Chess thread

[Tal]

http://en.chessbase.com/post/bbc-s-across-the-board-magnus-carlsen

Enjoy!

Best just post the link. A game of chess on the radio with the 2 players engaging in conversation just doesnt sell...

Btw it appears your namesake is an official commentator for the WC.

He's found a good role there.

What do people make of chess commentators?

Is Lawrence Trent the standout guy? Does Danny King explain things best? Ward? Williams? Anyone else?

Danny King in incred.

WC thoughts Tal?

Will put a preview together in the week

[McGlashan]

http://en.chessbase.com/post/bbc-s-across-the-board-magnus-carlsen

Enjoy!

Best just post the link. A game of chess on the radio with the 2 players engaging in conversation just doesnt sell...

Btw it appears your namesake is an official commentator for the WC.

He's found a good role there.

What do people make of chess commentators?

Is Lawrence Trent the standout guy? Does Danny King explain things best? Ward? Williams? Anyone else?

Danny King in incred.

WC thoughts Tal?

Will put a preview together in the week

Tal, is there a resource for looking up the +/- results for both players in major comps over the last 2 years?

[Tal]

http://en.chessbase.com/post/bbc-s-across-the-board-magnus-carlsen

Enjoy!

Best just post the link. A game of chess on the radio with the 2 players engaging in conversation just doesnt sell...

Btw it appears your namesake is an official commentator for the WC.

He's found a good role there.

What do people make of chess commentators?

Is Lawrence Trent the standout guy? Does Danny King explain things best? Ward? Williams? Anyone else?

Danny King in incred.

WC thoughts Tal?

Will put a preview together in the week

Tal, is there a resource for looking up the +/- results for both players in major comps over the last 2 years?

Chessbase, TWIC, chess.com and various others will have details of every major comp, including analysis so you can see behind the results. They haven't played against each other much in the last year IIRC.

[McGlashan]

Thanks Tal.

After St Louis and the Caruana hype, Magnus mentioned something about having a positive score for every tournament he has participated in for the past few years. It looks far too arduous a task to check his record

[McGlashan]

The famous American statistician Nate Silver did a bit of analysis ahead of the WC match http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/magnus-carlsen-world-chess-championship/

[Tal]

Here we go, then.

Today sees the start of the 2014 World Chess Championship, with the opening ceremony, during which the players will toss for colours. The first game will begin tomorrow.

Sochi is, for those of you familiar with the winter Olympics and/or Formula One, in a largely desolate part of Russia, not too far from the Ukraine. The selection of the venue has been something of a controversy of itself: Anand is favoured by the Russians, partly, I imagine, because he was a rival to Kasparov, but partly perhaps because he's not some upstart European. If Chennai was rooting for him, Sochi has his back, but with less pressure on his shoulders. Many commentators have made much of this, and article after article says the tiger is a far more dangerous beast this time around.

Carlsen was strongly against the selection of Sochi, the slightly dubious source of the funding of the match and the much lower than billed prize fund. He got into a row with the governing body, FIDE about it, but eventually relented and signed his agreement to the only terms offered.

So, who are our players?

[Tal]

If you're considering trying to win Sports Personality of the Year in India (and why wouldn't you?), you'll need one of these:



Oh, unless you're Viswanathan Anand. The 44 year old is the only man who people might walk past Sachin Tendulkar to ask for an autograph. That's like walking past David Beckham to get a selfie with an Oxford Don. But it's true. He's huge! The Prime Minister tweeted his best wishes yesterday and a billion people will be following the newspapers and the live streams to funk for their hero.



After losing the world title last year, he's found a new lease of life. Written off by pretty much everyone outside of India, he roared back to dominate the qualifying Candidates Tournament against the odds, with aggressive and precise play to book his seat to a rematch.

His style is steeped in opening preparation and a preference for complicated middlegames. He was a talented blitz player when he was younger, enjoying sharp, tactical positions.

He enjoys Yes Minister and Fawlty Towers and has come across as incredibly relaxed in his press conferences and his demeanour this past six months. What can stand in his way?

[Tal]

Magnus Oen Carlsen was born when Anand was already a Grandmaster. He's now the World Champion in classical play, rapidplay and blitz: a triple crown that has never been achieved before. He's the highest rated player of all time. He is making it hard for commentators to keep finding superlatives.

A chess genius, the Mozart of chess, the next Bobby Fischer. A spotty little oik with milk bottle glasses then, right?



Nope. A model with a dry sense of humour, who insisted on arrival in Sochi that he had a tv to watch his beloved Real Madrid play Liverpool.

His style on the board is quiet, calm and beautiful. He can blast people off the boardwith ferocious tactics, but his M.O. is far more the boa constrictor type, where he excels in positions that seem dead and drawn. If he accepts a draw, it's on his own terms. He even turned one down last year when it would have given him the world title, purely because he wanted to play on for a win.

Despite two quickplay world titles, it's been a mixed year for the Norwegian: mediocre tournament performances, a handful of surprising defeats and a disappointing drop in results. Part of that is due to an apparent change in style. He's opened up this year, taking riskier lines in his games and, perhaps, trying new things over the board, confident in his ability to "feel" a position.

It hasn't always worked and boy have his critics let him know!

So what impact will that have? He's rarely emotionless, but the emotion he shows is usually a smile. He does feel nerves and the first few games will probably see him finding his feet, but he's coming in as champion now and I don't see that fazing him.

Ok, so now you know who's playing.

More to follow this evening. In the meantime, who's going to win? Over to you.

[Tal]

Just posted this:

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56581.msg1996788#msg1996788

[Tal]

Anand draws the white pieces for game one.

1.d4 coming, you'd imagine. He won't fancy facing Carlsen's Berlin Defence

[MintTrav]

The famous American statistician Nate Silver did a bit of analysis ahead of the WC match http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/magnus-carlsen-world-chess-championship/

His argument is "The more likely draws are, the better Carlsen’s chances to defend his crown", as Carlsen is perceived to be the stronger player.

This is just plain wrong, isn't it? The more draws, the better chance the weaker player has. Fewer draws favours the stronger player.

[curnow]

http://www.twitch.tv/chessnetwork  2014 World Chess Championship - Carlsen vs Anand

[The Baron]

Svidler on the FIDE commentary is excellent.

[McGlashan]

The famous American statistician Nate Silver did a bit of analysis ahead of the WC match http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/magnus-carlsen-world-chess-championship/

His argument is "The more likely draws are, the better Carlsen’s chances to defend his crown", as Carlsen is perceived to be the stronger player.

This is just plain wrong, isn't it? The more draws, the better chance the weaker player has. Fewer draws favours the stronger player.

Thanks for speaking up Trav, that was my first thought aswell.

His line of reasoning looks to be that more draws decreases the variance, and that a lower variance route suits the stronger player.

[The Camel]

The famous American statistician Nate Silver did a bit of analysis ahead of the WC match http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/magnus-carlsen-world-chess-championship/

His argument is "The more likely draws are, the better Carlsen’s chances to defend his crown", as Carlsen is perceived to be the stronger player.

This is just plain wrong, isn't it? The more draws, the better chance the weaker player has. Fewer draws favours the stronger player.

Thanks for speaking up Trav, that was my first thought aswell.

His line of reasoning looks to be that more draws decreases the variance, and that a lower variance route suits the stronger player.

I know next to nothing about chess, but surely Silver is right.

If you are heads up in poker with a stronger player than you, the best tactic is to try and play big pots and increase variance. Push draws strongly, and hero call more often.

So wide open, high variance chess games must favour the under dog surely?