Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year old brat and is too scared
to play Kasparov, I think FIDE should replace him with either Vishy
Anand or Bobby Fischer.

Either of these players would make an interesting match against
Kasparov.

Why? It makes no sense, and would be actually against FIDE regs.

Better to have a tournament - you've got over 110 people who have earned a
spot, holding it for them seems pretty darn humane.

John Fernandez

In article ,
says...
Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year old brat and is too scared
to play Kasparov, I think FIDE should replace him with either Vishy
Anand or Bobby Fischer.

Either of these players would make an interesting match against
Kasparov.

A better idea would be to have Kasparov play Judit Polgar for the FIDE
title. Can you imagine the media frenzy from that one? The best male
player vs the best female player in the world. What could possibly beat
that promo for a chess championship match?

This is all academic. There will be no unified championship as long as
Iuzuaslzuaszuzulmov is prez. It's all falling apart. He'll never get 128
players to fly somewhere and play for promises.

Back to square one.

Angelo


"Alex" wrote in message
m...
Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year old brat and is too scared
to play Kasparov, I think FIDE should replace him with either Vishy
Anand or Bobby Fischer.

Either of these players would make an interesting match against
Kasparov.

On 11 Sep 2003 07:27:09 -0500, Alberich
wrote:

In article ,
says...
Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year old brat and is too scared
to play Kasparov, I think FIDE should replace him with either Vishy
Anand or Bobby Fischer.

Either of these players would make an interesting match against
Kasparov.

A better idea would be to have Kasparov play Judit Polgar for the FIDE
title. Can you imagine the media frenzy from that one? The best male
player vs the best female player in the world. What could possibly beat
that promo for a chess championship match?

An even better idea would be to have Monica Bellucci vs Kristianna
Loken. Can you imagine the media frenzy of that one??? LOL.

Andreas

Not sure why people think FIDE should just replace Pono with a
randomly-selected player - where's the legitamacy in that? At least
Ivanchuk was the runner-up in the last FIDE WC cycle, so there would be
some point in selecting him if you were going to pick someone.
Fischer? Not going to happen - he wants nothing to do with the "old
chess" anymore, never mind FIDE, or Kasparov (who, according to Fischer,
owes him millions of dollars - of course he's wrong). Anand? I
understand the sentiment, and he has the rating, but he still needs to
prove it in the WC cycle. Polgar? Sure, a neat little marketing ploy,
but she is NOT a legitamite challenger based on rating or performance in
the WC cycle. Should we have the NBA winner play the WNBA winner to
determine the overal NBA championship?

John

Alberich wrote:

In article ,
says...
Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year old brat and is too scared
to play Kasparov, I think FIDE should replace him with either Vishy
Anand or Bobby Fischer.

Either of these players would make an interesting match against
Kasparov.

A better idea would be to have Kasparov play Judit Polgar for the FIDE
title. Can you imagine the media frenzy from that one? The best male
player vs the best female player in the world. What could possibly beat
that promo for a chess championship match?

In article , says...
Not sure why people think FIDE should just replace Pono with a
randomly-selected player - where's the legitamacy in that? At least
Ivanchuk was the runner-up in the last FIDE WC cycle, so there would be
some point in selecting him if you were going to pick someone.
Fischer? Not going to happen - he wants nothing to do with the "old
chess" anymore, never mind FIDE, or Kasparov (who, according to Fischer,
owes him millions of dollars - of course he's wrong). Anand? I
understand the sentiment, and he has the rating, but he still needs to
prove it in the WC cycle. Polgar? Sure, a neat little marketing ploy,
but she is NOT a legitamite challenger based on rating or performance in
the WC cycle. Should we have the NBA winner play the WNBA winner to
determine the overal NBA championship?


