The Excitement of Chess

I'm not usually into Sarcasm, but I'll make an exception for this World Championship!

Hopefully tonight will bring a result, whoever wins. However fighting the chess may be, draws are not what the public want. I heard an interesting idea that draws should be replayed at faster time controls until a result is found, which would give the chess public their desire for classical time controls, but would give the general public some excitement in watching rapid and blitz games. Finding a format that makes chess generally appealing is the challenge that faces our chess leadership, and they are currently not coming up with ideas which are growing interest in the game.

For us chess fanatics, however, the game will always hold an appeal. For me seeing odd moves, or plans, or techniques are the thing which sparks an interest. Like yesterdays position.

I asked what white played here. In fact, white played the amazing 7.Ng5 putting his knight on a square where it can just be taken. The idea is clearing the d1-h5 diagonal for the queen, which is a common theme in a lot of openings (eg 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6? 3.Nxe5!). The move Ng5 appeals to me as it reminds me of Karpov's Ng5 against Korchnoi's Open Spanish.

This famous position is from the 1978 World Championship match between Karpov and Korchnoi. In the 10th game of the match the position above arose, and Karpov came out with the amazing 11.Ng5!?. Of course, the knight can just be taken, so it looks like a complete patzer move, but after 11..Qxg5 white has 12.Qf3 with unbelievable complications. Funnily enough, that game ended in a draw so perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh on the current combatants. In fact, the epic 1978 match stated with only 1 result in the first 10 games but it still is seen as one of the most hard fought in the history of the Championship. So I still have hope for the 2013 match, though with only 12 games, something really needs to happen soon.