World Chess Champs start tomorrow

Chess Magazine Assoc Editor wrote:

As I stated above, no one will touch Carlsen over the next decade. His age is a huge advantage, but combined with his immense talent, no one can compete with him, short of a computer.

Curious to understand more about what gives him such a big ratings margin over his closest competitors + what makes it unlikely that his highest rated contemporaries Nakamura and Caruana will narrow the gap.

ok, not "what gives him such a big ratings margin" but rather "what has allowed him to achieve results that have given him such a big ratings margin."

I haven't dug into results over the last few years, but I'm guessing that among other things Carlsen pretty much destroys competition rated 2600-2700 [rarely loses, wins a ridiculously high fraction of his games as white + wins more often as black than you'd think would be possible.] Is that in fact the case?

Six games is not much of a match.

My question wasn't about this match in particular, it was about the assertion that no one will challenge Carlsen for the next 10 years [which may well be true - just want to understand more about what goes into that claim.]

dkny64 wrote:

ok, not "what gives him such a big ratings margin" but rather "what has allowed him to achieve results that have given him such a big ratings margin."

I haven't dug into results over the last few years, but I'm guessing that among other things Carlsen pretty much destroys competition rated 2600-2700 [rarely loses, wins a ridiculously high fraction of his games as white + wins more often as black than you'd think would be possible.] Is that in fact the case?

Honestly he only plays super GM tournaments so he plays very few games w/ players below 2700 (Rapid and blitz not included). Why is he better? Endgame proficiency. Players like Nakamura are more swashbuckling and take more chances so theu are more subject to ups and downs on their ratings. Caruana has improved tremendously in the past year and is somewhat more solid than Naka so if there is to be a consistent challenger I would tip him.

I do think anything could happen in a match so I don't think Carlsen is guaranteed a long run as champion. Kasparove was still the best player in the world after he lost the title.

Didn't see result posted but Carlsen won today amd leads by 2.

Friend suggested you must have an IQ over 130 to play chess at a high level. Is this true?

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Honestly he only plays super GM tournaments so he plays very few games w/ players below 2700 (Rapid and blitz not included). Why is he better? Endgame proficiency. Players like Nakamura are more swashbuckling and take more chances so theu are more subject to ups and downs on their ratings. Caruana has improved tremendously in the past year and is somewhat more solid than Naka so if there is to be a consistent challenger I would tip him.

I do think anything could happen in a match so I don't think Carlsen is guaranteed a long run as champion. Kasparove was still the best player in the world after he lost the title.

Interesting - thanks. So if you were giving advice to Anand about what he might try in game 7 to shake things up, what would you suggest? [sure doesn't seem like another Ruy Lopez is likely to go Anand's way.]

J.R. wrote:

Six games is not much of a match.

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Carlson is rated about 100 points above Anand, so over multiple games between these two players, we should expect Carlson to have the most wins...period. Ratings are not a subjective measure.

Avocado's Number wrote:

dkny64 wrote:

Really interesting stuff. I'll post some further thoughts in the morning, but meanwhile a quick question: in your chess playing days, did you ever cross paths with Calvin Blocker? He was Ohio's best player in those years. I remember him hitting 2562 after a particularly dominant performance at the Ohio Chess Congress tournament [maybe 1981?]

And I guess if you ever played at the good ole Barpoint House of Backgammon here in NYC, you would have run into Asa Hoffmann. Man did I spend too many hours there my freshman year of college.

I remember Calvin Blocker and Asa Hoffman from Chess Life, but never played either of them. Asa was consistently one of the most active players in the country. As you probably know, Asa was portrayed in a rather unflattering light in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer."

Round 2: Another quick, uneventful draw.

I remember Calvin Blocker from some tournaments in Columbus, Ohio in the early 1970's, including, I believe, the Cardinal Open at the old Seneca Hotel.

I've got a bunch of old Ohio Chess Bulletins from that time period, and I know he's pictured in some of them.

Other names: Saul Wachs, Robert Burns.

