Karjakin-Carlsen Game 4

Originally posted by greenpawn34
It's the way the draw was worked out.

Games 1-6 Carlsen gets White in 1, 3 and 5, Karjakin 2,4 and 6..

In the second set of six games this is reversed.

Games 7, 9, and 11 Karjakin has White, Carlsen has White in 8,10 and 12.

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Cannot agree that all four games have been hard fought. Games 1 and especially 2
were non-events. Games 3 & 4 ...[text shortened]... e win.

In the end he resorted to a ploy that even I saw when the King was halfway towards a2.

Dude you should watch it on wcc.protectedvideos.com. I am not sure if its the official feed, I doubt it, but Judiths commentary is excellent, she focuses on the pure elements, not waffling on about variations that are never likely to happen and she pitches at a level that is easy for an amateur to grasp. Ok the two Norwegian TV presenters are total noobs and ask really dumb questions but its a small price to pay. Lev Alburt showed up and gave his insights on game 3, told some stories about the legendary soviet players, was awesome, Irina Krush was there on game four to offer some ideas along with the legendary Judith, was all good.

Only problem was that for some reason game four was either blocked by Agon or had technical difficulties and could not be shown in normal browser mode, but all one had to do was go to setting and switch to android/ generic tablet and it worked a treat. Chrome and the original open source Linux version chromium have this feature that allows you to emulate different platforms. If anyone wants to know how to do it let me know, essentially you press F12 to get the console up and go to settings.

Going out now to get beers in for this evening, looking for Sergey to open with 1.d4 2.Nf3 and 3.e3!! with clear and stable advantage 😀

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Dude you should watch it on wcc.protectedvideos.com. I am not sure if its the official feed, I doubt it, but Judiths commentary is excellent, she focuses on the pure elements, not waffling on about variations that are never likely to happen and she pitches at a level that is easy for an amateur to grasp. Ok the two Norwegian TV presenters are total ...[text shortened]... ening, looking for Sergey to open with 1.d4 2.Nf3 and 3.e3!! with clear and stable advantage 😀

I have found that commentary to be some of the poorest i've ever heard personally. Often the game isn't even being discussed, you just sit there listening to the main commentator try and earn his pay packet by asking completely stupid questions. Asking what Judith thinks of Carlsen have a 52% 'advantage' on move 7 for example.

I don't get why we need noob commentary anyway? Who does that help exactly?? If you are a noob, the last thing you need is some patronizing "oh, this is far too complicated for you to understand, so i will treat you like a retard until you get your first master norm". If you want to learn, what could possibly be better than a GM discussing what the options are and giving a bit of insight into how to choose between the options. THAT is what people are paying for (yes paying!)

I don't have a problem with the commentator not being a master chess player, but they should at least BE a chess player. Hiring a complete know nothing is just not acceptable for the World championship.

Hi Robbie,

no idea what you are going about "....switch to android/ generic tablet."

My usual net access is a works lap top which has more protection than the U.S. President.
Everyday something new has to be uploaded or downloaded.

I am not pressing F!2.for anyone.

I've seen Polgar in action before and I think she does OK and needs the 'noobs.'

You have to take into consideration that viewing figures will number in the millions.
(not the 600 million that Agon claim) so a very large percentage of the viewers will not even have a rating.

So the trained 'noobs' are being told to ask questions that Polgar thinks the viewers are asking themselves.

We...ahem....stronger players have to go along and put with this. I think it works
and it maybe what she has been requested to do.

"Lev Alburt showed up..."

What kind of name is Lev? and I'm not listening to anyone who cannot spell 'Albert' correctly.

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
I have found that commentary to be some of the poorest i've ever heard personally. Often the game isn't even being discussed, you just sit there listening to the main commentator try and earn his pay packet by asking completely stupid questions. Asking what Judith thinks of Carlsen have a 52% 'advantage' on move 7 for example.

I don't get why we need ...[text shortened]... chess player. Hiring a complete know nothing is just not acceptable for the World championship.

We were all beginners once and I think just a little more tolerance is needed because clearly the TV presenters know next to nothing about chess and yes they do ask some rather obvious questions. However I disagree that its the poorest commentary ever, listening to two grandmasters discuss millions of permutations that are never likely to happen and giving no reasoning behind their moves is the worse, I lasted five minutes on chess24.

