English Chess Forum

How many World Championship and other events have AGON organised? I was at the London 2013 Candidates, which was an excellent event IMO. Was that the first AGON event? I think it was. Is there a full list anywhere of events organised by AGON?

I think Justin and David are referring to the 2018 Candidates. There were Candidates tournaments in 2013 (London), 2014 (Khanty-Mansiysk), 2016 (Moscow) and 2018 (Berlin).

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 6:46 pm

Was that the first AGON event?

The first was a "closed doors" Grand Prix event in London at Simpsons, back in 2012.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4451&hilit=simpsons

Ah yes

Ellen Carlsen (Magnus's sister) has been interviewed by Norwegian TV and suggested that if Magnus loses this match there is a genuine chance he will retire.

Current Unibet prices: Carlsen 9/4 on, Caruana 9/5.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:01 pm

Current Unibet prices: Carlsen 9/4 on, Caruana 9/5.

Unibet and Marathonbet have been very steady, so they're seeing either two way business or not much. Betfair however has been all over the place, with Carlsen trading down to 6/4 on.

I have £50 on Caruana @ 12/5

That's a good betting slip to have

Some interesting and telling quotes from Carlsen during a recent interview which I picked up from Chess 24's twitter feed:

"In long endgames, I still think I have an advantage against Caruana. He can work on it, but I don't think he can equalize my edge in only a few months."

On Caruana's greatest strength: "His middle game! He will likely feel that he in some middle games can navigate better than me. That's what he will aim for."

"If I have to sit for four hours extra even with only 2 percent winning chance in order to avoid a draw, it's worth it. But I haven't had the same drive and energy the last few years."

"Keeping in mind how incredibly stubborn I was back then ... I never stopped playing for a win, almost no matter what. I've noticed the last few years that I can't force myself to concentrate and look for tiny chances."

Kramnik has remarked that in his view Caruana has a good chance of winning, and indeed compared the match to his own defeat of Kasparov.

One difference there is that Carlsen's head to head against Caruana is pretty good, whilst long before 2000 Vlad was known as Gazza's "bogey player" (would he have freaked out over the Berlin Wall in the way he did, with any of his other rivals who he felt far more comfortable against?)

Then again, Capa had an excellent record against AAA prior to 1927 so who knows? I just hope and expect that it will be a great match

Has it been decided who will play White in Game 1 yet?

Thanks

It's to be decided at the opening ceremony, which could be happening right now for all I know, but I can't find out anything about it from the official site, while the official Twitter account doesn't appear to have tweeted for several days.

And indeed

Excellent, thanks

Pre-match interview in the Times