2018 World Championship in London

[JustinHorton]

a new source of competitive games in the form of European football

Come again?

[Alex Holowczak]

a new source of competitive games in the form of European football

Come again?

The problem was that teams had a fixtures backlog due to having to reschedule games to make space for FA Cup replays. This was only going to get worse the following season - the change happened in the season that English clubs were re-admitted to European competition.

[JustinHorton]

Right, but European football was scarcely "new" by that stage.

[Alex Holowczak]

Right, but European football was scarcely "new" by that stage.

It was a new source of fixtures compared to the previous season's fixture list for some teams. In that context the use of the word is justified, in my opinion.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Surprised to read in the Evening Standard (pages 10-11 of print edition) of an incident during game 8 that disturbed the players. Noise leaked into the glass box around the time Caruana played h3. Where has this been reported in the chess press and more importantly, why has it not been mentioned here...?

[Alex Holowczak]

Surprised to read in the Evening Standard (pages 10-11 of print edition) of an incident during game 8 that disturbed the players. Noise leaked into the glass box around the time Caruana played h3. Where has this been reported in the chess press and more importantly, why has it not been mentioned here...?

I read about it on Facebook repeatedly this morning; there included links to other sites where more information was published. Leon Watson wrote something about it.

[Mike Gunn]

The players were asked about the noise in press conference after the match. Apparently they could hear voices and the indication is somebody pressed the wrong button so conversations from elsewhere were briefly broadcast into the playing room.

Returning to the point about replays I think the point comes down do you really think the winner of the world championship should be determined by the winner of blitz or armageddon games (I don't)? I think that it comes down to priorities and if you are playing for the world championship that should be a higher priority than playing in any other top level tournament. I think that the chess following public are much more interested in the world championship than who won the XYZ tournament in any particular year. The real issue is that the people who sponsor/ televise these things want a definite winner on a particular date, not the relative messiness of a replay match.

It's the same with football. We already have fixture congestion leading to many clubs putting out 2nd teams in cup competitions. It's a question of priorities again and the people pulling the strings (responsible for the penalty shoot-outs) are the TV and money people.

[Thomas Rendle]

As much as we may complain about tiebreaks not being an ideal way to decide things (it isn't) it's not easy to suggest a better option. More importantly if we get tiebreaks we'll be in for a treat - I expect them to be extremely exciting, with both players under immense pressure on the board, clock and nerves. We'll see plenty of mistakes and possibly another brilliant finish, so let's not be too downhearted.

[Matthew Turner]

I would be very surprised to see 12 draws. We are seeing more courageous opening choices from Caruana as White and tiredness, both mental and physical are sure to play a part. If we see a tiebreak then I think it will be because both players have won a game.

[Alex Holowczak]

Returning to the point about replays I think the point comes down do you really think the winner of the world championship should be determined by the winner of blitz or armageddon games (I don't)?

(...)

It's the same with football. We already have fixture congestion leading to many clubs putting out 2nd teams in cup competitions. It's a question of priorities again and the people pulling the strings (responsible for the penalty shoot-outs) are the TV and money people.

The reason that TV and "money people" pull the strings is that clubs and players are of the opinion that they'd quite like the money that can be provided to them via sponsorship and TV rights deals. They recognise that some imperfections in the format need to be tolerated in order for that sponsorship to come in and ensure that the sport at the professional level continues. So we have penalty shootouts to decide the World Cup. We have 5th set tie-breaks at 12-12 at Wimbledon from next year. We have sudden-death/4 hole playoffs in golf majors rather than play a full round the next day.

It would seem strange to me for chess to do the opposite of that, and entertain the idea of a replayed match in full; no doubt while simultaneously scratching its head and bemoaning the lack of sponsors available.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Back at the board, Carlsen has played an unusual looking 9Bg5 in an English Opening, and Caruana is having a long think. Edge of the seat stuff.

[John McKenna]

Thanks for that tip-off about the opening direction.

And, for the comment - so things have moved on then from (the seat of the) pants to the edge (of the seat).

[Roger de Coverly]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. O-O O-O 8. d3 Re8 9. Bg5 Nxc3 10. bxc3 f6 11. Bc1 Be6 12. Bb2 Bb6 13. d4 Bd5 14. Qc2 exd4 15. cxd4 Be4 16. Qb3+ Bd5 17. Qd1 Bxf3 18. Qb3+ Kh8 19. Bxf3 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Qxd4 21. e3 Qe5 22. Bxb7 Rad8 23. Rad1 Qe7 24. h4 g6 25. h5 gxh5 26. Qc4 f5 *

In the similar position from the Dragon, .. Bg4 has been played. The idea of Bg5, I suppose is to weaken the a2 g8 diagonal

[JustinHorton]

ensure that the sport at the professional level continues.

The idea that sports would cease to exist professionally if the sponsors and TV people didn't get everything that they want is a nonsense.

[Chris Rice]

The Magnus effect in Oslo. Can't see it happening in London though even if we had someone as good as him:

"OSLO — Late on Friday night, a couple hundred people were packed into a dimly lit, stylishly decorated bar in the heart of Oslo’s downtown night-life district.
The place already was generating considerable buzz. It had been open for only a week, but one recent night the line to enter had snaked down the block. Inside, it felt like so many of the other hip spots in downtown Oslo — candlelight illuminating framed artwork on the walls, conversation humming over the clink of beer glasses — except for one small detail: the chess games happening at every table and counter top.
“That’s the Magnus Effect,” said Martin Mortensen, a 32-year-old software developer at the bar, referring to the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen. “Almost everyone in Norway has some relationship to chess nowadays. It’s on T.V. and in newspapers all the time.”
He scanned the overflowing room. “It’s bizarre.”