Michael Adams | November 14, 2012 21:23

Last Minute in London

Around lunchtime the day before the opening ceremony, I got a late call up to the London leg of the FIDE Grand Prix substituting for Peter Svidler for that one event only. Despite the lateness of the invite, openings-wise I fared quite well, but was tired towards the end of the event and felt I should have picked up a few more half points from the positions I had.
The rules were the usual FIDE mishmash: it’s not clear why Sofia rules are used during this event when they aren’t during the World Championship match when they would actually be useful. The event was also unusual for unintentionally employing two different time controls; we started with 40/2 followed by 20/1 but now things got confusing as in the first couple of games you were only credited with your additional 15 mins plus 30 seconds once your regular time had elapsed rather than on move 60. The additional increment would have been welcome in my first game with Wang Hao. To remedy this flaw from round 3 onwards, we received the increment on move 60 as is the norm.
This event was the first to be organised by Agon although it is clear that they won’t have time to implement their main ideas until at least the London Candidates. Obviously they are serious about chess and I was impressed with their concepts concerning branding and presentation of the game several of which were new to me. I hope they can be successful with the big problems of finding sponsors, and creating a proper World Championship cycle.

Share |
Michael Adams's picture
Author: Michael Adams

Michael Adams became a grandmaster at the age of 17 and has been a professional chess player for over 20 years. In 2006 he began writing a chess column in the Saturday Telegraph Weekend section.

MICHAEL ADAMS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Chess Master School

Comments

Seeley's picture

Seeley

6 months 1 week ago

"Obviously they are serious about chess and I was impressed with their concepts concerning branding and presentation of the game"

It's interesting to read a professional player's thoughts on the staging of this event and I'd be interested to know what concepts specifically Michael Adams is referring to here.

From my own perspective, as an English chess enthusiast, it was extremely disappointing to have a major tournament such as this held in London but not to be allowed access to it. I don't know if the barring of spectators from their events is part of Agon's grand vision for chess or if it was the consequence of some unforeseen problem, but it doesn't seem to me like a very effective way of generating interest in the game.

Thomas's picture

Thomas

6 months 1 week ago

Adams writes that he is impressed with their _concepts_, also stating that they haven't yet been realized. The London venue has lots of chess tradition but cannot cater to the needs of on-site spectators. Indeed there was an "unforeseen problem" - moving the event from Chelyabinsk to London at short notice (due to some 'shenanigans' behind the scene).
The Agon concept includes holding events in major cities, let's hope they will also find suitable venues for forthcoming events.

Seeley's picture

Seeley

6 months 1 week ago

"Adams writes that he is impressed with their _concepts_, also stating that they haven't yet been realized"

Yes, I understood that, thank you. My point was that I was interested to know which concepts in particular impressed Michael Adams, and your highlighting the word 'concepts' for me hasn't really shed any light on that.

Greg's picture

Greg

6 months 1 week ago

I'm not sure if the comment about Sofia rules in World Championship matches was actually a serious suggestion, or just a throw-away line complaining about draws in the Anand-Gelfand match. They would at least need substantially tweaking to have any value - if two players insist on agreeing a draw in a match then the current double default penalties would obviously be completely useless!

RenHeeniaPraH's picture

RenHeeniaPraH

21 hours 28 min ago

certainly a long run Monster Beats Pas Cher at a distinct publier in environment is definitely slicing any t?te now. You can use Monster Beats headphones to love the superb audio and you may perhaps love
Related Articles :
http://shate-mag.by/node/4068
http://blkist.com/node/112829
http://liveguide.vijos.net/node/242067
http://www.glortz.com.ar/contenido/beats-dr-dre-headphones-surpasses-bas...
http://jeikco.com.ve/node/87154

http://www.freshersworldinfo.com/railway-recruitment-board-jr-engineer-a...
http://primasphynx.ru/includes/guest/index.php?showforum=6
http://www.nopbbs.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=318639&extra=
http://annieoakesbisonfarm.com/?p=1&cpage=11#comment-34292
http://29362.dynamicboard.de/new.php?thread=76&forum=8&reply=1&replyid=2...

