Confirmed in an interview for Sport-Express
Alexander Morozevich did not play in Corus and Morelia Linares and now he confirmed that he won’t appear in Baku either. In an interview for Russian “Sport-Express”, Morozevich explained reasons for dropping out of FIDE Grand Prix series.
“World Championship lottery system, which is based on a series of Grand Prix tournaments, did not seem attractive to me”, he said and offered some clarification, “It is a four-year cycle. We start in 2008 to determinate finalists of match in 2011 – this didn’t happen even in era of Smyslov and Botvinnik. Besides, there is a year and a half of vacuum between the final qualifying events and actual championship match, anything can happen in between”.
Morozevich also objected to “cycle complexity” and the fact that “dates and venues are not permanently decided”, when future changes might collide with players’ individual schedules: “My position does not depend on anyone’s opinion As far as I know, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov also declined to play in Grand Prix series, although their participation was planned”. But he allowed possibility to take participation in the 2009 World Cup as opportunity to qualify for the World Championship finals.
When being asked on which system for defining world champion would be the best, Morozevich urged on two-years cycle and double round tournaments as there were in San Luis and Mexico City, “clearly a favorite of chess spectators”.
Morozevich also disregarded speculations that there is an ongoing discrimination of Russian Grandmasters. His next tournament will be Melodi Amber rapid/blindfold in Monaco.
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