Happy New Year
A report on the 2024 World Rapid Chess Championship held in
New York. Hard to ignore Jean-Gate which made the BBC news.
A few positions from the event and a RHP game follow on example.
Then a game played by 18 year old Volodar Murzin who won the Rapid.
I mention the World Blitz Championship. The title was shared by Carlsen
and Nepomniachtchi. The format was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
A lot of people were not happy with this. They wanted to see a clear winner.
Apparently sharing the title was suggested by both players but no doubt Carlsen
will get the blame, who will blame FIDE who in turn will blame Hans Niemann.
Blog Post 637
@greenpawn34 saidThank You for the good quality coverage. Jeans drama aside, I thought the quality of play in these games was pretty good, given these time controls.
Happy New Year
A report on the 2024 World Rapid Chess Championship held in
New York. Hard to ignore Jean-Gate which made the BBC news.
A few positions from the event and a RHP game follow on example.
Then a game played by 18 year old Volodar Murzin who won the Rapid.
I mention the World Blitz Championship. The title was shared by Carlsen
and Ne ...[text shortened]... ho will blame FIDE who in turn will blame Hans Niemann.
Blog Post 637
At the risk of sounding like an old dinosaur, I think perhaps today's younger generation has become one of shorter attention spans than in years past. Rapid and blitz have now replaced the old standard 40/90- or 40/120-time controls of the past in popularity, just as 9 ball has replaced straight pool. I'm trying to keep an open mind on this but wonder sometimes if people may be eroding the depth and quality of their play for the sake of speed.
Hi mchill,
They want top level chess to break into the media and for that speed chess
is the way to go. Once every two years classical chess in the form of a
world final is saleable but other than that classical games lasting over
four to five hours will not sell and it's all about the money.
The next big thing is 'Freestyle Chess' and that will be getting rammed
down our throats. I've no time for it and am not at all interested in it
but some heavy sponsors are lining up to fund it (I wonder that if that
is the reason why Magnus backed down after talking to his father and
played in the Blitz, the Freestyle sponsors were getting nervous so
Magnus ended the farce to keep them onboard.)
