wow, hats of to McShane.

I want the players to knock lumps out of each other till one is left standing. With an aim to making matchplay as similar to boxing as possible, my idea for a format is this...


8 week long matches. First to 3 wins.

Twist is you can only score as black. (blitz game or games to decide who starts as black)

Draws count for nothing. You play again with the same colour pieces.

The white player can start the next game as black in these 3 scenarios.

-If White wins colours are switched.
-If Black wins (they score a point!) and colours are switched.
-After 3 consecutive draws colours are switched.

Matches could last as little as 5 games, could go the distance. Maximum number of games is 48. (8 weeks of 6 games/week)

If no winner by then, whoever has the lead wins. Otherwise, the one with the most white wins is the winner.
If both players have the same amount of points and white wins the match is a tie. (if applicable, title retained by whoever holds it)



I would expect matches of this format to often go into the final week one side knowing they will lose unless they get that knockout black win.
 
Eight weeks might seem like a long time, but I think it gives a chance for narratives to develop. Seems that the only people who understand what the grandmasters are doing is other grandmasters, the rest of us will need a bit of drama to stay interested. 

Great thread.

What's going on with the world championship cycle? I know it's been a bit of a farce for decades now. There's a big Vishy Anand vs Magnus Carlsen shaped hole in the universe wot needs to be filled.

If chess wants to make a mark of the public's consciousness I think the way forward is more high profile player vs player matches rather than tournaments. If a single game of chess is like a round of boxing, you want to see the two heavyweights go at it for 12 rounds and see who is left standing. Feels like a question has been answered at the end of it.

The super tournaments never seem to answer anything, they just create more questions.

I was in the pharmacy buying nail scissors and while standing in the queue I saw they were selling something called a nit comb for £2.99

FML I thought, how much are the normal combs?

McDonald's coffee card is 16.7% rakeback. More if you're happy to look through the bins for the stickers.

Never mind Rangers. I'm sure all the existing players will stay when they have the option of making lots more money elsewhere. You don't do walking away after all.

Luck be a lady tonight, luck be a lady tonight.

Luck - be - a lady

Tonighhhhhhhhht

Having flashbacks to watching tennis in the 1990s. There's a guy called Tim in the quarter finals who conventional wisdom says has pretty much no chance to get much further but I want him to with pretty much my entire eternal soul.

I love this game. Nasty feeling that in an hour or so I may hate it, what with Tebow having had his quarter already.

Another crazy NFL week.

And LOL that this is still possible......

If:
Wk 16: Jets (h) beat Giants, Eagles win @ Dallas
Wk 17: Eagles (h) beat Redskins, Giants (h) beat Dallas

Then the 8-8 Eagles would make the playoffs as NFC East Champions and No 4 seed, as they hold all the tie-breakers in the NFC East.  NB: If any one of those results goes the other way then it's mathematically impossible for them to get there.

Then a few weeks later Philly meet Kansas City in the Superbowl.

It's a disgrace that Tim Tebow isn't on the list.

(been busy, sorry Andrew)

My favourite fucked up thing about the whole situation is that while Great Britain does not include Northern Ireland, Britain does. Britain is a recognised abbreviation for 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' whereas Great Britain is not.

I had this problem last week and found a very simple solution on the google that worked well.

Screw a screw into the cork. Remove with claw hammer.

wiiii  4 singles in inc denver... NO and pits to complete the 7 fold

glgl

It's Timmy Time!