Devangshu Dutta writes in the supplement of the Business Standard that this year’s Mainz Classic will feature an altogether new format – the C960, better known as Fischer Chess. In this format, the starting positions are randomized, thus killing off whatever advantage players try to gain from the openings.
It is reported that this tournament will be held alongside the normal Rapid tournament, and woud feature four players – Anand, Aronian, Kasimdzhanov and Bacrot. Should be really interesting to see how the champs cope up with the new format.
While on one hand it is exciting to know that the new format is being tried out, it also raises a few questions. Does this mean that classical chess is dying? Is the new format being introduced because classical chess doesn’t draw as much interest as it used to? Has the fight regarding the two ruling bodies (FIDE and Kasparov’s PCA) had such a negative impact on the sport?
There are also questions from the other side, viz. will the new format catch on? Will the new format be able to coexist with classical chess? How good will the classical champions be at this format?
We need to wait for a while before these questions get answered. In the meantime, we can look forward to the Mainz Classic and see how the new game pans out. And hopefully, it should get enough coverage from the mainstream media.
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