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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: Couldn't agree with <Williebob> more. Those were the good old days, indeed.
Zonals, Interzonals, Candidates, WCC.
Each cycle produced some great chess, and the championships were often epic. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | EvanTheTerrible: Modern matches are not as interesting due to the level of prep players have these days and risk aversion. It's why the World Championships have been filled with timid chess for a number of years. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | goodevans: <Bring back Candidate matches!> That would favour the incumbent WC too much IMHO for obvious reasons. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | whiteshark: FIDE press release
Today, on December 18, the mini-matches featuring GM Alireza Firouzja (Elo 2750) began in Chartres, France - his hometown. This eight-game tournament pits Firouzja against three veteran players with an average rating of 2497 Elo points. Concerns have arisen regarding the tournament's potential purpose: whether it was orchestrated to aid Mr Firouzja in boosting his rating for potential qualification into the Candidates Tournament 2024. The International Chess Federation would like to point out that, <according to Clause 0.4 of its Rating Regulations, <"FIDE reserves the right not to rate a specific tournament".>> FIDE has already sent an official request to the organizers of the event. We will carefully follow and investigate all aspects of the organization of the above-mentioned tournament and all the games played by its participants before deciding whether to rate it. The International Chess Federation is dedicated to addressing not just this specific case but also similar occurrences that may arise. Discussions will be held to explore potential amendments to the FIDE Rating Regulations, aiming to prevent such situations in the future. FIDE reiterates its unwavering commitment to upholding fair play and ensuring equal opportunities for all chess players. https://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-... |
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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: <<ws> This eight-game tournament pits Firouzja against three veteran players with an average rating of 2497 Elo points.> Bit of a slough for Firouzja, not because winning isn't easy, but because the pickings are slim: +1.3 ELO against Dgebuadze (2439)
+1.8 ELO against Shchekachev (2506)
~2.1 ELO against Fedorchuk (2546) |
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Dec-20-23
 | | MissScarlett: It is, of course, a six-game event. FIDE corrected their statement in a tweet, but the world had moved on. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: (I wish the tilde (~) character was more distinguished from a minus (-) character. In other words, more squiggle in the wiggle.) |
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| Dec-20-23 | | EvanTheTerrible: Maybe being online has warped my perception, but I don't know if the chess world is serious enough for me. Is organizing an impromptu event to have an opportunity to win the rating spot unsavory? Surely. Does that mean the games are fixed, the players are trying to lose? I'm not sure if that even merits a response. The weird anti-fact conspiratorial garbage mindset that pervades so many discussions these days came to the fore in the chess world with Magnus's accusations last year, but apparently it's not going away. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | Bobby Fiske: <MissScarlett: It is, of course, a six-game event. FIDE corrected their statement in a tweet, but the world had moved on.>
Originally, on the organisers website, there were listed 2 more games on the 23rd. Just in case he should get behind his Elo target, you know. |
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| Dec-20-23 | | Bobby Fiske: Now the US Chess Federation appeals for Firouzja's event in Chartres not to be counted towards the Candidates race! https://new.uschess.org/news/letter... |
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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: This is kinda obvious, but I'll make the point nonetheless... When a super elite is in an open and meeting far lower rated players, they earn the meager points harvested from a win. After all, unlike the exclusive elite tournaments, the opponent is likely someone never before played against, and the pairings are done day-to-day, so the openings of your opponent can't be studied in depth. Firouzja, otoh, has plenty of time to book up and study these few opponents. It's much easier for the super-elite player here to score the win. . |
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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: <Nepo> makes this tweet about the situation and FIDE: <<Nepo> @fide_chess did not bother to at least issue an official statement about the Chinese tournaments last year. Now enjoy the consequences. Serves it right.> I can't find a direct link to his tweeter post - did Elon break it that bad? |
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| Dec-20-23 | | stone free or die: Mark Crowther from TWIC had this to say this past Monday: <<<Chartres Firouzja Noel Matches 2023>Mark Crowther - Monday 18th December 2023> Alireza Firouzja has a final attempt to boost his rating in the January list and qualify for the Candidates by playing 6 games, three two games matches, against Alexandre Dgebuadze, Andrei Shchekachev and Sergey Fedorchuk in Chartres, 18th to 22nd December 2023. This is similar to the successful method Ding Liren used to qualify for the last Candidates. Whilst due to Covid-19 I had some sympathy with Ding trying to play enough games to qualify after an enforced break, this now just doesn't seem right to me. I think it's going to be very tricky for Firouzja to boost his rating enough anyhow. I used to be in favour of the strongest non-qualified player getting a place by rating, but I think it's no longer supportable. The organisation of events that only exist to aid the qualification of a player for the Candidates by rating cannot be the way forward. Preferably all qualification should come from winning individual events or a high place in an Interzonal style tournament. I believe the weaknesses of both a Grand Prix and highest rating have clearly been shown in the last two cycles.> https://theweekinchess.com/chessnew... |
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| Dec-21-23 | | stone free or die: My previous calculation was a bit off it seems. Firouzja picked up +2.2 ELO against Fedorchuk.
