Chess Championship 2018

Can either of these guys beat the supercomputer, or have they given up trying at this point?

No, computers officially reign supreme. That means that a supercomputer can add commentary in real time. One of the links above is to the computer analysis, the other is the reporting from the Guardian (match is in London).

Carlsen just sacked a bishop for three pawns trying to get to a draw, but things are looking bad.

This is fun - and fascinating. Never 'watched' a grandmaster game in real time before. Thanks.

Black misses a checkmate (the computer doesn't).

Spent a happy 10 minutes playing with a possible defensive variation before realising it would end with the white king taking his own pawn. Ah well.

I remember the Internet vs Kasparov event a bunch of years ago. That was really fun. Kasparov eventually beat the Internet collaboration, but it was a good game.

Appears the position is now drawn.

Game seven is drawn as well, on to game eight this afternoon London time.

Game 8 opens with the Sicilian.

The Challenger slips and let's another good position slip away into a draw.

Still deadlocked after Game 10. Carlsen feels he perhaps should have won it but 'couldn't see the way', ran into time-trouble and scurried to a draw.

We are tied after a record 11 straight draws. Both players have had opportunities, both have failed to deliver the killing blow. If we are tied after 12 games, we go into a higher speed version of the game with much faster time controls. Game 12 is going on now.

It's a draw for the twelfth time. Now we move to a version of speed chess, a four game playoff where each player gets 25 minutes total (plus a small kicker for each move.)

Rules for the next rounds:

• Best of four rapid games with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move.

• If still tied, they will play up to five mini-matches of two blitz games (five minutes for each player with a three-second increment).

• If all five mini-matches are drawn, one sudden-death ‘Armegeddon’ match will be played where White receives five minutes and Black receives four minutes. Both players will receive a three-second increment after the 60th move. In the case of a draw, Black will be declared the winner.

For those not familiar, "increment" means that after a move, the players clock gets a little time added, so if you punch your clock with three minutes left, but there is a 10 second increment, you would have 3:10 on your clock to start your next move.

It was clear in today's match that Carlsen was playing for a draw even though he had a strong, potentially winning position. Garry Kasparov, former world champion was not impressed.

A quick google suggests that Carlsen should hold the advantage in blitz formats. I cannot see a starting time for Wednesday - do you know what it is?

Yes, Caruana is known for being a poor blitz player. I don't know the start time, but I used to play three of these in an evening, so I hope they will at least double these up.

It's a number of years since I last played someone over-the-board. I play online daily however - 50 games ongoing at present. Sounds a lot but the time-limit is generally 5 days per move so it's more than manageable.