Candidates Matches 3rd - 27th May 2011

[LozCooper]

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.

It is a lot of extra work though if you have to prepare for 1 first round opponent, 2 possible semi final opponents and 4 possible finalists.

[David Sedgwick]

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

Sadly they won't get the opportunity. At this type of event, the arbiter starts the clock.

[Michael Jones]

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.

At least waiting until they've had five pairs of blitz games before the Armageddon is better than some tournaments which have had it after only a single pair - under these rules it would be extremely unlikely that any match would get as far as the Armageddon. That said, WC matches are supposed to be primarily a test of one's ability at classical chess, so it would be better to have more games at the full time control and only resort to rapid/blitz games if the players really can't be separated at classical.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think in an ideal world, each round of the Candidates would be in a different venue. So the Quarters would be in May in wherever, the Semis in September in wherever etc. This allows for longer matches, and for classical tie-breakers, but then you get the problem of the whole cycle dragging on into months/years.

I think the Candidates Final and Championship itself should be a win for the defender if the match is drawn.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I think the Candidates Final and Championship itself should be a win for the defender if the match is drawn.

Say what? To whom does "the defender" refer in a Candidates Final? Specifically, to whom did it refer in Short v Timman 1992?

[LozCooper]

I think the Candidates Final and Championship itself should be a win for the defender if the match is drawn.

Say what? To whom does "the defender" refer in a Candidates Final? Specifically, to whom did it refer in Short v Timman 1992?

Whichever player played the Petroff?

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Say what? To whom does "the defender" refer in a Candidates Final? Specifically, to whom did it refer in Short v Timman 1992?

Whichever one first moves a piece backwards.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think the Candidates Final and Championship itself should be a win for the defender if the match is drawn.

Say what? To whom does "the defender" refer in a Candidates Final? Specifically, to whom did it refer in Short v Timman 1992?

I should have added "if there is one".

I had forgotten that the previous cycle's loser doesn't get a bye to the Final; he goes in at the start of the Candidates. Scrap that then, and just apply that principle to the Championship.

[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.

It is a lot of extra work though if you have to prepare for 1 first round opponent, 2 possible semi final opponents and 4 possible finalists.

That's their job I'm afraid.
How is that any more difficult than preparing for a tournament?
Also keep in mind, those elite players meet each other on a regular basis during the year. I suspect Kramnik constantly prepares against Aronian and Topalov.
Believe me, I also miss the times when candidate matches were on 12 or more games, with 3 or more months between quarterfinals, semifinals and final... I just find unrealistic to complain about the current situation (when clearly FIDE struggles to keep the WC cycle going) without a *realistic* alternative proposal.

The complain "it is a lot of extra work..." just reminds me of the football players claiming they did not perform well on a Saturday because they had to play an additional game on the previous Wednesday

[LozCooper]

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.

It is a lot of extra work though if you have to prepare for 1 first round opponent, 2 possible semi final opponents and 4 possible finalists.[/quote]

That's their job I'm afraid.
How is that any more difficult than preparing for a tournament?
Also keep in mind, those elite players meet each other on a regular basis during the year. I suspect Kramnik constantly prepares against Aronian and Topalov.
Believe me, I also miss the times when candidate matches were on 12 or more games, with 3 or more months between quarterfinals, semifinals and final... I just find unrealistic to complain about the current situation (when clearly FIDE struggles to keep the WC cycle going) without a *realistic* alternative proposal.

The complain "it is a lot of extra work..." just reminds me of the football players claiming they did not perform well on a Saturday because they had to play an additional game on the previous Wednesday [/quote]

I'm not sure what qualifies you to lecture and patronise me on the needs of world class players but feel free to enlighten me.

Match play is very different to playing in a tournament.

The only reason FIDE struggles to keep the cycle going is because they make such a hash of it. A realistic alternative would be to keep to the rules they announce at the start of cycles and stick to them. They could also spend less money on delegates, stop forcing players to pay inflated prices for tournaments and stop introducing faster time limits, zero defaults and changing venues and dates on a regular basis.

A footballer playing two games a week is rather different to preparing for seven different opponents with black and white from my humble understanding. It's not so much the work that's required but the fact that most of it won't be relevant. It doesn't seem unreasonable for a world championship event to run with a schedule that allows players to perform at their best rather than a ramshackle event cobbled together at short notice. If this was a private or fun venture then I could say it'll be an interesting event and worth following but I can't see how it's the best way of producing a world championship challenger.

[LozCooper]

A reminder that the matches start next week, the official site is here: http://kazan2011.fide.com/

[James Byrne]

...

[LozCooper]

Will there be any live relay coverage of the event?

I'm sure there will be, I don't see anything on the site but it will be covered I'm sure. I'll try and remember to post any links as I find them

[Mick Norris]

http://kazan2011.fide.com/tournament-games.html

[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.

Update:

Alex will be there for the duration of the event. He's one of a team of only three arbiters, the others being Ignatius Leong of Singapore (Chief Arbiter) and Franca Dapiran of Italy.

According to Mark Crowther on TWIC, http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/twic.html, the first round starts at 1200 noon UK time on Thursday 5th May.

The official site is at http://kazan2011.fide.com/. For live coverage, please see the link given by Mick Norris in the preceding post.