4. Has Our Nigel gone too far? The ECF seem to be backing his critique of FIDE, and a natural question is if he actually has gone far enough? Do you have opinions about the continued and more than somewhat fractured nature of chess-at-the-top, or are you apolitical in this respect, not involving yourself in chess politics? If you were ever to become President of Fide, what would be the three big things you would like to achieve during your tenure?
From my point of view the big problem with FIDE over the last 10 years has been their handling of the World Championship cycle. Far too many changes of system and alterations to rules mid-stream. Hopefully, there will be a more consistent cycle with clear rules that are actually applied in the future. There has also been too much messing around with the time control, and even now different limits are used in different events within the cycle which doesn’t make any sense. I don’t see any reason not to have a seven hour time limit for classical chess.
15. Here is a set of questions from World Champion, Grandmaster Susan Polgar:
(a) What originally attracted Michael Adams to chess?
My father wanted to teach me draughts but I found the chess pieces more interesting.
(b) At what age or how soon after Mickey learned chess was it before he realized that he was good at it and wanted to become a professional.
I realised I was good, or at least not bad, when I won the first tournament I played in. I am not sure at which exact moment I decided I wanted to be professional. I made the decision at around 16, but as soon as I realised it was a possibility I was very attracted to the idea.
(c) What are his goals in chess and life today?
I would like to travel more for pleasure as well as business. In chess I would just like to carry on playing as well as I can. It would be great if I could get back in the top 10 players.
Here is the full interview with super GM Mickey Adams.
Adams is a cool dude; Short is an abomination and a fastidious prick!
Hah!
You said fastidious!