Anand will not take on challenger before 2012
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, May 14, 2010, 11.57pm IST
CHENNAI: The King is now in a position which he never enjoyed when he was young: he could dictate terms to the world by virtue of his being on the throne.
This was the age-old rule in World Chess Championship and Viswanathan Anand, often finding himself at the wrong end of the rules, is now a privileged winner, waiting for his turn to play his next title match, probably in London in 2012.
Anand, who always had to qualify to meet Garry Kasparov or Anatoly Karpov for the title matches he played in the 1990s or even against Alexei Shirov of Spain in 2000, will now keep a close watch on a significant event scheduled for early 2011, to know who will challenge him for the title two years from now.
The challenger to Anand will emerge from an eight-player Candidates tournament which has stirred up a hornet’s nest because FIDE floated the event after announcing another qualification process in 2008. The FIDE Grand Prix, a series of tournaments for the 21 elite players from 2008 to 2010, was supposed to be a support event for the qualification cycle and the Challengers tournament was originally scheduled between the World Cup 2009 winner and the FIDE GP overall winner.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports
Why no next year?
And here we go again. No wonder Chess doesn’t get the publics or media attention that it deserve. Which sport can claim credibility when its World Champion can sit at the throne for 3 years without being challenged? Well, only Chess of course. This is totally wrong and should be changed by FIDE. The World Championship shoudl be defended at least once a year. Until this happens, the WCC title will have no credibility.
Most of the world cups let it be in football, hockey or cricket are conducted in once in 4 years.
If you are having daily bread and butter what will be its value? And 2010-2012 is only a 2 year gap not 3.
Infact there is no sheen in the Knock Out world cups conducted by FIDE every year.
Present FIDE qualification process is good except that candidate’s tourney is with Round robin format. Instead that also should bring as Knock out matches with minimum 6 games. Final of the candidates match certainly should have the equal number of games as in a world championship(Presently 12 but ideally 16).
ummm, 2010 to 2012 is two yrs, not three.
a well deserved rest for the champ.
Association Football, the most popular sport in the world by far, has a world cup once only four years.
Anonymous said…
And here we go again. No wonder Chess doesn’t get the publics or media attention that it deserve. Which sport can claim credibility when its World Champion can sit at the throne for 3 years without being challenged? Well, only Chess of course. This is totally wrong and should be changed by FIDE. The World Championship shoudl be defended at least once a year. Until this happens, the WCC title will have no credibility.
who is this anonymous? a Moron under the veil? Comapring fish to fiddle. It is not the period of reign that makes a sport popular It is the official patronage. Though Chess originated in India , majority of Indians have become brain less and blinded by the pest called cricket that eats the whole lot of other sports and ignore a generation of talented sports persons like Michel fereira, Geeth sethi, Pankaj advani, Gopi chand, Praksh Padukone, V. Anand and many more to come.
Even the Indian chess federation president himself is not convinced about the importance of his sport!!
God save chess and other games in India??!!
My respect for Anand is gone..
FIDE decides, not he I hope.
Otherwise FIDE just should take just take his title away if het does not play next year for the Title
A pity he won the Match and not Topalov
Sitting 3 years and do nothing, what a shame for CHESS
Somebody here can’t count properly.
This situation is not Anand’s doing. No blame can be put on any player. There should be a maximum time between title defenses – possibly every year, maybe 6 to 8 months would be preferred. Champions should be free to choose their opponent and negotiate the best financial deals – along the lines of boxing. Can you imagine the revenue and publicity a match between Anand and Carlsen would generate? Perhaps the next FIDE president will fix the broken system?
anon 11.57 and 3.05,
You two must be bad at chess ,If you can’t calculate simple maths.Go dig a hole!
to anon ‘my respect for Anand is gone’
Anand does not care for such moronic views. He is a gentleman and great champ. Topa,good player that he is got two title shots ( Kramnik and Anand) and failed. Remember a miss is as good as a mile.
Some guys are hilarious here. They think World championships are held every year in sports which are popular!
Soccer, Cricket hold world cup for every FOUR years!
And these guys talk as if Anand is the one who choses the challenger. Kasparov and Kramnik had that while the title was split but now FIDE decides the challenger and Anand only can put his thoughts about some slight changes like schedule etc.
So guys, grow up and think clear and unbiased.
If you don’t like Anand then it is your choice but don’t try to charge him with false accusations.
Anand will play the challenger when the candidates tournament is over and the winner is announced.
So just Chill!
There should be a consistant system through which a challenger is evolved. FIDE should not change it. And What a pity case if the world champion is allowed to choose the challenger as Kasparov and Kramnik enjoyed. They can choose one against they are comfortable. I should tell that Kasparov simply denied many a good challengers a chance, though I consider him as the greatest player the game has produced.
To some extent, I have to agree with Anon 11:57 (wether he counted 2-3 years is irrelevant to the topic people!). For decades, FIDE has been trying to get more exposure to chess as a mainstream sport or form of entertainment. If you think about it, the media and sponsors would be more interested in covering or sponsoring events where the highest player and highest honors are involved. That is the World Champion of course. Therefore, hiding him and the trophy away for 2 or 3 years does a major negative impact to our game. Imagine what would happen to Boxing if World Champions like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Meaweather decided that they would only fight every 3 years? Of course, we can always make the argument about Soccer or Cricket, but you have to consider the logistics involved in organizing these events. Is not the same to:
1. Organize a World Cup where you have 20+ countries playing with over 20+ members in each team for a Sport that already enjoys the benefit of being the number 1 sport in the world and which already is consider the #1 sport in each of the countries it is played….than
2. Organize a World Match between two guys in one selected neutral country
Chess will never enjoy the following Soccer has today while FIDE does not take actions to get more media attention which will motivate sponsors. I think the WCC should be defended at least once a year. It is a pitty that the great GM’s we are seeing today might never get a chance to compete for the WCC becase we have a cycle that would only allow for the title to be defended 3 times (4 as extreme) every 10 years. Defending the WCC should be main and only priority of the World Champion.
As much as I would love to see another epic fight like this years soon – 2012 looks like a decent descion to me. I rather wait some time, than endure more of the constant change of format, venues and schedules of the last years. What the chess championship needs most right now, is some stability.
Another importand point: It’s my impression that FIDE has a rather hard time finding sponsors and organizers already, I doubt they can find the backing to have a decent candidate final and a title match every year.
A world championship every two years is sufficient.
Chess is no sport for the masses and never will be because it requires years of studies and training to be able for a person to understand it and to be able to follow a game.
Not many people will put this work into chess and study it properly.
There is another difference between chess and boxing: In chess a world championship match requires lengthy preparation. If we had one every year or even more frequently, the world champion (and his seconds) could hardly play any other events. Do we want that to be the case?
I echo Bob and Thomas. World Chess Championship for every two years is ‘just about right’
Four years is too long a period and one year is really not right for the Champion and his seconds as they never get time to relax!