http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1607
Notable absentees are :
Viswanathan Anand (IND)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)
Veselin Topalov (BUL)
Alexander Morozevich (RUS)
Interestingly enough, the participant for the host of Bulgaria is not Topalov but his second, Cheparinov, thereby most likely confirming that Topalov is indeed not taking part.
That makes the top 4 players not taking part. And when you organise a string of Grand Prix events without the top 4 players of the world participating, the events could fast turn into watersheds, dooming the events before they started. As always, FIDE chooses to make a mess of things.
So it looks like what Morozevich inferred in his interview about the top players not playing in the event was right.
thank you. while i am particularly up to date on all high level chess news--usually but of course not always--and had read the same Morozevich interview you had, i hadnt heard this confirmed, as you report here.
ReplyDeletenot surprising. yes, a real mess in the making.
it is as if THEY say, 'without us top dudes, you dont have a world champion;, tacitly agreeing de facto to subvert this process, which has too high a chaotic if not random factor, and particularly unclear at that! thank you.
warmly, dk
I think Carlsen will be flirting with the 2800 mark by the end of the year so we may see the highest rated player play this tournament yet, and most of the players on that list are fighters so there should be some great chess. Personally I would substitute Moro for Leko but still a good group.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure about the schedule though, that's a lot of games to play without a rest for these guys. I'm sure they're up to the task though. I love high level tournaments and I will certainly follow this one as the drama continues to unfold.
FIDE SUCKS. I wish I could be more clever or well spoken about my disapointment with this organization, but that's all that can be said.
ReplyDeleteNow that they don't have Kasparov to blame, wha excuse are they going to use?
dk: yeah, a real pity. FIDE has a chance to go with the old school of candidate matches etc. but they chose to go about doing this what they think is right without much regards as to the practicality/demands of the modern professional chess player.
ReplyDeletedrunknknite: as much Carlsen is improving, he still is largely a ???? (and only time will tell if he is a Khasimzhanov or a Topalov in the making). breaking into the 2800 is not easy. carlsen's play is still far too unpredictable. until he brings solidity into his play ala Anand/Kramnik, he will find it tough to maintain his 2800 rating. imho whoever wins the Grand Prix event will not be generally regarded as being the best. not by a long shot. without participation by any 2 of the top 4 players the Grand Prix events lack lustre.
while leko is a strong steady player, his performance of late is below his usual high standards. given a choice, i rather watch Moro than Leko because Moro like Shirov is brilliant at setting the board on fire, so to speak.
wang: don't worry about finding wonderful prose for FIDE's mishandling of the situation. they don't deserve it. you're right, FIDE is just bad news. when will they ever listen? they just go their own way without taking input from the top players and automatically assume that everyone will jump on board just because they said so.