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BGonline.org Forums
OT - World Chess Championship 2018
Posted By: Stick
Date: Friday, 30 November 2018, at 12:40 a.m.
I know a fair amount of bg players at one point played chess or still do. This year it was Magnus Carlsen (2835) of Norway, champion since 2013, 27 years old, against American Fabiano Caruana (2832), 26 years old. The format was best of 12 game match where you score a point for a win, half point for a draw, and zero for a loss. The time controls were 100 minutes per player for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes added after move 40, and 15 more minutes added after the 60th move. (+ 30 seconds per move from the get go)
After twelve games they had created history drawing every single game of the match forcing a tie-break. For the tie-break the would play 4 games of rapid chess with settings of 25 minutes + 10 seconds added per move.
The most interesting thing happened in game 12 when Carlsen offered a draw in a position where he was clearly ahead. He also was crushing the clock war in this game so why on earth would he pull this Searching for Bobby Fischer esque type move? After the game there was a lot of murmurings about why he offered the draw. Had he misunderstood the position? Was it the difference in the breakdown of the prize break money (it altered slightly if it went to a tie-break)? Or was there a more logical explanation?
It turns out that Carlsen's rapid rating is far superior to Caruana's. Nearly 100 points, 2880 to 2789. It seems that Carlsen preferred his chances in heading straight to the tie-break with rapid chess than to push his advantage in a position while leading, was complicated. His opponent knowing that and being somewhat harassed on time happily took the draw when offered but knowing the skill differential in rapid chess should he have declined the offer and played it out instead?
In post match interviews Carlsen basically said he wasn't interested in the analysis of the last game where he had perhaps passed on better moves to secure a more comfortable yet less equity game to force it into the tie-break. Other players, commentators and the like in real time didn't seem to take into account the ultimate goal which was winning. They wanted to win that specific game which would of course win the championship but Carlsen's idea was that the far better line was to assure a draw if possible, play the less volatile line during the game, and his biggest edge came from making it to rapid chess. It's hard to argue with the logic when he smashed his opponent winning the first three games making a fourth unnecessary and remaining world champion.
I see this so often in games/sports I often wonder how they can be considered professionals. The way people routinely celebrate after scoring whether it be a basket, goal, point, touchdown, whatever often leave me wondering if they know what the goal is. Yes, some plays no matter the game/sport merit some upheaval in adrenaline and merit celebration or a rather important score but when I see NFL players celebrating a sack like they just won the Superbowl or tennis players jizzing because they won a point it doesn't hit home with me. Probably why I much prefer players like Federer and Sampras who generally don't celebrate except at the appropriate moments.
Not to get too far off the topic road but one time I was playing singles at regionals (a fairly big deal for rec players/teams) and after the match (which I won) the other player asked me "What do you do for a living?" I didn't think much of it, told him, and he says "That makes sense." I didn't know what made sense about it so I asked him. He said that I never got excited nor upset/down no matter what happened during the point. Now, we don't have a stadium of people watching us but we do have enough spectators cheering and making noise after points. He went on to say at first he thought I might not care if I won or lost but quickly realized that my playing effort didn't change just that I didn't have a reaction. It kind of threw him off the way it sounded that someone was so ... whatever you want to call that. It was never meant as a tactic but there's no reason to celebrate until the actual win. Even then, since it's a team event, you can't get too Kool & the Gang. It should be noted I do get annoyed in games like backgammon and poker because no matter how much better you are than your opponent and no matter how many more correct decisions you make you still lose often enough. In games of (near) pure skill I don't have this issue because I know when my opponent beats me I know why, he was better than me on that day.
I recognize in team competitions there will be more celebratings and nice jobs (something I've never needed) as in doubles tennis there is a lot more communication and "nice shot" dealings but what I'm long windedly trying to say is I appreciate that Carlsen knew what he should do and had to do going in and coming out of it couldn't have cared less what anyone had to say about which play would have been better for that game because he knew the best route to victory. (Our tennis captain would get frustrated or flustered with me at times because I didn't win a point outright when he thought I could have and every now and then I'd end up losing that point. I basically wanted the guy to run a ton more during these points and would pull him around but not far enough ((hopefully)) that he couldn't get to it. The idea again is not to win the point, but the match. This being rec tennis these players aren't necessarily in prime physical condition) I've also recently seen a lot of things I don't agree with from player's on Jeopardy (not regular players either, champions) wagering to the standard of how to lose a professional game whether it is football, hockey, basketball, whatever. Maybe more on that later.
Anyway, I do wonder if this signals that top level chess needs a change, might be too stale, as many others have also wondered for years upon years now. The WC itself was fun to follow and the Stockfish analysis is also a useful tool for anyone who wants an overview of the path of the individual games.
Stick
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