Carlsen-Karjakin: Checking in on the Latest
The start of the world championship match between Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, Sergey Karjakin, is almost a month away, but little bits of information about what the players think and are up to pop up every now and then. Here's a nice summary and collection of what's new, on the Chess24 website; one thing especially caught my attention and made me wonder.
Karjakin is apparently doing a training camp with his team in Miami, Florida, and while it makes sense for him to be there for the sake acclimating to the time zone the climate is so different that this may do him a disservice unless he at least spends a week or so in New York before the match. Or should he stay in Florida as long as possible, for the sake of enjoying the good weather and the sunshine before heading for the (possibly) dreary and sun-blocked environs of the Big Apple? (Those of you who have reflected on this sort of thing are especially welcome to comment.)
Karjakin's confident statement that Carlsen will have to show the best form of his life to beat Karjakin demonstrates the right attitude. Realistic? Probably not, but by having the right attitude he'll at least help make that statement a reality.
Reader Comments (2)
Miami vs. New York: I guess Karjakin knows what he is doing and what he considers best for him - there are similar climatic (but not time zone) differences within Russia between Moscow and e.g. Sochi (avoiding the discussion whether the Crimean peninsula is or isn't part of Russia ...). He has been there and knows how long it takes to re-adjust to Moscow, which is probably climatically worse than NYC most times of the year.
Other parts of the interview: Of course it was originally in Russian - for a Russian audience, i.e. people who generally believe in him including people who invest in him. He literally said that Carlsen "needs to show the best PLAY of his life" and downscaled the role of 'form' in other answers - "A World Championship match is such a special tournament that form doesn’t have a big significance." Arguably inconsistent, hard to be 100% consistent in a conversation - as opposed to a carefully prepared and thoroughly checked written statement. My take: Carlsen rarely shows either good or bad form: He is simply consistent, his results mainly depend on what his opponents do (but for rare cases when Carlsen becomes overly creative).
Most 'spot on' to me: "from a psychological point of view it’s tougher for him to defend his title. Everyone expects nothing but victory from him, but it might not be so easy for him." Carlsen won't underestimate Karjakin, but the danger (for him, chance for Karjakin) exists at least subconciously.
My vote is to stay in Florida as long as possible - that will provide the max. relaxation and max learning. He did something similar to this in Dubai before the Challengers I believe and commented on how he took in the great weather, food, soccer with his seconds etc. Can't do that in New York.
[DM: Soccer is possible on Long Island, and it's almost impossible to top the food in New York City. Weather, on the other hand...it would be really hard to top Florida.]