

“Something is wrong… something is dead wrong.”

You can read more and see the video here: Something’s wrong in the world of chess.

Oh, what a delight, an interview fertile for comment — by me.

Is chess dead, or are we just making it irrelevant by the way we handle modern competition?

Where do I begin? I could revert to the irritation my high school physics instructor expressed when someone would want to know what the answer to a problem was. “It doesn’t matter,” he would blurt. “Did you understand the concept?” Most current players are obsessed with right answers– which is why they run to Fritz every time their brain hurts.

Then again, I could turn the topic to faster time controls, which have turned competitive chess from something almost sexy to sheer intellectual masturbation.

Or should I quote a certain American Grandmaster, who not long ago explained that the likes of Emanuel Lasker could teach him nothing?

Which.. reminds me..

Kasparov also said this: “Something is dead wrong, if nobody cares about everything else and everybody pays attention to a match of, okay, two old guys.”

The fact is, it’s not only more interesting to watch Kasparov and Karpov play now– because at least it reminds us of a day when a world title actually meant something– but it is more interesting still to study the games of.. Emanuel Lasker– you know, the really, really old guys… than the ever-increasing heap that has become the modern Grandmaster pool.