Magnus Carlsen on FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament: Format great, schedule surprising!
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
We just found this nice interview with Magnus Carlsen on the FIDE Candidates Tournament with www.chessbase.com. The world No. 1 in the chess world says he is happy with the format, but not sure why the schedule has been put in high chess-season ! Before you read further, here is also a delightful video from the same link that is via Norwegian TV2. You can click on the photo to go to the link.
Frederic Friedel: Magnus, I know that after the Tata Steel Chess event you have been busy promoting the Stavanger 2013 super tournament, and also appeared on a major Norwegian talk show. What are your tournament plans for the near future?
Magnus Carlsen: As you know I’m having a break from chess tournaments at the moment. Normally I would go to Amber, but unfortunately this wonderful tradition ended last year. I’m not sure if Linares will take place this spring. I certainly hope so, otherwise the break will be quite long. I think the Tal Memorial in June could be my next tournament. At the moment the fall and winter are the high season for top level tournaments.
Hi everyone,
We just found this nice interview with Magnus Carlsen on the FIDE Candidates Tournament with www.chessbase.com. The world No. 1 in the chess world says he is happy with the format, but not sure why the schedule has been put in high chess-season ! Before you read further, here is also a delightful video from the same link that is via Norwegian TV2. You can click on the photo to go to the link.
Frederic Friedel: Magnus, I know that after the Tata Steel Chess event you have been busy promoting the Stavanger 2013 super tournament, and also appeared on a major Norwegian talk show. What are your tournament plans for the near future?
Magnus Carlsen: As you know I’m having a break from chess tournaments at the moment. Normally I would go to Amber, but unfortunately this wonderful tradition ended last year. I’m not sure if Linares will take place this spring. I certainly hope so, otherwise the break will be quite long. I think the Tal Memorial in June could be my next tournament. At the moment the fall and winter are the high season for top level tournaments.
Q: That's exactly when FIDE plans to stage the Candidate tournament this year, isn't it? In October/November. As far as I know the Tal Memorial was moved to June in direct response to this. Would you like to share your thoughts on this with our readers?
Last year I played the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, in September and October, and the Bilbao organiser has already publicized similar dates for the 2012 final. I really enjoyed playing the Grand Slam Final last year. It’s well organized and the combination of Sao Paulo and Bilbao suited me very fine. I have qualified for this year's Final as well, and my plan is to go there. Normally I don’t comment upon FIDE rumours, but news reports indicating that the next Candidates will take place just after the Grand Slam Final worries me. If the rumours are correct, there will be ten days only between the two tournaments, and that is obviously too tight. I know how hard the top level tournament organizers struggle to get everything in place for their event, and the obvious choice for FIDE would be to avoid the fourth quarter for their Candidate events. The Tal Memorial has already been moved, but the Candidates would still have serious consequences for the Grand Slam Final and probably for London Chess Classic as well.
FIDE must have a very good reason to schedule the Candidates in the fourth quarter instead of for instance the late first quarter or the second quarter of 2013. I’m really curious to know what would drive FIDE to schedule the candidates in the middle of the high season of top level tournaments.
Frankly, I sincerely hope that FIDE will reconsider the schedule for the Candidates. Times are tough, financially, in Europe, and every step should be taken to protect and support the efforts of the top level tournament organisers.
Q: Apart from the schedule problem are you satisfied with the format of the Candidates? It is, I believe, pretty much what you proposed to FIDE?!
Assuming it will be a double round robin with eight players I think that is a good format, much better than the 2011 Candidates.
We await the comments of the other six candidates and of the grandmasters whose tournament schedule may be affected by the Candidates scheduling.
Last year I played the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao, in September and October, and the Bilbao organiser has already publicized similar dates for the 2012 final. I really enjoyed playing the Grand Slam Final last year. It’s well organized and the combination of Sao Paulo and Bilbao suited me very fine. I have qualified for this year's Final as well, and my plan is to go there. Normally I don’t comment upon FIDE rumours, but news reports indicating that the next Candidates will take place just after the Grand Slam Final worries me. If the rumours are correct, there will be ten days only between the two tournaments, and that is obviously too tight. I know how hard the top level tournament organizers struggle to get everything in place for their event, and the obvious choice for FIDE would be to avoid the fourth quarter for their Candidate events. The Tal Memorial has already been moved, but the Candidates would still have serious consequences for the Grand Slam Final and probably for London Chess Classic as well.
FIDE must have a very good reason to schedule the Candidates in the fourth quarter instead of for instance the late first quarter or the second quarter of 2013. I’m really curious to know what would drive FIDE to schedule the candidates in the middle of the high season of top level tournaments.
Frankly, I sincerely hope that FIDE will reconsider the schedule for the Candidates. Times are tough, financially, in Europe, and every step should be taken to protect and support the efforts of the top level tournament organisers.
Q: Apart from the schedule problem are you satisfied with the format of the Candidates? It is, I believe, pretty much what you proposed to FIDE?!
Assuming it will be a double round robin with eight players I think that is a good format, much better than the 2011 Candidates.
We await the comments of the other six candidates and of the grandmasters whose tournament schedule may be affected by the Candidates scheduling.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Also see her personal blog at
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 4:49 AM
8 Comments:
At February 14, 2012 at 5:29 AM ,
Anonymous said...
would love to see carlsen as world champ soon
At February 14, 2012 at 11:56 AM ,
saira fernandes, madrid said...
please do watch the video. i could die in carlsen's arms.
At February 14, 2012 at 12:09 PM ,
alexis cochran, nz said...
i think personal comments should not be posted on this blog. we should restrict to chess. after all it's valentine's day and i could also write that i want to steal a kiss from chess queen. why do women have to trivialise chess.
At February 15, 2012 at 8:18 AM ,
saira fernandes, madrid said...
i have noticed that every time i make a comment a certain Mr Cochran has to criticise it for some reason even though I don't know him. I don't understand why he is writing that "women have to trivialise chess" that also on the blog of a women's world chess champion.
At February 15, 2012 at 8:23 AM ,
alexis cochran, nz said...
it is a free expression in most countries. where did i say my comment was in reference to Ms Fernandes' comment?
At February 15, 2012 at 9:21 AM ,
Hamid Al Gufran, Cairo, Egypt said...
what is the meaning of trivialize?
At February 15, 2012 at 10:32 AM ,
Keith Schmidt, Berlin said...
how soon would carlsen catch up wtih gary kasparov highest ever rating? anyone guessing
At February 15, 2012 at 12:03 PM ,
Olga, Moscow said...
It's only a matter of time before the world crown goes to norway. and it's only a matter of time before the womens world crown goes to russia.
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