https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ragXpWsAI

This seems oddly familiar to me

Loneliness

I didn't get much work done today, I was glued to the match from when it started. I don't like the Tie-Breakers at all but I will admit that I had a really fun time watching today.

Carlsen got stronger and stronger each game today. If the rapid tiebreaker was longer, it would have been a complete slaughter. Game 3 in particular was so nice I have re-watched it several times already.

Now that everything is over, I think 3 factors contributed to the 12 straight classical draws.
1-----A poor tournament format. (after 2 straight World Championships decided outside of classical matches, its obvious there needs to be some major changes to the format)
2-----Two 2800+ players and the first #1 vs #2 ranked players in modern WC history. (Engines play so much more of a role now even when compared to the WC two years ago in 2016. Classical memorization of lines is significantly more prevalent in today's chess and we all saw it on display.)
3-----Carlsen failing to find the winning combo in Game 1. (It wasn't a particularly difficult line to find for pros and was very quickly seen on several streams including the main one (Svidler/Grischuk) without using engines. If Carlsen wins Game 1, the whole series has a completely different feel and probably would have been really exciting without the need for tie-breakers.)

Another consideration is that Magnus was frustrated earlier in the series and I think it was because Caruana refused to take the initiative in some games when it was clearly in his court. I believe it made Magnus feel like Caruana was simply playing "safe chess" and didn't want to mix it up in a lot of situations.

That said, this Game 12 draw felt like Magnus giving that back to Caruana since it was the last game in the series. I have to agree with Phantom, if it was really his intention, Magnus played correctly and to his advantage as the superior Blitz player.

FYI, these are the Tie-Break Rules:

---Best-of-four rapid games (25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move). The player with the best score after four rapid games is the winner; otherwise they proceed to blitz games.
---Up to five mini-matches of best-of-two blitz games (5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment after each move). The player with the best score in any two-game blitz match is the winner. If all five two-game matches are tied, an "Armageddon" game is played.
---One sudden death "Armageddon" game: White receives 5 minutes and Black receives 4 minutes. Both players receive an increment of 3 seconds starting from move 61. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

I see you point of view, but these are the two final games of the series. The pressure is incredibly high and 1 lapse of judgement can be a blunder. 1 blunder at this stage of the series will likely be a complete loss. I would say moments like those are the main reason to be competitive in any game so that is where my hype talk comes from I suppose.

These Tie-Break scenarios really make me sad. Its like having a 6's match decided by 4's.

I know right. Its frustrating with 10 draws in a row. However, Game 10 was the best of the series so far IMO so I have hope for 11 and 12. Both had chances in Game 10 and it could have easily been a win for either one.

Games 1 and 2 were also really awesome and could have potentially been wins. I can't help but think the series would be so much more exciting if one of those first 2 matches resulted in a win.

If it does go to tie-breakers, I think Caruana will be just fine in the 25 min Rapid but if that goes to Blitz his chances decline significantly.

https://buddymeter.com/quiz.html?q=6WcAUoM

I feel so misunderstood

that paddie 6k, nice shit

pablo been farming upfrags from me all season long

Silk Penny

I completely agree that rapid and blitz have no place in determining the Classical Chess Champion. However, I would get too caught up in the fact there are so many Draws. Lots of Draws have always been part of long 1v1 series in chess.
There is a growing movement among the GM's to make some serious changes in the chess world.

First is to revamp the format of the Chess Championship we currently see on display. There is a lot of steam behind returning to the 24 match format or the First to 6 Wins format. Both allowed players to truly take risks and play with creativity as the series progressed. It made chess beautiful and not such a "1 mistake and I could lose everything" scenario like we see right now. Both Magnus and Fabiano are loathe to play anything truly aggressive right now. Instead it is a waiting game for one of them to play an inaccuracy or potential blunder. There is little beauty in this chess at the moment but that could change as I hope.

I personally want the "First to Win 6" format to return. Get these guys playing 2 matches per day and let them go until we have a clear winner. That is exciting to imagine. Here is one of the best lists for past world championships, the players, the formats used and the records of win/losses and draws for each.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Chess_Championships

Second, the amount of GM's is at a totally insane level and while they are all worthy of the title, the vast amount does decrease the meaning in a lot of peoples eyes. I hope they go forward with the "Super Grand Master" title or another such name. IMO, you must acknowledge the truly awesome players from the rest in the same way the "GrandMaster" title was meant in the beginning.

I posted this 3 weeks ago in another really old thread.

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I have played and beaten 3 of these games, still working on the 4th and will likely replay some of them to try different characters/builds. Right now, Steam is offering %70 off these games and you can get the entire bundle of 5 full games for just 5.99. The Steam Sale is over, but its still just 19.95 for all 5 games.

Go to Steam Store and type in "Geneforge".

I underlined in your post where I see something else

Once Black Knight to G3, White Pawn F2 Has to capture on G3
If you move Black Queen to G3 and Capture White Pawn, you get
White Pawn on G2 capture Black Knight on F3

At this point the Black Queen is alone and cannot force a checkmate. However, he can capture the 2 pawns on F3 and H3 as compensation for losing both of his Black Knights. White is not in the best situation because his King is very exposed but I would trade 3 pawns for 2 knights and take my chances as White.

Most airshots attempted in TF2 are "wasted shots" on poor choices to aim at. There are almost always better or more dangerous players to target instead. Its sweet to hit an airshot and looks great but most times it means little or nothing in the grand scheme.

That said, the best chess equivalent I can think of is capturing a pawn simply because it is undefended. It looks great on the board and you think its an advantage. However, good players will use that "wasted move" to initiate attacks as compensation for the lost piece.