Is Kasparov a simul chicken?

Come on guys, remove your lips from the behind of Kasparov. I am a fan of his too but what's with the blind allegiance? If he does something unsporting like this, don't look the other way and don't downplay it. Do you know of any other world champion who required that the pool of his simul opponents be weak amateurs? I don't. Supposedly Bobby Fischer even made fun of his policy saying, "How BAD do you have to be to play Kasparov?"  The reality is if you're in the 2000 range Grandmasters have never heard of you. You're not even on Kasparov's radar because you're just a hack which makes it all the sillier that he bans them. It's a little like the worlds biggest baddest arm wrestler announcing that he's taking on all comers as long as they're under 120 lbs. It's a joke, and it's beneath him. The question isn't why am I picking on him for this, the question is, why aren't you?

In summary, you're asking us to stop having opinions? We should just do whatever you do?

I've read the whole of this thread. It has been repeatedly pointed out that Kasparov has played simuls against very strong line-ups. It has been pointed out that Kasparov will play much stronger players but the price is different (more, no doubt). I'm still trying to work out why you find it so shocking that a retired legend refuses to give up the good stuff at the cheap rate. Fancy a game? pay the man!

Having a dissenting opinion is fine, as long as you back it up.

Simuls for Karpa is only another means to make some "green back"...so why work hard for it?...the lines are still long...and demand is still greater that supply...basic economics...

Nigel Short agrees with you OP.  Fast forward to 5:05.  Then again, Kasparov's response is acceptable in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfWuQiIo6dw

I think Kasparov's aiming for the history books though.  People will look back at Kasparov years later and see he regularly won all his games in his simuls of 20-30 people and be amazed.  That type of thing.

It's not that he won't play anyone under 2000, he just considers playing experienced players another type of event. Here is the quote from the website:

"Players must be true amateurs who have 1999 ELO points or less, no exceptions. No player who has ever held a Rating of 2000 or over is permitted--it is contrary to the spirit of the simul and to the agreement. No coaching or computer assistance is permitted.

If the sponsor/organizer requires serious players who want a serious match, this is a different sort of evening with four to five hours scheduled and is a very different event."

He probably just wants to know the level of preparation (if any) he would need to make for the event, and how seriously he would need to take the games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfWuQiIo6dw

Fyy0r, thank you for that link!

Not only does GM Short agree, Kasparov agrees too! Around 5:40 while Short is literally laughing at him for his simul policy, a red-faced Garry apologetically says, "I'm happy to face stronger opposition, and maybe next year you know we have to consider new limits to make it more competetive."

Case closed. Bless you Nigel for asking the question, and thank you Garry for rethinking your simul policy!

Nigel's hand motions at the very beginning of the question is funny.  Perfectly expresses his feelings.  He's a goofy, funny guy that Nigel.

You stake the cash, Kasparov will play over 2000.

You're making way too much out of the boilerplate on the website.

Let him do what he wants to do.. All you guys that are 2300 or whatever have a chance to play against the big boys at some point so no one feels bad for you.

 Kasparov is scared of no one, and to call him out because he has limits on simuls?  That's like a bunch of decent boxers talking down on Tyson because he won't fight them all at once one handed. 

 If you want to see Kasparov in true form, check out his games against other GMs, but don't call him out when you don't even know his reasons.  Maybe he wants to play simuls only to promote the game.. Obviously if you've ever been above 2000, the game does not need to be 'promoted' to you, because you've studied it in depth.

 I'm sure if you wanted to donate a ton of $$$ to charity for a match, Kasparov would take you on. Kasparov is the best, and doesn't owe us anything, and has nothing to prove.  Hassling him about this only makes it less likely that he will be a part of chess in the future, and that will be a loss for all of us.

For a normal game, standard time can vary, but is usually somethin glike 40 moves in 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes after you've made 40 moves.  That's 2 hours per player, so each game could last 4 hours, maximum.

In a simul exhibition, the organizers are going to want to keep things moving, and he certainly can't be spending an hour or two on each game.

Obviously, it isn't feasible to give him the normal amount of time while doing a simul exhibit.  Most likely, you want the entire exhibition to last 3 or 4 hours.  Lets say you want it to last 3.  He has 3 hours to play 20 games.  180 minutes, divided by 20 games, ignoring time to walk from board to board, and that's 9 minutes a game.  Even if you go to 4 hours total, 20 games works out to 12 minutes a game. 

And you are pretending that if he isn't playing against masters or grandmasters, he's chicken, that it's not a fair game.  In the meantime, these other players, playing only one game at a time, have plenty of time to think.  More than they would have in a real match.

How about you and I play a game, where you get 1/20th of the time that I get.  Your rating is much higher than mine, you are clearly a much stronger player,  should be easy, right?  But if I have 5 minutes, and you get 1/20th of the time I have, that means you have a total of 15 seconds to play the entire game.  I sort of like my odds.

That hardly sounds fair - and you don't even have to play 19 other games at the same time, the way you are expecting Kasparov to do.

I thought this was over when Garry Kasparov himself said that it's time to face stronger opposition in his simuls and raise the rating limit he had imposed. Don't you know checkmate when you see it?

As far as I know, he hasn't actually changed the rule.  Personally, I don't care if he changes the rule or not - that is up to him and the orgnaizers of any exhibitions he agrees to do.

I'm not the cry baby who is upset that Kasparov isn't playing against masters and grandmasters while under a huge handicap.

It's just a straw argument people are having fun tearing apart.

Nobody is saying that some over 2000 folks have actually come to Kasparov with a bag of money for a simul and he said no.

To the contrary, he's said if that happens he'd do it.

But that's a separate thing than his standard simul.

So big deal.

I'm curious if anyone has ever done simul exhibits 20 at a time against the top rated players.

Seems to me that what Mr Crybaby is asking for hasn't been done by anyone else, either.  Is Anand doing it?  Has Karmnik done it?  Topalov? Carlsen?

Why is Kasparov singled out when *nobody* does simuls the way gbidari wants them to.

It's not necessary to call Glenn a crybaby.

Of course, the name calling started when he created the thread, calling Kasparov a chicken and a wussy and a coward and similar things.

Just because he's accomodating doesn't mean he was wrong to begin with. But I don't know why you are still beating this horse, you got what you wanted, a free shot at the big guy with lots of others to back you up.

Great interviewing style by Short there, asking a question and then laughing at him in the face while Garri has to formulate some sort of convincing answer

Yes, winning a simul with 30 - 0 is a real feat for the guy who is widely considered the best chess player of all time, with the highest ever elo rating.