Short for abolition of GM titles, wants rankings instead

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) GM Nigel Short of England today said he was not in favour of bestowing norms like Grand Masters and International Masters, and instead called for ratings on the lines of the ATP.

Speaking at a press conference to give details of the upcoming Commonwealth Chess championship which will be held here from November 20, the former world no two Nigel Short said the Grand Master titles have been debauched due to the corrupt practices indulged in by several players who were not averse to buying these titles.

''My personal opinion is to do away with these titles in chess.

I know several instances of tournaments being fixed in order to help players attain the required norms and then get the GM titles. There have been instances of players throwing away matches for money to enable their opponents get these titles,'' Short said, while mincing no words about the present status of chess.

Short, who is here to play in the November 20-29 Commonwealth Chess Championship as well as in his capacity as the president of the Commonwealth Chess Association, further lashed out at the world body FIDE saying they did little to stamp out these malpractices and, on the contrary, was even encouraging them.

''To me rankings are sufficient to guage a player's worth. There are over 1000 players -- both past and present -- who are holding GM titles. The titles are not the same as they were twenty years ago,'' said Short who explained how the lowering of the qualifying standards deliberately by FIDE has devalued the titles.

''In the olden days, if a person had to get a norm after a 13-round tournament, he or she had to play extremely well throughout, but currently they can play well for nine rounds and play like fools in the last four but still get the norms,'' Short elaborated.

Short, however, said that despite these corrupt practices that have lowered the game's image, the standards have remained high thanks to the advent of laptop computers.

''The standards have remained high due to the ubiquitous laptops which help the players maintain their high levels,'' said Short who is to travel to Doha for the December 1-15 Asian Games as the coach of the Iranian team.

Short, who has been coaching Indian prodigy Parimarjan Negi, predicted a bright future for the 13-year-old talent, but said he still had a long way to go and cannot be compared to Viswanathan Anand immediately.

''Negi is a very diligent and hard-working player. He's very talented, but still has a long way to go. He cannot be compared to Vishy Anand. The very fact that he's in the top 300 players in the world at 13 years of age shows how good he is,'' the British GM said.

Short said that Negi can expect tough challenge from slightly older rivals like Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Ukraine's Sergei Karjaikin in the future.

''Sergei is a fantastic player and is already right up there among the very best in the world. He and Magnus will be the challenge to Parmarjan,'' the British chess great said.

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