Chess - what is the over/under

[iceknight]

Much touted Chess match up coming soon (Nov 9th).

There are people on this board who routinely mention that winning at this game is harder than winning at chess etc... anyhow, that aside...

Anyone taking the over/under on this?

http://www.businessinsider.com/garry-kasparov-previews-the-anand-carlsen-match-2013-11

Ladbrokes has some odds

http://chess.about.com/b/2013/06/22/world-championship-odds-anand-vs-carlsen.htm

[PhantomOnTour]

I was a dedicated chess player as a kid. My next door neighbor's dad was a chess master.
Achieved a pretty decent ranking (~1600) but then discovered girls, and that was that for my chess career.

I saw a neat show on PBS a few weeks back called "Brooklyn Castle", which chronicles the chess club at a public school in Brooklyn, and their dominance in national journey tourneys. Very cool show :ThmbUp:

I doubt a 22yr old will win the world chess title.

[Ted Craven]

I have been waiting for this match for some time now! In a way, it casts me back to my youth (as a chess geek and minor master) when Bobby Fischer's irresistible march to the World Championship in 1972 was big stuff in my world.

Those articles hit on all the real pros and cons for each player: energy of youth (Carlsen) versus experience and psychological toughness (Anand). I think the odds are more or less correct (seriously in Carlsen's favour) but it's because they are evenly matched but in different ways - that this will be an exciting duel to watch (if you get excited by watching chess!), perhaps the most exciting since those heady times of my youth.

If Carlsen wins, it will certainly make chess a much more 'sexy' sport again (it already is, due to him), but if Anand prevails on the other hand, it will be a (vicarious) victory for us older generation, who will be glad that age and long experience still counts for something! Like Wise Dan last Saturday, Carlsen will have to bring his A+ game in order to survive. I would be surprised if the final result were anything more than 1.5 points in his favour.

Looking forward to the dailies (damn that Indian time difference).

Ted

[PhantomOnTour]

Yasser Seirawan, a Grandmaster, has basically given up on chess as we know it, saying all permutations are now memorized and the game is nothing but "going thru the motions" with the conclusion determined very early on.
Believe it or not, Seirawan is advocating either,
a) a larger board with two queens on each side, or
b) some sort of tiered board (actually, two boards)

I remember seeing this and cannot recall exactly what Seirawan was trying to do, but the basic gist was that chess has basically been "figured out" by the top level players.

[barn32]

The Queens Gambit (http://www.amazon.com/The-Queens-Gambit-A-Novel/dp/1400030609/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1383698341&sr=8-2&keywords=the+queens+gambit)

[ManU918]

1-1 with 10 games to go.

[Track Collector]

Fellow (inactive) chess player here. Current inactive rating of 1600, but one time peaked at 1771. Supposedly this was in the era before "ratings inflation". I've toyed with the idea of going back to tournaments (last one was 20 years ago) to see if I could make it up to Class A (1800). Reaching the level of Expert (2000) is probably out of the question at my age and talent level. Without playing, I still check in to the Chessbase website almost daily to see what is going on in the world of chess.

I'm following this match as well. The only problem is that games start at 4:30 a.m. my local time.

Magnus Carlsen will be world champion some day, and perhaps by the end of this match. He does seem a bit cautious, maybe from the pressure of being the favorite. Openings are the "weakest" part of his game, and that is a significant negative when it comes to match play. Vishy Anand is of course a very worthy opponent, and has more match play experience. Vishy on the other hand has the huge pressure of playing in his home country, where he is a national hero.

Those who like adversarial matches will be disappointed. These guys are friends, so professionalism will be at an extremely high level. I'm rooting for Magnus, but will not be disappointed if Vishy wins.

[OTM Al]

Yasser Seirawan, a Grandmaster, has basically given up on chess as we know it, saying all permutations are now memorized and the game is nothing but "going thru the motions" with the conclusion determined very early on.
Believe it or not, Seirawan is advocating either,
a) a larger board with two queens on each side, or
b) some sort of tiered board (actually, two boards)

I remember seeing this and cannot recall exactly what Seirawan was trying to do, but the basic gist was that chess has basically been "figured out" by the top level players.

Chess is a game with fixed rules and therefore is technically solvable though the amount of computer power needed has prevented this solution from being found. Just consider that there are 20 possible first moves for each player making 400 permutations possible after each player has gone only once to get some idea of the size of the problem. Some day someone will do it though just because they can.

[cj]

Chess is a game with fixed rules and therefore is technically solvable though the amount of computer power needed has prevented this solution from being found. Just consider that there are 20 possible first moves for each player making 400 permutations possible after each player has gone only once to get some idea of the size of the problem. Some day someone will do it though just because they can.

Many of those moves are known losers though already. We are probably closer to "solving" it than people realize.

