WORLD RAPID & BLITZ CH - DOHA 2016

[Alex Holowczak]

I'm saying if the largest broadcaster asks you to do something, you do it - I can't believe a broadcaster would ask something that's completely silly

Well, let's for instance cite rugby league, where the broadcaster demanded that a number of club mergers take place. The clubs and their fans balked at this, quite rightly, and the plan was abandoned. It was silly and unnecessary and because people didn't take any notice of the absurd contentions that I quote above, several great rugby league clubs exist and thrive to this day,

On the other hand, the Bradford Bulls have been in administration three times in 5 years.

The problem is that the broadcaster, and in fact the executives, probably would have agreed that merging the clubs was commercially better. They did that in the AFL too when the VFL expanded into the rest of Australia. There is talk of it happening in T20 cricket in England too, to streamline the domestic T20 competition. I'll trust the judgement of the executives that this is the right thing to do. But people who have supported a club for years and years won't like it when their club doesn't exist anymore. It was the same when the St. Louis Rams moved back to Los Angeles last winter, although US fans are more accustomed to it - it happens quite often. It was the right commercial decision for the team's owners to take, but the people of St. Louis were never going to like it.

"If X says something you do it" is rubbish. You think about it, because you're thinking people, and you negotiate, because you have something of value to negotiate about.

It depends on the nature of the request and the amount of money involved. Some things are so minor they're not worth negotiating, and I'd argue fixing Carlsen to board 1 is one of them. Merging rugby league clubs was probably a decision that everyone except the clubs themselves and fans wanted to take, but the fans would never like it.

Carlsen on Board 1 for the last round - I wonder if Alex will be watching the game

Alex has spent most of the afternoon watching darts, but is now watching the chess. He would enjoy it even more if the commentary stream would buffer.

[JustinHorton]

Anybody else finding the commentary keeps going down? I have a pretty slow internet connection so it miht just be where I am. (Also when it's working I can occasionally hear them saying the same thing twice.)

[Alex Holowczak]

Anybody else finding the commentary keeps going down? I have a pretty slow internet connection so it miht just be where I am. (Also when it's working I can occasionally hear them saying the same thing twice.)

I have the same problem. I think Livestream is buckling under the strain of 23,000+ viewers. But then, it could be a problem at the Doha-end...

[JustinHorton]

If the clocks are to be believed Ivanchuk's about eight minutes up

[Jonathan Rogers]

and opposite coloured bishops DO help when attacking an exposed king.

Hurrah!

[JustinHorton]

I'm guessing Davd Howell's last move was Rd7 and not Rc7 as advertised

[LawrenceCooper]

Carlsen on Board 1 for the last round

A very impressive display too, in slight contrast to the blunders on boards two and three.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Ivanchuk wins - he is still one of Caissa's true wonders

[Barry Sandercock]

So Ivanchuk won on tiebrake. Pity there wasn`t a playoff.

[Matt Mackenzie]

As usual, people know the rules before they enter

[LawrenceCooper]

1 1 GM Carlsen Magnus *) 2873 3½ 4 GM Karjakin Sergey 2800 8

[Matt Mackenzie]

Which was won by Karjakin, after the WC apparently missed a three fold repetition?

[Chris Rice]

The World blitz is 21 rounds over two days. After 12 rounds on Day 1 its the Carlsen-Karjakin show again as they are both on 10/12, 1½ points clear of the rest of the field. Karjakin again won their individual game in round 5. The blitz event doesn't seem to suit David Howell at all though as he lies back in 92nd place (out of 108 players) with 4½/12:

1-2 Karjakin, Sergey (2800), Carlsen, Magnus (2873) 10/12
3-6 Dubov, Daniil (2724), Morozevich, Alexander, (2684), Bosiocic, Marin, (2659), Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (2823) 8½/12

In the women's world blitz event its 17 rounds and after 9 rounds Kosteniuk leads:

1 Kosteniuk, Alexandra (2500) 7½/9
2 Ju, Wenjun (2571) 7/9
3-5 Harika, Dronavalli (2501), Lagno, Kateryna (2641), Muzychuk, Anna (2645) 6½/9

[LawrenceCooper]

The blitz event doesn't seem to suit David Howell at all though as he lies back in 92nd place (out of 108 players) with 4½/12:

If only he'd converted his winning position against Mamedjarov in round 6 when on 3/5 it could have been so different

[LawrenceCooper]

Karjakin-Nakamura featured an unexpected blunder as white tried to win Q+P v B,N+P in an attempt to catch Magnus who now leads by a point after 15 rounds.