Do the tours hold tournaments for qualification for all tour events?
Sorry if this a dumb question and I am missing something, but here it shows that Carlsen received 30 tour points from finishing second place in the Skilling Open. But Magnus finished first in the prelims, and then finished runner up in the knockouts.
So according to the regulations, he should actually be getting 25 points from finishing runner up, plus 10 points from winning the prelims which means he would get 35 points instead of 30.
I don't think this is a small mistake made only in the video either, because the official standings is only accurate if you count his score from the Skilling Open as being 30 instead of 35.
So I am probably missing something and would love to be enlightened by you guys.
ETA: Also he repeated the exact same feat of winning the prelims and finishing second in the knockouts in the Opera Euro Rapid tournament, but this time, it seems his score was correctly calculated to be 35.
Magnus Carlsen wins the MC Tour Finals after beating Hikaru Nakamura in a 7-set thrilling match.
The two players fought an equal battle for 6 sets and the 4 rapid + 2 blitz games of the 7th set to decide the champion through an Armageddon. Carlsen drew the game with black pieces to clinch the title. Big congrats!
https://preview.redd.it/x45l85nea7i51.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7fe758b245c341545d45038ffa9dad48dea63826
Games Link: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/kiva-finals-of-the-magnus-carlsen-chess-tour-2020/11/1/6
I'm interested in what people think about this. For me, I have enjoyed every minute of the tour so far the Tour Finals and this match between Carlsen and Nakamura has been nothing short of thrilling. It has been edge-of-the-seat stuff that has converted me from only being interested in classical to the idea that rapid is the ideal balance. The competitiveness has been top-notch and the play has been fantastic. The tournament has seen these GMs bring out their A-games and play deep theoretical novelties as well as play exciting gambits. It has been everything the Candidates should have been and more.
Of course, this has also been the first true online super-tournament with prize money to match the biggest OTB events. So is this a watershed moment for chess, is it the start of a new era? Or is it something that has been a hit because of COVID but will quickly be forgotten? Where does the MCCT sit in chess history?
So a lot of people, including me, have been very interested in how big an advantage black has in Armageddon, with Hikaru even claiming that if he had black today he wouldβve won the match. I looked up all the Armageddon games and counted the wins for both colors. Here it is.
Magnus Carlsen Invitational: White: 4 Black: 6
Lindores Abbey: White: 2 Black: 4
Chessable Masters: White: 1 Black: 1
Legends of Chess: White: 6 Black: 8
Grand Finals: White: 0 Black: 2
Total: White: 13 (38.2%) Black: 21 (61.8%)
The results are all from chess24βs website, feel free to correct me if anyone finds any mistakes. Personally I think this shows that black has an advantage, but the sample size is still a bit small. I wouldnβt say itβs so significant that itβs unfair, since if you look at every tournament individually the wins are pretty close; itβs just that the difference adds up.
Something to note is that Dubov won as white against Hikaru in the final Armageddon game of the Lindores Abbey.
I am very interested to understand how Chess24 and the tournament arbiters ensure that games between these players are fair. In the world of internet chess, anyone could get a signal conveying information unfairly in a multitude of ways. See this article in the NYT from March 15th 2020 regarding the crazy challenges the chess community has faced with cheaters, including hiding electronic buzzers in their shoes, accusations of signalling with yogurt, and other creative cheating accusations and attempts. In these tournaments, chess players are required to pass through metal detectors, follow strict rules, and are monitored carefully. However, this kind of behavior seems impossible to moderate in online chess! How does chess24 and MCCT make sure that people are not cheating? I am not interested in answers regarding algorithms or recognition of aberrant patterns of chess play, like might be used to detect someone using an engine on chess.com/lichchess/chess24. These kinds of cheating are essentially undetectable at the top level of play, where the players are certainly smart enough to: 1) know when to make a sub-optimal move to avoid their opponents engine preparation of certain lines, and 2) sometimes make amazing moves that would be chosen by an engine anyway. Also, I am not interested in statements regarding the integrity of these players and the risks of being caught might pose to their careers, since while this is the strongest deterrent, it does not preclude cheating. Tania Sachdev mentioned that their are arbiters who monitor the players, but chess streamers could easily receive a DM in another screen/window, or other covert signal. Chess players could even have problems with internet connectivity during the game, interrupting the arbiters ability to monitor them! So how does it work? Thanks also to Tania, Yasserr, Pete Leko, Yan, all the masters and everyone else at chess24 for putting together an amazing tour with an unprecedented high level of processional commentary and production quality.
This was one of the most interesting chess tournaments of the year ( maybe decade ) and it has been as close as it possibly can. What are your thoughts on how this hype finale will play out?
Has anyone found a schedule for the tournament yet? It will start tomorrow but there seems to have been no info released so far: https://fide.com/news/523
