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        Arimaa >> Off Topic Discussion >> 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfand)
        
(Message started by: rbarreira on May 13^th, 2012, 7:26am)

Title: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfand)
Post by rbarreira on May 13^th, 2012, 7:26am

http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/

So far it seems rather boring, just two draws, both after around 25 moves...

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by rbarreira on May 16^th, 2012, 12:57pm

Regarding the boring games, A FIDE Master named Steve Gibbins posted this in his blog, which got reposted on chessbase:

http://stevegiddinschessblog.blogspot.de/2012/05/levellers.html

The author's main points:

Quote:

That problem is that computers are killing the game. They have already killed correspondence chess, in all but name, and now classical chess is heading down the same twilight path to oblivion. The computer is now so powerful, that it becomes impossible to out-prepare another top player in the opening. In pre-computer days, Kasparov could analyse so much better than the other top GMs, that he could routinely uncork novelties that refuted entire opening variations. Nowadays, though, that is just impossible - everybody is analysing the same opening lines, using the same powerful computers and programs. As a result, everybody is coming to the board, with much the same opening preparation, with the result that nobody can get a serious opening advantage any more.

Quote:

The result is a whole series of effectively contentless games, where the players are just checking each other's computer-aided preparation. Once in a while, they will hit on a gap, and get some advantage, but most of the time, there will just be what we have already seen in Moscow - 15-20 moves of preparation, 4-5 more accurate moves, a dead position, and a draw.

So, what is the solution? Sadly, I don't think there is one, at least not without abandoning traditional chess, in favour of Fischer-Random, and I hardly know anyone in the chess world who wants to see that (I certainly don't). It grieves me to say it, but I think classical chess is in its last days.

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by christianF on May 17^th, 2012, 4:36am

on 05/16/12 at 12:57:49, rbarreira wrote:

"The result is a whole series of effectively contentless games, where the players are just checking each other's computer-aided preparation. Once in a while, they will hit on a gap, and get some advantage, but most of the time, there will just be what we have already seen in Moscow - 15-20 moves of preparation, 4-5 more accurate moves, a dead position, and a draw.

So, what is the solution? Sadly, I don't think there is one, at least not without abandoning traditional chess, in favour of Fischer-Random, and I hardly know anyone in the chess world who wants to see that (I certainly don't). It grieves me to say it, but I think classical chess is in its last days."

I feel mr. Giddins is hitting the nail on the head. Not so long ago variations would be dimly lit alleys with the Ripper looming around any corner, ready to slit your throat. Now this city with its obscure neighborhoods where one would only go wary and at one's own risk, has become a brightly lit metropolis where you can fare safely into a middle game on the Chess equivalent of a tomtom.

Chess, like any sport sooner or later, needs an update in material, and please not this monstruosity of Chess960 on which I commented before in "Why do great players make poor inventors?" (http://mindsports.nl/index.php/arena/chess/423-why-do-great-players-make-poor-inventors).

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by Adanac on May 17^th, 2012, 7:03am

on 05/17/12 at 04:36:23, christianF wrote:

I feel mr. Gibbins is hitting the nail on the head. Not so long ago variations would be dimly lit alleys with the Ripper looming around any corner, ready to slit your throat. Now this city with its its questionable neighborhoods where one would only go wary and at one's own risk, has become a brightly lit metropolis where you can fare safely into a middle game on the Chess equivalent of a tomtom.

Chess, like any sport sooner or later, needs an update in material, and please not this monstruosity of Chess960 on which I commented before in "Why do great players make poor inventors?" (http://mindsports.nl/index.php/arena/chess/423-why-do-great-players-make-poor-inventors).

I think it's time for a Grand Chess world championship! :D How about it Christian?

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by christianF on May 17^th, 2012, 7:26am

on 05/17/12 at 07:03:07, Adanac wrote:

I think it's time for a Grand Chess world championship! :D How about it Christian?

There's no harm in trying and I'm confident it would generate a lot of interest if some big names were involved. But it might go against a lot of interests ;-) .

In particular, if you've made your daily job of cuddling several state of the art computers, and memorizing all that stuff, there's not much to gain by playing Grand Chess.

Even with public interest fading, like in the case of International Draughts, players will hold on to their game as if it were the Titanic - and they're right about that, but they still assume it can't sink.

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by rbarreira on May 28^th, 2012, 9:14am

Finally the players tied 6-6, with 10 of the 12 games being draws.

Now they're going to play rapid games on Wednesday to break the tie.

Title: Re: 2012 world chess champ. match (Anand vs Gelfan
Post by christianF on May 28^th, 2012, 10:12am

on 05/28/12 at 09:14:00, rbarreira wrote:

Finally the players tied 6-6, with 10 of the 12 games being draws.

Now they're going to play rapid games on Wednesday to break the tie.

Still beats Draughts. There they start with rapid games, taking the draws for granted ;-)