Perhaps the Scotch Opening, 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. d4. Carlsen's recent games on the Black side of the Scotch showed a weakness in opening preparation (against Radjabov and against Morozevich, 2012 Tal Memorial Blitz). Anand has won with White side of the Scotch recently (against Fressinet, 2013 Alekhine Memorial), and it's safe to assume he knows the opening theory on both sides pretty well: playing Black he uncorked a novelty against Kasparov in the 1995 World Championship; that game ended in a draw. More importantly the Scotch would likely create complications in the opening/middlegame -- where Anand's only remaining chances in this match seem to lie.

Saul Wachs and the Seneca Hotel must be from a little before my chess-playing time, but I certainly remember Robert Burns, primarily from MOTCF. His crew had two team names I particularly liked: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly & Noel; and [from the year after they were beaten by a group of younger players from Cinci that included Richard Horvitz and Perry Sill], The Empire Strikes Back [I believe they did in fact win that year.]

My all time favorite MOTCF pairing was Teddy Kennedy's Driving School vs The Wall. Still makes me laugh every time I think of it. Pretty Sure "Driving School" won because they were quite a strong young team - David Glueck, Jeff Ginsburg, Brian Beard, Jim Jordan & Dan Winslow, iirc.

dkny64 wrote:

Saul Wachs and the Seneca Hotel must be from a little before my chess-playing time, but I certainly remember Robert Burns, primarily from MOTCF. His crew had two team names I particularly liked: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly & Noel; and [from the year after they were beaten by a group of younger players from Cinci that included Richard Horvitz and Perry Sill], The Empire Strikes Back [I believe they did in fact win that year.]

My all time favorite MOTCF pairing was Teddy Kennedy's Driving School vs The Wall. Still makes me laugh every time I think of it. Pretty Sure "Driving School" won because they were quite a strong young team - David Glueck, Jeff Ginsburg, Brian Beard, Jim Jordan & Dan Winslow, iirc.

Saul was a chess playing rabbi who was one of the better players in Ohio, back in the day.

I got a piece ahead of him in a speed game at some tourney, and then he won his piece back 10 moves later and crushed me. A very nice man.

Noel is Richard Noel. He hovered around the master level for some years.

dkny64 wrote:

Interesting - thanks. So if you were giving advice to Anand about what he might try in game 7 to shake things up, what would you suggest? [sure doesn't seem like another Ruy Lopez is likely to go Anand's way.]

I am a big fan but honestly not much of a player. He could try English opening, although that is what transposed in game 6. I don't think Carlsen will give him a chance to play Sicilian at Black as I think that is exactly the kind of game he wants to avoid.

I think Anand is too good to be shut out and think Carlsen ends up +3 -1 =7.

The Seneca Hotel is located at the corner of Grant and East Broad in Columbus. In recent years, it has been renovated and turned into "luxury apartments." Designed by Frank Packard, who also designed Warren G Harding's home in Marion.

dkny64 wrote:

Interesting - thanks. So if you were giving advice to Anand about what he might try in game 7 to shake things up, what would you suggest? [sure doesn't seem like another Ruy Lopez is likely to go Anand's way.]

I hope he plays either the KIA (like Fischer) or the Halloween Gambit.

There is a chess player in Cuba, Sowenza, that would dominate this tournament but is not allowed to participate. Only guy to take Anand down recently.

Indeed so about Noel, who was actually down to expert strength by the time I was playing MOTCF in the early 80s. The other two guys on the team as I recall were masters Chester (?) Wozney and Ross Sprague. Part of what I found amusing [as an obnoxious adolescent] about the whole good, bad, ugly thing was that Sprague [to my eye] was a perfectly nice looking middle-aged gentleman and Noel looked fine but Burns & Wozney, were, um, perhaps not as conventionally handsome as Sprague & Noel.

Did you play MOTCF?

Chess Expert wrote:

I hope he plays either the KIA (like Fischer) or the Halloween Gambit.

KIA + Scotch Gambit [from other reply] sound interesting/plausible. On the other hand, if Anand plays the Halloween Gambit, I'm going to fall off my chair, then start investigating whether you in fact know the champ.

And hey, while we're at it, why not that Benko Reversed that Larsen sprung on one of your own?

oops - that Larsen sprung on one of OUR own.