Dennis, do you have any insight about when and why the decision was made to no longer give the loser of the previous match a spot in the candidates? I don't have a good sense of whether this was something FIDE was always planning to do or whether they were specifically trying to make a clean break with the 17th world champ.
I don't, but I don't think it has anything to do with throwing Ding under the proverbial bus. In general, I like the idea that even the loser of a World Championship match - even if he was the defending champion - has to start at least a couple of steps back. Anyway, if you or any other reader knows the specific reasons for the change, please let us know.
All the news sources I can find about it are from FIDE, so of course they're all about improving the competitive balance of players for the Candidates and that sort of thing. It feels a little too convenient that they make this decision just at the moment when the loser of the previous match might not want to get back into the cycle, but conspiracy theories are everywhere once you start looking for them.
Dennis, do you have any insight about when and why the decision was made to no longer give the loser of the previous match a spot in the candidates? I don't have a good sense of whether this was something FIDE was always planning to do or whether they were specifically trying to make a clean break with the 17th world champ.
I don't, but I don't think it has anything to do with throwing Ding under the proverbial bus. In general, I like the idea that even the loser of a World Championship match - even if he was the defending champion - has to start at least a couple of steps back. Anyway, if you or any other reader knows the specific reasons for the change, please let us know.
All the news sources I can find about it are from FIDE, so of course they're all about improving the competitive balance of players for the Candidates and that sort of thing. It feels a little too convenient that they make this decision just at the moment when the loser of the previous match might not want to get back into the cycle, but conspiracy theories are everywhere once you start looking for them.