By ANDY SOLTIS
Posted: 2:00 am
July 6, 2008
IF you ask two chessplay ers what the best way to break a tie is, you'll get at least three answers.
One view is the players should play additional games - even if it doesn't work and leads to an unending series of draws. Another is that they should play speed games, say with five minutes each - despite the flawed chess it produces.
Another opinion says the tiebreaker should have nothing to do with chess, like the spin of a roulette wheel - which once resolved a tied match leading to the world championship.
But speed games are becoming accepted as the best solution.
One of the strongest international tournaments in recent US history, held last month at the Marshall Chess Club in Manhattan, ended in a tie between GMs Mark Paragua of the Philippines and Alejandro Ramirez of Costa Rica. Paragua won the speed playoff and a $4,000 first prize.
Vladimir Kramnik, a bitter foe of fast games, won the world championship reunification match in 2006 against Veselin Topalov thanks to a 25-minute per player playoff.
"At that level, there is no question of luck," he insisted. "The concentration is of the highest level" and the quality of the moves "was no worse" than the games they played at slower speeds.
