Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

[Wouter D]

Agreed, though

Caruana’s coming chronometrical catastrophe created a calamitous climate.

is a somewhat showoffish sentence.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

More specifically, it's like a showoffish bit of English homework by a nerdy 13 year old.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Etienne v Wouter has turned into a bit of an epic, hasn't it? 100 moves* so far, could go as far as 129 moves if Wouter successfully plays for the 50 move draw rule.

* I mean moves each of course, as I understand is the standard meaning in relation to chess move counts

[Wouter D]

Etienne v Wouter has turned into a bit of an epic, hasn't it? 100 moves* so far, could go as far as 129 moves if Wouter successfully plays for the 50 move draw rule.

I still find that rule a weird one. There was a moment in today's world championship game where the supercomputer found a forced mate in 64 moves. Now, this wouldn't fall afoul of the 50 move draw rule, since
- it was later improved to a forced mate in about 30, and
- it involved pawn moves
but still, in a game where such long sequences are not impossible, I find it a bit arbitrary to have such a rule.

The particular end game Etienne and I are in, rook plus bishop versus rook, is well-known to be tricky. Typically it is a draw, but forcing that draw requires the defence to play really accurately. In some positions there actually is a forced win for the bishop side, but according to wikipedia, up to 59 moves are required. And if 59 moves are required, we're in the 50 move draw rule territory again.

[Levin]

The 50 move rule got changed after longer endgames were discovered so you'd have exceptions based upon certain piece combinations. "For instance, in the rook and bishop versus rook endgame, 132 moves were allowed, since it was twice the 66 moves that were thought to be required at that time" From Wikipedia

Then in 1984 it became the 100 move rule, followed in 1989 by the 75 move rule with exceptions and then a year or so later back to the strict 50 move rule. It does seem a bit arbitrary given that there are known cases where a mate can be forced.

[Etienne]

Moot now.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

So, the OTF16 title depends on the outcome of my second match with Wouter, just started. I need to avoid defeat: if I win, I win the title ahead of Levin by 0.5 proper points, if I draw, I beat Levin on tie-break points (regardless of the outcome of the remaining Wouter-Etienne match). If Wouter beats me, Levin is OTF16 champion, and I come second ahead of Etienne (by TBPs only if Etienne beats Wouter).

It would be my first OTF title since the sparsely attended OTF4, so I'll be giving it my best shot.

[Levin]

An update on the world championship from Deadspin

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

If it's level after all 12 matches, Carlsen retains his title, right?

[Wouter D]

If it's level after all 12 matches, Carlsen retains his title, right?

Well, there's going to be a rapid playoff, so basically, yes.

[Sam]

Yeah, they're 1 and 2 in the world for the 'slow' version of the game (they'd have swapped positions had Caruana won the title by this point, in fact), but at rapid Carlsen's number 1 and Caruana's number 8, and at blitz (which is what happens if it's still tied after the rapid games), Carlsen's number 1 and Caruana's number 12. Or Caruana's 12th for rapid and 8th for blitz. Either way it'll be a shock if Caruana wins it from here.

Hello again, everyone.

[diggedy derek]

They're rolling

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/li...-breakers-live

It would be cool if the tie break took place on a small plastic travel chess set in the back of a Ford Escort, but I understand that is not that case.

[diggedy derek]

This looks interesting. Five pawns, one rook and a king versus four pawns, one rook and a king. But though Carlsen has a piece advantage, his king appears cut off by that one rook. He should get a win from here in theory, but can he in practice...

[diggedy derek]

Carlsen wins! He had two pawns to zero left and Caruana resigned.

[ad hoc]

All going horribly wrong for Caruana. 2-0 after 2 games. Carlsen just needs a draw no w

[ursus arctos]

This is why Carlsen was so eager to offer a draw in the last "standard" match, despite his strong position.

I think I would have preferred him retaining the title under the old school formula of the challenger having to win to take the title (i.e., the defender retains it in the event of a draw).

There is more than a whiff of playing for penalties about his approach.

[ad hoc]

Indeed. I get the feeling that his reputation has taken a hit in this match even though it seems sure he'll win

[ursus arctos]

That's definitely been the flavour of the commentary that I've read.

[ad hoc]

All over. Didn't simply draw the third game, won it

[diggedy derek]

Apparently Carlsen celebrated his win at the Wetherspoons in Holborn. What is that, The Shakespeare’s Head? That would have been amazing to be there!

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Very inappropriate choice of hostelry for Carlsen given that he had just *Remained* world chess champion.

[Wouter D]

So, the OTF16 title depends on the outcome of my second match with Wouter, just started. I need to avoid defeat: if I win, I win the title ahead of Levin by 0.5 proper points, if I draw, I beat Levin on tie-break points (regardless of the outcome of the remaining Wouter-Etienne match). If Wouter beats me, Levin is OTF16 champion, and I come second ahead of Etienne (by TBPs only if Etienne beats Wouter).

It would be my first OTF title since the sparsely attended OTF4, so I'll be giving it my best shot.

Not sure whether I can make my extra pawn count. But I'm going for it.

[Etienne]

Congrats EEG. Hope you enjoy a celebration at your local Wetherspoons.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Ha ha, thanks Etienne!

To make Wouter feel better about not forcing a win, and Levin feel better about my scraping a draw and nicking the title by the narrowest of margins, I can report that I just ran a Deep level computer analysis on the match, and the chess.com computer confirms that the position was thoroughly drawn, and had been since move 29, so Wouter did the right thing in offering a draw. In fact, to my amazement, the last person in the match to have a substantial positive soore in the analysis was myself, after Wouter's 28. Bxd4. That was apparently a blunder which gave me an opportunity, by means of a clever 4 move sequence, to go a minor piece up, but I immediately counter-blundered that opportunity away with my response 29 Nxd4, following which we were set for a draw barring errors on my part.

Edit: for anyone interested, the way it should have gone after Wouter's 28 B x d4, if my play had been correct per the Deep analysis, was: (29. Rh1 Bc5 30. Rh5+ Kg6 31. Nh4+ Kg7 32. Rxc5 Rb8 33. Ra5 Rb6)

[Levin]

Congratulations EEG. Has this been the tightest tournament we've seen?