So you want to own the Chess World Championship
Title?
The
process that selects a challenger should be similar to the forging of iron
into steel. In order to make steel you take strong iron and put it under
tremendous pressure and heat. The end result is steel. The last man
standing is worthy of the challenge and the right to be champion. You want
your champion and challenger to be steel.
Here’s what you have to do:
1)
You must respect all the past players who earned the right to be
World Champion. They are: Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe,
Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov,
and Kramnik. You can’t put anyone in this list who does not deserve to be
there.
2)
You must preserve the rich tradition of the man who beat the man
who beat the man. This is the only way the title should change hands, the
noticeable exceptions were Alekhine dying and Fischer retiring.
3)
You must hold the championship on regular intervals. I believe the
three-year cycle is best.
4)
You must have a rigorous process to select a worthy challenger.
FIDE over the years had perfected the process. FIDE organized the 1948
tournament of champions after Alekhine had die. This Tournament had the 5 best players in the world playing a
four game match against each other. Botvinnik was the clear winner and the
new champion. FIDE gradually
changed the process to select a challenger. At first it was a candidate
tournament, the top players in the world played each other. The winner
would face the World Champion in match play.
FIDE perfected the process in the mid 1960’s. The process had to
expand because the number of talented players around the world increased
and FIDE needed to allow all the talent to have a chance to fight for the
world championship. The new process consisted of zonal tournaments with
the top players from each zone competing in an interzonal tournament. The
top finishes along with the loser of the last World Championship qualified
to play in candidate elimination matches.
This process produced the following challengers Spassky, Fischer,
Karpov, and Kasparov. Each one of them went on to defeat the world
champion in match play to become champion, with the noticeable exception
of Karpov, who was proclaimed champion due to Fischer retiring.
You can tell you have a great process when things don’t go
according to plan. In 1975 Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title. So
the challenger Anatoly Karpov was proclaimed the new champion.
Karpov did not justify his title by winning all those tournaments
in the 70’s. He was a
worthy champion because he was the last man standing after the rigorous
candidate selection process. Karpov tied for first in the 1973 interzonal,
he then proceeded to win the following 3 candidate elimination matches:
a)
Defeated Lev Polugaevski (5.5 – 2.5)
b)
Defeated ex World Champion Boris Spassky(7-4)
c)
Defeated 2-time world champion contender Victor Kortchnoi(5-4).
So there is no question, Karpov is a great player, a worthy
challenger and champion. He was forged into steel by the process. He reaffirmed this by winning all those
tournaments in the 70’s and 80’s.
5)
Finally you need the final showdown to occur between challenger
and champion (well when possible). This should be a match of 20-24 games,
a true test of strength. Draw odds going to the champion.
To do anything less devaluates the world title
and dilutes it. A strong process is good for chess. It is important for
Chess that the World Champion be a truly great player.
hg
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