what makes match play so different from tournatment play? I never realized that there was such a distinction between how good someone is at tournatment play and how good someone is at match play.
The difference is that matches favor players who don't lose, tournaments favor players who rack up wins. Drawish players who are hard to beat (but who don't press for wins) are much stronger in match play than in tournament play. For example, I think it's safe to say Tigran Petrosian, a very strong match player, would never have become World Champion, had the championship been decided in a tournament format.
I think thats true, of course that leaves open the question which is a better method for deciding the WC.
what makes match play so different from tournatment play? I never realized that there was such a distinction between how good someone is at tournatment play and how good someone is at match play.
The principal difference is that matches favor players who don't lose, tournaments favor players who rack up wins. Drawish players who are hard to beat (but who don't press for wins) are much stronger in match play than in tournament play. For example, I think it's safe to say Tigran Petrosian, a very strong match player, would never have become World Champion had the championship been decided in a tournament format.
This is directly related to the way in a match no competitor can gain any points that are outside of his opponent's control... whereas in a tournament -- the vast majority of the points any individual competitor gains are outside the control of any other individual competitor.