11.17.18 The World Chess Championship Match currently underway in London between Champion Magnus Carlsen and Challenger Fabiano Caruana will consist of twelve classical time control games and tiebreaks if the score is tied at the completion of the twelfth game. Each player will play six games with the white pieces and six games with the black pieces. If this is so, why is it that the Champion will play two consecutive games with the white pieces? We take a look at the rules and regulations for the FIDE World Championship Match.

The game of chess has lots of rules: rules for setting up the pieces, rules for touching and moving the pieces, rules for recording moves, and rules for pressing the clock. There are even rules for things like kicking your opponent under the table or slurping your tea too loudly. In addition to these playing-the-game rules, there are often another whole slew of rules related to a particular tournament or match: rules that address tiebreaks, draw offers, time controls, playing conditions, arbiters, photography and television, and on and on.

And sometimes there are rules just for the sake of having a rule.

The 2018 World Championship Match has, in addition to the standard FIDE Handbook and Laws of Chess, a thirteen-page, single-spaced document that describes rules and regulations that apply specifically to this Match.

One rule, known as 3.4.1, states: (The player getting the white color in game 1 shall play game 7 with the black color). [sic] This little stipulation gives the player who has the black pieces in Game 1 two consecutive games with the white pieces in Games 6 and 7.

The players draw lots to give the option to the player who wins the draw to determine who will have the white pieces in Game 1. In other words, winning the draw doesn't give you white in Game 1. It gives you the option of playing white or black in Game 1.

Magnus Carlsen won the drawing of lots in this Match and chose to play the black pieces in Game 1. He did this so he could enjoy two consecutive whites in Games 6 and 7. If he had chosen to play white in Game 1, he would have played the black pieces in both Games 6 and 7.

Why is this artificial swapping of colors necessary? In both this situation and the simple alternation of color method, each player will get an equal number of whites and blacks--six to be precise. So why the contortions?

GM Yasser Seirawan and others have expressed their dislike of this system that hands two consecutives whites to a player in the middle of the Match. His explanation for the rule goes something like this: FIDE established a Match Committee and, when a committee is established, that gives committee members license to create stupid rules. The committee felt that they wanted to shake up the Match mid way though so they devised this scheme to give one player back-to-back whites which is totally foolish and unnecessary.

What's your opinion of Rule 3.4.1? Please let us know in the comments section.

RULES & REGULATIONS FOR THE FIDE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH (FWCM) 2018