"she is NOT a legitimate challenger based on rating or performance in
the WC cycle." This commment is debatable because JPolgar got "knocked"
out of the last cycle...which coincidentally was a "knockout" event.
Something I don't agree with. She has the stamina to play in round robin
events and that would be a more suitable way to determine the character
of the title challenger and eventually the next World Champion. She can
lose in rounds but make up for them in later play. This is the way the
old greats played like Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, etc. FIDE has to
return to the old style round robin to really give us a better
indication who should be the challenger to Kasparov. However, I find the
current plan repulsive because it allows Kasparov a free ride into the
semi final round. Gary Kasparov HAS to be involved in the knockout
tournament from the beginning to lend any credence to his claim he's the
"best" player in the world. Sure, he's the best...but even the best can
be shocked and knocked out of a chess tournament. Look at what almost
happened to Vishy Anand in the last one. He was almost upset by an
unknown player! And poor Judit Polgar didn't get her chance to tear into
the real heavyweights like Morozevich, Smirin, etc. I suggest Judit
Polgar for the opponent for Kasparov because she's not a quitter. She
fights all the way and she's not afraid of tactical complicated fights
to the finish on the chessboard. Her match with Anand was outstanding
for its complexity and fighting spirit. She deserves a shot against
Kasparov. No doubt about it.

On 11 Sep 2003 15:58:12 -0500, Alberich
wrote:
[snip]
Just for returning to reality I looked at the Chessbase online-Databse
for Judits *records* vs some of the stronger players in classical
chess, which clearly shows that she is the *candidate that should
play. LOL

Polgar vs ....
Kasparov: +1, =4,-11
Karpov +1, =12, -10
Anand +6. = 6, -12
Kramnik +0, =10, -13


Andreas

"she is NOT a legitimate challenger based on rating or performance in
the WC cycle." This commment is debatable because JPolgar got "knocked"
out of the last cycle...which coincidentally was a "knockout" event.
Something I don't agree with.

I don't necessarily agree with it either. But it is at least a process
for selecting a challenger, as opposed to hand-picking someone.

She has the stamina to play in round robin
events and that would be a more suitable way to determine the character
of the title challenger and eventually the next World Champion. She can
lose in rounds but make up for them in later play. This is the way the
old greats played like Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, etc. FIDE has to
return to the old style round robin to really give us a better
indication who should be the challenger to Kasparov.

Round robin would be preferable to knock-out - agreed.

However, I find the
current plan repulsive because it allows Kasparov a free ride into the
semi final round.

That's the Prague Agreement - not the best plan, but it is a plan that
all the participants agreed to (at least in principle), and while I
don't like the idea of giving Kasparov the advantage he got, we have to
deal with the reality that he is still perhaps the best player, and his
participation legitimizes the reunification process (and conversely, his
non-participation greatly reduces the legitamacy).

Gary Kasparov HAS to be involved in the knockout
tournament from the beginning to lend any credence to his claim he's the
"best" player in the world. Sure, he's the best...but even the best can
be shocked and knocked out of a chess tournament. Look at what almost
happened to Vishy Anand in the last one. He was almost upset by an
unknown player!

Which is precisely why Kasparov wouldn't agree to such a thing. Then
again, as the runner up in his last title match (2000), one could argue
that he should have a higher seeding (in the "good old days" of
candidates matches, the previous semi-finalists did not have to qualify
via interzonal tournaments, but were seeded directly into the next
candidates matches).

Still, I feel that the point of the Prague Agreement is to find a way to
get all parties back the table in order to unify the title. That is
step one. After that, a unfified process for determining the champion
that is fair and open to all (and hopefully at the classical time
controls, with no knock-out tournaments) will be put in place. But,
first you got to fix what's broken.

And poor Judit Polgar didn't get her chance to tear into
the real heavyweights like Morozevich, Smirin, etc. I suggest Judit
Polgar for the opponent for Kasparov because she's not a quitter.

No, you made it quite clear that you suggest Judit because she's a
woman.

She
fights all the way and she's not afraid of tactical complicated fights
to the finish on the chessboard. Her match with Anand was outstanding
for its complexity and fighting spirit.

Which she LOST!

She deserves a shot against
Kasparov. No doubt about it.

She has in no definition of the word "qualified" - maybe she will, and
it would be exciting. But giving her a direct seed into a match with
Kasparov is illegitamite, IMHO.

John

Alex wrote (2003-09-10 20:27:51 PST):
Since Ponomariov is acting like a 13 year
old brat and is too scared to play Kasparov,
I think FIDE should replace him with either
Vishy Anand or Bobby Fischer.

_
"I don't play the old chess anymore, you
know. The old chess is dead. It's been
played out. ... I don't play the old chess
anymore. I play the Fischer-Random, see.
I don't play old chess anymore, period.
... I'm finished with the old chess. It's
rotten to the core. ... If you knew the
truth about the old chess, you wouldn't
have any interest in it, either."
- (http://home.att.ne.jp/moon/fischer/)