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M-Tel masters

M-Tel masters

Only Chess

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Very interesting tournament just started in Sofia, Bulgaria. Draw offers are forbidden - game can end with a draw only if position is a drawn by chess rules (3-fold, perpetual, etc.) or by referee decision. Games are very interesting so far.

http://www.mtelmasters.com ["Watch Online" for the live games, "Games Archive" for the finished games]

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Seems like a good way to counter those "GM draws" or at least the only way to try to stop them.

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Silent (tacit) 3-fold repetition draws will replace the oral draw offers, I fear. GMs know when to do this. It won't take them long to catch on. I like what another RHPer suggested: Wins count as 3, Losses as 0, Draws as 1!

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I prefer a zero score for a draw and to play out a even score for a tournament or match winner. No draw odds for the champion.

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Well you can't argue with results. First round gives draws in 60 and 74 and a win to Kramnik. It appears that the no draw offers may do some good.

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It was a fantastic game between Anand and Topalov. Great first round, let's hope that the next ones are as good as this one.

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Doing something about short draws can only help chess. Doing nothing and saying, "oh, it's all part of the game" isn't helpful. You can do it any way you want, and there's some certainly good ideas in these posts. I personally like the 3 for win 1 for draw idea, but that's me. As long as the organizers realize there's a problem and try to fix it, we're on the right track. Sitting back and allowing prearranged draws is a dead end. Of course, certain players are going to try to get around it. People like the easy way out, but that's not to say we should condone it.

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Originally posted by CrawlIce
Silent (tacit) 3-fold repetition draws will replace the oral draw offers, I fear. GMs know when to do this. It won't take them long to catch on. I like what another RHPer suggested: Wins count as 3, Losses as 0, Draws as 1!
When draws are less than half of a win, those who earn fighting draws with beautiful combinations are cheated.

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Originally posted by Wulebgr
When draws are less than half of a win, those who earn fighting draws with beautiful combinations are cheated.
And you get a new agreement scheme. "Hey, pal, what do you say you win one and I win one?

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2 for win, 1/2 for a draw and 0 for loss. 4 draws is equal 1 win ! A good way to prevent players from offering short draws.

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3 draws today and Kramnik-Anand was quite boring:-)

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Originally posted by TovMauzer
3 draws today and Kramnik-Anand was quite boring:-)
That was expected, Kramnik would play for the draw as he had a win under his belt and Anand only a draw.

Mnogo skuchno...

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muito aborrecido = "ochen' scuchno":-)
It is still not that bad, and I hope 3d round will bring some good games. Polgar-Topalov just could not be boring...

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TovMauzer, but the game is in Bulgaria and "mnogo skuchno" is how it's said in Bulgarian. I speak it gore-dolu fluently. 🙂

What language is "ochen scuchno"? Is it Slavic too? In bulgarian that means something like "optically boring" 🙂))

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Misunderstood:-) "Ochen' scuchno" is in Russian, probably the closest relative of Bulgarian.