Chess notes
Thursday, 28 December 2017 19:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zimenaSo, I've been watching the world championship in rapid chess on TV for the last three days. Chess? On TV? Yes, that actually works... and it has been quite a popular thing here since the broadcasting began in (I think?) 2013. I'm not good at playing chess at all, but it's still fun to watch. Of course, much of the reason for the popularity of chess as a TV sport/event here can be summed up in one name: Magnus Carlsen. If he had not been a Norwegian, I don't think the idea would ever have come up to show chess on TV here.
Anyway, I won't say I'm a big Magnus fan in the sense that I think of him when there's no major tournaments on, but I try to pay attention to the main news around him, and of course I want him to do well if I'm sitting down to watch a whole tournament like now. He was in the lead for a while in this tournament, but missed the chance for the title after losing to Russian Alexander Grishchuk (whom I also like, btw) in the last match today.
A little bit disappointing, for sure, but I was pretty much okay with it, really.
Because there were three players who had the same number of points (10.5 each) after 15 matches, the title was decided in a playoff match between Viswanathan Anand (from India - Magnus' former opponent for the "regular" chess world title two times, and therefore quite a famous player here) and Vladimir Fedoseev (a young Russian whom I don't know that much, except he impressed quite a lot in this tournament). In the end, Anand got the title after winning both matches in the playoff.
By the way, the playoff consisted of two matches of blitz chess. I must say I find it a little bit questionable that the world title in rapid chess is won by winning in blitz, because to me these are quite different things. But of course, you have to play great at rapid to even end up in this playoff... but this system for deciding the title was still a bit surprising to me.
Also, can I just mention that I'm annoyed at NRK (Norwegian TV) sometimes? They do amazing work with these chess broadcasts, and I'm obviously happy about that. But ahead of this playoff, they clearly took Anand's side and even commented that "a lot of Norwegians will want him to get the title now, due to the amount of time we've spent watching him in past years." Well... I guess it's a valid argument, but I sort of don't like when they just decide where viewers' sympathies should go, as if viewers are one collective group with one collective opinion.
Oh, and just for the record - I kind of took a liking to Fedoseev during these three days, and I was definitely rooting for him more in the playoff. That might be the reason I reacted strongly enough to this to write a whole post about it. I'm not angry about Anand winning, though - I was just rooting more for his opponent in this specific playoff.
Now I'm quite tired of watching chess, because it's been on for hours on end for three days straight... but there are still two days of blitz chess left, so I guess I'll try to follow that as well. I suppose I won't watch that as attentively, though, because it's much harder to follow for me.
Also, I almost haven't touched my computer at all since before Christmas. I miss my net time, and I also have a fic that I want to finish and post soon. Hopefully, there'll be a few hours of online time tomorrow.
Anyway, I won't say I'm a big Magnus fan in the sense that I think of him when there's no major tournaments on, but I try to pay attention to the main news around him, and of course I want him to do well if I'm sitting down to watch a whole tournament like now. He was in the lead for a while in this tournament, but missed the chance for the title after losing to Russian Alexander Grishchuk (whom I also like, btw) in the last match today.
A little bit disappointing, for sure, but I was pretty much okay with it, really.
Because there were three players who had the same number of points (10.5 each) after 15 matches, the title was decided in a playoff match between Viswanathan Anand (from India - Magnus' former opponent for the "regular" chess world title two times, and therefore quite a famous player here) and Vladimir Fedoseev (a young Russian whom I don't know that much, except he impressed quite a lot in this tournament). In the end, Anand got the title after winning both matches in the playoff.
By the way, the playoff consisted of two matches of blitz chess. I must say I find it a little bit questionable that the world title in rapid chess is won by winning in blitz, because to me these are quite different things. But of course, you have to play great at rapid to even end up in this playoff... but this system for deciding the title was still a bit surprising to me.
Also, can I just mention that I'm annoyed at NRK (Norwegian TV) sometimes? They do amazing work with these chess broadcasts, and I'm obviously happy about that. But ahead of this playoff, they clearly took Anand's side and even commented that "a lot of Norwegians will want him to get the title now, due to the amount of time we've spent watching him in past years." Well... I guess it's a valid argument, but I sort of don't like when they just decide where viewers' sympathies should go, as if viewers are one collective group with one collective opinion.
Oh, and just for the record - I kind of took a liking to Fedoseev during these three days, and I was definitely rooting for him more in the playoff. That might be the reason I reacted strongly enough to this to write a whole post about it. I'm not angry about Anand winning, though - I was just rooting more for his opponent in this specific playoff.
Now I'm quite tired of watching chess, because it's been on for hours on end for three days straight... but there are still two days of blitz chess left, so I guess I'll try to follow that as well. I suppose I won't watch that as attentively, though, because it's much harder to follow for me.
Also, I almost haven't touched my computer at all since before Christmas. I miss my net time, and I also have a fic that I want to finish and post soon. Hopefully, there'll be a few hours of online time tomorrow.