Magnus Carlsen is an embarrassment

Tal could do what he did because his opponents didn't have engines and the same level of opening prep and all-round computer-based analysis as nowadays.

I'm afraid I can't agree with you on this. Carlsen is quite happy to bore us all shitless by grinding on-and-on-and-on in positions that are dead equal, but when he achieves a position in Game 12 of a World Championship match which holds genuine promise of delivering a knockout blow he just shrugs his shoulders and walks away. And because what? Because it's not his cup of tea and he can't be bothered?

I sent this tweet to Carlsen yesterday:

"I don't care what happens in the tie break. Is that harsh? Maybe, but I'm just being honest with you, I really couldn't care less."

I haven't had a reply yet... not that I'm holding my breath or anything.

This would cheapen the would championship IMO. The most in-form player would become the champion.

Where in the FIDE rules does it say the players have to play for our amusement and not to win the grand prize? I think Magnus is busy winning the world championship. Don't think tweeting back to you is a priority. Jeez, people think they are entitled to shit on someone who is simply trying to win the championship. Tweet to FIDE instead and tell them their rules are broken then...

I don't believe Carlsen's play means there is anything morally or aesthetically wrong with Carlsen.

A high stakes contest can never be fully understood without understanding the whole context of the contest!

Now suppose it had been a contest for the most beautiful game, or the most sincerely battled single game of chess.  Then he would not have accepted a draw at that time, since he is a smart chess player.

Some things are clear all along: The two players are evenly matched.  The challenger is not dramatically better than the current champion and it makes sense for the champion to stay the champion.  If the two are really equal in strength then it does not make sense to go to great lengths to determine which is greater.  The closer in strength they are, the higher the odds of picking the wrong one as champion no matter how the contest is organized

So there is no reasonable reason to be complaining about Carlsen's behavior in this game.  What is the emotional cause of your complaining, staples13?

A chess tie break is different from a tennis tie break in that its character diverges quite a bit from the standard full length games. In tennis, all tie break points are played under the same rules. Chess tie breaks should therefore be considered an (occasionally) unavoidable evil and not a normal feature of a WC or other chess competition. Players using the prospect of a tie break as a tactical weapon harm the reputation of chess competitions. Of course, such intent can never be proved and remains in the domain of personal ethical standards. But it will speed up the replacement of standard chess with forms like chess960.

Magnus is now WC but a lesser one than he used to be. He should retire , have a nice girlfriend and doing other things. He can always play the young Matt Damon who is in for a new Botox.

They had a match for the world championship. Carlsen won. A bunch of losers who Calsen would sweep in a blindfold simul seem to be very upset

And that is a problem why exactly?  If the world championship is every two years anyway then it ought to be a player who is in form who is world champion.

In a swiss you can win and lose based on other people's results, so that's a bad system to determine a world champ. You know, lets say you're my main rival, and you play some guy who plays badly and loses, gifting you a point, but when I play that same guy he plays well and we draw. You're not better than me because that guy gifted you a game, but your score in the tournament is higher.

This nearly happened in the '11 candidates when Ivanchuk played like an idiot against Carlsen's rivals, gifting them wins, but he played very well against Carlsen and drew.

Luckily Carlsen won on tiebreaks to become the challenger, (and went on to crush Anand twice in two WCC matches.)

Fischer is the real thing, even in Blitz, he won, one time, I believe in former Jugoslavia with 4 points ahead from the other strong players. Tal being second. And Fischer did not even do blitz often.

He said it was bad for he mind. Well, we noticed.

In earlier years a drawn match would be decided in the favor of the defending champion who would retain his title. Tiebreaks were only implemented to make the WC more entertaining for viewers as far as I know. All crying people here should realize tiebreaks are giving Caruana an extra chance, not the other way around. 

Carlsen well deserved Rapid World Champion, congratulations. Let´s wait to know who is the World Champion

Kasparov drew a WCC match with Karpov. I wonder if you're old enough to have been whining about it back then too.

Congratulations to MC, he defended his title by playing well within the rules of the championship. Congratulations to FC, he fought a good fight.

Magnus Carlsen is an amazing player! I give him a lot of credit for wanting to set a record of twelve draws in a row. If he wants to go to the tiebreaks, that's up to him and it proves that he is confident in his ability to beat his opponent, which proves his skill level right there.

3-0

But people are giving him crap for not playing out game 12. I don't get how people don't see the logic of his decision and leave it like that. The spectators don't decide who the next world champion is so how does it make any sense that the contenders would somehow care about what the spectators want?

I'm sure some spectators  who are practitioners of 1.f4 would of liked to see the bird's opening or other nonsense. Should they be mad that it wasn't played? No, they should know better. It's more of a "hope" thing.