AJWZ wrote on 12/01/16 at 07:27:46:


I'd argue that it quite possibly did pay off quite well - he got very close to winning the match in the end which is objectively a really good result for him.

After all, Carlsen is simply the mildly better all round player and plenty were predicting a much more comfortable Carlsen win.

In terms of match strategy (let's say the 'grand' strategy of the WCh) I think it had a lot of similarities with Anand-Gelfand.

Kudos to both, it had a lot of tension, esp. after the first 2 games.

And of course congrats to the World Champion!

This was the most entertaining and enjoyable world championship match that I've seen in a long time. Kudos to both players, especially Karjakin who proved himself a serious contender when many people wondered whether he really deserved a shot at the title.

Beautiful game 3 by Carlsen, hard to see how we can complain about these games as fans!  Though I'd still rather have a 24 game match and have the tiebreaks decided beforehand.

snits wrote on 11/30/16 at 19:08:58:


That's an interesting idea that I haven't considered before, and I'd be all for it I think!

Keano must be the most dramatic and opinionated chess player I know, and that's saying something! 

I have no problem with Carlsen playing game 12 like he did.  He's trying to win the match, and he should do everything within the rules that he thinks will maximize his chances of winning and minimize his chances of losing, whether that looks exciting or not.  It's like American football teams that purposely take a Safety because they'd rather their opponent gain only 2 points but have poor field position, instead of trying to punt from their own endzone and potentially giving up a touchdown.  Or running very pedestrian offenses to run time off of the clock at the end of a game.  It's just smart match strategy, not unsporting or anything of the sort.

Scarblac wrote on 11/30/16 at 10:39:16:

Excellent point. This is probably true, but a bit sad all the same. Not sure much can be done about it.

At least interesting games do matter to those who love the game, to keep us enthralled. And all these enthusiast are just as important for the future of professional chess as current, wider public interest.

I seriously doubt if Carlsen was worried about that - Black can't enforce randomness on a chess game without taking huge objective risks, and especially not vs the way Carlsen plays.

I've seen it suggested that he might have been worried about getting into trouble over pressing which does make some sense. He did that twice in the match.