There is a sentence in the main article which offended one (sic!) reader who also happens to be a chess player. Namely: “In other words, the truth is that it is backyard style chess, not to say checkers, that won the competition.” I would like to clarify this. I wrote this statement, as it quite often happens, in a “spur of the moment.” But let’s start from the beginning. The rules of the championship were thoughtlessly constructed or, to say the least, constructed in an unfortunate way. There is a rule that in the event of a draw in the main match and in the following ones, both players should play rapid chess first, then lightning chess, and when there is still a draw, they should proceed to Armageddon. And what is Armageddon, you ask. When it comes to checkers, a trivial game in comparison to chess, you need ¼ or even one tenth of thinking that you do in a chess play. During Armageddon you simply do not think at all. You play according to what you see, guided by intuition, routine and encoded scheme. Those games are full of mistakes and overlooks on both sides and the level is non-existent, amateur and backyard-like. That is one horrendous distortion and caricature of chess. If this option were to happen, the title would be a matter of chance, coincidence and, to put it mildly, worthless.
I wrote that statement with these thoughts in mind. So with all due respect for rapid and lightning chess, the sentence should go like this: It’s good that the Armageddon option didn’t happen because in this way the backyard style, not to say checkers, whichever you prefer, would have won the competition. A very interesting concept proposed in a comment of one of our readers is that in the event of a draw in the main match, the victory and the title should be awarded to the contender. Up to now it was exactly the opposite. And I approve this idea. Such a different concept would cause that the world champion would have to practically prove that he deserves to keep his title. And a draw means that he loses both his crown and title.
I’m all for it but everything is, naturally, in the hands of FIDE. However, it is rather hard to expect anything reasonable coming from them, if such masterminds as the one who created the rules are at the controls there. Unless maybe something has changed after the election. 🙂
GTeam
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