While I seem to be in the minority and harbor little hope that my wish will come true, I hope that the format returns to purely classical chess. We have blitz and bullet championships, so, in my view, we need to keep the classical championship for classical chess; I would even get rid of rapid playoffs in favor of matches of potentially indeterminate length or even stipulate that the champion retains the title in the event of a tie.
It might be irrelevant now, but - quoting Dennis twice - what could be the format of the _entire_ next cycle if this is taken into account?
"my hope is that they express a willingness to change the format - and, accordingly, the qualification procedures - for the next cycle."
"Second and more importantly, the qualification [in this cycle] was based solely on classical chess."
How to include faster time controls throughout the cycle? World Cup matches always with tiebreaks, and a player can advance despite losing in classical? Grand Swiss with a role for rapid and maybe blitz? Either several games between the same players in one event, or two (to three) events back-to-back, each with their own Swiss pairings with combined final standings? Or rapid/blitz qualifiers for the candidates at the expense of existing classical ones, e.g. world rapid/blitz championships also becoming candidates qualifiers?
Then the candidates event as a "triathlon", same or similar format as in Biel (now underway and earlier editions)?
We wait no longer! Carlsen seems to be out. He said he doesn't feel he has anything to gain. Well, I can think of a couple things he has to gain: 1) a bunch of money; 2) the prestige of matching a record six wins. Of course, he already has a bunch of money, so that may not motivate him, and he may yet reach that record sixth win in the future. Overall, though, I can't respect his decision.
While I seem to be in the minority and harbor little hope that my wish will come true, I hope that the format returns to purely classical chess. We have blitz and bullet championships, so, in my view, we need to keep the classical championship for classical chess; I would even get rid of rapid playoffs in favor of matches of potentially indeterminate length or even stipulate that the champion retains the title in the event of a tie.
It might be irrelevant now, but - quoting Dennis twice - what could be the format of the _entire_ next cycle if this is taken into account?
"my hope is that they express a willingness to change the format - and, accordingly, the qualification procedures - for the next cycle."
"Second and more importantly, the qualification [in this cycle] was based solely on classical chess."
How to include faster time controls throughout the cycle? World Cup matches always with tiebreaks, and a player can advance despite losing in classical? Grand Swiss with a role for rapid and maybe blitz? Either several games between the same players in one event, or two (to three) events back-to-back, each with their own Swiss pairings with combined final standings? Or rapid/blitz qualifiers for the candidates at the expense of existing classical ones, e.g. world rapid/blitz championships also becoming candidates qualifiers?
Then the candidates event as a "triathlon", same or similar format as in Biel (now underway and earlier editions)?
Fully agree with your opinion, Dennis.
We wait no longer! Carlsen seems to be out. He said he doesn't feel he has anything to gain. Well, I can think of a couple things he has to gain: 1) a bunch of money; 2) the prestige of matching a record six wins. Of course, he already has a bunch of money, so that may not motivate him, and he may yet reach that record sixth win in the future. Overall, though, I can't respect his decision.