Chess

[wigginhall]

For anyone interested in the world chess championship, Carlsen has just won a game.  This is a kind of shock, as they have just drawn 12 games.  But Carlsen is very good at speed chess, which is the next phase, after 12 classical games.

And he won game 2, I think a draw now and he's the champ.

Carlsen 3-0.

One of the odd aspects of it is that the "engines", chess computers, are so powerful that every move by the humans is instantly analysed, and best future moves given, all on your phone.  They have to put screens up to stop people displaying their phones.

Still, Carlsen is the king.

[Anchorman]

I've looked at the games they've stalemated, once they were posted up. The 'Armageddon' thing seems to have caught the attention. The clocks were set for twenty five minutes? I remember 'Swiss chess' when the clocks wereset for FIVE minutes....that taught us to think very fast whilst still trying to keep a strategy together. (Then there was'suicide chess' which was a way into the game for beginners.

[wigginhall]

I think the next phase was 5 minute games, but apparently Carlsen is red-hot at speed chess, so he could happily draw the classical phase.  He's obviously one of the great players.

[Anchorman]

I ent to a sighted school as a teenager, with the inherant bullying that entailed. Also, team sports....with the curiousexception of rugby - were closed to me. As an antidote to both, a well respecr ted teacher suggested I join the chess club - he was the chessmaster. I'd always thought it was abrainiac bore-fest till I got hooked; chess was a great stress buster. The club met at interval, lunck and weekdau ysafter school; we hada leaguewhich, much tomy (and everyone else's) shock, I dominated for four years. The best I ever managed was, as aseventeen year old, reaching the then Scottish Schools final.....where I wassoundly thrashed by aspotty kid who looked to be just out of nappies. Hewas eleven. In later years, though I didn't feel so bad when I spotted him as thesecond youngest British Grand master.

[jeremyp]

I ent to a sighted school as a teenager, with the inherant bullying that entailed. Also, team sports....with the curiousexception of rugby - were closed to me. As an antidote to both, a well respecr ted teacher suggested I join the chess club - he was the chessmaster. I'd always thought it was abrainiac bore-fest till I got hooked; chess was a great stress buster. The club met at interval, lunck and weekdau ysafter school; we hada leaguewhich, much tomy (and everyone else's) shock, I dominated for four years. The best I ever managed was, as aseventeen year old, reaching the then Scottish Schools final.....where I wassoundly thrashed by aspotty kid who looked to be just out of nappies. Hewas eleven. In later years, though I didn't feel so bad when I spotted him as thesecond youngest British Grand master.

I once went to a chess tournament on the team of my mother's school (I would have been 13 at the time). My first match was against a little kid of about eight probably. About twenty minutes into the game, he offered me a draw. Because I could sense he was better than me, I accepted. My mother later told me that he was "a more promising prospect than Nigel Short as a child" and he had offered me a draw because he could see a way I could win (I had no idea that this was the case, obviously).

I've no idea if he made it to the big time because I can't remember his name.

[jeremyp]

Anyway, Carlsen has won

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/28/sport/magnus-carlsen-fabiano-caruana-world-chess-championships-spt-intl/index.html

Before the speed phase when Carlsen deliberately played for a draw in the last regular match, Gary Kasparov tweeted that it was a bad strategy because it showed Carlsen had lost his nerve and would therefore be at a disadvantage in the speed matches.

Now he's tweeting that Carlsen is "15% better" than anybody else at speed chess. It's 20/20 hindsight again.

[wigginhall]

You could say that Carlsen was gaming the system, as he is by far the best speed player, but it's up to the other guy to beat him in the regular games.  In the short games, he made some howlers, tension I suppose.  People are wondering who is going to beat Carlsen, but he will fade, as even Kasparov did.

[Rhiannon]

Now I thought chess belongs on sports and hobbies, so I wondered if this referred to the musical, and got very happy memories of belting out One Night In Bangkok.

[Anchorman]

You could say that Carlsen was gaming the system, as he is by far the best speed player, but it's up to the other guy to beat him in the regular games.  In the short games, he made some howlers, tension I suppose.  People are wondering who is going to beat Carlsen, but he will fade, as even Kasparov did.

Ah, Casparov.
Iwasreallychuffed when he took thecrown from Anatoly Karpov.Forsome reason, I tookan instant dislike to that on.