Chess

[Gustaran]

Carlsen won KRN vs KR in a regular game (2011) against Grandmaster L'Ami:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1604450
Of course it's a theoretical draw, but seems worth to be played out.

On an unrelated note, I think the broadcast is pretty terrible when it comes to promoting chess to a broader audience.
It looks like a show from chess nerds for other chess nerds. The average USCF/chess.com rating is around 1200, but Peter Svidler is discussing variations he visualizes in his head with Super-GM Nepomniachtchi so no normal player can follow.
The press conferences are terrible as well if you compare them to any other professional sport event. Carlsen leaves the impression that giving an eloquent statement would cause him pain. If you add commentators that are clearly bored and are complaining on air that the players are "torturing" them with their play it is no wonder chess has a hard time finding sponsors.

[zakalwe]

I agree with pretty much all of the above, except that I don't think it's fair to blame the poor press conferences on Carlsen. (Anand is certainly quite eloquent, though.)

I think it's very nice to see two super-GMs discussing the game, but like you say, that's not the way to engage a broader audience.

I think the NRK broadcasts are pretty good; one feature I'm missing is what I saw in the Sinquefield cup, where a GM (Maurice Ashley) was using a computer to search for interesting variations and had occasional appearances where he displayed those for the viewers. They also had a male/female commentator pair with much better chemistry than Svidler and Guramishvili.

[ipecac]

Great defense by Anand.

It looks like a show from chess nerds for other chess nerds. The average USCF/chess.com rating is around 1200, but Peter Svidler is discussing variations he visualizes in his head with Super-GM Nepomniachtchi so no normal player can follow.

Agreed, but I doubt most people can fluently try to follow what the players are doing and translating it into something understandable by the average 1200 player. 1200s have a huge lacunae in understanding, that's why they're still at 1200.

[Rowain]

After yesterdays marathon we got a quick game today. MC needing just 47 minutes to play his 40 moves for a draw - he now seems to be well prepared for Anands opening choices.

[Ichabod]

I agree with pretty much all of the above, except that I don't think it's fair to blame the poor press conferences on Carlsen. (Anand is certainly quite eloquent, though.)

I don't know much about chess, but I'm enjoying watching the games, as with any other sport. And I have to agree that the press conferences' failing is not related to the players.

I'm watching the press conference for game 6, where both players made mistakes (that you guys certainly understand way better than I do). And all the questions are like:

"Magnus, how do you feel about being an idiot and failing so hard on such an important game?"

"Magnus, how do you feel about leting Norway people down?"

"Anand, you managed to suck more than Magnus, how's that even possible?"

C'mon, what kind of questions are those? I wonder what answers the people that made the questions were expecting to get. I understand that such mistakes are a hot topic at this level of play, but I don't think that's the appropriate way to ask/discuss the subject. They even kept asking the same questions after Magnus and the host told them not to do it anymore.

[zakalwe]

Let's show off

I've been working towards this milestone for a while:




62.2 hours, to be precise.

[ipecac]

Mine:

Current: 2041
Highest: 2043 (Nov 25, 2014)
Lowest: 1200 (May 31, 2014)
# Attempts: 410
Passed: 209 (51%)
Failed: 201 (49%)
Total Time: 2.2 hrs

It hovered around 1900 until recently when I started to take it seriously

[Gustaran]

I've been working towards this milestone for a while:

Good job! With such an excellent tactics rating, do you have any idea why your blitz rating is so low (relatively speaking )? Usually good tacticians are good in blitz as well since often games are won due to a tactical oversight in blitz. And IIRC correctly, the chess.com tactics training is on a timer as well, so it's not like you can take 15 minutes to solve a problem, right?

[zakalwe]

I haven't played so much blitz lately, so I can hope that I'm currently a little underrated there. And despite the timer, the tactics trainer gives you all the time in the world compared to a blitz game - and it helpfully tells you *when* you should be searching for a winning move. I think the tactics training will improve my blitz play, but it must also be combined with better openings, strategy, and time management.

In my experience, most 1400+ blitz players on chess.com seem to know the basics about at least a few openings, and they are generally able to shuffle their pieces around without blundering unprovoked. So you do need some kind of plan. I have won some good games, but I've also lost a ton of bad ones.

@ipecac. I guess I know what my next milestone is now.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Who needs a queen?

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1779027