'Wonderboy' 2002

After posting 'Wonderboy' 2000-2001, I fell behind schedule because of the London Candidates tournament (see Congratulations to GM Carlsen!) followed by a vacation (if you consider a house full of toddlers to be a vacation). The events covered in the next two chapters of 'Wonderboy' by GM Simen Agdestein are shown in the following table.

In my next post I'll cover the last chapters of the book, then apply the three summaries to Magnus Carlsen's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record (2000-).

First Chess Postcards in the World?

For my series on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, once in a while there are no auctions over the previous fortnight that attract my attention. When this happens, I usually fall back on a composite post like Top Computer Items from a few months ago.

Another trick -- one that I don't use often -- is to go under my cutoff minimum of US $500. The item pictured below, which sold for $399 after only one bid, was considerably below this target, but it was unlike anything else I've seen before. The item's title was 'Romania - The first postcards stationeries CHESS in the WORLD - used - 1963'.

The description gave a bit more information.

Romania - CHESS - 2 stationeries - used - 1963 (The first CHESS postcards in the world) very very rare. The second postal card have the signature of the international great master Florin Ghiorghiu, (only exemplar). Very good quality.

How much would each postcard sell for individually? How about GM Gheorghiu's autograph? Lots of questions without answers...

How to Train for Chess

Pioneer Challenge - Chess Club (4:29) • 'Carlos & Matt's Chess Adventure'

'This piece won 1st Place at the Kansas Technology Student Leaders Association competition in the category of Video Production.'

No.1 Chess Bod

The additional info said,

This photo was taken on 2 April 2013 in Whitehall, London, England, GB. [...] Taken at 11 Downing St'.

That would be the closing ceremony for the 2013 London Candidates Tournament.

Some chess bods chatting at the chess party © Flickr user mrlerone under Creative Commons.

The 'chess bod' on the left is Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the tournament. I don't recognize the fellow he is chatting with. I guess he's a political bod. The fellow behind him to the right looks like a well known English 'chess bod' and organizer.

***

Later: Got it, thanks to Google: 11 Downing Street -> Chancellor of the Exchequer -> George Osborne. 'Political bod', indeed!

London Candidates - Tiebreaks

The 2013 London Candidates Tournament was a good show from start to end. The last three of the 14 rounds featured a neck-and-neck race between ex-World Champion Kramnik and GM Carlsen.

Leading Kramnik by a half-point after 11 rounds, Carlsen lost in the 12th round while his main rival won. After the Norwegian won in the 13th against a draw by the Russian, the two went into the last round with an equal score. Carlsen's 13th round win gave him more than equality -- it also gave him the tiebreak advantage in case of an equal score after the last round. The tiebreaks specified in FIDE's 'Rules & Regulations' were 'in order of priority':-

(a) The results of the games between the players involved in the tie.
(b) The total number of wins in the tournament of every player involved in the tie.
(c) Sonneborn – Berger System.

Going into the last round, Carlsen and Kramnik had drawn both games with each other, while Carlsen had one win more. (Many observers pointed out this was equivalent to having one loss more.) The 'number of wins' rule favors risk taking and put Kramnik in the unpleasant position of having to earn at least a half-point more than Carlsen in the all-decisive round. Adding to the unpleasantness were the last round color assignments: Carlsen had White, Kramnik Black.

As we know, both players lost their last game, thereby catapulting Carlsen into a title match with World Champion Anand. It's a twist of fate that if tiebreak '(b)' had not resolved the deadlock, tiebreak '(c)' would have been in Kramnik's favor. The somewhat arbitrary resolution to an exciting tournament brought widespread condemnation, especially from Kramnik's supporters. Most commentators preferred to see a tiebreak match, which would have happened had tiebreak '(c)' also been inconclusive.

The tiebreak rules were not new. They were essentially the same for the previous World Championship title tournament, 2007 Mexico City, where Anand grabbed the crown from Kramnik. He has held it ever since, beating three challengers in the process. My guess is that FIDE simply copied the 2007 tiebreak rules for the 2013 event. The 2007 rules were similar to those used in the 2005 San Luis FIDE title tournament, won convincingly by GM Topalov. In 2007, the Sonneborn – Berger system was added as a third tiebreak system in case of a tie after the first two systems were applied.

I'm not convinced that another tiebreak system would have been better than the one that gave Carlsen the tournament win. From a sporting point of view, a rapid/blitz match would have been the ideal scenario, but the players already seemed so tired at the end that it could easily have become a blunderfest. Tiebreak '(b)' also had a significant sporting element in that both players were obliged to play the last game for a win. An impending tiebreak match might have convinced both of them to steer for an easy draw, reserving their energy for the following day. That's the strategy we saw throughout the 2011 Candidates Matches, which produced few decisive games at standard time control and which were roundly condemned as dull. The 2013 London tournament was anything but dull.

Carlsen's Closing Comments

Two videos featuring GM Magnus Carlsen after winning the 2013 Candidates Tournament at London.

Winner's Press Conference (17:39)

Bonus Interview (7:30)

For more archived videos from the last round, see Round 14 - Commentary. Production credits are given at the end of the first clip above.

Congratulations to GM Carlsen!

I failed miserably. I tried working on the follow-up to 'Wonderboy' 2000-2001, while watching the last round of the 2013 Candidates Tournament, but I couldn't divert my attention from the live games.

As most of the active chess world was aware, GM Carlsen needed a win to ensure victory in the tournament and snare the qualification for a shot at the World Championship later this year. He lost, but so did his main rival, GM Kramnik. Instead of Anand - Kramnik II, we'll be seeing Anand - Carlsen I.

For a comprehensive set of links to the London event, see the post on my WCC blog: London Candidates - Second Week. I'll return to Magnus Carlsen's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record as soon as I can.