but he needed to play bishop f1 instead on knight f1. Knight f1 allowed Qe1 with the idea that he would take the rook after it moved to f4. It was a horrific blunder, tough to believe he didn't see Qe1. I think it went from a sure win to a loss on the spot, but will be interested to see if Anand did have a forced win after bishop f1

 

[Kieran]

The last move by Anand? incredible, surely he could foresee all this a few moves previous? He spent 30 minutes on his 23rd move, could he not have seen it all then?

Had he played bishop f1, you think he wins?

 

[DarthFed]

That wraps up the championship as Anand would have to win the last 3 games. Literally the chances would be like 1/1000 to win all 3 vs. Carlsen with 2 games as black. And I forgot that they don't even play out the games after the match is over. If Carlsen draws the next game they won't play the last 2.

 

[DarthFed]

The last move by Anand? incredible, surely he could foresee all this a few moves previous? He spent 30 minutes on his 23rd move, could he not have seen it all then?

Had he played bishop f1, you think he wins?

Yea I see no long term saving grace for black if Bf1, I will be interested to see if that's the case. A computer would determine it quickly.

 

[Kieran]

Carlsen probably can't believe his luck. Do you think he'd have asked Anand about this after they shook hands? They chatted for a moment. Or are players more tactful than to point things like this out?

 

[DarthFed]

Carlsen probably can't believe his luck. Do you think he'd have asked Anand about this after they shook hands? They chatted for a moment. Or are players more tactful than to point things like this out?

No most players are always going over the game. Anand is one of the good sports in chess (a weakness may I add), a game like this I would have gotten the F out of Dodge and probably hit the table.

 

[Kieran]

Carlsen seems a cool cookie, temperamentally strong and suited to the role. He may reign as long as Kasparov...

 

[DarthFed]

Carlsen seems a cool cookie, temperamentally strong and suited to the role. He may reign as long as Kasparov...

Decent chance he does, but 15 years is a long time. I'm not sure if there is a forced win after Bf1 Qd1, RF4, QH5, Nxh5. White has to prevent Bf5 somehow. Black may have held/won anyways but Nf1 lost on the spot.

 

[DarthFed]

Game 10 is through 40 moves and there is no chance for Anand to win at all while it will be very hard for him to hold this. A draw clinches the match for Carlsen so maybe they will agree to a draw to avoid further humiliation for Anand.

 

[Kieran]

Ah! I forgot they were playing today! Just saw, it went to 65 moves and was a draw. Great achievement by Carlsen. Apparently now they don't play the remaining games. Pity they don't do what Kasparov and Short did in 1993 and play a few speed-chess exos for the last few games...

 

[DarthFed]

Surprised it was a draw as that was a dream endgame for Carlsen and one that'd be tough for Anand to hold against a much lesser opponent. I'd imagine it was a case where Carlsen didn't care to calculate too deep as a draw still secured the title.

I agree that it'd be nice to have some speed chess instead of the last 2 games. The match signals the full changing of the guard and a new era in chess, though, unlike other such occasions in games/sports, everyone who follows chess knew this was coming. I just figured Anand would put up a better fight as this one got ugly in the end.

 

[Kieran]

Surprised it was a draw as that was a dream endgame for Carlsen and one that'd be tough for Anand to hold against a much lesser opponent. I'd imagine it was a case where Carlsen didn't care to calculate too deep as a draw still secured the title.

I agree that it'd be nice to have some speed chess instead of the last 2 games. The match signals the full changing of the guard and a new era in chess, though, unlike other such occasions in games/sports, everyone who follows chess knew this was coming. I just figured Anand would put up a better fight as this one got ugly in the end.

Maybe age? he played more cautious than aggressive, because he knew the younger man would be sharper? Is Anand usually more attack-minded?

 

[DarthFed]

Surprised it was a draw as that was a dream endgame for Carlsen and one that'd be tough for Anand to hold against a much lesser opponent. I'd imagine it was a case where Carlsen didn't care to calculate too deep as a draw still secured the title.

I agree that it'd be nice to have some speed chess instead of the last 2 games. The match signals the full changing of the guard and a new era in chess, though, unlike other such occasions in games/sports, everyone who follows chess knew this was coming. I just figured Anand would put up a better fight as this one got ugly in the end.

Maybe age? he played more cautious than aggressive, because he knew the younger man would be sharper? Is Anand usually more attack-minded?

Yes, Anand is probably considered an "aggressive" player. That certainly was the case in the younger days and attacking represented his only true chance in this match. Age sucks up some of the ability to calculate and more importantly the mental fatigue seems to kick in more which leads to worse play and bad mistakes (like game 9) in the end.

It was a pretty tame match from Anand, one has to wonder if he truly believed he had a chance to win this match. Will be interesting to see where he goes from here as I don't think he's even ranked in the top 5 anymore.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Is performance deterioration with age more significant in physical games or in mental games?

 

[DarthFed]

Is performance deterioration with age more significant in physical games or in mental games?

Physical games for sure. There have been plenty of players who have kept the world championship into their 40's including Anand. Moreover, someone like Anand or Kasparov (if he was still playing) could likely stay top 10 or 20 into their 50's. Needless to say that is not happening in any physical sport.