Originally posted by alexstclaireI want to see him become the Norwegian champion first. He's currently struggling against his teacher.
i vote magnus carlsen makes a surprise appearence and mops the floor with them!!! if he doesn, give him five years and hell be a world champion!!! (topalov on the small chance magnus doesnt show up🙂)
I think it's a great matchup; Topalov the attacking and chance taker against the tough to beat Kramnik. Of course, these categories are over simplifications; there are plenty of boring draws played by Topalov and brilliancies played by Kramnik. But as general categories they fit.
I favor Kramnik slightly due to his greater match experience.
Originally posted by no1marauderNow that I can agree with. Imagine someone winning in the armegeddon game? Yeesh.
I certainly hope there is a clear winner after 12 games; the idea of the World Championship being decided by blitz games is revolting.
I'm pulling for Topalov. Beyond this match, while I'd perfer to see them return to match play again...honestly, if they do round-robin tournaments for the World Championship, it doesn't bother me all that much. I'd definitely prefer it was a quadruple-RR rather than the double-RR they did last time.
The only reason I wouldn't mind a move away from match play deciding the world champion is that in my eyes, neither is anywhere near a perfect way of choosing a "best" player. Kramnik won his title fair and square, but he was never a better player than Kasparov. And I'm not so fond of tradition for the sake of tradition, so I don't have too strong an attachment to match play.
As long as we stay away from the KO format for the WC, and either the matches or final tournament is of sufficient length, I can live with that.
Originally posted by OrangeKingI think it's clear that match play and tournament play are different. I think it's important that the matchplay world championship is maintained, but I'd have no particular complaint about there also being a 'tournament world champion'.
I'm pulling for Topalov. Beyond this match, while I'd perfer to see them return to match play again...honestly, if they do round-robin tournaments for the World Championship, it doesn't bother me all that much. I'd definitely prefer it was a quadruple-RR rather than the double-RR they did last time.
The only reason I wouldn't mind a move away from matc ...[text shortened]... d either the matches or final tournament is of sufficient length, I can live with that.
Originally posted by alexstclairefics will have the games relayed too. then there's the official site http://www.worldchess2006.com/main.asp?cat=4&id=918 but that kind of feeds usually have quite bad interfaces. we'll see how this one is when the first game starts...
what are some sites to watch the matches? which is best?
I prefer fics, because it's free and it's nice to read what people are kibitzing...