Surely David can't be serious about Anand's title being a joke.
He is second in the world in the rankings current rating list, although third in the live rating list. That makes him a strong player by anyones standards, and lets not forget that he was higher rated than any of the playeres in this years candidates match.
Welcome to the weekly recap of Chess.com/TV’s Pardon our Blunders, hosted by IMs Danny Rensch and David Pruess. This week’s show was open to ALL Members of Chess.com and started at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern/6 PM London Time.
I’m still getting used to this single thread recap instead of the thread-per-topic way we used to do it around here, but to save up forum space, it’s all been consolidated into one (sometimes lengthy) thread.
Here are the topics under discussion for today:
Topic #1: U.S.C.L Finals – N.Y. Wins!! http://www.uschessleague.com/11202011.html: There’s a rule in the USCL that in order to play in the playoffs, you have to play during the season. Chicago allowed a NY player who hasn’t played during the season to play in the Finals. The person who was allowed to play lost his match anyway but it didn’t matter. Here’s a clip from the USCL page:
*Due to the World Youth and K-12 Nationals causing many players to be unavailable, Chicago agreed to allow New York to use John Fernandez on Board Four when generally that would not have been permitted as he had not played the requisite two games during the regular season
The rules should’ve been upheld but Chicago showed good sportsmanship throughout the whole thing even though they lost the USCL Championship. Both David and Danny picked Chicago to win.
Topic #2: Should the USCL have an Appeal Committee?: Should a player and manager from all 16 teams get together to form a committee to deal with these types of situations or should the league be reconstructed to better deal with problems and instances like this? Or should random managers be picked every year to form this committee?
Topic #3: Kaspy/Naka growing pains?: The “Kaspamura” marriage doesn’t seem to be going well as Nakamura lost his game and is now in last place while Ivanchuk is in 1st. Is this more of a publicity stunt rather than a true coalition? All eyes were on Naka in this tourney since the announcement was made public and has had a disappointing event. Naka has been under time pressure as he is certainly learning new things from Kasparov.
He seems off and is pushing harder than he usually does.
Topic #4: Tal rolling over in his grave? Can draws be avoided?: Draws are running rampant in the past few rounds until Naka’s loss and Mikhail Tal must and would be very disappointed with the performances of the top players today. There’s not much fighting spirit and seem lame as the games are being played out and draws seem to be a staple feature of the event.
Topic #5: Should FIDE take away title?: If you play 10 consecutive tournament games without a win, should FIDE be allowed to revoke the World Championship from the player and deem it vacant and up for grabs? Anand hasn’t been playing well at all. It could make things more exciting if a player is one or two games away from losing the Championship as he sits down to play his next games. Should/Would FIDE take away the Championship mid-match? Anand hasn’t won a tournament since 2008 and calling Anand World Champion, in David’s eyes, is a joke. Should the cycle be changed or should something be installed where the Champion would lose the title if he hasn’t won a game out of his last 10 or perhaps more? Is 10 to few? 25 just enough?
Topic #6: Germany at the ETCC! http://www.chess.com/news/germany-win-european-team-champs-6323: Is Germany experiencing a chess boost since this win or is there already a surge in German chess that propelled the team through the tournament? Obviously they have a decent team but half of their top 4 boards were born somewhere else then moved to Germany.
Topic #7: Tournament or Family?: So what do you do? Would you play at a chess tournament or spend time with your family gobbling down gobbler or wetting your jaws on an opponent in a chess event?
Topic #8: Most thankful for in the chess world? Chess Player? Chess Piece? Chess World? Outside of Chess?: What are you most thankful for in the chess world and outside of the chess world these days?
Topic #9: Chess better or worse with blunders?: Chess is an art, we all know this, but it can be full of drama as well if that one blunder gets played in a tense and tough match. One wrong move can mean going from victory to the agony of defeat. Blunders are a part of chess and no one wants to read stories of perfect chess, they want to see drama unfolding on the board. Yes the perfect game is great to witness, but drama on the board is what makes sense so amazing.
That's it this week guys. All of the links should work in this recap. Have a great night everyone!
It’s Chess.com/TV’s reporter, ChessMarkstheSpot, signing off. So, ‘til next time—same Chess Time—same Chess Channel.
-Mark