Saturday, 24 December 2022

Call me old fashioned

 I saw a suggestion from Magnus Carlsen that the future of chess is fast time limits and online events.  Call me old fashioned but I hope this is not going to be the case. My main objection is obviously aesthetic, in that higher quality games are played at slower time limits, but the other is more practical.

If the events are played online, new players will struggle to get a look in, Why? Because without an existing OTB track record,  there will be an assumption that they are cheating. And if there is a decline in OTB events, where will they get this track record? Combine this with the fact that fast chess leads to more superficial styles of play, then even if they start with OTB blitz and rapid, they will struggle to match players who have greater experience at longer forms of chess. 

So not really a fan!

1 comment:

David L said...

Absolutely, it's a stupid idea. Carlsen's chess is superb, but I've rarely seen any comment of his that matches it.