Great showing by Keymer. Agonising miss in the last game against MVL to force a tie-break against Magnus. Kudos to the new gen stars like Arjun as well!
The old guard struggling so far - Naka, Nepo, MVL, Shak, Duda, etc. But I expect they will bounce back during blitz.
wouldn't call Duda an "old guard" but I know what you mean..
All in all - GGs WP, but I really think it should be 15 rounds for Rapid like it has been in the past (except 2021). 13 seems way too little considering the time control and the number of players in the tournament. Bad change, hopefully they'll return to 15 asap in the future.
Wrong choice of words! Was meaning to say the top established players.
Duda is such a weird player to classify. He's young but won a lot of tournaments and been in the Candidates. He can really play brilliant beautiful chess but still prone to many blunders. It's quite infuriating to root for him. Hope he gets more consistency, and he'll make a worthy World Champion one day!
On December 29 2022 03:00 RKC wrote: Wrong choice of words! Was meaning to say the top established players.
Duda is such a weird player to classify. He's young but won a lot of tournaments and been in the Candidates. He can really play brilliant beautiful chess but still prone to many blunders. It's quite infuriating to root for him. Hope he gets more consistency, and he'll make a worthy World Champion one day!
Carlsen with all three World Championship titles held simultaneously again..
A true chess monster. This is exactly why the Classical Championship without him is a farce, imo.. Hope FIDE will make the cycle a three year one and that he comes back asap.
On December 31 2022 01:39 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Carlsen with all three World Championship titles held simultaneously again..
A true chess monster. This is exactly why the Classical Championship without him is a farce, imo.. Hope FIDE will make the cycle a three year one and that he comes back asap.
GGs WP!
I completely understand that he was not bothered to defend his classical championship once more. When engines are involved for both sides, the amount of preparation is just too much, and I don't think Magnus enjoys it enough anymore.
The downside is that the new champion will not have beaten Magnus, but he looked like he was having fun and was very motivated at these championships, so he will likely compete in them for a long time!
Stepping down from the classical championship will also make more stars.
This will probably go down as one of the craziest games ever!
Magnus-Rapport was such a wild game! If this is how Magnus plays (B3 opening!) without the weight of the classical championship to defend, then the world of chess is better off with his decision to abdicate the throne.
Poor Nepo - he's probably feeling the pressure of the championship and the need to hide his builds, conserve energy, and do all the prep work necessary months in advance. The dress code warning was a fiasco!
The Dude making a trademark late surge only to collapse and miss out on a medal
Faster games and variants like Fischer random are the future of chess. And maybe rule changes like awarding 3 points for wins. We need more fighting chess! It's a shame that top pros feel the need to play safe and go for draws just to secure some prize money (Giri and Dubov - looking at you!). Organisers should think of some creative ways to incentivise fighting chess. Maybe some side pool prize money for game of the day or number of wins? The online rapid chess circuit has shown how fun chess can be for fans and players with just some tweaks in the rules and format.
On December 31 2022 01:39 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Carlsen with all three World Championship titles held simultaneously again..
A true chess monster. This is exactly why the Classical Championship without him is a farce, imo.. Hope FIDE will make the cycle a three year one and that he comes back asap.
GGs WP!
I think the format needs a major change. 1on1 title match is tradition. But the true test of a championship is probably Swiss open or Candidates style or even knockouts (like World Cup). A champion is the player who can best the most top players, and not just a single player. If the championship changes to a fairer and funner format, I don't think Magnus even minds playing every year. I believe that's what he means in his interview on faster time controls as well. Modern chess players should be tested on real-time intuition and creative spark, rather than raw prep work by a team of seconds months in advance.
On December 31 2022 01:39 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Carlsen with all three World Championship titles held simultaneously again..
A true chess monster. This is exactly why the Classical Championship without him is a farce, imo.. Hope FIDE will make the cycle a three year one and that he comes back asap.
GGs WP!
