Dear Editor,
Alexey Shirov's letter is a good occasion for me to remind
the young players the whole story of the discussion on rapid chess, its
championships, titles and ratings.
Rapid (or "active") chess appeared in 1980s and was mostly
used for demonstration and other unofficial events. In 1988, for the first
time, FIDE organized official European and World Championships in rapid chess
(in Gijon and Mazatlan correspondingly), both won by Karpov. On that occasion
there was a heated discussion on rapid chess in the whole world and
particularly in the Soviet Union (both in press and at the meetings of the
Soviet Chess Federation). It happened to me to take an active part in that
discussion. To some extent, that discussion reflected the struggle against the
Communist dictatorship, which took place in the USSR at that period, and the
Karpov-Kasparov + FIDE-GMA struggle in the chess world. It was therefore
overshadowed by the polytical circumstances but still remained quite
substancial. There was no doubt that the element of chess art in rapid chess is
very limited while the element of pure chance is higher than in "classical"
chess. Therefore, the conclusion, shared by most of the grandmasters and stated
in the official opinion of the Soviet Chess Federation Board (then dominated by
pro-perestroyka activists) in June, 1988, was, in my opinion, quite reasonable
(excuse me for forgetting the exact wording):
"Rapid chess is an entertaining but still a superficial
form of chess, which should not enjoy the full rights of classic chess;
Therefore, it can be used and even spread in commercial and
demonstration events;
However, organizing official World and European Rapid
Championships is inexpedient while awarding ratings and titles in rapid chess
is inadmissible."
That appeal was supported by the world chess community
(including FIDE, GMA, PCA etc.). For a dozen of years many interesting rapid
events were organized (including PCA Gran Prix) but championships were not held
and ratings were not calculated. The situation changed at the end of the last
century when European Chess Union started organizing European Rapid and Blitz
Championship (with awful conditions and indecently low prize funds) and FIDE
started calculating rapid ratings. Fortunately, they were never taken really
seriously by chess players and, most importantly, chess organizers. Therefore
the rapid ratings simply "died from natural causes" and nobody appeared to
regret about that.
However, that was not all. Some officials launched a whole
campaign of killing chess art altogether by means of shortening the time
control in "classical" chess. As a pretext, they used controversial proposals
by none other than Alexey Shirov! Now the same outstanding grandmaster suggests
that the rapid ratings should be artificially revived; moreover, they should be
mixed with "classical" ratings! A very dangerous approach, spoiling our ancient
game even further, which can once again serve as a pretext for some to act
accordingly!
I think those for whom chess art are not just mere words (I
can't believe that Shirov doesn't belong to them! Remember ...Bh3!!) should
strongly protest against all forms of spoiling chess. The 7-hour time control
(perhaps with Fischer modification) should be restored! Rapid chess should have
its proper place as a way of advertising chess as itself: demonstrations - yes!
opens - yes! commercial tournaments like Amber or Frankfurt Classic - yes! Gran
Prix - yes! official championships - no! ratings - no!
Kind regards,
Michal Krasenkow, GM 19th September 2002 |