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