http://ns85.ecdsystem.com/forum/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=897020&extra=
http://www.avtokrane.ru/includes/guest/index.php?showforum=1
http://home.shenbiml.cn/b/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2672983&extra=
http://triumfnsk.ru/includes/guest/index.php?showforum=1
http://tunerzstore.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=182399

http://www.dopedata.com/2009/10/05/how-to-build-a-topic-strategy/comment...
http://www.targultraditiilor.ro/forum/index.php?topic=149.new#new
http://heroengine2.ru/index.php?topic=74555.new#new
http://www.dcfaceone.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1417724&extra=
http://www.lzydjs.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1949822&extra=

http://beesfortheworld.org/activity/
http://crp-network.mn/members/sireencistefs/
http://vuplanet.com/members/kichshift/
http://www.finniwolf.com/activity-streams/#comment-395
http://24hrplumberhouston.com/activity/
http://www.radiationresearchsociety.org/members/cofthouts/
http://the2ndamendmentismyconcealedcarrypermit.com/activity/
http://athabasca-university-reviews.com/activity/
http://crp-network.mn/members/sireencistefs/
http://gamingflash.org/members/immumveldib/activity/

RenHeeniaPraH's picture

RenHeeniaPraH

18 hours 52 min ago

Compare to classic market microscope, stereo microscope, biological microscopes and movie measuring instrument, GE-five not only has kept its merits, but also significantly increased the purposes of knowledge technological know-how so as to make a mixture of electronic technological innovation and Net. How to help you save Thomas sabo it is said that the analysis division of amigo has a whole lot of independent innovation in the facets of chip improvement, the overall look of industrial structure, software package progression and so on. Its innovations make it superb in instruction, antique appreciation, biological medicine, in particular, they have given a additional easy resolution in production and tests of precise field.
[b]Related Articles :[/b]

http://www.l-emedia.com/drupal/node/260547
http://www.dtx-demo.com/dev/focaf/node/67473
http://reinq.org/?q=node/108212
http://blkist.com/node/112771
http://larp-resources.com/site1/?q=node/108839
http://de.globalpedia.org/node/87169
http://www.dtx-demo.com/dev/focaf/node/67471
http://www.iamanidiot.com/index.php?q=node/140035
http://iamaidiot.com/index.php?q=node/140117
http://de.globalpedia.org/node/87136

http://ingresscolorado.com/forum/topic.php?id=27108&replies=1#post-30595
http://forum.clubvelo.co.uk/topic.php?id=264510&replies=1#post-281602
http://www.techstkitts.com/topic/sedu-tourmaline-hair-straightener-are-a...
http://cmksports.com/forum/topic.php?id=260070&replies=1#post-394658
http://eduvention.co.in/forum/topic.php?id=1156&replies=1#post-1262
http://grindrecruiting.com/wp-content/forum/topic.php?id=539462&replies=...
http://scrapbookwire.com/forums/topic/whats-the-most-effective-hair-stra...
http://forum.ghana-net.com/topic.php?id=9906&replies=1#post-10621
http://community.xo-pro.com/topic/ghd-mk4-hair-straighteners-4-trend-pas...
http://dowhatyouloveandgetpaid.com/forum/topic.php?id=33917&replies=1#po...

http://www.nextbolsa.com/forum/message.php?Action=NewMessage&BoardID=1
http://www.medmotion.com/addguest.html
http://astaroth.forumex.pl/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=749&view=unread
http://forum.hoangngan.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=85008&extra=
http://lovedelivery.ru/includes/guest/index.php?showforum=1
http://bbs.oyyy.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2012470&extra=
http://www.528biao.com/dzx/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=162141&extra=
http://www.meide100.com/pictures/21-03-2012-%E8%8A%B1?page=25#comment-32862
http://www.mings.biz/jbbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=48207&extra=
http://www.daweta.eu/modules.php?name=eBoard&file=post.newtopic&fid=7

http://alharbi-69.com/vb123old/showthread.php?p=368551#post368551
http://www.hyipfornigerians.com/forum/index.php/topic,790626.new.html#new
http://www.0755hy1.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=289262&extra=
http://bbs.lipengsz.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=2107505&extra=
http://vislin.net/bbs/thread-40652-1-1.html
http://www.ichangan.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=654243&extra=
http://aokzone.com/showthread.php?1340698-Straightforward-Use-Of-Hair-St...
http://www.okoun.cz/createBoard.jsp
http://mdk.su/sites-add.html
http://tarman.tomck.net/topic/95753-styling-outcomes-by-avanti-hair-stra...

Your comment

More information about text formats

Comments HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
By posting a comment you are agreeing to abide our Terms & Conditions

Latest articles