NRR: 2016 World Chess Championship begins in two weeks. Carlsen v. Karjakin

Thanks for bringing this up. I enjoyed following the action in 2014. I'm totally ignorant on Karjakin and who might be the favorite, but interested to hear from others.

Carlsen would have to be the favorite for sure.

I've not been following too closely. Were I closer to NYC, I would be sorely tempted to go to a game myself.

[quote]Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

Western values versus The Kremlin.

Give me a break. It's one chess player against another.

Yes Carlsen is a very large favorite, as expected. Get-in price for a single match is $75. Seems a bit steep but could be a great deal, for all I know. Certainly worth it as a bucket list type of thing I believe.

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

Yes Carlsen is a very large favorite, as expected. Get-in price for a single match is $75. Seems a bit steep but could be a great deal, for all I know. Certainly worth it as a bucket list type of thing I believe.

I would guess you could get in cheaper but there aren't really tickets on the secondary market right now.

I think it would only be worth it if you are a huge chess nerd. (Like I said, I'd do at least one game if I was sort-of local, but I'm not travelling for it).

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I would guess you could get in cheaper but there aren't really tickets on the secondary market right now.

I think it would only be worth it if you are a huge chess nerd. (Like I said, I'd do at least one game if I was sort-of local, but I'm not travelling for it).

Right. If it were being held in LA or something I wouldn't consider it. I live in the city so it is a great opportunity to see a unique event. Imo, that is worth the face value of the ticket as is. Also a big Magnus fan so why not. I spend at least 75 bucks every Mets game I go to and I went to about 15 of them this year.

I would certainly try to attend at least one game if I were in NYC. It's not Fischer-Spassky, but the world championship is still a pretty big deal, and as you noted, it's a nice bucket-list experience -- at least, for those of us who care about the game and its history.

Carlsen is the clear favorite. Although he had an uncharacteristically bad stretch for a few months last year, he reasserted his top-dog status toward the end of 2015, and he's continued to play solid chess in 2016. Yesterday, he took a break from his match preparation to defeat Nakamura rather comfortably in the finals of the Grandmaster Blitz Battle Championship, which brought together most of the top blitz and bullet chess players in the world.

Karjakin comes into this match with a much more uneven record over the past couple of years. Last year, he was the surprise winner of the World Cup, an unusual single-elimination tournament combining classical, rapid, and blitz play, and that victory qualified him for this year's Candidates Tournament, where he again emerged as the winner. Despite these successes, however, his classical rating is currently only ninth in the world, about eighty Elo points below Carlsen. There has been speculation that his fairly mediocre results over the last two years reflect a change in priorities -- he was married in 2014 and became a father last year -- but he still has the raw talent and skills to pull off an upset over Carlsen. His best path to victory is probably to win an early game and then hang on with a bunch of draws. Karjakin is not a very flashy player, but he is one of the toughest players in the world to beat.

I'm not aware of any bad blood between Carlsen and Karjakin, who seems like a pretty mellow guy.

Tomorrow's Day 1. I'll predict a draw.

Thanks for the post. Hopefully we'll not see the losing player threaten to kill his opponent while setting his chess board on fire.

Betting on a draw in the first game and a Carlsen victory. Would definitely attend if I lived in or near NY.

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/5c6oy0/world_chess_championship_carlsen_vs_karjakin_new/

Chess is a lost cause, the machines have won. Either we change the rules to give us a chance, or concentrate on Go where it's still pretty even.

See also:

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7818940

It's pretty telling when the main news about the event is the organizers (Agon) trying to restrict (by injunction) the moves from being live broadcast by others, and asking $4.5 million (!!!) in damages. They lost a first round battle in Moscow courts over the Candidates Tournament in March.

As for the players: They are actually from the same era and grew up playing in events together and pal-ing around. Karjakin even said that he had to give up Skyping with Carlsen after he won...

The Norway press is trying to build up Nepomniachtchi's aid of Karjakin as some dastardly action, as he previously had been working with Carlsen (he's also 25, and a good friend of each).

I plan to attend at least one game--possibly a once in a lifetime chance. Curious what to expect.

Pay $75 (gasp! was supposed to $50 max). Sit around for 3-4 hours. Listen to commentary. Well, at least with the fishbowl (players inside a glass soundproof booth) Agon is trying to make it interesting, as you don't have to be quiet the whole time. But the real action is in the VIP boxes ($3000) where you can cut business deals. (I'm not joking, this is actually the marketing angle they pursued at Blitz championship last year in Berlin (Goldman Sachs sponsored a luncheon, but not the event!), and have mentioned this is their main revenue stream in NYC.)

I've been to tournaments (Dortmund), and other events (German Bundesliga), but never the WC. With only one game in focus, that has plusses and minuses.

Carlsen is of course a good favorite (82% by ratings), but things can happen in a short match.

Carlsen was promoting the line "Make Chess Great America" and in this guise claimed to support Trump some months back, while Karjakin is unabashedly a Putin fanboy (he's actually from Ukraine originally, but switched federations).

Bad Wigins wrote:

Chess is a lost cause, the machines have won. Either we change the rules to give us a chance, or concentrate on Go where it's still pretty even.

Seems that AlphaGo has massively improved, and the experts are already talking about humans having to be given odds.

Karyakin is how he prefers wrote:

It's pretty telling when the main news about the event is the organizers (Agon) trying to restrict (by injunction) the moves from being live broadcast by others, and asking $4.5 million (!!!) in damages. They lost a first round battle in Moscow courts over the Candidates Tournament in March.

I definitely suggest chess24.com as the place to watch, especially in the later rounds when Svidler is commentating. The games start at 2pm New York time, to fit into primetime in Norway.

Trump made the ceremonial first move at one of these events with Kasparov in the 90s (not sure it was with Anand at WTC, or Short, maybe both?).

Ah, here we go: The [PCA] quarterfinal matches were held at the Trump Tower in New York City in June 1994 and opened by Donald Trump.

Norwegian interview with Karjakin's manager. Over 1 million euros spent in preparation, including sport psychologists, fitness training, etc.

http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/vm-motstanderennbsphar-brukt-millionsum-for-a-sla-carlsennbspmanager-avslorer/64818847

Prize fund is only $1 million (60-40 split), though each player (Carlsen moreso) have personal sponsors.

PS. Agon lost the injunction battle, chess24 will indeed have the moves.

No go wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Chess is a lost cause, the machines have won. Either we change the rules to give us a chance, or concentrate on Go where it's still pretty even.

Seems that AlphaGo has massively improved, and the experts are already talking about humans having to be given odds.

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13761

We could make Go 3-dimensional

Double knight underpromotion wrote:

Norwegian interview with Karjakin's manager. Over 1 million euros spent in preparation, including sport psychologists, fitness training, etc.

Yes, he has Anna Chakvetadze as his personal physical trainer (former top 10 women's tennis).