Candidates Matches 3rd - 27th May 2011

[LozCooper]

First bracket:

6 Topalov (BUL) - 19 Kamsky (USA)

16 Gelfand (ISR) - 8 Mamedyarov (AZE)

Second Bracket:

4 Kramnik (RUS) - 12 Radjabov (AZE)

3 Aronian (ARM) - 7 Grischuk (RUS)

The numbers above are the current world rankings.

"The first matches are scheduled to be four games long, followed by the next matches to be played two days later. The time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then fifteen minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61. This does not include potential tiebreaks, which if not required, would allow a third rest day. The semifinals are also to last four games, and the finals will be six games.

In the event of a draw, tiebreaks are to be held on the rest day with four games of 25 minutes with a ten-second increment per move, and should there still be a deadlock they will play mini-matches of two games of blitz games played at five minutes with a three second increment. A maximum of five such mini-matches can be played to break the tie, and if after ten blitz games, there is no winner, a final Armageddon blitz game will be played to decide it. The Armageddon is played with five minutes for White and four minutes for Black, with a three-second increment as of move 61. In the event of a draw, Black is declared the winner.

In case that was a bit confusing, here is what it might look like if it went to the wire:

Four games at 40/2h
Four games at g/25 + 10 sec. per move
Two games at g/5 + 3 sec. per move
Two games at g/5 + 3 sec. per move
Two games at g/5 + 3 sec. per move
Two games at g/5 + 3 sec. per move
Two games at g/5 + 3 sec. per move (maximum five matches)
Armageddon blitz"

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7000

[Phil Neatherway]

A maximum of five such mini-matches can be played to break the tie, and if after ten blitz games, there is no winner, a final Armageddon blitz game will be played to decide it. The Armageddon is played with five minutes for White and four minutes for Black, with a three-second increment as of move 61. In the event of a draw, Black is declared the winner.

It's rubbish isn't it.

I don't think an Armageddon game has any place in a World Championship eliminator.

[LozCooper]

A maximum of five such mini-matches can be played to break the tie, and if after ten blitz games, there is no winner, a final Armageddon blitz game will be played to decide it. The Armageddon is played with five minutes for White and four minutes for Black, with a three-second increment as of move 61. In the event of a draw, Black is declared the winner.

It's rubbish isn't it.

I don't think an Armageddon game has any place in a World Championship eliminator.

I don't like the idea that you have months to prepare for the first match and then 2-3 days for the semi and final. Mind you, it would take FIDE forever to arrange three seperate sets of candidates matches

[Alex Holowczak]

I don't think an Armageddon game has any place in a World Championship eliminator.

How do you solve the problem of a draw though? I guess these days, it's impractical to delay the whole event for more games.

[IM Jack Rudd]

A maximum of five such mini-matches can be played to break the tie, and if after ten blitz games, there is no winner, a final Armageddon blitz game will be played to decide it. The Armageddon is played with five minutes for White and four minutes for Black, with a three-second increment as of move 61. In the event of a draw, Black is declared the winner.

It's rubbish isn't it.

I don't think an Armageddon game has any place in a World Championship eliminator.

Well, it's better than a roulette wheel (Smyslov v Hübner in the 1983 series).

[Ian Thompson]

It's rubbish isn't it.

I don't think an Armageddon game has any place in a World Championship eliminator.

Well, it's better than a roulette wheel (Smyslov v Hübner in the 1983 series).

I'm not sure it is. At least with a roulette wheel everyone knows who wins is entirely arbitrary.

[Phil Neatherway]

How do you solve the problem of a draw though? I guess these days, it's impractical to delay the whole event for more games.

Have a reasonable number of games for a start.

[Andrew Farthing]

Well, it's better than a roulette wheel (Smyslov v Hübner in the 1983 series).

As I recall, they had to spin the wheel twice because the ball landed on zero the first time, to huge cheers from those watching. I think Hübner had already gone home by that point.

[teddyosbourn]

Kramnik or Aronian ftw!

[Roger de Coverly]

I am really in deep water, but couldn't points left on the board be used in draws, give an extra dimension to the game.

