So we see the following collection of individuals vying for the title: a champion, and eight players selected by various methods. Of those nine players, exactly THREE (a mere 33%!!) have qualified via OTB results in the current or “proper” qualification cycle. The remaining 67% (!!) have been placed there based on previous results–or worse, personal connections and charm!?

This is not serious. This is ridiculous. It is a good thing that Anand, at least, is a good player with a long trajectory, or the title of “world champion” would be a complete travesty. Small wonder that Magnus Carlsen and others are not having any of this…

Several decades ago, FIDE came up with an imperfect formula: zonals leading to interzonals, interzonals producing candidates, candidate elimination rounds (tournament or matches) producing a challenger. ALL BASED ON OTB RESULTS! The only “preferential” treatments were for the top two from the previous cycle (makes sense), and once for Bobby Fischer who got into the interzonal without participating in a zonal (makes Bobby-sense).

Since those days, FIDE has messed with the process and produced no improvement. So, yes, an imperfect process encourages experimentation; but when the experiments have all led to failure… perhaps it is time to return to what we knew best.

Why is it, that everytime sponsors can’t be found a world-championship match is cancelled. Why on earth should anyone pay such astronomical figures for a chess match – exiciting though it may be? Shouldn’t the players satisfy themselves with a little less?

It seems to me this can only be harmful if chess as a sport is meant to be taken seriously.