Kamsky won the 2nd of a two game match to end the Cinderella run of Shankland. In the other semifinal, Hess and Shulman battled to a draw again. They will head into a playoff tomorrow.
On the women’s side, Krush and Abrahamyan both won to even up the match 1-1. They will also have to play tomorrow to see who will advance.
Here is the tiebreak rule:
Tiebreaks
Semifinals and finals tiebreaks will consist of a two-game rapid match (G/25+5 second increment). If the contest is still undecided, the match will go to a rapid Armageddon bidding game with a base time of 45 minutes for each Player. Black will have draw odds. Each Player shall bid an amount of time (minutes and seconds, a number equal to or less than 45:00) they are willing to play with in order to choose their color. The Player who bids the lowest amount of time chooses his color and begins with that amount of time; the other Player receives 45:00. If both Players bid exactly the same amount of time, the Chief Arbiter will flip a coin to determine who shall choose their color.
This tiebreak system is a mockery to chess. It’s against both USCF and FIDE rules. Who came up with this insane stuff?
How come the format is changed every year? Why not keep it the same?
I agree…this tiebreak system, the bidding, the requirement that one side wins while the other need only draw, is insane.
It’s next to useless to review the moves of a championship game played under these conditions…
All tie breaks in chess suck. Maybe they should do some 3 minute games instead, lol.
Maybe they can just keep the tournament going with no end in sight with slow games every day till we get a winner? How realistic would that be? Co-Champions? That’s a joke too.
As far as changing the format goes, I think there is always room for improvement. Chess needs to keep looking at ways to make itself more marketable and fan-friendly. Last year got the top four players involved in a quad which was pretty good, but this year the matches are even better.
Reviewing the moves of any rapid chess tie break games are pretty useless anyway.
Many tournaments reach a point where one player only needs a draw and the other needs a win. I guess those are useless as well.
My only suggestion would be to include a couple more rapid games before the final game. I think there would be time to squeeze in five rapid games in one day. That would reduce the chances of needed the final game.
I’ve seen lots of complaining of formats, but no suggestions on a good alternative that serves both as a quality chess contest and a marketable, fan friendly event that builds to a satisfying conclusion, all done in two weeks.
How many national championships end without two people or teams playing each other for the title? Who would be happy with that?
This is the US Chess Championship not a scholastic tournment. Whose idea was this to use such a tie-break system.
The tiebreak time bidding system is a complete mockery to chess.
Thime bidding system is great!