Friday
Jun112021
The Fighting Chess Index
Friday, June 11, 2021 at 2:08AM
Before you have a look at GM David Smerdon's top 50 and how he calculated his "fighting chess index", take a guess as to who was #1 from 2015-2020. Some of you may be surprised (at least those of you with long memories and a hatred for the "B-word"). And you probably won't be surprised by who came in last, at least if you've been paying attention. Regardless, it's fun, and there are surprises like alleged drawmeister Anish Giri finishing ahead of Daniil Dubov (as noted by HT recipient Ross Hytnen).
Thoughts?
Reader Comments (2)
"take a guess as to who was #1 from 2015-2020"
I was surprised indeed (and never would have guessed). However it was a pleasant surprise as I've felt for years that his reputation is very unjustified. Even his drawing rate (the simplest test) never was particularly high when compared to top players.
As David Smerdon emphasizes, it's about 2015-2020 - Kramnik's final phase where he often played all-or-nothing chess or, as Nigel Short quipped, played "like a drunken machine gunner". It includes the 2018 candidates (+3=7-4 was very decisive for such an event) and the "show" he put up in Wijk aan Zee 2019 - while already knowing himself that he would retire from classical chess after the event.
[DM: Yes, but it wasn't just those two events. There's Wijk, Dortmund and the Olympiad in 2018; Zurich, the Gashimov Memorial, the Russian Team Championship, Norway Chess, Dortmund, the World Cup, the Isle of Man, and the European Club Cup in 2017, and you can tally up his classical events in 2015 and 2016. Yes, he went a bit crazy in the Candidates and especially that last Wijk aan Zee, but while that little bit extra may have helped guarantee the top spot in the list, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to outweigh several years of torpid chess, had he been guilty of it.]
Dubov isn't on the list at all because he wasn't top50 on average over those five years (around #95 in early 2017, in and out of the top100 before). Maybe Ross Hytnen has additional info (from David Smerdon himself?). For me, Giri's reputation has always been undeserved. He drew a lot, but not really on purpose - rather due to relatively poor conversion and good defensive skills (many draws also from good/winning or bad/losing positions).