Should we remove the privilege World Champion not to participate in the candidates' tournament ?

If so, the tournament's name should be changed.

World championship coconut shy. All the coconuts get to knock each other over and the man who owns the sideshow wins.

lets think together ok. the arguement for the champion not playing candidates are

1. this is how its been for years

2. he is the best chess player so he should play world chess championships

now lets see arguements for world champion playing candiates are

1. in all sports lets say football lets imagine argentina won the world cup so does that mean that they get qualified directly to the finals? they still have to play the next years world cup entirely so why should chess be any different?

2. it gives the world chess champion a unfair advantage.

i personally think the world chess champion should play in candidates tournament. i also think that now usually 8 people play in candidates tournaments so we should increase it to 10 since 9 is a odd number and one player gets a bye every round. maybe the top 2 highest rated players should join instead of just the highest rated player.

so now basicaly its 16 rounds and not 14 and after the 16 rounds the top 2 should play a match and the winner gets selected to the world championships match. then the 3rd and 4th play a match and the winner plays with the looser of the top 2. then the looser of the top 2 and winner of third and 4th shall play. the looser of that match will play third place match with looser of third vs 4th. the winner shall qualifiy to the grande finale which is the world chess championships. then after that the finals can continue for 18 rounds which is the same lenght as the candidates tournament. whoever wins is world chess champion and both the winner of the finals and loose of the finals get qualified to next years candidates tournament. this makes it a whole more thrilling.

@25

"8 people play in candidates tournaments so we should increase it to 9"
++ 9 is odd, so one player has a bye each round, which makes standings etc. obscure.
It may also be unfair for the last round, when the 8 playing players can react to the results of the other boards, while the bye player can do nothing anymore.

Maybe up to 10 or more?
Zürich 1953 was played with 15 players, but such a long tournament can no longer be organised and financed now.

On the other hand some of the present selection criteria seem inapt.
Why was Nijat Abasov there and not the higher rated Abdusattorov, Erigaisi, So, Wei, Dominguez-Peres, Giri...?

Thinking that you can force someone to play in a competition is rather silly.