Insanely close tournament so far. After 10 rounds of play, 6 out of 8 participants still have realistic chances to win it all.

Should be a very exciting last 4 rounds! Nice.

Gienah

8 Posts

April 19 2024 13:45 GMT

#2549

Wow, this tournament has been really good. High quality chess. Lot's of decisive results. Emotional players. A whole bunch of live casts with different commentators. People said that classic chess with a long time control was dead. I don't know about the view numbers, but this game certainly has proven Magnus Carlsen wrong. It would be so ironic if Nakamura, who says he isn't chess player but instead a streamer, wins and then becomes World Champ.

I agree that FIDE hasn't been very good at marketing chess and helping up and coming players and below top tier players make a living. FIDE has always been trash and corrupt. But classical chess is a legitimate concept and Magnus Carlen was very wrong in using his influence to literally abolish it. Because that's what Magnus tried to do by refusing to defend his title.

Maybe we just need to use a tournament like this to crown a world champ. Not a 12 or 24 match long 1vs1 grind.
Because any 1vs1 world title match may indeed turn into a drawfest.
But an elimination bracket tournament would be better. But the time control is fine.

sharkie

Austria18482 Posts

April 19 2024 15:19 GMT

#2550

Its only so exciting because every player knows this is the best chance ever to win a world championship...

If magnus was still defending his title we wouldnt have so many decisive matches. 3h time control IS not fine.

Also if hikaru were to win it while being a streamer first and chess pro second - it would make be a disgrace to chess...

Gienah

8 Posts

April 19 2024 15:31 GMT

#2551

That doesn't make a lot of sense. Yes, Ding Liren's current form is very doubtful. But why would this be their best shot? Gukesh is only 17. He has 20 more years to try to become world champ. It is not like Magnus will be way stronger than everyone else for the next 20 years and Magnus will play again for all of those. No one knows what will happen in the future. These are all dedicated pro players. They give it their all to win. It Magnus had been the WC it wouldn't have been any different. Even Hikaru would have played.

You are also crazy to say that it would be a disgrace if Hikaru were to become WC. Chess has never been played at a higher level than right now. We objectively know this because of chess engine analysis. What Hikaru calls himself is not important. It just turns out he is a really really strong player. I don't know what is up mentally with why Hikaru is able to play so much stronger now than a couple of years ago.

The only disgrace is Magnus refusing to even compete for the title because he feels he is above it.

mahrgell

Germany3943 Posts

April 19 2024 16:41 GMT

#2552

But you know that Magnus aint your personal entertainment slave, right?

Only because is he is damn good at chess doesn't mean he must participate in events and formats he does not enjoy.

Gienah

8 Posts

April 19 2024 17:57 GMT

#2553

Magnus is free to retire any time he wants. But what he did is put his thumb on the scale, refusing to defend his title, and use that as leverage to try to change the format to what he personally wanted it to be.

ZeroByte13

772 Posts

April 19 2024 20:22 GMT

#2554

And why wouldn't he want to change the format of chess to what he personally like?
He likes it, he wants it. If others don't want the same - they won't follow Magnus, if they do want it - they will.

Gorsameth

Netherlands21903 Posts

April 19 2024 20:34 GMT

#2555

2016 was a tie, 2018 was a tie, 2021 was not a tie because Nepomniachtchi had a mental breakdown, 2023 was a tie.

Its not just Carlson who wants a change to something he wants. A lot of people are tried of long series of tied games.

Plus if I remember Carlson's statement right he reframed from defending in part because its a very long and intense preparation schedule for the series and that level of investment is just not worth the effort anymore after he already won

Magic Powers

Austria4478 Posts

April 19 2024 21:03 GMT

#2556

If I recall correctly, Carlsen's argument is that the two best players fighting for the crown play twenty moves of preparation before they have to start thinking. This effectively allows them to calculate much fewer moves per game, thus drawing almost every game due to playing nearly perfectly all the time. The classical time format is therefore outdated and time pressure should be increased. Carlsen said that he would even favor rapid games for the world championship.

Personally I think his argument makes sense. I've been critical of FIDE for being too conservative and not wanting change. They live in a past that'll never come back, and they're trying to will the past back into existence, but the best chess players are simply far too good for that.

0x64

Finland4573 Posts

April 19 2024 22:25 GMT

#2557

Maybe it does not need to be rapid, but 1:30 + 30. Play two or three games per day, Play without leaving time for preps? :D

That would be mental. Current format kind of maximize the use a preparation.

Or do like computers do or like RTS games... Change the map pool and draw randomly the 2 first moves from a secret list :D. It would not be fisher random but yeah... I can always wish.

M3t4PhYzX

Poland4214 Posts

April 21 2024 14:09 GMT

#2558

Well..

I don't think anyone could have dream up a better last round finish than we're going to actually have here in Toronto..

4 players can still win it all and exactly these four players will face eachother in the 14th round of the tournament.

Nakamura (W) vs (B) Gukesh D

Caruana (W) vs (B) Nepomniachtchi

Gukesh has a 0.5 point lead over the other three, so Nakamura, Caruana and Nepomniachtchi are in a must win situation.