4 ms·

Strength in faster time controls strongly fits overall strength. Caruana knew he was the underdog in Tie-breaks, he had 12 chances to avoid that and he was una

Strength in faster time controls strongly fits overall strength. Caruana knew he was the underdog in Tie-breaks, he had 12 chances to avoid that and he was unable to. Carlsen could have pressed in game 12 but he knew he was much stronger in faster controls, why risk anything? Using computer evals through the match, I felt that Carlsen was slightly stronger, and their head to head record suggests as much.

nilkn 8y ago
The other way of looking at this is that twice in a row Carlsen has been unable to defend the title in classical controls and has relied on rapid time controls to win. In both cases, it's unclear if Carlsen could have retained the title had more classical games been played.
- chongli 8y ago
  Does that say more about Carlsen or the modern classical game? Classical these days is heavily reliant on technology for preparation. The world championship match gives both players a huge amount of time to research strong lines using an engine. When players finally do get out of prep, they have plenty of time on the clock to make a draw if they're not in a winning position. In shorter time controls it becomes a lot more difficult to avoid mistakes out of book. Then it becomes more about vision and calculation and less about preparation.
  - b_tterc_p 8y ago
    Could you explain what this prep entails? I understand that athletes or gamers will watch opponents’ past plays to see how they should adapt, but I’m having trouble translating this to chess.
    - vertline3 8y ago
      They have a team helping them prepare called seconds, they also keep aware of opening updates by following games around the world. They have large opening databases, and will use computers to find new moves (originally just a team of GMs) known as "novelties" (a surprise). The novelties take the opponent "out of book" or the prep (preparation) he has developed. This means the opponent will have to use more time, and find his way out of a tricky situation you are more familiar with, through computer analysis. Often old sidelines will come back into fashion in order to avoid prep, or to lead someone into unfamiliar territory. If you watch on a video feed, announcers will sometimes say "this position was played in city (x) in year (n) between player(1) and player(2)" this is to show that there are few games left in the database, we are entering deep prep. Hope I helped.
- altairiumblue 8y ago
  Or you could say that he's been undefeated in classical controls and therefore retained his title.

nilkn 8y ago

The other way of looking at this is that twice in a row Carlsen has been unable to defend the title in classical controls and has relied on rapid time controls to win. In both cases, it's unclear if Carlsen could have retained the title had more classical games been played.

chongli 8y ago
Does that say more about Carlsen or the modern classical game? Classical these days is heavily reliant on technology for preparation. The world championship match gives both players a huge amount of time to research strong lines using an engine. When players finally do get out of prep, they have plenty of time on the clock to make a draw if they're not in a winning position. In shorter time controls it becomes a lot more difficult to avoid mistakes out of book. Then it becomes more about vision and calculation and less about preparation.
- b_tterc_p 8y ago
  Could you explain what this prep entails? I understand that athletes or gamers will watch opponents’ past plays to see how they should adapt, but I’m having trouble translating this to chess.
  - vertline3 8y ago
    They have a team helping them prepare called seconds, they also keep aware of opening updates by following games around the world. They have large opening databases, and will use computers to find new moves (originally just a team of GMs) known as "novelties" (a surprise). The novelties take the opponent "out of book" or the prep (preparation) he has developed. This means the opponent will have to use more time, and find his way out of a tricky situation you are more familiar with, through computer analysis. Often old sidelines will come back into fashion in order to avoid prep, or to lead someone into unfamiliar territory. If you watch on a video feed, announcers will sometimes say "this position was played in city (x) in year (n) between player(1) and player(2)" this is to show that there are few games left in the database, we are entering deep prep. Hope I helped.
altairiumblue 8y ago
Or you could say that he's been undefeated in classical controls and therefore retained his title.