3 ms·

It is not slightly misleading, it is very misleading. To become champion, he must win the world championship, which involves winning the candidates tournament,

It is not slightly misleading, it is very misleading. To become champion, he must win the world championship, which involves winning the candidates tournament, and then beating the current champion in a match. Which is very different then being the top-ranked player.

mechanical_fish 17y ago
Very very misleading. I was stunned by the headline, since my impression, confirmed by this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship ... is that nobody has ever become world champion at a younger age than their twenties. Being a chess idiot, I don't really know why this has been true, but I assume it's simply a matter of practice: that it takes time to get good enough at chess to usefully train against grandmasters, and then it takes time with the grandmasters before you can dominate at grandmaster-level chess, which my chessmaster friends have told me is almost like a different game, one which they can follow with great excitement but not necessarily understand well enough to play.
- gcheong 17y ago
  "..but I assume it's simply a matter of practice" The book "Talent Is Overrated" cites some interesting studies on chess players that support the idea that this is probably the main factor. Basically a combination of improved training methods, long hours of deliberate practice, and starting at as young an age as possible. There isn't much in the article that would lead me to think otherwise. The comparison to Mozart is interesting as the book goes into much detail citing evidence how much of Mozart's "talent" was due to his father's efforts to deliberately train him to become a great musician.
  - d0mine 17y ago
    There are many fathers like the Mozart's one but how many Mozarts are there?
    - Tichy 17y ago
      There are a lot of good musicians in the world.
    - dunstad 17y ago
      The father's efforts would have been wasted without the son's motivation. Mozart practiced, guided by his father.
pk2200 17y ago
I agree that the title is misleading. But keep in mind that every player who has ever been ranked #1 (Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov, Anand) has gone on to become World Champion. It's just a matter of time before Carlsen gets his shot at a title match. For those who are interested, Carlsen has a blog: http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog
- dgordon 17y ago
  Topalov hasn't become world champion. He'll have his shot this spring, I believe.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - pk2200 17y ago
    He won the 2005 World Championship in rather convincing fashion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2... If you're a purist, you probably believe that one can only become world champion by defeating the title holder in a head-to-head match consisting of of many (12-24 or more) games. That's how it was done from 1886-1993, and I think most chess players (myself included) prefer that format. But Topalov is technically recognized by FIDE as a World Champion. More here if anybody cares: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship

mechanical_fish 17y ago

Very very misleading. I was stunned by the headline, since my impression, confirmed by this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship ... is that nobody has ever become world champion at a younger age than their twenties. Being a chess idiot, I don't really know why this has been true, but I assume it's simply a matter of practice: that it takes time to get good enough at chess to usefully train against grandmasters, and then it takes time with the grandmasters before you can dominate at grandmaster-level chess, which my chessmaster friends have told me is almost like a different game, one which they can follow with great excitement but not necessarily understand well enough to play.

gcheong 17y ago
"..but I assume it's simply a matter of practice" The book "Talent Is Overrated" cites some interesting studies on chess players that support the idea that this is probably the main factor. Basically a combination of improved training methods, long hours of deliberate practice, and starting at as young an age as possible. There isn't much in the article that would lead me to think otherwise. The comparison to Mozart is interesting as the book goes into much detail citing evidence how much of Mozart's "talent" was due to his father's efforts to deliberately train him to become a great musician.
- d0mine 17y ago
  There are many fathers like the Mozart's one but how many Mozarts are there?
  - Tichy 17y ago
    There are a lot of good musicians in the world.
  - dunstad 17y ago
    The father's efforts would have been wasted without the son's motivation. Mozart practiced, guided by his father.

pk2200 17y ago

I agree that the title is misleading. But keep in mind that every player who has ever been ranked #1 (Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov, Anand) has gone on to become World Champion. It's just a matter of time before Carlsen gets his shot at a title match. For those who are interested, Carlsen has a blog: http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog

dgordon 17y ago
Topalov hasn't become world champion. He'll have his shot this spring, I believe.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- pk2200 17y ago
  He won the 2005 World Championship in rather convincing fashion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2... If you're a purist, you probably believe that one can only become world champion by defeating the title holder in a head-to-head match consisting of of many (12-24 or more) games. That's how it was done from 1886-1993, and I think most chess players (myself included) prefer that format. But Topalov is technically recognized by FIDE as a World Champion. More here if anybody cares: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship