2018 World Championship in London

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Jonathan Bryant
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:41 pm

Ian Rogers wrote:
Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:03 pm
This claim is simply not true ....
Thanks for the correction. I was obviously too quick to think the worst of Agon. But they do make it so very easy to do so

Richard Bates
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Richard Bates » Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:34 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:37 pm
AustinElliott wrote:
Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:22 pm
So.... 23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2 and the players knock off early? Or will Carlsen attempt to torture Caruana in the ending?
I think they have to get to move 30 before draw offers?
Or they both get given zero? ;)

Chris Rice
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:11 pm

Svidler & Grischuk, these guys are just mint.

"Grischuk: It would be a funny thing if the 1st half of the match goes like this. Magnus presses with Black but then just plays for almost no reason at the end, gets tired & cannot do anything with White!
Svidler: That would be an interesting cycle of non-violence"

Grischuk: A couple more games like that [for Caruana] & he'll just revert to Karjakin's strategy of playing for a draw with both colours
Sopiko: Won't he be afraid of tiebreaks?
Grischuk: Usually people prefer a slow death to a quick one!

Grischuk "The P-word. I think @GMJanGustafsson doesn't allow people to use the word plan in a chess sense. I completely agree with him. Plans do not exist. There are some ideas & when you've played lots of ideas you can say this was my plan, but not beforehand. It's like 'what was your plan in life?' It's impossible to say, until it's actually happened"
That all came in response to Svidler worrying about Caruana's situation:
"It's this weird position where nothing is really threatened but you dislike your position & would like to have a plan"

Grischuk: "All of us are a little bit autistic, so we're not in love with eye contact"

Grischuk: "So falling asleep at the board is not a crime - failing to wake up is a crime!"
Svidler: "Or maybe a tragedy, depending on the reason..."

Svidler & Grischuk feel Fabi's 15.Bd2 instead of 15.Rxa5 was an inaccuracy.
Grischuk: "The thing with such inaccuracies is not the inaccuracy itself is a big deal but it's usually a sign that future inaccuracies, or mistakes, or blunders will follow"

Anyway Game 3 drawn.

David Robertson

Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by David Robertson » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:13 pm

SCANDAL IN PROSPECT? (I hope :twisted: )

D'oh It seems not. 'ejhchess' can rest easy
Last edited by David Robertson on Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Chris Rice
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:18 pm

David Robertson wrote:
Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:13 pm
SCANDAL IN PROSPECT? (I hope :twisted: )
Apparently there was footage which showed Carlsen clearly saying "j'adoube' which has now been geo-blocked whatever that means.

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:22 pm

The Grischuk bit I liked most* was his anecdote about two promising players in the Nineties, which went something like this: one says to the other, "what do you think of the top guys?" The other says "they're cool, aren't they?" The first replies "if they're so cool why do they make so many mistakes?"

He didn't name them, but he went on to say that the first of these players achieved a lot more in chess than the second, which may give away his identity...

[* apart from the diverting matter of his baby making its presence heard all the way through the show]
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Mike Gunn
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Mike Gunn » Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:15 pm

Here are a few comments based on my visit yesterday: the venue is called (confusingly) on the ticket: "the College, Southampton Row". You can find no such building on google maps, but the ticket does give a more complete address: 12-42, Southampton Row, WC18 4AP and specify the entrance is in Theobalds Road. When you get there it says "LCC Central School of Arts" (or similar) over the door. Apparently it later housed the Central St Martins Art College which has now moved elsewhere. Inside the building resembles (in age and general condition) the Bishopsgate Institute which used to house the Metropolitan Chess Club/ the Metropolitan Congress. With this extra information you can locate it on google maps as "Old Central St Martins Building".

As has already been reported the rooms available (auditorium and commentary) are generally too small and the basic furniture for those two rooms is hollow wooden boxes/ forms for sitting on. As I got there at 2.15pm I was given a timed ticket from 3.00pm to 3.30pm for the auditorium but we got about 10 minutes extra. I spent most of the rest of the game duration in the commentary room where there were some extra folding chairs with back supports at the rear. In between the more general interest stuff Judit Polgar's analysis/ commentary was excellent. Despite the limitations I enjoyed the experience and was considering going back until I saw the cheapest tickets left are priced at £70 (I paid £45 for yesterday). I didn't recognise many chessplayers from the London area although I did spot Malcolm P conducting a small party of attendees on the other side of the auditorium. There are about 30 security people/ attendants whose main function is to stop you wandering into VIP areas/ parts of the building which are not in use. When we went into the auditorium we were instructed to put our nobile phones into small plastic bags (Sainsbury sandwich bags) which seemed rather pointless as we were not party to any information not being broadcast live on the internet and the players in their glass box couldn't see us. We were instructed not to take photos but several people ingnored that and took pictures on their ipads/ ipad clones. The whole place was packed with spectators and felt like it was bursting at the seams.

Nigel White
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Nigel White » Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:00 pm

Mike - thanks for the review. I'm on my way there now and it's useful to know what to expect.


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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:51 pm

That is pretty sensational
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:22 pm

Chris Rice wrote:
Sun Nov 11, 2018 1:17 am
Paid £70 for a ticket for Game 2 to replace someone who couldn't go. At the ticket office got issued with a blue wrist band and a little ticket to say I could go into the main theatre for 30 minutes (from 3.50pm - 4.20pm). Lucky me.
Maybe thirty minutes is a luxury
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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JustinHorton
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:41 pm

Nick Grey wrote:
Sun Nov 11, 2018 4:10 pm
I hope you see a move in a 30 minute slot.
This led me to wonder - what's the single longest think during a world championship game?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Tue Nov 13, 2018 5:04 pm

The relevant part of the ticket T&C seems to be:

"In case of high demand to access the Game Area, the Organiser reserves the right to regulate access to the Game Area using a time slot system".

What I am trying to ascertain is whether this was in the original T&C when I purchased my ticket, or whether this restriction was added later (the tickets were not actually made available to print until some time after I had purchased the ticket).

David Robertson

Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by David Robertson » Tue Nov 13, 2018 5:22 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:41 pm
what's the single longest think during a world championship game?
Here's one to beat

Roger de Coverly
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Re: 2018 World Championship in London

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Nov 13, 2018 5:34 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:41 pm
- what's the single longest think during a world championship game?
Game 5 in 1993 is a contender. That's where Short came up with a novelty in the Nimzo in which best play may have been a forced repetition. It occupied most of the first hour slot on the Channel 4 coverage for good measure.

But I'd imagine the record would be held by one of the old matches when they had five hour sessions followed by adjournments.

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