World Championship Match : Ron King vs. Sergio Scarpetta

[tommyc]

Ron King is nvr beaten unless................."hes starting to lose his marbles"?? What ya think?

[Ingo_Zachos]

I am very surprised of how well Sergio bounced back. He has the momentum and advantage now.

Agreed that he bounced back twice. But he needs to go ahead to win.

And that is why Ron still holds the advantage. He only needs to keep an even score.

I wonder if Sergio can hit another weak spot in Ron King`s opening repertoire, because that is how he scored.
In the endgame I saw Ron scoring or saving some lost positions. But he went into several losses right in the opening, or could not find the right plan in a new line he has never been over like in game 20.

So a lot depends on the openings. If Ron manages to come out equal after the openings, he does not lose.
But if he chooses only one bad or unknown line, or as today, one bad line and one unknown to him, he will lose.

Chances are now 60-40 in Rons favor, but the chances of Sergio raised today.

And I wonder if going into two straight losses when he was finally ahead in the match does have any impact?
Certainly bouncing back two times gives the challenger momentum, but I expected that from Sergio.
Now he has to show if he can strike first, not just strike back.
And Ron has to show that his time has not yet come to announce a new World Champion.
It`s in their hands now.



Greetinx from a cloudy and rainy German summer,

Ingo Zachos

PS:
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first Chess World Champion once introduced the last but not least priviledge of a World Champion: to announce and congratulate the next World Champion first.

[Ingo_Zachos]

...

[Chexhero]

That is an interesting point Ingos. Now that I think about it, same thing happened in the Alex Borghetti match. Alex kept getting the lead and Borghetti kept bouncing back, but Borghetti could never really control the match. Perhaps Ron relaxed too much today and was not careful enough. What do you think Alex? Can having a lead in these kinds of matches cause too much relaxation?

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Can having a lead in these kinds of matches cause too much relaxation?

Yes. And now Ron lead is over and relaxation is over. Knowing Ron quite a while, I expect to see tomorrow his play is different.

Yes, Sergio missed 2 wins and 1 draw, however If any of these missnggs would happen - it will be complete different scenario.

Honestly, psychological advantage is on Sergio side, because he won last game + equalized score. If Sergio will be able to win tomorrow - we'll trully have a new and good world champion with all credentials.

Checkers is sport. Tomorrow we'll see - how this fact influence on moves.

And more ... "shadow of title is in the air". It's not score only W_D_L but something more. G. Kasparov wrote about this when he covered his matches with A. Karpov

This shadow has pressure on Sergio.

Alex

[Danny_Alvarez]

while i would love for a new person to be world champion ... i am sure that the advantage right now are with Ron King...
considering that he has to only draw the remaining 4 games and the title stays with him... (I agree with Ingo on this one)

the pressure to achieve a win, might make Sergio "stick his neck out" in order to achieve a win and Ron King might even achieve more than the 4 draws.... he might even get a win.

Either way, it is great that this last world championship challenges have gone down to the wire and have been kept alive till the very last day. Kudos to the Italian Federation for producing such wonderful talents.... Regardless of the outcome of the last day.... what are the lessons we can learn from the FID in order to improve our federations and associations???
Surely they are a model of success.

cheers
Danny

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Here are my 5 cents contributed to this match - complete professional analyses game 20. I was watching most part of G20 but didn't record all moves. I picked all opening move from game with Oldbury, but it is possible Sergio and Ron had slightly different order of moves in their match.

[Event "GAYP WCM 2012, G20"]
[Date "07-20-2012"]
[Black "Ronald King, Barbados"]
[White "Sergio Scrapetta, Italy"]
[Result "0-2"]

1. 11-15 22-18 2. 15x22 25x18 3. 12-16 24-19 4. 16-20 29-25 5. 10-14 28-24 6. 6-10 19-16 7. 8-11 25-22 8. 9-13 18x9 9. 5x14 22-18 10. 1-5 18x9 11. 5x14 26-22 12. 4-8 24-19 13. 14-17 21x14 14. 10x26 31x22 15. 11-15 19x10 16. 7x14 (A) 23-19 17. 14-17 22-18 18. 17-22 18-15 (B) 19. 13-17 16-11 20. 8-12 15-10 21. 17-21 (C) 11-8 (D) 22. 22-25 8-4 23. 25-29 4-8 24. 29-25 8-11 25. 25-22 11-15 26. 3-8 32-28 27. 22-17 15-18 28. 17-13 18-22 29. 13-9 10-6 30. 8-11 22-18 (E) 31. 11-16 19-15 32. 16-19 6-1 33. 2-7 1-5 34. 9-6 18-22 35. 6-1 5-9 36. 7-10 15x6 37. 1x10 22-26 38. 12-16 9-13 White Wins

A. Very interesting innovation and perhaps new ? See diagram #1. In 1992 GAYP World Match D. Oldbury (G5) played here 16-12 and eventually won the game. I also been there with Ron in our 2000 GAYP WCM (slight different order of moves) and played here 16-12 which leaded to technical draw for Ron. It seems like Sergio just find very nice possibility to vary.

