English Chess Forum

Very funny comments from Grischuk when joining the 6th game commentaires on chess24... essentially he refused to comment on the position and the opening choices, nothing interesting to say about the game.

I remember the disappointment when Anand and the Karjakin qualified for the world championship, resulting in "boring" matches... as opposed to a proper challenger like Caruana.

Can we honestly say the C/Caruana match is more interesting/exciting than the previous ones?

You will be missing Anand-Gelfand next

I'm missing the Karpov v Korchnoi matches which I used to follow on Ceefax. These shorter matches are a yawnfest. A higher standard of play? Almost certainly, but no one seems prepared to take a risk.

Chess is a draw. This becomes clearer as the players get stronger. Players such as Aronian and So are probably already stronger than Boris Spassky, for example, ever was.

Certainly the players getting stronger, the preparation getting deeper and the matches getting shorter is not a good combination. But still, right at the moment I'm watching with keenness.

I will always watch with keenness. At present I'm watching a real game of chess. I imagine Magnus will hold on, but who knows?

The superiority of the Black pieces thus far in this match has been genuinely striking.

That must be what happens when two Adorjan fans play each other.

Seven draws in a row, most of which pretty uneventful.
Already worse than the C/Anand matches.
Same number of starting draws as the C/Karjakin match, but then we had two decisive games with increased fighting spirit.

Its a game of chicken now innit.

Carlsen might get frustrated at his inability to break through and mess up.

Caruana might lash out as he becomes ever more desperate to avoid tiebreaks.

Even if the chess isn't as eventful as we might wish, a lot going on beneath the surface.

Twelve draws now.

Anyone still thinking that Caruana has been a much better challenger for an entertaining match than Anand or Karjakin?

It would have been a very different match had Carlsen taken his chance in the opening game.

Hard to see all games drawn if the WC still retained bragging rights at the end of the match, either.

(make it 16 "regular" games if you think that gives them too much of an edge with 12)

Paolo Casaschi wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:21 pm

Twelve draws now.

Anyone still thinking that Caruana has been a much better challenger for an entertaining match than Anand or Karjakin?

But not really a worse one, I'd say.

Since when does entertainment matter? Those playing for the Chess World Championship know it is all about who blunders least or last.

Paolo Casaschi wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 26, 2018 6:21 pm

Twelve draws now.

Anyone still thinking that Caruana has been a much better challenger for an entertaining match than Anand or Karjakin?

Being an “entertaining” challenger isn’t a criteria that’s relevant during the selection process, is it?

My problem with today isn’t it was the 12th draw per se. It’s that the game just stopped.

Some of the games have been really good.

Jonathan Bryant wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:40 pm

My problem with today isn’t it was the 12th draw per se. It’s that the game just stopped.

Some of the games have been really good.

Yes, today's one was very weird - but then I thought: you see this in club/league chess all the time. A game gets complicated, the players are short of time and worried about blundering and/or don't really have a concrete plan to win, and then they just...agree a draw. Of course, you would expect elite SuperGMs to have a clear idea how to play almost any position, and to have nerves of steel. But the strange sense of the game getting called off just as it was getting interesting was... familiar.