2017 Champions Showdown in St Louis

[NickFaulks]

There's a report on day one of this event, in which eight of the world's best players are playing matches at increasingly fast time controls. The new and exciting twist is that there are no increments.

Game 2 of Caruana - Grischuk is described thus - "Game two was a complete mess, with the advantage switching sides until the last phase of the game, during which the players threw out any concern for safety and went all out in an attempt to simply play faster than their opponent." There is an accompanying picture in which Caruana has two seconds remaining and a white pawn is rolling around on the board.

The players are getting paid very well for this circus, but does it really have to represent the future of top level chess?

[Alex Holowczak]

The players are getting paid very well for this circus, but does it really have to represent the future of top level chess?

Well you already seem to think it's happening in 90 years time?

[Roger de Coverly]

The new and exciting twist is that there are no increments.

Not exactly new as 30 minute or similar games without increment have been around since rapidplay first emerged as a separate competitive form of chess around fifty to sixty years ago. Presumably they are playing without the protection of an "unable to win" rule other than a "draw if no mating material" rule.

[NickFaulks]

Well you already seem to think it's happening in 90 years time?

Oh, dear. I can't change that, can I?

[NickFaulks]

Presumably they are playing without the protection of an "unable to win" rule other than a "draw if no mating material" rule.

Presumably, as you say. Grischuk was evidently fearful of getting flagged with KQPPP v KB. Feel the excitement!

[Roger de Coverly]

Oh, dear. I can't change that, can I?

The original poster can edit the title of a thread. Go to the first posting and start the edit function.

[Paolo Casaschi]

The players are getting paid very well for this circus, but does it really have to represent the future of top level chess?

This does not represent the future at all, if anything it represents the past: in the last century, before the widespread introduction of the DGT clocks, everyone played blitz at 5 min sudden death with no increment: I played quite a bit myself and it can be a LOT of fun for the players, however objectively it might be very difficult for spectators to figure out what is going on at the end and even guessing the result after the end of a game can be tricky. Still, for playing banter blitz with a good friend I like 5+0 much better than 3+2.

So it's the past of chess rather than the future, unless after Brexit and the obvious difficulties in sourcing Dutch clocks, chess in Britain will revert to the glorious habits of the past as for many other ways throughout the country.

[NickFaulks]

This does not represent the future at all, if anything it represents the past.

My point is that is this is what the big money wishes to sponsor nowadays, it may be the future too.

[Paolo Casaschi]

This does not represent the future at all, if anything it represents the past.

My point is that is this is what the big money wishes to sponsor nowadays, it may be the future too.

I would not read too much into a one-off event. Especially from the Saint Louis chess club where sometimes they seem to have more money than common sense
I haven't read much about it, but it seems to me just an experiment without a grand plan behind it or any hidden agenda. Same goes for the match format, which if I remember correctly, allowed the top players to pick their opponent: this is really new... well, in the sense you have to go back a long way in the past for a similar setup, I'm thinking of pre-WWII world championship matches.

[Reg Clucas]

It is not setting a very good example at a time when governing bodies are trying to encourage the use of increments.