ARMAGEDDON CHESS. Oliver Roeder had written in this earlier post on FiveThirtyEight that he was intrigued by the possibility of the championship being decided by an Armageddon game. Roeder’s post was entitled “Rooting For Armageddon At The World Chess Championship”. In that format, white gets five minutes for his moves and black gets just four — but a draw counts as a win for black.
Armageddon is distinctive because it is not symmetrical. It is one game, winner take all. After hours of chess, the final game would take minutes. A lot depends on which player gets the Black pieces.