I wish carlsen joined

Look at other sports.  It's not like last years super bowl winner is automatically granted a bid in the big game.  Same with the world series, world cup, NBA, Stanley Cup, the Masters, every Tennis major, the Olympics, ETC.  Every major sport does it that way, Chess is a serious outlier.

@nereverine....I respectably disagree with your opinion.  In the Women's World Championship that starts tomorrow the sitting champion Alexandra Kosteniuk does not have a free pass to the finals.  In fact she has to survive all six rounds that the other 63 competitors  need to in order to win the championship.  The only advantage that she gets is that she is automatically seeded #1 being the sitting champion (where she is only ranked #14 in the world), but she could conceivably get knocked out way before the finals.  So if Kosteniuk doesn't have the advantage of being automatically placed in the finals why should Anand?  How is that fair to have two sets of rules one for Men and one for Women?  Perhaps Carlsen's boycott of the event is an extreme response, but he does have a point.

If Carlsen plays he has a very good chance against anyone. But if he continue to refuse playing in the World cylce unless changed according  to his taste, He would never become a world champion.

His suggestion  doesnt seem likey to be accepted.  Since the time of Steinitz the classical  world champion is determined by beating the world champion in a match.  And that is only the time he can be rightfully called the  world champion.

Carlsen proposal would entail the possibility  of a player becoming  a WCC (World Chess Champion)without ever having  beaten the current WCC in a match. And in that case,  his stake to the crown will remain questionable.

Kamsky,Aronian,Kramnik,Gelfand.Those are my picks with the upgraded match-ups sans the whiner.

Isn't the point of the protest that Anand gets an automatic qualifer, that is, only has to win ONE match against someone, where all qualifiers must beat multiple top candidates to be considered best?  That's called an unfair advantage.

I reckon Magnus was just afraid of crossing paths with Mr Kirsan's brother, and end up disappearing as well forever,leaving no traces ( just  like poor journalists investigating small Kalmykia, like Yudina).

Now even more serious...

I really support Magnus withdrawal, to be honest...

A lot of people comply with everything, cuz theyre the sharks that rule the chess world .

And if he is the one with more chances, so let him decide whats best for him !!

Just my two cents

I have offended some people (and philidor-position especially) with my suggestion that Karzan is an inappropriate venue for the Candidates Match. 

Notwithstanding my also saying:  "Nothing against Kazan itself - it may, or may not be, a lovely place to live or even visit; its just an inappropriate venue for an event of this nature. "

My comment was prompted by my desire to see the profile of chess raised high. The 'sixth largest city in Russia' is not a world focal point. A major chess event like this should be held in one of the world's major cities, whether Moscow, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Rio de Janeirio, Cairo...The chances of gaining mainstream attention would be considerably higher. The opportunity for people from around the world to attend the match would be much greater too. 

A simple - and surely inoffensive - observation. 

 Kazan is an excellent place for this matches. If you look where was last Chess Olympiad, you'll see that Kazan is a bigger city. Why do you need population anyway? Kazan is a capital of Tatarstan. It's very beautiful city. 

P.S Kazan is a champion of Russia of football (soccer) - FC "Rubin" and hockey -"Ak Bars".

IaMatt: haha, are you serious?  it's not like that at all.  (and what's wrong with holding the super bowl in Dallas?)

chess.com: "If you want reconsider Magnus, the contract is right here."

Carlsen: "Magnus no want reconsider. Magnus like chess but Magnus no like FIDE."

-BTW you guys, Kazan is definitely way too small of a city in which to hold the Candidates matches. That's like having the Superbowl in Dallas or something.

  well good luck to all qualifiers in the next 2012 world chess FIDE ..championship to know who will face GM VISHY ANAND

  Can somebody take the time to explain to me exactly how these eight people were chosen to be the Candidates to the world championship cycle.  I haven't closely followed the cycle since Kasparov got through it in 1984.  Back then it began with zonal tournements (the US being a Zone by itself used the US Championships as their zonal tournement and the top three got by to the next step).  The next step were the interzonal tournements and from the players with the best results from each of those Interzonal tournements were then placed into the Candidates matches.

     There seems to be several different criteria here.  Some people were chosen through their Grand Prix results, some were chosen by their rating, Gelfand was chosen for his results from the 2009 World Cup, Mamedyarov was chosen as a wildcard.  It seems very confusing to me.  There should be a consistent criteria for being a candidate for the world championship whether it be the top eight rated players in the world or the players that get the top eight point totals in the Grand Prix series.  I can see why there is complaints about the system.  I really am not complaining about the players that were selected as they are all world class players.  I am just wondering on exactly how they were chosen.

davidmelbourne: obscure, distant, small (pop: 1.1 million)

I wish that were a joke... Wow. And distant from where exactly, like, your garden? Do you realize this is an international event we're talking about here, and we are all inhabitants of the planet earth? If it were organized on the moon or Jupiter or something, yeah that would be distant, obscure allright. But while we're on planet earth, and especially considering the number of ex-soviet players & Gelfand, it's actually much closer to players than it would be on like, the GARDEN of your house at Australia.

And 1.1 million is by NO MEANS a small population. Not even close. In fact it makes your comment look like a joke, but unfortunately, it's not...

CARLSIN IS ALREADY ACCEPT HIS DEFEAT TO VISHY HE UNDERSTAND THAT HE HAS NO MATCH TO REIGNING WC' ONLY ANANDS PROBLEM NOW IS ARONIAN WHOS FASTIES IMPROVING HIS CHESS ARSENAL

My prediction Gelfand will stun everbody and play Anand in the "middle aged men bowl".  Carlsen may be the future of chess, but experience still has some merit.  BTW, I wouldn't count out anybody, Aronian has been playing really well, Kramnik is a former World Champion and Topalov and Kamsky both have played for the World Championship in the past.

Carlsen may have some points in his protest, but he is the one losing out by not participating.  This field is definitely strong enough to give merit to it evn without Carlsen being there.

@davidmelbourne --- I don't know about you, but a city of 1.1 MILLION people is not a SMALL town by any means. The 6th largest city of Russian does not constitute a small city by any reasonable measure, c'mon now. A town of like 5-10,000 people would be small. When we're talking in the millions here, that isn't a small town anymore.

I agree with Carlsen.  The Chess World Cup is unfair. Imagine any other sport allowing the previous years Champ to automatically go to the final.  How would Tennis be if Nadal went right to the final or if Spain in the next world cup only had to play in the final.  Chess needs to change. 

To see if Carlsen will play or not, we may have to wait until Jan 2, 2011 not Dec 22, 2010.

As FIDE stated in paragraph 3.3.1., "...The FIDE may accept late contracts received after the deadline, within 10 days and only for serious reasons..."  

I do like Anand, especially over Topalov, but I am rooting for either Mamedyarov or Radjabov.