organizing a tournament just for a candidates spot

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chess.com/news/view/domi...s#socandidates Apparently a tournament has been organized to give Firoujza a chance for a candidates spot. Will he be successful.

[Victor Plotkin]

Likely, FIDE is not going to rate this event.

https://www.fide.com/news/2807

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I known of one occurrence when Fide did not rate the match suspecting that it was organize to really increase one players rating.

[Amit R]

Would Firouzja really be playing here to increase his rating? The payoff for winning against much lower-rated players would be vanishingly low ?

For example, in another tournament, Leinier Dominguez would have got +0.1 for a win against Pranav , and ended up losing 4.7 points for a draw : https://www.chess.com/news/view/domi...zja-candidates .

The low payoff for a win, and higher penalty for a draw/loss isn't a great incentive, is it?

[Victor Plotkin]

He needs to score many points, almost 100%. But he plays with 2400-2500 opponents, so gets 1.3-2 points for each win and loses just 3-3.7 points for each draw.

It is a great incentive as it's the only chance for him for rating spot for Candidates. If FIDE counts this event which is not 100%.

[Amit R]

He needs to score many points, almost 100%. But he plays with 2400-2500 opponents, so gets 1.3-2 points for each win and loses just 3-3.7 points for each draw.

It is a great incentive as it's the only chance for him for rating spot for Candidates. If FIDE counts this event which is not 100%.

Thanks for clarifying, Victor.

[Victor Plotkin]

From USCF to FIDE:
December 20, 2023


Arkady Dvorkovich
1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
Avenue de Rhodanie 54


Dear President Dvorkovich,


The United States Chess Federation is concerned about the conduct of the qualification tournaments related to the Candidates tournament. We believe that scheduling last-minute events to assist an individual player gain rating points to qualify for the Candidates tournament is neither sporting nor transparent, and it taints the selection process for FIDE and all of international chess.


As you know, we are supportive of the recent changes made to qualification for the cycle. We believe in the power of the biannual cycle to select the best players to compete. Just missing the qualification is no doubt frustrating for the players, but the cycle is intended to provide an open and fair competitive environment for all players. Organizing a last-minute event that is practically non-inclusive goes against the spirit of fair competition.


We continue to believe that when the final selections are made, the players should be those who throughout the cycle are most deserving of the honor of playing in the Candidates tournament. There will also undoubtedly be many great players who will miss out. Because of this, we believe it is imperative that the selection criteria are clear and transparent and have widespread support within the FIDE family.


We urge FIDE to not rate the French event and take steps to require that all FIDE events be registered at least 30 days in advance of their start date. This will reduce the amount of gamesmanship that thwarts the spirt of fair competition during the biannual qualification cycle.


Sincerely,

Randy Bauer
US Chess President

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

We urge FIDE to not rate the French event and take steps to require that all FIDE events be registered at least 30 days in advance of their start date. This will reduce the amount of gamesmanship that thwarts the spirt of fair competition during the biannual qualification cycle.

The current rules: at this moment FIDE rated events shall be registered at least three days before the tournament. However, for the title norm tournament that extends to 30 days.

FIDE should know better that rules will be exploited (like Dings games comes to mind)

[Victor Plotkin]

Now with 5/5 Forouzja has higher rating than So (2758.9 against 2757.4 according to 2700chess.com). Mission accomplished.

[Lee Hendon]

Forouzja, is doing nothing wrong, FIDE must rate this event you can't change the rules at the last minute. don't blame the players because they find away to take advantage of a rule just change them for the next cycle!

[Hans Jung]

More controversy and discussion. Im sure this will be ongoing for a while.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

More controversy and discussion. Im sure this will be ongoing for a while.

As I understand the fight is between F and S. Get them to a ring and let them fight. 3+2; 5, or longer. Even if done online. That would be more fair and square.

Respect to F only went down after this tournament.

With similar approach a local shark could bump his rating quite high too. A US prisoner comes to mind.

[Victor Plotkin]

Firouzja drew his last game. 5.5/6 was not enough to pass So. I predict another attempt by him or his sponsors in the nearest future. Still, we have 9 days before the end of the year. A lot of time.

[Amit R]

Firouzja drew his last game. 5.5/6 was not enough to pass So. I predict another attempt by him or his sponsors in the nearest future. Still, we have 9 days before the end of the year. A lot of time.

He could have withdrawn after round 5 ?

[Ian Findlay]

Fabi makes some excellent points on the C-squared podcast today. He mentions that FIDE should not use one list and it could turn into a circus. Personally, I miss the Interzonal tournaments.