IM pfren,

What is your position on my last post? I am certain you have played in such a format before. Don't you feel a bit cheated when say the strongest players get favourable matchups with white...and you may have gotten worst matchups with Black?

Thanks for your feedback NM Reb. Do you have a personal dislike about this? I think I would....and has this "problem" been discussed at your pro level?

Maybe it's just one of those situations where pros consider it "par for the course" in chess. I would imagine though, that this must have been tabled as a concern to organisers/governing body. 

I would imagine that if having odd number of players would level the playing field, then a "bye" for each player would be welcomed by all. The more I contemplate about this, the more surprised I am that this is not a major issue of contention amongst players, as well as, I am surprised that organisers would not favour say the odd number of players format...to ensure the Tournament is honest. Is FIDE also silent on this?...or maybe this issue is being discussed at that level. 

50% draw and 49% win seems legit to me.

It would be a close, tough match, but Carlsen's youthful energy, will to win, and raw talent will outshine Anand's wisdom and experience at the end. 

Does white truly have an advantage, or is it just an illusion, a mental block to be overcome?  White, being the first to move, also has to reveal his hand sooner. 

It's an interesting one. On one hand, people think that if both play a perfect game it would be a draw. On the other, if you look at the stats, people tend to win a bit more with white.

A quick look reveals-

               W           L            D             TOTAL

Carlsen    370        163          404           937 

  %           40          17           43            100

Anand      616        193          906          1715

  %           36          11           53             100

Kramnik  441         120          787          1348

  %           33          9            58             100

Aronian    446        167          609          1222

%             36          14           50            100

Carlsen - 2000 to 2013

Anand - 1984 to 2013

Kramnik - 1984 to 2012

Aronian - 1993 to 2013

Of course, the more recent trend would determine how a player is performing currently, as oppose to over his lifetime.

*** Source - Chessgames.com

Everyone wants to see all the best players in every tournament, playing double round robins.  But no one wishes to contribute to the cost of doing this!  Be happy with what you get for free.

If they reduce the field and play DRR, it actually saves the organizers money - fewer players to accommodate.  But also that means none of the players in the next tier get the opportunity to play those few.

Not too many years ago the "Super-GM tournament" was a rare and welcome event, and most tournaments had a mix of a few top players, some from the next tier, and some young players and local entries to round out the field.  Also, many of the major tournaments also had "B" tournaments with fields from the next tier of players, and even a few IMs invited, a great opportunity.

Now we get the Super-GM events with 6 or 8 players, and usually no secondary tournament except perhaps an open at a separate venue.  These are great to watch, but only a few can play.  Cheers to the Tata organizers for keeping the great tradition of Wijk aan Zee events going, giving opportunities for many players to compete at a high level!

One fan says Carlsen saw a doctor today.

Yeah they were talking about that at chessbomb, pfren mentioned it too.

... but then we would have to deal with the advantage/disadvantage conferred by the timing of the bye. Each player would get his bye in a different round of the tournament... and there's a big difference between receiving your rest day two-thirds of the way through the tournament, in between playing two very tough opponents, and receiving it in the last round, after all of your games are already finished.

I think this tournament gives you something like 100 minutes with a 30 second increment per move.

Correct... it's 40-in-100 (forty moves in 100 minutes) followed by 20-in-50, with a 30-second increment per move.

I think Carlsen's has his nose in front now, with a win against Sokolov. Everybody else on 3½ made draws.