Also as a great symbolism of our times: An Indian beat a Chinese. India is rising while China is already in decline.
India did invent the game (probably).
Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
341–350 of 484 posts
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#342It was painful watching Ding Liren blunder the rook and realize what he had done.
It was. But he had 9 minutes vs more than an hour for Gukesh. The entire match has been Ding defending miraculously, I thought it was a matter of time before he eventually failed. The fact that it happened on the last moves of the last game, it's definitely hard for Ding, but fair for Gukesh IMO.
ding was attacking though. it skuat crazy that he was looking to play for a draw with the white pieces, when he was in a great position to play for the win earlier, before he forced a trade of all the pieces.
ding may have lost for a blunder late in the game, but i think he lost the game and match early, when he traded down to try to play for a draw.
gukesh played every game for a win
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#343First of all, I have the greatest respect for the two individuals who played their hearts out in this event. Personally, I'm on the side which thinks that this format is a total stagnation. Maybe the new no-increment under 40 moves is an improvement, but overall it does not count. I agree with Carlsen that the format has to be drastically changed to determine who is the better player. Much more games, shorter games.…
of this tournament, i think magnus would have loved to play against ding, and not at all gukesh. prep memorization remains a bit of a cheat where its your memorization and prep picking thats playing the game, rather than actually playing the game. i think a randomly chosen "start from x position, with y time, and z increment after move c" for some 30 games over two weeks would do pretty well. Steal the formats from e…
I think after the performances seen in the match, it is fair to say, that Carlsen would probably have won against both of them, at some point taking the lead and they might have never evened the score after that.
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#344That was a absolutely horrible finish to a really exciting championship if you ask me. For anyone who doesn't know, there was a lot of drama because Gukesh was playing amazingly coming into this (eg winning the gold medal on board 1 at the olympiad in crushing style) and Ding had been playing terribly. Then there were 13 games of back and forth with stalwart defending and imaginative computer preparation by both side…
All of sudden = time pressure brought on by opponent.
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#345This was a great match overall, with a very dramatic/surprising end. But I disagree with other comments that are describing the overall championship in a favorable light. To me, this was some of the most boring chess I've watched. Ding was certainly trying to force draws in every game, which makes for some very unexciting lines. It's been suggested that Ding felt he had better chances in rapid formats, so forcing dra…
in his defending games, ding got outprepped, but then consistently outplayed gukesh while being 30min to an hour lower on time.
ding played a fanstastic prep game in one round, but it was very creative prep overall, that ding played very creative defenses for to hold to a draw
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#346This was a great match overall, with a very dramatic/surprising end. But I disagree with other comments that are describing the overall championship in a favorable light. To me, this was some of the most boring chess I've watched. Ding was certainly trying to force draws in every game, which makes for some very unexciting lines. It's been suggested that Ding felt he had better chances in rapid formats, so forcing dra…
I agree! It's a shame you're being downvoted just for expressing your opinion. Come on HN, downvoting is not for expressing disagreement... And yeah. People saying this was exciting chess are lemmings. It was absolutely not. It was yet another boring draw-fest. The format incentivizes prep and penalizes creativity and risk-taking. If my child got very good at that it would be hard to be proud. What a waste of human s…
draws are plenty exciting. prep is not
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of exceptions sadly. But with the amount of neuroticism you see with top athletes that's to be expected I suppose
I disagree. I think what you're saying are "a lot of exceptions" are primarily going to be in what are historically referred to as "revenue sports" in the US -- football & basketball -- and also in individual sports where personal marketing is key to financial success (e.g. sponsorships). I don't see it as unexpected for there to be big egos and boisterous personalities in sports where individuals are hugely rewarded…
Even in the revenue sports it’s mostly great sportsmanship. Actually surprisingly good considering how much punishing physical contact they have between them.
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
5-22- so 17 years instead of 11. Quite a difference! Can any of that be put down to advances in training tech that wasn't around when Magnus started playing?
In spite of claims to the contrary there is luck in chess. Your form (and your opponents') varies significantly over time, the outcome of competitive opening prep, or even just how well you're sleeping. The stars really aligned for Gukesh in countless ways, his form and openings hit when and where they needed to, and he was left playing a very out-of-form world champ who wasn't even in the top 20 in the world. I susp…
It's really funny when you think that even among Indians, Pragg was much more in the news with high profile wins & Arjun crossed 2800 but here we have Gukesh WC.
Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
5-22- so 17 years instead of 11. Quite a difference! Can any of that be put down to advances in training tech that wasn't around when Magnus started playing?
There's not much point comparing them. The WCC cycles are inconsistent and Magnus has never liked the format. He played the Candidates in 2007 when he was 16, but there was a four-year gap after that until the next one. By that point he was already the top player and, just like in the cycle Ding won, he decided not to play. The explanation is here: https://www.chess.com/news/view/carlsen-quits-world-champion...
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Re: Gukesh becomes the youngest chess world champion in history
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
He's also not really the world champion. The world champion just got bored of winning so hard.
That’s his excuse anyway. If you can’t hold on to the title, no matter the actual or stated reasons, then you are simply not the World Champion.
Magnus Carlsen is the highest rated classical player, and has been since 2011.
It's also worth noting that is he is the reigning Rapid World Champion, the reigning Blitz World Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion.
He chose not to defend his Classical world title, and has been quite clear about the reasons.