Judith by contrast was accommodating because she was having to explain it to total noobs and I think that ninety percent of her ideas actually occurred on board, she was way awesome.

Is that the official Agon feed? i doubt it because i didn't pay for it. When I go on the official site all I can see is a chessboard.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Robbie,

no idea what you are going about "....switch to android/ generic tablet."

My usual net access is a works lap top which has more protection than the U.S. President.
Everyday something new has to be uploaded or downloaded.

I am not pressing F!2.for anyone.

I've seen Polgar in action before and I think she does OK and needs the ' ...[text shortened]...
What kind of name is Lev? and I'm not listening to anyone who cannot spell 'Albert' correctly.

My dear sir, depending on what browser you use, it has a console window that allows you to adjust certain settings. If you use chrome or chromium browser the F12 button opens this console and allows one to emulate another device, for example a Galaxy S II (andriod phone) or an iphone 4S, or a generic tablet. Its built into the browsers and is perfectly harmless and presents no security risk whatsoever.

The noobs really are noobs, annoyingly so and ask some rather obvious questions which would try anyone's patience, however Judith simply smiles and handles it well. She is awesome, kind of like having a mom with a 2700 rating.

Lev is legend! They also had Frank Brady on, yes the rascal who wrote that scurrilous nonsense book about Fisher, Endgame, descent into madness, I had to resist smashing my monitor in despair and ripping the back pockets right off my jeans however common sense prevailed and i simply turned down the volume till he went away.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
However I disagree that its the poorest commentary ever, listening to two grandmasters discuss millions of permutations that are never likely to happen and giving no reasoning behind their moves is the worse, I lasted five minutes on chess24.

I'll admit, as much as I like Svidler as a player, when he sits at a commentary desk he gets way too ahead of himself and this can throw a lot of people off.

I've been following Jerry on chessnetwork's twitch channel, he has good knowledge of the game but can also express ideas and tricks clearly and is easy to understand.

Originally posted by 64squaresofpain
I'll admit, as much as I like Svidler as a player, when he sits at a commentary desk he gets way too ahead of himself and this can throw a lot of people off.

I've been following Jerry on chessnetwork's twitch channel, he has good knowledge of the game but can also express ideas and tricks clearly and is easy to understand.

At times I wonder if he's not commenting on a cricket match. I think Agon shut my unofficial stream down, it was not working at all. I ended up watching chessnetwork was quite good.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
We were all beginners once and I think just a little more tolerance is needed because clearly the TV presenters know next to nothing about chess and yes they do ask some rather obvious questions. However I disagree that its the poorest commentary ever, listening to two grandmasters discuss millions of permutations that are never likely to happen and ...[text shortened]... t it because i didn't pay for it. When I go on the official site all I can see is a chessboard.

Yeh, ok my post might have sounded a little intolerant in hindsight. I have to say i think the commentary was a lot a better for game 5. Sam Shanklin was a really good substitute for Polgar, he really covered the game well (he plays the Italian game so had plenty to say about it).

I still think Fide could have gotten a better host though. There are plenty of Journalists, or famous people who are reasonable chess players / fans who could have acted as this "go between" between the public and the GM's. Dominic Lawson for example (to use a British example). Maybe a comedian? Someone with some charisma perhaps? Look at Maurice Ashley, he has charisma and he knows what he is talking about.

At the end of the day, the audience is going to be predominantly made up of chess enthusiasts. The standard in online commentary has been steadily rising for some years now, there are plenty of lessons to be drawn from previous attempts to make chess "accessible". Chess is complicated, there is no getting around that. Dumbing it down is stripping it of its beauty (imo).

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Yeh, ok my post might have sounded a little intolerant in hindsight. I have to say i think the commentary was a lot a better for game 5. Sam Shanklin was a really good substitute for Polgar, he really covered the game well (he plays the Italian game so had plenty to say about it).

I still think Fide could have gotten a better host though. There are p ...[text shortened]... mplicated, there is no getting around that. Dumbing it down is stripping it of its beauty (imo).

I could not watch it because Agon had patched their servers and there was no live stream in English. Still chessnetwork was pretty good 😀