Your move, FIDE!

November 5, 2010 5:21 PM

Magnus Carlsen drops out of World Championship cycle (NYT)
posted by vidur (24 comments total)

ok
posted by found missing at 5:28 PM on November 5, 2010

"I must break you."
posted by Joe Beese at 5:30 PM on November 5, 2010

If the chess thing is an obstacle, just imagine that the #1 world ranked player of your preferred sport announced he would not be competing in that sport's ultimate championship. Say, Rooney withdrawing before the next World Cup.

This is news.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:35 PM on November 5, 2010

This is definitely news, although I wish that the post had made an attempt to explain why. Here is some pretty good commentary by Mig Greengard on what it means and doesn't mean about the future of the world chess championship.
posted by dfan at 5:40 PM on November 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

I think they should get Mark Wahlberg to play him in the movie. That they will someday make about this.
posted by Gator at 5:52 PM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Here is some pretty good commentary

Excellent piece.

Father Beese would chuckle to see that FIDE is still the same sinister clown show it was in the mid-80s.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:02 PM on November 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

dfan, found_missing: Sorry for the lack of context.

The NYT link does clarify it a bit and it includes links to pieces on ChessVibes (which has loads of comments) and Chess.co.uk through which interested readers can explore more.

Also, Carlsen does a pretty good job of putting in a nutshell what he thinks is so wrong about the current format:

Imagine that the winner of the 2010 Football World Cup would be directly qualified to the 2014 World Cup final while all the rest of the teams would have to fight for the other spot.

posted by vidur at 6:02 PM on November 5, 2010

Say, Rooney withdrawing before the next World Cup.

Heh. No way is Rooney getting picked for the next World Cup.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:03 PM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Such intrigue!
posted by exogenous at 6:52 PM on November 5, 2010

I think they should get Mark Wahlberg to play him in the movie. That they will someday make about this.

Him or Will Smith and they must take their shirt off at some point in the movie. It wouldn't make sense if they didn't.
posted by P.o.B. at 7:01 PM on November 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Mr. Beese is right, FIDE's been a joke as long as I can remember. So completely amateurish and backwards - chess will never be on primetime, but it could at least have a decent international sports organization to call its own...
posted by facetious at 7:10 PM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

I think they should get Mark Wahlberg to play him in the movie.

Hey bishop. How's it going'? So you can move diagonally? What's that all about? Ok, well, it was great to meet you. Say hi to your queen for me, ok?
posted by The World Famous at 8:04 PM on November 5, 2010 [9 favorites]

don't forget to add Morgan Freeman, when the movie is made on this subject. the two act together with great compatability.
posted by tustinrick at 8:52 PM on November 5, 2010

This is disturbing. Carlsen is the most exciting thing in chess since Kasparov (though not as exciting) so losing him for this cycle definitely tarnishes the championship. There's a very good chance that he'll be the highest ranked player in the world by the time the championship comes around and he'll be sitting on the sidelines. Disappointing. Also, the argument that the World Cup, for instance, does not have the defending champion have an automatic spot in the final match is specious. Plenty of sports have a defending champion who has to be defeated to become the new champ, like boxing or the America's Cup. Neither method is objectively better than the other. But there's an even bigger problem. Tradition counts for something and chess has always had this defending champion method. In fact at one point FIDE attempted to do away with that process and crown a world champion based on a single tournament (which I guess is what Carlsen is pushing for as well) but the fans and the top players revolted. Yeah it's a long and difficult process for the challengers but the champions all had to do it, and somehow survived, so buck up Carlsen.
posted by bfootdav at 9:49 PM on November 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

Say, Rooney withdrawing before the next World Cup.

More like Germany withdrawing. Or Brazil. Or San Francisco deciding not to play post-season ball this year.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:57 PM on November 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Such a shame. I would have loved to see Carlsen-Anand as a World Championship match.
posted by WalkingAround at 11:25 PM on November 5, 2010

Well, I guess he wasn't much of a cyclist.
posted by Bovine Love at 5:14 AM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

After reading these articles about Kirsan Ilyumzhinov nothing in the chess world would surprise me now
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:15 AM on November 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Heh. No way is Rooney getting picked for the next World Cup.

Never underestimate the capacity for utter idiocy regarding the English football team
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:16 AM on November 6, 2010

That's too bad. I actually prefer the challenger-champion format but I can understand why many players are frustrated with it. FIDE's poor leadership and organization doesn't help at all.
posted by stp123 at 8:19 AM on November 6, 2010

I think they should get Mark Wahlberg to play him in the movie. That they will someday make about this.

In that last photo he's a dead ringer for Josh Hartnett.
posted by jimmythefish at 8:43 AM on November 6, 2010

Mr. Beese is right, FIDE's been a joke as long as I can remember. So completely amateurish and backwards - chess will never be on primetime, but it could at least have a decent international sports organization to call its own...
posted by facetious at 9:10 PM

I dunno, maybe if we got Husky commenting on matches...
posted by p3on at 1:14 PM on November 6, 2010

Thanks for posting; I don't follow chess as closely as I used to so I hadn't heard about this before. I prefer the challenger-championship format, but I hadn't realized that FIDE had gone to a five-year cycle, which is just absurdly long. IIRC, they were on a three-year cycle for a long time, which seems more reasonable to me, and I think cutting it to two might be even better.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:23 AM on November 9, 2010

Then there are other times I think that chess doesn't need a world champion at all. Golf gets along just fine without a world championship. Tennis gets along just fine without a world championship. Both of those have a handful of top-tier events, to be sure, but none of them are a "world championship," and I don't see anyone clamoring for the creation of one in those sports.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:30 AM on November 9, 2010