Opera Euro Rapid Finals - So beats Carlsen

Congratulations Wesley! The format is excellent for live audiences like me so we do not have to wait for two hours to start getting excited. If I am the sponsor, I am after the excitement. Chess is already a draw from the beginning. It is in the faster time controls where the action is. If you want truth in Chess, do your homework.

Create separate tournament for Super Grandmasters and for non-super Grandmasters. Super Grandmaster have higher prize so below them will aspire to reach Super grandmaster norms.

Actually, the main players from the top (going by classical ratings top 20) missing from this rapid tour are Caruana(2), Mamedyarov(8), Rapport(12), Hao Wang(13), Anand(16) and Topalov(20) in that order. I imagine Caruana was probably offered a spot but is perhaps not keen on the (short) rapid format, I have no idea if or why any of the others hasn't been offered a spot yet as a wildcard.

Seeing the same names playing over and over and over is boring/redundant/mind numbing. The recent Wijk aan Zee was a refreshing change. I no longer watch these top few players once again discussing their computer opening preparation to the 67th move. I wish the organizers would toss in some players like Wei Yi, Shankland, Navarra, Invanchuk, Jakovenko or Shirov.

silly banter, not for serious chess players

They are the best players in the world. They are in their prime. And then, slowly, they will lose power and vanish from these tournaments and new names will appear. What's the problem?

@jakaiden
I don't mean to be rude but they have actually worked very hard. In fact, they are learning too less than other sportsplayers.

Too many of the same faces playing in tournament the last few years is getting quite tiresome. Give us some more variations PLEASE!

Are the commentators stoned ? Is some pretty strong ganja at work? Not that there's anything wrong with that ...

If I was being generous I might guess that maybe jakaiden was frustrated that almost all the online tournaments held over the last year or so have had broadly the same field of players and thus can get a bit repetitive - a view which may have some justification, although clearly enough people still watch them for the tournaments to make a profit (and this one does have Shankland and Bluebaum, who haven't played most of the others). It's possible to organise tournaments, still have the few elite players but then add a bunch of different ones to vary it a bit - as at Wijk aan Zee, which had Carlsen, Caruana and Giri, but also 'next rung down' players like Anton, Grandelius, Tari, Esipenko and Van Foreest, the last of whom proved there isn't necessarily much difference between the top tier and the next one down by winning the tournament. I'm sure one of those or many others in the 2650-2700 range could make an impact at one of these online tournaments, but they mostly don't get invited.

Yes, it is frustrating that amateurs can't play OTB games at the moment, but that has nothing to do with the Opera tournament. We can still enjoying playing online too, we just don't get paid for doing it because we're not as good as them.

* They have to pay, not to play the online commentary, the advertisers, etc. Excuse me for the typo.

@jakaiden I understand your frustration, however, these rich people did not take anything from you. These tournaments are organized for them to play and us to watch. The organizer takes a lot of risk in organizing such events, because they have to play the online commentary, the advertisers, the players (this is the part where you would like to be in the place of the super GMs) and these are lots of costs. If you were to organize a chess tournament, even though you like lower-rated players to play, it would be unwise in these troubled times to invest a lot of money into lower-rated tournaments, since, most likely you would end up with huge monetary losses, possibly even bankruptcy. Opera is a browser and advertises itself by organizing a chess tournament. If the super GMs would say they won't play, Opera would not organize any tournament because it would end up with losses. Hence, instead of being bitter about others having an opportunity to play, maybe you might consider being grateful to Opera for their investment into a chess tournament, even if you and me can only watch it.

@jakaiden Fischer fought hard to improve professional players earnings and they are still very small compared with other top sports players. Why knock it?

@jakaiden They can't get $100,000 without sponsors and a huge audience, so without... you watching. If you don't like it, don't watch it.
Or maybe you like the way chess was played in the pre-Fischer era, where a gymnasium was the best you could get as chess arena...

Jakaiden, it's your fault that you suck at the game and everything else in your life, not theirs.

Another $100,000 tournament for these rich top players while the rest of us can't even play a normal game. Keep letting the rich get richer.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH US ALL!!