Larry Smith wrote on Fri, Oct 3, 2008 06:15 AM UTC:
FIDE has chosen to promote the Mad Queen variant. One of the goals of the
organization was to advocate a standard form of play. They could chose to
promote something else.
Of course the organization is made up of a lot of people who have
dedicated their lives to the Mad Queen variant, and they will be highly
reluctant to place all that effort in jeopardy if they had to compete with
a new form of play.
If FIDE does not adapt, little by little they will discover that their
tournaments are slowly becoming irrelevant. And simply 'fixing' the Mad
Queen variant will not be sufficient.
And since the rise of the video game, board games have seen a decrease
among the general public. (It would be interesting to see the actual sales
figures for the last twenty years, though CCGs might have countered any
loss.) So, the expectation of the popular rise of a New Chess will not be
easily realized.
It will take a large organization, with a large advertising budget, to
create the necessary trend in the short run. The superiority of the game
will need to be demonstrated by highly ranked and popular Mad Queen
players(and what's in it for them?).
Is anyone here ready to publicly challenge a Grandmaster to a game of
their favorite variant? (I have the image of a masked woodpusher screaming
challenges at the camera.) It would be best if they were able to actually
win the chosen game.
