|
We don't know what the full settlement was. Maybe it also includes Carlsen and/or chess.com paying Niemann.
Niemann is now unbanned on chess.com and he's already made an appearance. Was fun to watch. We'll also likely be seeing Carlsen facing off against Niemann in the future, which I think is great.
Most importantly, what was initially petty and spiteful drama has now been turned into a positive expectation for everyone. This is good for the chess world.
|
Good decision/news.
It was an absolutely ridiculous drama in the first place.
|
So.. what do you guys think about the recent Candidates Tournament rating spot battle drama?
Another reason why chess still isn't treated as a serious sport globally, imo. What a farce. The whole qualifying system and the WCC cycle overall needs some big changes ASAP.
Oof..
|
On January 05 2024 05:52 M3t4PhYzX wrote:So.. what do you guys think about the recent Candidates Tournament rating spot battle drama? Another reason why chess still isn't treated as a serious sport globally, imo. What a farce. The whole qualifying system and the WCC cycle overall needs some big changes ASAP. Oof.. ![](/mirror/smilies/frusty.gif)
Well the drama was kind of canceled?
That closed tournament didn't help firouja, he failed. And fide did not validate that attempt anyway.
He then did it the normal way. I find it just as silly from Wesley So not to play to avoid risking his spot. Taking the Holier than thou road is kind of shitty.
Firouja is so young and should have played more seriously the whole year. being so inactive sure is not the most professional attitude.
Two weeks ago, we played his club in a lower league. I called a friend from finland who is GM to play the match, I bet if they knew he would played, they'd have match him against Firouja.
My friend did an incredible game against a young 2475 rated player. My friend use all his time down to 1 minute, while his opponent still had 1 hour on the clock. Then the opponent tried to put him under time pressure and played quickly, but my friend played perfectly and won.
Chartres is a shitty club to play though, because they will put very shitty team roaster in outside games, and they will put superheavy teams once or twice in the season to assure they spot. We got matched with 4 over 2300 players, they had 200 points above us in average.
I won my game against a junior women's champion. I managed to play a well prepared line I noticed she had played twice kind of wrong but won both time, so I assumed she would go for it without a worry.
|
I really don't think that either alireza or wesely would have a great impqct on the candidates. Threfore the whole qualification drama is low impact in my opinion. Wesley and Alireza are incredible players, that would wipe me off the board spectacularly. But neither of them prepare super well for the big classical events. I don't feel like either if them have a high chance of qualifiing in such a stacked format.
The whole private matches thing they had Alireza play, stinks in my opinion. But it stinks of middleage-failed-athlete-turned-"'coach" influencing a child. Its not maliciousness on Firouzjas part I think.
|
FIDE messed up the rules big time. But in the end, Alireza makes a better candidate from a competitive and entertainment viewpoint. Anish and Wesley would've bored us with draws. At least Alireza will bring some fighting chess to the table.
As much as I'm excited for the Indian youngsters especially Pragg, the quality of the Candidates lineup is rather mediocre. No MVL, Aronian, Abdusattorov, Duda, Dubov, etc. It's going to end up a three way fight between Fabi, Nepo and Hikaru. Alireza is the joker in the pack - either he's going to crash badly like the last ocassion, or suddenly stomp everyone ala Magnus 2.0.
|
Carlsen is not going to play the candidates?
|
On January 06 2024 03:13 sharkie wrote: Carlsen is not going to play the candidates? He has no interest in the Classic world championship format so no, he isn't playing. That's why he gave up the championship in the first place. Would be a little silly to now go back and qualify for it again.
|
Well there were always rumours that carlsen wanted to play candidates to keep farming elo from the best players in the world
|
nobody mentions the recent double world title by Carlsen? Norwegian pride : )
|
Carlsen is OP. His double was overshadowed by the Dances with Horses though ![](/mirror/smilies/wink.gif)
I get the point forfeit decision. But I also understand the players' frustration on Day 1 of Blitz. How can there be such an hour-long delay of an entire round affecting 100+ players just because of some lower board low-rated player kicking a fuss about the timer? That Andrew Hong dude ought to be penalised by point deduction or just kicked out of the tournament. Just take the loss, and move on, man. It's a blitz tournament with 21 games to play. So yeah, I can understand totally the top board players like Nepo and Dubov getting annoyed and wanting to make a protest statement.
|
Magnus smashing it i both tournaments is definitely bigger news than some russians messing about.
The clock thing is a big issue tho. Apparently the clock would not flip over on pressing the button. If the button is pressed with slightly too little force. Hong is definitely witin his rights to contest the result if the clock malfunctions and causes him to flag.
|
Faster time controls taking over the game, slowly (hehe) but steadily.. what are your thoughts about it? How fast is too fast?
Also - online played combined with the aforementioned time controls. Good or bad for chess in your opinion guys?
Dunno what to think about it myself. I mean, I like rapid play.. 15+10 let's say (blitz not so much) but also there is such a thing as too much of a good thing I guess.. I think that 15+10 is getting "too slow" for some these days, too.. which is kind of terrifying tbh.
I really don't want to see chess getting ruined by tik-tok attention span culture..
|
|
classical time control has always been way too long but yeah its getting a bit too fast now imo
|
I think its less about tik-tok attention spans and more about play having evolved and elevated to such levels (esp with engines being what they are and the practice with them) that with 'to much time' to think the games just go no where and way to many end in draws. So shorter time controls are being preferred because they lead to more time scrambles and more 'mistakes' (not engine optimal), which leads to more interesting games and more decisive results.
|
On January 13 2024 07:18 Gorsameth wrote: I think its less about tik-tok attention spans and more about play having evolved and elevated to such levels (esp with engines being what they are and the practice with them) that with 'to much time' to think the games just go no where and way to many end in draws. So shorter time controls are being preferred because they lead to more time scrambles and more 'mistakes' (not engine optimal), which leads to more interesting games and more decisive results. It's both probably. And yes, the opening knowledge and overall level of play are too high for the classic 90 min + 30 min time control, I agree. I've always thought that making classical tournaments 60 min for the whole game + 30 sec increment from move one woould be entirely sufficient these days. I also think that we need much, MUCH more Chess960 tournaments out there. Especially with the classical time controls. That is a fantastic way to neuter opening theory prep and give us more over the board novelties, imo. Idk why it didn't caught as much as I think it would yet.
Rapid should remain 15 min + 10 sec and blitz 5 min + 3 sec, imo. No need for it to be faster than that, at all. Wish they would just stop messing with it.
|
Tata Steel Masters has 11 (out of 21) games that ended in a decisive result so far.. and 10 of them ended with black pieces winning. That is pretty crazy isn't it? Great thing to see.
|
Carlsen is missing from Tata? :0
|
On January 16 2024 05:34 sharkie wrote: Carlsen is missing from Tata? :0 He said he's a bit tired with "normal" classical chess tournaments these days.
He's going to play some chess 960 event in the meantime, afaik.
|
|
|
|