Apologies! |
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| Dec-22-23 | | stone free or die: Did anyone mention this before?
USCF opposes rating the Chartres match:
<
By US Chess | December 20, 2023 | Candidates , FIDE , News , Top American PlayersA PDF version of the below letter is available here. December 20, 2023
Arkady Dvorkovich
1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
Avenue de Rhodanie 54
Dear President Dvorkovich,
The United States Chess Federation is concerned about the conduct of the qualification tournaments related to the Candidates tournament. We believe that scheduling last-minute events to assist an individual player gain rating points to qualify for the Candidates tournament is neither sporting nor transparent, and it taints the selection process for FIDE and all of international chess. As you know, we are supportive of the recent changes made to qualification for the cycle. We believe in the power of the biannual cycle to select the best players to compete. Just missing the qualification is no doubt frustrating for the players, but the cycle is intended to provide an open and fair competitive environment for all players. Organizing a last-minute event that is practically non-inclusive goes against the spirit of fair competition. We continue to believe that when the final selections are made, the players should be those who throughout the cycle are most deserving of the honor of playing in the Candidates tournament. There will also undoubtedly be many great players who will miss out. Because of this, we believe it is imperative that the selection criteria are clear and transparent and have widespread support within the FIDE family. <We urge FIDE to not rate the French event and take steps to require that all FIDE events be registered at least 30 days in advance of their start date. This will reduce the amount of gamesmanship that thwarts the spirt of fair competition during the biannual qualification cycle.> Sincerely,
Randy Bauer
US Chess President >
https://new.uschess.org/news/letter... |
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| Dec-22-23 | | waustad: Is there any incentive for the opponents to win? At least with some last minute attempts like with LDP, he was playing players whose prize opportunities increased when they drew with him. |
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| Dec-22-23 | | macer75: Without singling out any specific player (I'm posting under Firouzja's page because I don't believe there is a page for the Candidates Tournament yet), here are some of my thoughts on possible changes to the rating spot in the Candidates going forward: The issue with the previous system (average rating over 12 months), as people have noted, was that it was skewed in favor of players who were highly rated at the beginning of the year. The issue with the current system is that it incentivizes players to maneuver in all kinds of ways just to maximize their rating on one rating list. Why not go for some sort of compromise between the two, where FIDE takes the average of multiple rating lists, but in a way that puts more weight on later ratings? Say, for instance, they take the average of the players' Jan. (beginning of the year), Jul. (middle of the year), Oct., Nov. and Dec. (the 3 months at the end of the year) ratings. That way, it isn't just one rating list that matters, but at the same time, players can't just get a high rating at the beginning of the year and then coast to the end. |
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Dec-23-23
| | MissScarlett: Alireza has withdrawn from the World Rapid and Blitz events for 'personal reasons.' He wouldn't, would he? |
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Dec-23-23
| | MissScarlett: <Mathilde Choisy @MChoiz Alireza has only one shot left in France: a regular Christmas International open in Rouen, Normandy, 26-30th December, rated for January. Around 100-120 players. Dunno if he will give a try.> https://twitter.com/MChoiz/status/1... |
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| Dec-23-23 | | EvanTheTerrible: I don't recall where I read this, so it could be complete nonsense, but I heard that an event ending after the 29th would not make it on to the official rating list in time for January 1st. So, not sure if that would actually give him a shot, MS. |
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Dec-23-23
| | MissScarlett: The tweet author corrected it to confirm its ending on the 29th. |
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Dec-23-23
 | | tamar: In a way, Firouzja is just unlucky. Gukesh and Erigaisi had a tournament organized just for them as well, but because they had government support, they could have a regular prize fund and top class players. Gukesh talks about his uneasiness about the whole concept in an interview after Chennai https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICB... and how his trainer and supporters overcame his doubts, and got him to try one last time. |
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Dec-23-23
| | MissScarlett: If Alireza does play again and pips Wesley to the post, scoring *only* 5.5/6 in Chartres might be seen to have been the smartest course of action. But what's stopping Wesley from entering a Christmas tournament of his own? |
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| Dec-23-23 | | stone free or die: Hasn't Wesley always spent his Christmas holidays with friends and family and off the circuit? (Not sure of this, but I have the impression...) |
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| Dec-23-23 | | goodevans: <... what's stopping Wesley from entering a Christmas tournament of his own?> Back in the day - mid-80s - we were encouraged to invest our spare cash in the stock market. No spare cash? Never mind, why not get an endowment mortgage, a back door into stock market investment? <"But remember, the value of your investment can go down as well as up."> "Sod off. Maggie's telling me I need to invest in stock and shares so that's got to be be right. What have I got to lose?" In my case it was around 70% of the value of my house. <"Remember Wesley, the value of your rating can go down as well as up."> Once bitten, twice shy. Don't do it Wesley! |
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