Diagram #1. White to move

23-19 introduced by Sergio

B. Nice move which is a part of plan and comes together with 23-19 played before.

C. Pitch here 22-26, 30x23, 17-22 draw the game. I remember - when I watched this game, Ron spent good amount of time and definetely was looking for pitch.

D. Fatal error! See diagram #2. This move loses the game and after this mistake Sergio didn't miss anything and played it perfectly to the rest of game.

Diagram #2. Red to move and draw.

21-25*

After 21-25* game continue: 30x21, 22-26, 32-28, 26-31*, 19-15, 31x24, 28x19, 2-7* etc Draw

I suspect Ron looked hard for pitch at previous move and abanded it and missed this opportunity here.

E. White also can play here 6-1, 2-7, 22-26, 7-10 and now we reached fine shot on diagram #3:

19-16!, 12x19, 30-25!, 21x30, 1-5, 30x23, 5x23 White Wins ... Very pretty, wonderful shot.

Diagram #3. White to move and win.

19-16 (there are other wins)

[Danny_Alvarez]

thanks for the analysis Alex.... just out of curiosity when was the last time there was a quadriple jump in a world checkers championship??? anybody knows???

[Alex_Moiseyev]

when was the last time there was a quadriple jump in a world checkers championship??? anybody knows???

Danny, I seriously suspect this ever happened in the world championship before. It didn't even happen in this match and it was only a possibility "behind arena".

Usually grandmasters see all these beauties well in advance and try to avoid them. But even if they failed into this - they resign before last jump comes in.

I included this into my analyses because I saw and posted it in chatroom during lifestream and people were excited.

But I accept your curiosity: I also never saw jumping 4 mans even in regular events. Jumping 3 mans is quite possible and happened.

Alex

[MostFamousDane]

But I accept your curiosity: I also never saw jumping 4 mans even in regular events. Jumping 3 mans is quite possible and happened.
Alex

Well I now I know people don't look at the games I post

This is a game between me and Billy Kelly from this years Kildare Open - not really well played but there is a nice 4 jump shot

[pdn][Event "Kildare Open 2012"]
[Black "Sune Thrane"]
[White "Billy Kelly"]
[Round "5"]
[Date "2012.02.26"]
[Site "Naas"]
[GameType "21"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

10-15 23-18 11-16 18-11 8-15 24-19 16-23 27-11 7-16 21-17 9-14 17-10 6-15 22-18 15-22
25-18 4-8 29-25 8-11 26-22 1-6 31-27 6-10 22-17 3-7 25-22 16-20 17-13 5-9 13-6 2-9
30-25 12-16 22-17 10-15 25-22 9-13 18-14 15-19 14-9 11-15 17-14 7-11 9-6 20-24 27-20
19-23 6-2 23-26 2-7 26-30 28-24 15-19 24-8 30-26 20-11 26-12 1/2-1/2[/pdn]

[MostFamousDane]

A. Very interesting innovation and perhaps new ? See diagram #1. In 1992 GAYP World Match D. Oldbury (G5) played here 16-12 and eventually won the game. I also been there with Ron in our 2000 GAYP WCM (slight different order of moves) and played here 16-12 which leaded to technical draw for Ron.

Well If you look at that game at move 32 you played 24-19 leading to exactly the same position as Sergio arrived at after 23-19.

[Ingo_Zachos]

The 21st game of the King-Scarpetta match ended in a draw, after Ron King choose 1. 9-14 and then transposed into the solid pioneer opening that secured him the draw he was playing for.

Score now:

Ron King (Barbados) 2
Sergio Scarpetta (Italy) 2

drawn: 17

3 games to go!


Greetinx from sunny Dortmund,

Ingo Zachos

[Ingo_Zachos]

Game 22 ended in a straight draw after Sergio Scarpetta made a novelty against Ron King`s favorite 2nd Double Corner defense, but it only yielded a draw.

Score now:

Ron King (Barbados) 2
Sergio Scarpetta (Italy) 2

Drawn: 18

Two games to go!

Starting at 15:00 pm CET:
http://www.stickam.com/giacomelli?code= ... IgaPJdhbNt#_=_

[Ingo_Zachos]

Ron King defended a difficult Tillycoultry ending to a draw and needs only one draw in the last game to retain his title.
Sergio Scarpetta has to win the game to become the new World Champion.

Score:

Ron King (Barbados) 2
Sergio Scarpetta (Italy) 2

Drawn 19

One game to go.

Shopwdown live:

http://www.stickam.com/giacomelli?code= ... EnmFiHVDFS

Greetinx from cloudy Dortmund,

Ingo Zachos

[Hugh Devlin]

Result: Ron King 2 wins, Sergio Scarpetta 2 wins, 20 games drawn.
What a great match we’ve witnessed between Ron and Sergio. It’s had its surprises, shocks, and even brilliance on occasions. The wins scored were exciting, but even the draws were instructive. We’ve seen an abundance of different lines played some of which have not been seen for more than a decade, one of which hasn’t been see for more than a century! We’ve seen proof that Go-As-You-Please is far from mundane, given the right attitude and creativity of players.

Congratulations to Ron on a successful defence of his world title, and to Sergio of whom much more will be heard into the future of the game. Also congratulations to FID and the DAMA Foggia Club for providing the live coverage that has kept us enthralled during the past 6 days.