Such a Disgusting Ending

All Things Chess
41

Where is this extra million supposed to come from?

42

In their post-game interviews during the match, both Carlsen and Caruana said that 14 or 16 games would be a better length for the match.
Here is how I suggest that a longer match format be achieved:

HOW TO FIX THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH FORMAT

  1. No speed chess games of any kind will be used to decide a match that is tied after all regulation games are completed.
    Instead, tie-odds will be used, albeit in a different format than we know from the Botvinnik era.

  2. The match consists of two phases.
    In phase1, there are 12 or 14 regulation chess games.
    If phase1 ends as a tie in points, the match proceeds to phase2.

  3. In phase2, one and only one of the two players, either the challenger or the defending champion, plays all remaining games as White.
    If the match is still tied after phase2, the match winner is the person who played as Black during phase2.

  4. Before the match starts, the two players bid to determine which person shall enjoy tie-odds after phase2.
    Each player bids - the number of games he is willing to play as Black during phase2, in exchange for himself enjoying the tie-odds advantage: the larger bid earns tie-odds!
    If both players bid the same number, the bid by the defending champion shall be accepted.
    To clarify, the tie-odds advantage is beneficial only if both (A) phase2 is needed, and (B) the match is still tied at the end of phase2.

So what would be the biggest number worth bidding, to earn tie-odds? Maybe 3 or 4 phase2 games?
This would increase the length of the match to perhaps 16 games.
And it would eliminate speed chess from having any role in the proper long time-control format of the Match World Chess Championship title.

43

I’d prefer 22 games or 18 as a minimum. Tiebreaks would be sets of four games at G-120 or G-150 with no delay or increment. Keep playing tiebreak sets until one player wins a set.

44

Undoubtedly from the TV rights and endorsements.

45

Good luck with that. :laughing:

46

You did understand that was sarcastic, right?

47

Sarcasm doesn’t always travel well in forum posts.

48

To mix it up, draw for the opening move for the white player. Consider using a six sided die:

e4
d4
c4
Nf3
Players Choice
Players Choice

Both players would have to do some preparation for a wider range openings creating more opportunity real play. I believe something like this is used in checkers already.

49

Your prior post implies an inexperienced person not familiar with past US Chess history, past chess marketing and marketing attempts, and the historical efficacy and therefore advertiser desirability of chess TV rights and endorsements.

A member who realizes that other members may have an extended history and more expansive knowledge would therefore recognize that the comment was sarcasm.

50

I like this idea, at least at first glance. But I suspect the top players would simply have “safe” lines for their least preferred first moves, resulting in more dull draws. At least in the last match the draws were mostly pretty interesting. In any event, even if you get a few more decisive games you still need some way to break a tie should one occur, and u;timately that requires either running the risk of an interminably long match, using faster time controls to induce errors or leaving the title in the defending champion’s hands. Or perhaps leaving the title vacant, but I don’t think that would really accomplsh much.

51

I think it would “accomplish” making top level chess a sport of ridicule, kind of like boxing became with the alphabet soup of organizations. Was it a good time for chess after Alekhine died or Fischer refused to defend his title? I honestly don’t know, but I can’t imagine my non-chess friends asking “Who is the Champion?” and having to say, “Well, there really isn’t one.”

Alex Relyea

52

Well, titles in a variety of sports have been declared vacant. If you look at the list of Tour de France winners, that championship “title” is vacant for the eight years that Lance Armstrong perpetrated his sporting fraud.

53

Can you give an example of a title being vacated with timing such that there wasn’t a current title holder? If you can’t, you’re missing Alex’s point. I can’t recall any case where one could have said that there was no current title holder in any sport. I could be wrong, of course. But unless you can show such a case AND show that the sport wasn’t held up to ridicule during that time period, Alex’s point remains unrefuted.

54

1946-1948. Chess. Alekhine had died and Botvinnik had not yet ascended to the world championship.

55

Maybe this is semantics, but I see a difference between vacant due to death and “being vacated”. I would also argue that Chess was not held in high esteem during that time or during the Fischer vacancy.

56

Wasn’t the title awarded automatically to Anatoly Karpov when Fischer didn’t defend the title?

Fischer didn’t technically vacate the title, he just refused to defend it.
-Although on a semantic level, one could question the validity of the title given to Karpov, since technically he only won the semi-final match to earn it.
-That’s not to say Karpov didn’t deserve it, but rather the lack of a backup plan by FIDE to have some sort of final match in the case the reigning world champion died or refused to defend the title. It may be needed more because people like to have some sort of final match in any sport that defines the best of the best in a series of games.

57

I think its debatable whether Fischer technically vacated the title.

Chessgames.com explained the situation in this way:

Some were concerned that requiring the challenger to win by two was too great a burden. Of course, to win the match, the champion also had to win by two. If the score was 9-8 with the champion in the lead, the champion would know that he would retain the title, but would have to win the next game to be won to win the match; if the challenger wins, the match would be tied.

Perhaps there could have been a compromise along the following lines: First player to win 10 games, but if the challenger reaches 10 wins first, the champion has X games (5 perhaps?, or maybe two final whites?) to reach 10 wins. We’ll never know. And pragmatically, the unlimited format doesn’t work. Its a nice thought, but there’s a reason for chess clocks and limited matches.

Maybe apply increment to the match by having a limited number of games, but increasing the number based on some trigger - like how often a game is won or some such.

58

In “normal” sports there is a champion crowned each period and that person/team is the “defending champion” until the new year’s competition is completed or they are eliminated. The concept of vacating a title is a historical revision that does not create a hole in the present. Even if, say, the reigning Olympic champion dies or is declared ineligible for future competitions, there is no anxiety about declaring someone else the reigning Olympic champion. Those vacated titles don’t really embarrass the governing body.

In chess, it’s a bit different. Having a vacant title because of a death is not particularly embarrasing; the winner of the next cycle is the title holder. The Fischer situation is not that much worse.

Declaring a title vacant because of a tie seems much worse for the organizing body.

59

How about…

Twenty game match.

First player to win X games, wins the match with the “overtime” conditions below:

Overtime Conditions

  1. If the challenger reaches X first, the champion has 3 consecutive Whites with which to reach X and tie the match and retain the title.
  • If X cannot be reached, match over.
  • If the champion wins to reach X and tie the match, the match is over, no further games.
    [/]
    [    ] If the champion reaches X first, the champion retains the title, but the challenger has 3 consecutive Whites with which to reach X and tie the match
  • If X cannot be reached, match over.
  • If the challenger wins to reach X and tie the match, the match is over, no further games.
    [/]
    [    ]If the match is tied after 20 games, up to three additional games are played - the challenger has 3 consecutive Whites to win a game and win the title.
  • Match ends with next win by either player.
  • Next game winner winning the match and the title.
  • If no games are won, the match is tied and the champion retains the title.
    [/]
    [    ]If one player has a lead after 20 games, with neither player having reached X wins, up to three additional games are played - the player with the fewer wins has 3 consecutive Whites to win game(s) and tie or win the match.
  • If the same number of wins cannot be reached in the remaining games up to 3, match over.
  • Whoever has the lead at the end of overtime wins the match.
  • If the match is tied, the champion retains the title.

So, the champion has “match-draw” odds to retain the title, but the challenger gets game-advantage odds of consecutive Whites to finish a tie match.

60

Not all sports run their championships on a consistent schedule. Boxing championships are scheduled at what often appears to be the whim of the participants and promoters, and titles are vacated frequently, mainly because a champion decides to move to another weight bracket or because the champion doesn’t follow the sanctioning organizations rules about who to fight next.