The 2018 World Chess Championship...BOO!

1hour on the clock each. No time increments. Plenty of time for good exciting chess that would most likely end with a tactical shot due to the time pressure.

Thank you again Greenpawn for your excellent blog!

On the question of the mode for a "good" Championship. It is a very difficult Thing to establish a Format, that is not open for tactical (or strategic) tricks. Of course chess Players pride themselves with having good tactical and strategic skills, so trying to beat the world class on those games seems to be futile. Then there is the Fairness Thing. Of course the mode should be and be perceived as fair. So tranparency s part of the game, but the same transparency is part of the scheming using the Format to gain Advantage.

Then we do have the Problem that a chess game can only be lost, not won (some chess korphae said that somewhere). As of now it is accepted that given best Play by the opponents a draw is the most likely result. We shouldn't be surprised that this is actually the case. Time constraints lead to Errors, thus a fast game always contains more Errors than a full game (leaving out myself and People similar constructed who Play in blitz mode anyway...)

So my conclusion is:
* You can force Errors by forcing Players to Play fast. But People will argue that "better" viz. games with fewer Errors would ensue with more time.
* you can try to force People in uncomfortable positions by playing set games (someone or some Computer chosses the opening upt to a certain depth).
* you can try to give an incentive to Play for a win (by making not the best move but an unexpected one that provoces an error by the Opponent)

But you can't enforce People to give up whatever Advantage they see in pursuing their tactics and strategies in a given mode.

Nobody will ever be truly happy with so many draws.

Perhaps a compromise can be met.

16 games with classic time controls. If it's still even then the Rapid games 25 minutes + increment.

Best of 4 rapid is fine, but if it's tied then Rapid sudden death. Next winner in Rapid is the winner of the championship.

I don't think Blitz 5 Minute is ever warranted for a world championship match.

Rapid is ok because we still get good games overall.

@greenpawn34 said
I think if we must have tie breaks then due to the massive sudden
burst of media interest having them after the main event is way to go.

Don't you think there would be more media attention for the classical games if the players needed a win vs. being content with a draw?

It was kind of amazing how dominant Carlsen was in the rapids, given how well Caruana played in the classical games. In retrospect when Magnus offered the draw in the clearly winning position in game 12, Caruana probably should have declined.

All computer-based "solutions" to the draw problem are unsatisfactory. Again, I was perfectly fine with the results. Magnus played the whole tournament knowing he would win the tiebreaker. Bottom line is that Caruana had amazing preparation but failed to beat Magnus in any of the classical games. If this went 16, I don't see how Caruana gains an edge.