Anyone want to play a game of chess?

Game 5 draw… it looks like the players are over prepared. No errors, blunders… Who will break first?

FIDE needs to find ways to sidestep their preparation. Surprise them with Netrunner instead of chess for Game 6!

There is hope, computers show that even if you are prepared, they will beat any human. So, there are ways to outplay the opponent. Not sure if the Ruy Lopez is the opening … I speculate, that they have prepared some sharp lines, but they want to use it in the second half of the championship, because if you hit, you need to hit your opponent late, so that there is not much time to fight back.

They are playing more safe lines currently… but they will switch gears. But, on the other hand, what do I know…

Someone proposed a no castling rule (Kramnik), or to play the tiebreaks before the classical games…

I think it was Ben Finegold or maybe Greg Shahade that said they should play the tiebreakers first, so going into the classical games someone knows they need to get a plus score.

here’s my idea. Repeating position is a draw only if you repeat 99 times.

Crazy game 6 going on today… need to watch the analysis later, but computer shows a lot of “bad” moves during time pressure. Maybe for humans still reasonable play… not over yet, very unbalanced position (even I can see that)

Still going.

Edit: Longest game in World Championship history now. Will be interesting to see if Nepo holds it.

wow, what a game!! Carlsen won after 8 hrs. Carlsen the Grinder. 8 more games to go. This will be exciting…

Amazing job to convert that to a full point. Even though tablebases said it was a draw, that had to be close to impossible to hold as a human.

at some point he had a losing position, but turned it around.

I was able to watch the majority of this match while working today and I have to say, it was quite often thrilling. Magnus made his 40th move to obtain another hour on his clock with just 5 seconds left. He looked to be frustrated and hesitant with moves at times, but he just slowly but surely worked the position. It was really amazing to see.

Just before the first time control they both I think put themselves in tough spots.

I know the rule that it is a draw if the same position is reached 3 times - but I didn’t know the three times didn’t have to be sequential. If the same position is reached on move 70, 80 and 90 - it’s still a draw.

Game 7 is going to be tough for both players.

there was a game between Karjakin and Topalov(?) and they played Blitz or Rapid, and I think Karjakin called the arbiter for 3 fold repetition on 3 different non-sequential moves. Amazing

grafik

Magnus nuked Nepo from orbit in game 8.

Question now is does Nepo completely collapse or not

I think the pressure got him… He played very well until today. Rest day tomorrow and maybe he will try on Tuesday. Hopefully not again the Ruy Lopez, that opening is done for this match. Not sure what he sharp lines he has prepared, though

I think game 6 really screwed him up.

It’s incredible how Magnus patiently and methodically tightens the vice and increases advantage bit by bit in that endgame.

I felt bad for Ian today. Watching the last hour of the game was painful. He had played so well all match and then blundered today. Enormous credit to him for his behavior in the press conference and interviews after the game.