I think the format needs a major change. 1on1 title match is tradition. But the true test of a championship is probably Swiss open or Candidates style or even knockouts (like World Cup). A champion is the player who can best the most top players, and not just a single player. If the championship changes to a fairer and funner format, I don't think Magnus even minds playing every year. I believe that's what he means in his interview on faster time controls as well. Modern chess players should be tested on real-time intuition and creative spark, rather than raw prep work by a team of seconds months in advance.
Agreed. Preparation has become so sophisticated that the old time controls don't provide the same value as they used to. It's very noticable that the old guard is less dominant in the shorter time controls than in classical, and that isn't because their brains are slower or because they face too many novelties, it's simply because - compared to the internet generation - they're not as used to managing their clock under time pressure.
I also agree that the World Champion shouldn't have the privilege of sitting out the entire qualification cycle. Everyone should be required to participate in the candidates tournament. Even Carlsen has long been an outspoken proponent of such a change. I suspect FIDE wants to keep the WC privilege alive for promotional reasons (that's also why the time between candidates and WC match is so long), but I think they don't understand that times have changed and this trick doesn't work very well anymore. People can now easily follow their new favorite players through live streaming, without having to wait for big tournaments that their favorites can participate in.
On December 31 2022 01:39 M3t4PhYzX wrote: Carlsen with all three World Championship titles held simultaneously again..
A true chess monster. This is exactly why the Classical Championship without him is a farce, imo.. Hope FIDE will make the cycle a three year one and that he comes back asap.
GGs WP!
Yes i tend to agree. This is the only thing i am not happy about when it comes to Carlsen,voluntarily stepping aside. Though i can understand his decission very well.
The king has to be defeated before a new king and legend can arise. Now we will end up in a similar situation as when Khalifman won the world championship (nothing against Khalifman by the way). A new worldchampion who is not considered to be the best player and who probably also wont lead the rating list. Such a situation is somewhat unsettling for the chess world. It needs a clear and undisputed king,but maybe i am beeing oldfashioned here.
The event was great,enjoyed watching it very much.
One simple tweak in the format is to have the Candidates and final title match between the Candidates winner and defending champion back-to-back. Maybe a week delay to allow the challenger some time to recuperate. The reigning champion will also be mentally taxed by following all the Candidates game in anticipation of the challenger. Maybe this format tilts the advantage too much in the reigning champion favour. But the challenger working his way through level by level to beat the final boss makes an epic narrative!
I think the real hitch to this format is the commercial side. FIDE will miss out on revenue from marketing and hyping up two events held separately.
Or better still, the format should just have the reigning champion automatically qualified for the Candidates (replacing the automatic qualification of losing challeger last cycle). We could still have a title match between the top two finishers of the Candidates back-to-back (but maybe give a 0.5 bonus point to the top finisher as reward, which serves to compel the challenger to play fighting chess and avoid tiebreaks by way of faster time controls and Armageddon).
I personally think that the whole Classical Chess World Championship process is in a decent place, much better than it was 10 or 15 years ago.. the only thing that should change is that it should take longer. 3 years would be perfect, if you ask me.
I think that there are chances that Carlsen will make a return and will sit on his throne once again.. hopefully it happens as soon as possible. For the good of the game of chess.
I am just not surprised that Magnus doesn't want another draw-streak with Nepo. Of course, this time Nepo collapsed, but usually those can result in even more draws and it is really not good for chess publicity.
I am never exited when there is a world championship match going on. While candidate tournament is really the hot stuff. Why not have the champion playing the candidate tournament, and if he finishes first, he is automatically new champion. If not, he plays a match in a shorter format winner.
I had a call with the technical director of french federation and he was driving a future of chess with faster formats at all levels. Older people are still conservative and like to have time.
I have mixed feeling as I am in middle age :D, I still have the stamina to play 6 hour games, but at the same time I feel like I need more time than young players to complete my calculations :D.
1:30 + 30 sec per move without a magic 40 move increment feels like a more dynamic chess. 40 moves limit ends up being quite arbitrary depends a lot on the game, if might be end game, or midgame...