Chess World Championship

[DarthFed]

Probably not, he played a pretty decent game as black yesterday and did a good job holding the draw. Just didn't get enough activity today and it was an effortless draw for black (Carlsen).

I agree that a win tomorrow pretty much ends the match. Realistically Anand is not winning with black short of Carlsen giving another gift like he did a couple games ago which Anand missed.

 

[Kieran]

I think also that Carlsen won't want to reach game 12 with black, and only a single point lead...

 

[DarthFed]

^ I don't think he'd mind that at all really. Still means he probably has at least a 70% chance to win before the tiebreak games. Also, when you get near the end like this it becomes extra hard for the player trailing to win a game since the other player will be very content playing for a draw. It's always easier to beat someone who is trying to win as bad as you are...

 

[Kieran]

Hey! Controversial? Lazy? There was a billion pieces left and they shook on it. I only sat down to watch, and I had a cup of tea in my hand... :Nono

 

[DarthFed]

Surprised Carlsen wouldn't push harder, despite the fact Anand is down a game he would be happy with this result. He has 2 games with white to try to tie this up.

 

[Kieran]

Yeah, I woulda thought that today would be where he'd push really hard to kill it off. Was the draw so obvious? I expect Anand will push tomorrow to get back in it...

 

[DarthFed]

Id have to look at it more, looked like white would have a slight edge in final position but not much.

 

[DarthFed]

Dangerous position for black. Anand has the best of it but it will be hard to break through and time is a factor now. I think Carlsen will hold.

 

[DarthFed]

Not many good moves for black here, almost has to play Nc6 I think

 

[DarthFed]

Well defended by Carlsen, easy draw now.

 

[Kieran]

Another draw. If Carlsen wins with White on Sunday, he wins the match. But is it a great match? have there been any great developments here?

 

[DarthFed]

Another draw. If Carlsen wins with White on Sunday, he wins the match. But is it a great match? have there been any great developments here?

It's been a lot better than last year. Assuming Carlsen wins by 1, the decisive game was just an all around disaster but there has been good play. I think Anand has played the right way, been a lot more aggressive than last year, played more creatively, but he just played really, really, really bad in game 6.

 

[Kieran]

Interesting game, Darth. Carlsen's king is playing serve-volley, charging into the net... :laydownlaughing

 

[DarthFed]

Well played game by Carlsen ends this match early again. That's just the type of game he's really deadly in, slowly improving his position and eventually gaining a decisive edge. Better match than last year but Carlsen is simply better than Anand at this point and it's understandable. As of now I think only Caruana is a decent threat to Carlsen or an in form Kramnik.

 

[Kieran]

They didn't play the 12th game? I know it's dead but i thought they'd play speed chess or something.

I wonder should they bring the next match back to 24 games. Was reading about the great matches between Karpov and Kasparov last night, and this one seems a little brief compared to them. Part of the greatness of these older matches is the mental endurance involved and displayed by the players. 24 seems a good length, no?

 

[DarthFed]

I don't mind 12 that much honestly. It makes for more consistent action. But I do think something like 16 or 18 is better. In a 24 game match there are bound to be some days where both will agree to a short draw and come back to fight another day. I think 18 is more than enough games to determine who is superior.

12 might be enough in that regard too, and the shorter match naturally gives a chance for a huge upset. If you look at this past match there were chances for Anand, mainly game 6. If you make it 18 there'd have been no prayer at any point. I'd have bet heavily on Carlsen even if they were giving him 90% odds in that scenario.

 

[Federberg]

I don't mind 12 that much honestly. It makes for more consistent action. But I do think something like 16 or 18 is better. In a 24 game match there are bound to be some days where both will agree to a short draw and come back to fight another day. I think 18 is more than enough games to determine who is superior.

12 might be enough in that regard too, and the shorter match naturally gives a chance for a huge upset. If you look at this past match there were chances for Anand, mainly game 6. If you make it 18 there'd have been no prayer at any point. I'd have bet heavily on Carlsen even if they were giving him 90% odds in that scenario.

You'll never get an 18 game match these days. In a way I'm starting to like this format. Every game means much more. Psychology is a huge part of sports so having to deal with the pressure of having to equalise quickly after a loss should force more entertaining chess. As Levon pointed out, you never see particularly great games in World Championships. In fact I can only recall two in the last 40yrs that might fit the bill, which shows how rare it is.. (Kasparov - Karpov can't remember the specific game), and one of Fischers wins over Spassky.

Let's face it you're not going to see a game like Kasparov's Immortal (against Topalov) in a world championship match!

 

[shawnbm]

Ol' Levon wishes he had continued to play chess after he started doing it at university, but he failed to do so. I enjoy reading the posts by those in the know though, and Br. Kieran was the one who commented as Federberg suggested, I do believe.

 

[tented]

"Your Move, Grandmaster. (To the U.S., Please.)"

 

[Federberg]

Nakamura is 2nd to Carlsen in all formats now. Impressive. I've got this horrible feeling that if he ever gets a world championship shot against Carlsen, even though he's a client right now, he might end up doing what Fischer did to Spassky, winning a world title against a player he had never beaten before. You can just see it happening!

Or maybe not. Even though he looks to be playing more considered chess so far this year, he still seems too flakey to be a true challenger to Carlsen..