RAW Chess Challenge: all the info

You can still sign up for G-Star’s RAW World Chess Challenge on September 10th, to join the World Team, led by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura and Judit Polgar from Hungary. The Challenge pits G-Star’s new Fall/Winter 2010 campaign model Magnus Carlsen, against the entire world in a game to be broadcast live on the internet. Tonight Magnus is on Dutch TV.

For our Dutch readers: tonight at 23:05 Magnus will appear in Pauw & Witteman!

According to a G-Star press release, Magnus is looking forward to the challenge:

“I'm very excited about this event. This is something quite new to me and it feels like a huge challenge. The three grandmasters suggesting moves are all very strong. Normally each of them will pick a few inaccurate moves, but in this format I'm sure that the world will make sure only strong moves are selected. If I am able to beat "the World", it will feel like a big achievement."

G-Star also got a quote from Garry Kasparov:

"Having major chess tournaments back in the main cities of the world should be a priority for the World Chess Federation and it's great to see the RAW World Chess Challenge taking place in the spectacular surroundings of New York City. I know from my own internet match versus a world team in 1999 that the combination of expert advisors and the knowledge of the masses is a hard nut to crack, and the RAW World Chess Challenge's short time limit will bring extra intensity to the game. As an ambassador of the challenge I will try to stay neutral, but I promise to give a few tips to the world team “live” from the studio on the 10th of September.”

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The game will start 12:00 NY time, which is 18:00 CET. Venue is the Penthouse of the Cooper Square Hotel in New York. One hour before the game the four GMs will enter the building and from then you can follow an audio feed of the event. Providing live feedback on the challenge will be GM Maurice Ashley, with additional insight provided by Garry Kasparov.

For Magnus it's a bit like playing against a computer: he moves on a physical board, and an arbiter will move for the World Team. The three GMs play online and all have their own login, so that there will be no delay and the world will see immediately which moves they suggest. The world decides which move will be played.

All details from the official website:

THE GAME

• Magnus Carlsen will be based in the Penthouse of the Cooper Square Hotel in New York.

• Magnus will play on a physical chessboard and have no access to external support.

• The three GMs supporting the World Team will be located in a different location and will suggest their moves on a computer.

• A butler, present in Magnus’s room, plays the chosen moves of the World Team on Magnus’s physical chess board.

• The only contact between Magnus and the three GMs will be through an arbiter, who will assist both sides in the running of the challenge and rule on any disputes.

The game will be played LIVE with strict time controls, as follows:

• Magnus has 1 minute thinking time per move.

• When Magnus makes his move on his physical board, it stops his countdown clock.

• A game operator inputs this move into a computer, which reveals it to the three GMs and the online audience, and triggers the GMs time clock.

• The GMs now have 1 minute to determine their response.

• When the GMs propose their counter move choices to the online viewers, their countdown clock stops. • The online viewing public now has 1½ minutes to place their votes.

• During this time, a commentary team discusses the three proposals, while the computer counts the votes.

• When the 1½ minutes are up, the most popular move is shown on the online feed.

• The butler in Magnus’s suite now plays that move on his physical board on behalf of the World Team. As soon as this is completed, Magnus’s clock reactivates and he has 1 minute to make his follow-up move.

• If all 3 GMs propose the same next move, it gets made automatically without an online vote.

• Both Magnus and the World Team are allowed three ‘Extra Time’ periods. These grant them an additional 2 minutes thinking time on a particular move (giving a total of 3 minutes).

• These are triggered by making a request to the arbiter, who will monitor the additional time and the number of ‘Extra Time’ periods taken.

SPECIAL RULES

Violation of the 1 minute rule: • If any player has not made his move within 60 seconds, that side automatically loses 1 ‘Extra Time’ period. This allows them an additional 2 minutes thinking time on that particular move (giving a total of 3 minutes). This continues until all 3 ‘Extra Time’ periods are used.

• In the case of The World Team, this also happens regardless of which of the 3 GM’s run out of time. This means that the same player could use up all of The World Team’s ‘Extra Time’ periods.

• If any side exceeds the 60 seconds and has no more ‘Extra Time’ periods left, that side looses the match.

Draw: • Both parties can request a draw at any point during the match. In the event of a draw offer by Magnus, the three GMs will discuss this verbally amongst themselves – it will not be offered to the vote by the online World Team. A majority decision by two GMs will decide acceptance or rejection of the offer.

Two or three different moves with the same percentages: • If two (or all three) of the GMs suggested moves receive exactly the same percentage vote from the online World Team, the move with the greater physical count number will be played. In the event that both (or all three) receive exactly the same number of votes, the move that reached the vote number first will be played.

More information on the RAW World Chess Challenge can be found at http://rwcc.g-star.com, where one can sign-up since September 5th.