US Chess Federation Gold LogoChess Buzz for September 5, 1997

Just for Fun: US Chess Federation Fun FactTrivia

"Round and Round the little Wheel Goes--Where she stops..."

This year's 1997 Interplay Us Championship SemiFinals match 2 turned into a marathon when Grandmaster Seirawan and Christiansen were tied 2.0 - 2.0 at the end of regular play. Under play-off rules decided on by the players early in the event, they then began a series of play-off matches of 2 games each.

Playoff Series 1, Game/25 minutes: Game 1, Seirawan. Game 2, Christiansen. Still tied! So they continued to:

Playoff Series 2, Game/15 minutes: Game 1, Seirawan. Game 2, Christiansen. Still tied! So they continued to:

Playoff Series 3, Game/5 minutes: Game 1, Seirawan. Game 2, Christiansen. Still tied! So they continued to:

Playoff Series 4, Game/5 minutes: Game 1, Seirawan. Game 2, Christiansen. And--they're stilltied! So they continued to:

Playoff Series 5, Game/5 minutes: Game 1, Christiansen. Game 2, Christiansen. Finally, after 11 games and almost 12 hours of play, we have a winner: GM Christiansen advances to the finals, where he meets GM Benjamin, winner of the other semi-finals match (a conventional 3 game series in regulation format, Benjamin 2.5, Kaidanov 0.5).

For many years people have asked what's a fair way to handle a match that ends tied? In a Swiss System, you can use tie-breaks, but in a head to head match, that option is not available.

The advantage of the White pieces is so strong that almost everyone feels you must play sets of two, to give each player a chance at White. But then you open the door to another tie.

Some organizers have tried various means of balancing--give Black 1.1 points for a win, or giving White extra time but Black "draw odds". None of these have caught on, and the top Grandmasters continue to push for blitz play-offs as their favorite means of deciding a tie.

But even World Championships have been decided by other means. This week's Fun Fact trivia: one piece of gambling equipment was used to decide who would advance in two separate matches: Hubner-Smyslov 1982 (World Championship Candidates) and Xie, Jun-Z. Polgar 1994(Women's World Championship) ?

Answer next week.

Answer to last week's Fun Fact: 3 time US Chess Champion Yasser Seirawan was once profiled in Cosmopolitan Magazine in their "Eligible Bachelors" collumn.

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