Carlsen-Caruana Chess World Championship

[Peter_Spaeth]

Perhaps the way to shake things up is to do what Fischer eventually suggested -- for each game, pick a random order for the pieces in the back row.

[barrysloate]

They definitely need to do something to make the matches more interesting. Yes, most high level games are drawn, and always have been. But to have every game drawn is not good. I don't know what they can do.

[Arazi4442]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Perhaps the way to shake things up is to do what Fischer eventually suggested -- for each game, pick a random order for the pieces in the back row.

I can assume a lot of chess fans would go crazy over something like this but I'd be all for it. Like Barry said, it feels like nearly all of the highest level games end in draws. I'm not sure the random back row is a crazier idea than having the world champion decided by a best of 3 or best of 5 blitz game.

[Peter_Spaeth]

http://bobbyfischer.net/bobby24.html

[barrysloate]

Random chess has been played casually among players, but you would never get them to agree to play a World Championship match that way. Could you imagine if at the beginning of the World Series the umps said the field will have five bases and players were free to run them in either direction? Not gonna happen.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Random chess has been played casually among players, but you would never get them to agree to play a World Championship match that way. Could you imagine if at the beginning of the World Series the umps said the field will have five bases and players were free to run them in either direction? Not gonna happen.

The Mahjong “umpires” (if you will) change the winning combinations annually. The “players” get their little cards showing the current year’s winning combinations. The best of the best keep on playing and going to their tournaments as if nothing happened, but if you don’t use this year’s card, forget about winning.

Baseball is even worse. The American and National Leagues play with different rules and then compete in a World Series.

If the 2017 Mahjong champ squared off against the 2018 Mahjong champ, each using their own cards, utter chaos would ensue.

In the worst case scenario, in chess, every match ends in a draw and all the competitors get a participation trophy at the end of the day, and everyone goes home happy ........ or not.

[barrysloate]

My mom used to play mahjong and I remember she would get the new rules each year.

There is something in chess called the Armageddon game, and it's pretty interesting, though I don't believe one has ever been played. It's a single game where white gets 5 minutes for all his moves and black gets only 4 minutes. Now that sounds like white has two advantages- the first move, plus an extra minute. But here's the rub: if the game ends a draw, black is declared the winner. I've never played one but I think it would be an advantage to be black. Caruana and Carlsen could have one of these if all the rounds of tiebreakers fail to crown a champion.

[Arazi4442]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Random chess has been played casually among players, but you would never get them to agree to play a World Championship match that way. Could you imagine if at the beginning of the World Series the umps said the field will have five bases and players were free to run them in either direction? Not gonna happen.

If there was about a 96-98% chance that World Series was going to end in a tie like that All-Star game a couple years ago, then yes I could imagine that.

[frankbmd]

Without getting political leaving gender identity and LGBTQ issues out of the argument,

Is a women’s team ever going to compete in the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA finals or win the Stanley Cup?

Most would say no, but why not a female chess grandmaster winning the ultimate championship?

Is Polgar the best of the fair sex? What would be her chances in the Chess World Championship?

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Without getting political leaving gender identity and LGBTQ issues out of the argument,

Is a women’s team ever going to compete in the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA finals or win the Stanley Cup?

Most would say no, but why not a female chess grandmaster winning the ultimate championship?

Is Polgar the best of the fair sex? What would be her chances in the Chess World Championship?

Judit Polgar was the strongest woman's player ever. In fact, when she won a game against Garry Kasparov, she became the first woman ever to beat a male world champion in any competitive sport (chess is a quasi-sport).

Hou Yifan is now the strongest woman player, but she is currently a Rhodes Scholar and is not playing as much as she once did.

The best women can compete with the top male grandmasters, but not quite at the world championship level.