Well it might be used as an adjudication method in Basman's junior tournaments, but it's best left there. There are numerous positions where one player sacrifices material to achieve a drawn ending. It's even a theme in mainstream openings, for example the Volga gambit and the Marshall Attack in the Spanish.

[Alex McFarlane]

I am really in deep water, but couldn't points left on the board be used in draws, give an extra dimension to the game.

Well it might be used as an adjudication method in Basman's junior tournaments, but it's best left there. There are numerous positions where one player sacrifices material to achieve a drawn ending. It's even a theme in mainstream openings, for example the Volga gambit and the Marshall Attack in the Spanish.

Or even worse having to decline a draw offer as you had to recapture the exchanged piece to gain equality of points.

The schedule of the Candidates Matches 2011 is as follows:

03 May - Arrival
04 May - Players Meeting / Opening Ceremony
05 May - Game 1, round 1
06 May - Game 2, round 1
07 May - Game 3, round 1
08 May - Game 4, round 1
09 May - Tiebreaks
10 May - Free Day
11 May - Free Day
12 May - Game 1, round 2
13 May - Game 2, round 2
14 May - Game 3, round 2
15 May - Game 4, round 2
16 May - Tiebreaks
17 May - Free Day
18 May - Free Day
19 May - Game 1, round 3
20 May - Game 2, round 3
21 May - Game 3, round 3
22 May - Free Day
23 May - Game 4, round 3
24 May - Game 5, round 3
25 May - Game 6, round 3
26 May - Tiebreaks / Closing Ceremony
27 May - Departure

The games shall start at 15:00 local time which I think wi be 1pm BST

[David Sedgwick]

The schedule of the Candidates Matches 2011 is as follows:

03 May - Arrival
04 May - Players Meeting / Opening Ceremony
05 May - Game 1, round 1
06 May - Game 2, round 1
07 May - Game 3, round 1
08 May - Game 4, round 1
09 May - Tiebreaks
10 May - Free Day
11 May - Free Day
12 May - Game 1, round 2
13 May - Game 2, round 2
14 May - Game 3, round 2
15 May - Game 4, round 2
16 May - Tiebreaks
17 May - Free Day
18 May - Free Day
19 May - Game 1, round 3
20 May - Game 2, round 3
21 May - Game 3, round 3
22 May - Free Day
23 May - Game 4, round 3
24 May - Game 5, round 3
25 May - Game 6, round 3
26 May - Tiebreaks / Closing Ceremony
27 May - Departure

The games shall start at 15:00 local time which I think will be 1pm BST

Alex has been invited to be an arbiter for the first round matches. As with Sean Hewitt at the European Individual Championship, this is a considerable honour.

Congratulations, Alex.

It's good to see British arbiters getting recognition, particularly those who post regularly on this Forum. One or two of us still live in hope, of course.

[LozCooper]

Alex has been invited to be an arbiter for the first round matches. As with Sean Hewitt at the European Individual Championship, this is a considerable honour.

Congratulations, Alex.

It's good to see British arbiters getting recognition, particularly those who post regularly on this Forum. One or two of us still live in hope, of course.

Agreed it's nice to see England (and Scotland) getting selected for major events. I hope the players are ready for Alec's booming voice "can you start white's clock please" at the start of play

[Graham Borrowdale]

"Hard to find a penalty shoot out type scenario for chess?!"

Yes, that is true, but it never stopped candidates matches in the past arriving at a conclusion, apart from the Smyslov-Hubner match mentioned above. I have no idea what the contingency plans were in the past in the event of a drawn match, but they were rarely needed, probably because 12 games was enough to find a winner.
I think one problem with the penalty shoot out in football 'to provide excitement for the fans' is that it gives teams something to play for rather than actually trying to win the game. In chess this translates to hanging on for the 4 games in the hope of winning in the relative lottery of a blitz game. I expect to see at least one 'surprise' result in these matches.

[Paolo Casaschi]

I don't like the idea that you have months to prepare for the first match and then 2-3 days for the semi and final.

Why should the players do that?
In fact, they have months to prepare against any of the other candidates.
Nobody forbids Topalov to prepare against Kramnik today... and if the match does not happen at that time, the preparation is unlikely to get wasted.