[OTM Al]

Many of those moves are known losers though already. We are probably closer to "solving" it than people realize.

It is probably right but still hard to say for sure. The actual solution would come through backward induction but all the experience of players is forward. It is possible, though as you imply very unlikely, that one of those loser moves is the right thing to do.

[ronsmac]

Does anyone remember Korchnoi vs Kasparov. I waited in anticipation for that as much as I would the Superbowl or a heavyweight championship fight. It was touted as good vs evil ,wwith evil coming out on top.

[PhantomOnTour]

I looked up Seirawan's idea:

he introduces two new pieces to the game, the Hawk and the Elephant.
The Hawk can move as a bishop or a knight
The Elephant can move as a rook or a knight

Both pieces look like a knight but have a different base on the figurine.
Weird idea, as these pieces are introduced during the game (you start with the normal lineup of pieces)...once a player has moved a non pawn or king the Hawk or Elephant can be placed on the vacated spot :confused:

Look up Seirawan Chess on wiki for more info

[ronsmac]

Does anyone remember Korchnoi vs Kasparov. I waited in anticipation for that as much as I would the Superbowl or a heavyweight championship fight. It was touted as good vs evil ,wwith evil coming out on top.
I neant Korchnoi vs Karpov. Karpov and Kasparov came a few yrs later.

[Hank]

Yasser Seirawan, a Grandmaster, has basically given up on chess as we know it, saying all permutations are now memorized and the game is nothing but "going thru the motions" with the conclusion determined very early on.
Believe it or not, Seirawan is advocating either,
a) a larger board with two queens on each side, or
b) some sort of tiered board (actually, two boards)

I remember seeing this and cannot recall exactly what Seirawan was trying to do, but the basic gist was that chess has basically been "figured out" by the top level players.

Fisher noted this also, many years ago.He advocated "Fisher-random-chess"which scrambled the position of all major pieces to begin each game,It never caught on.

[maddog42]

I was a dedicated chess player as a kid. My next door neighbor's dad was a chess master.
Achieved a pretty decent ranking (~1600) but then discovered girls, and that was that for my chess career.

I saw a neat show on PBS a few weeks back called "Brooklyn Castle", which chronicles the chess club at a public school in Brooklyn, and their dominance in national journey tourneys. Very cool show :ThmbUp:

I doubt a 22yr old will win the world chess title.

Perhaps you remember "Fischer Fever"? This was the mysterious disease people would come down with while playing Bobby. It was either an excuse
on why they played so poorly or an excuse to postpone the match while they recovered. Fischer was US Champion at (14)? Too lazy to look it up.
Very young though.

[ManU918]

I doubt a 22yr old will win the world chess title.

Carlsen is ranked #1 in the world.....2870/2801.

[ManU918]

Much more exciting game today...

[Ted Craven]

Game 4 live: http://chennai2013.fide.com/anand-carlsen-video-with-commentary/

[ManU918]

Great game today.

[Ted Craven]

Exciting draw, with advantage seesawing a few times throughout the game.

The replay, Game 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dvqDvLzhU0





.

[ManU918]

Awesome game by Carlson... He now leads 3-2... Anand under big pressure now.

[Track Collector]

Magnus plays boldly for a win in the endgame goes up 2-0! (or 4-2 more technically correct). With only 6 games to go and Anand's confidence shaken, the odds must now be something like 1/9 on Carlsen winning the championship. Magnus gets the white pieces for game 7 on Tuesday, which makes Anand's challenge even harder.

[badcompany]

Can you bet exactas in chess?

[Ted Craven]

Carlsen won today's 9th game quite spectacularly and now leads 6-3 with 3 games remaining. All he needs is a draw in any of the next 3 games to be the new world chess champ, at age 22.

It's all over but the coronation - a new day for chess!

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Carlsen wins the match! New World Champion: 6.5 - 3.5

Game 10 drawn though hard fought. Amusingly, they played to King versus King - LOL, a poetically orchestrated finish clearly drawn several moves earlier.

A good day for chess.

Ted

[ManU918]

I doubt a 22yr old will win the world chess title.

Not only did he win... He did so in dominating fashion. This kid will most likely be on top for the next decade plus.

[ManU918]

Does anyone on here play on Chess.com?

[ldiatone]

i wiil give that site a view.

[ManU918]

i wiil give that site a view.

If you decide to join... friend me... My name on there is paimei215... Its free to join (I just joined about a month ago)... Here are my current stats:

Highest: 1858 (Dec 15, 2013) Best Win: 1802 (ahiskaturk (http://www.chess.com/members/view/ahiskaturk#games)) Avg. Opp.: 1603 Total Games: 46 (http://www.chess.com/home/my_archive?show=live_standard) (33 W/ 9 L / 4 D)