Good for Sasirikirin and Timman, bad for chess. A system that allows the climactic game in a tournament to end in an agreed draw on 11th move should be changed. Maybe we should allow such a thing in sports tournaments, like boxing, where in the first round, both opponents rise from their stools and shake hands and people say, they earned the right to shake hands (or gloves) because of their past fighting got them there. I know the analogy isn't perfect, but chess is a mental "fight" isn't it? I know this subjects has been gone round and round before. I just take pleasure in the fact that Nakamura will get better and better as time goes by, and his unwillingness to "negotiate" a chess game will stand him in good stead in the future. I recall Tal making fun of Fischer, fighting down to two lone kings. A few years later, those who sat opposite him knew they were in for a fierce fight in every move and, due to their passive behavior in the past, were unable to cope with the young grandmaster.
Originally posted by gambit3That would be a radical change, but not a good one IMO.
I think a draw should score a zero. A win should score a point. Just my thoughts.
For example: white attacks in a promising position, but black finds the best defense for about a dozen moves and transposes into a totally drawn endgame. Such a game asks a lot of effort from both players, and is a lot of fun to watch, because both are giving it their bests. As a result they both get 0 points? That's just ridiculous (for all kinds of reasons).
PS (buddy2): Jan Timman's age is 54.
Originally posted by arrakisWow, that's awesome! I was thinking about asking him to a game but didn't. I was acutally a couple feet away from him a few times. Most of the time he just walked around like you'd think a normal teen would, I shouldn't have been but I was surprised 😛.
I played Nakamura at the World Open years ago when he was only rated 1900 but was beating most A players. He was so small that he had to sit on his feet to reach the chess pieces. And when he moved a piece he wrapped his entire hand around it (yeah, that's how tiny his hand was!). Like he couldn't pick it up with his fingers... had to use the whole hand.
...[text shortened]... (almost as bad as losing to No1maurader), but two months later he beat his first Grandmaster!
Josh