OMG World Championship is On Anand Vs Gelfand

[DiggertheDog]

I remember at a google famous/interesting person conference that used the poker player cam as I method of improving chess, they were met with a skeptical Kasparovian response.

[Do it Right]

Originally Posted by Noir_Desir

just for the record, the first 8 games of the 1995 Kasparov-Anand match were 27, 29, 36, 21, 27, 28, 25 and 22 move draws. So chess was probably already dead 20 years ago...

Oh come on.

Those games were, for the most part, well fought. Some of the games were drawn prematurely because neither competitor wanted to enter into crazy complications with 30 minutes on the clock, others because the positions were equal. Not to mention that that was also a much longer match. In this match they are for the most part blitzing out 25 moves of well known theory leading to dead positions, shaking hands and going home - especially on Gelfand's whites. It's just not comparable. Nobody is complaining about draws. Trying to compare this to Kasparov - Anand 1995 or comparing Gelfand to Petrosian just because of the draw aspect is silly and unfounded.

These players clearly don't want to play and they're showing it on the board. And I suppose it's not even just their personalities. What are they playing for? It's going to be a hollow victory when the 4th and 20th ranked players play for a title, while the new titans of the game continue to rise even further above the rest of the pack. These FIDE knock out qualifiers just keep leading to the dumbest results. This match, regardless of who wins, will go down in history along the same lines as "world champions" like Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov.

[Do it Right]

Not really related but a hilarious quote from Gelfand I found while double checking some info on the candidates matches. This was after he won the final game against Grischuk: "I think statistically my chances were very good because I think it was the first victory by White in these matches, so it was very unlikely that there would be no victories for White in such a cycle."

I wonder what Grischuk's face was like if he was within earshot.

[All-inMcLovin]

Originally Posted by Do it Right

Oh come on.

Those games were, for the most part, well fought. Some of the games were drawn prematurely because neither competitor wanted to enter into crazy complications with 30 minutes on the clock, others because the positions were equal. Not to mention that that was also a much longer match. In this match they are for the most part blitzing out 25 moves of well known theory leading to dead positions, shaking hands and going home - especially on Gelfand's whites. It's just not comparable. Nobody is complaining about draws. Trying to compare this to Kasparov - Anand 1995 or comparing Gelfand to Petrosian just because of the draw aspect is silly and unfounded.

These players clearly don't want to play and they're showing it on the board. And I suppose it's not even just their personalities. What are they playing for? It's going to be a hollow victory when the 4th and 20th ranked players play for a title, while the new titans of the game continue to rise even further above the rest of the pack. These FIDE knock out qualifiers just keep leading to the dumbest results. This match, regardless of who wins, will go down in history along the same lines as "world champions" like Ponomariov and Kasimdzhanov.

+1

I thought this match would be a joke, and so far it's been a complete joke. The games are almost pointless to play through.

Put Nakamura or Aronian in a match (that isn't quite short as well) with Carlsen, and then you'll get my interest piqued.

[Noir_Desir]

lol Nakamura, what did he do to deserve a shot at the title? Biased americans ITT...

[Punker]

Originally Posted by Noir_Desir

lol Nakamura, what did he do to deserve a shot at the title? Biased americans ITT...

At minimum, he is ranked #7 in the world. It's not ridiculous or biased to say he is at least could be considered for a wc match.

[All-inMcLovin]

Originally Posted by Noir_Desir

lol Nakamura, what did he do to deserve a shot at the title? Biased americans ITT...

lol Noir_Desir, ignorant european ITT without reading comprehension.

Put Nakamura or Aronian in a match (that isn't quite short as well) with Carlsen, and then you'll get my interest piqued.

In a match.

Meaning, ANY match. ANY match between Nakamura/Aronian and Carlsen, even a match that's not an official world championship match would be much more interesting to me than this official one between Anand and Gelfand. Heck, this "official" match between world #4 and world #20 isn't being treated as such by parts of the chess community.

The world championship system still isn't fixed yet. I just want to see two interesting type top players (Yes, world #7 qualifies that for me, and #7 > #20) battle it out.

If I wanted to mean "world championship" match, I would have simply stated that.

[Gorgonian]

He may be within a few pts of #5 in the world soon, anyway.

[EGarrett]

Originally Posted by Noir_Desir

lol Nakamura, what did he do to deserve a shot at the title? Biased americans ITT...

He didn't say that Nakamura deserved a shot at the world title, he said he would be interested in seeing Nakamura play a match against certain people, as would anyone with a player who had a personality and was highly-competitive, or with a player with whom they share a local connection. That knee-jerk bigotry/nationalistic response is highly incorrect and inappropriate and it reflects poorly on you.

[Fabian]

In the context of this thread and that post, it's very very reasonable to think Mclovin is talking about a world championship match. To the point where, if that's not what he actually meant, he phrased it pretty poorly.

And yeah give me a Carlsen vs Anand/Aronian/Nakamura (not because he particularly deserves it, but because he's an engaging player, signed Biased European) match which means something and I'll be happy.

[Noir_Desir]

the post he seconded called the qualification method ridiculous. Then he off-handedly suggested a match featuring Nakamura, who doesn't have any achievments whatsoever in the qualification cycles and also hasn't proved that he can hold his own in a match format against a top player. He also compared the winner of this match to Ponomariov or Khalifman which isn't appropriate because of the much longer matches at much longer time controls and the much better standing Gelfand or Anand have compared to those two.

If you want action, watch tournaments, of which there are plenty. The WC match is, and always has been, a different kettle of fish.

To state that chess is dead is simply a claim that no one who understands much of chess would ever make.

[Do it Right]

If you don't think this match is rubbish that's your right - though implying this is the norm for world championship matches is wearing exceptionally rose colored glasses, to put amicably. However, I can't believe you're actually trying to defend the qualifying system too. Knock outs are just silly. Gelfand qualified for this match in a tournament where, due to sheer luck, he didn't have to play a single game against Topalov, Kramnik or Aronian. He didn't play a single top seed. Instead he got to play the 4th seed, the 5-7th seed and the bottom ranked player. And one of the matches he only won on blitz tie breaks. So he plays 3 of the bottom seeds, wins one in blitz, and is declared the champion of the tournament. I don't really see how you could possibly defend a tournament where that outcome is possible. Round robins are the only reasonable format. And the amusing thing is a double round robin would have had the exact same number of games played (14) as that abominal single-elimination did. There's also the benfit that in the FIDE knockout tournament, there were a total of 7 matches played, 4/7 of the matches were decided in blitz/rapid. A double round robin event would likely be less decided by players rapid/blitz ability, which is probably desirable when competing for the title that's supposed to be classical chess world champion.

[KyleJRM82]

I'm not a huge fan of the knockout format either, but the reason Gelfand moved on without having to play those guys is that he won chess games and they didn't.

[John_Douglas]

I can't believe the disrespect Gelfand showed for the fans and organizers by playing for a draw with White in today's game.

[Mayo]

GELFAAAAAAAAAND!!!!