The first four games of the match all ended in draws. Of the seven most recent matches, all with 12 games at standard time control, the first three (2006, 2008, 2010) saw the eventual winner jump into the lead after four games. The last four saw a tied score after four games, where only one (2014) had decisive games. The other three matches started with six consecutive draws (2012), four draws (2013), and seven draws (2016). In the 2018 match, Carlsen achieved a near-decisive advantage playing Black in game one, after which the other games were more balanced.
So far I've collected relevant links into four posts scattered across two blogs:-
- 2018-10-13: Worldchess Is Wide Awake; Worldchess on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
- 2018-11-07: 2018 Carlsen - Caruana, Warmup; recent World Championship matches
- 2018-11-08: Match Tales from the Twittersphere
- 2018-11-11: 'The World Is Watching'; Worldchess on Youtube
Since that last post from a few days ago, Worldchess has released more videos. This one gives some idea about the physical atmosphere at the match itself.
World Chess Championship 2018 Venue Introduction (2:26) • 'Published on Nov 12, 2018'
The description says,
Anna Rudolph, hosting the World Chess Championship 2018 in London, presents the playing venue along with exclusive highlights from day one!
For additional background from people who are geographically closer to the match than most of us, see 2018 World Championship in London (ecforum.org.uk). Although the thread started in May 2017, skipping ahead to page 10 (out of 20 currently) brings us to end-October 2018, when Agon started once again to threaten competing broadcasters. Following that are first-hand reports from chess fans who have visited the match venue, mixed with many relevant links (including frequent Twitter spats).
Today is a rest day. By this time next week, another four games will have been played.
No comments:
Post a Comment