[oldstrangers]

Be mad at FIDE for failing to adapt the match format to something less ridiculous. For years Magnus advocated for changing both the World Championship Cycle and the format of the games (classical, rapid, blitz). FIDE did nothing, as expected.

Currently the World Chess Championship is just a collection of very talented chess players spending months having supercomputers evaluate positions looking for the slightest imaginable edge.

[Andrew_nenakhov]

Having watched Karpov/Kasparov battles as a child, I don't think that the match format is ridiculous. I'd only change the tiebreaks rule to use the same time control as the main event.

[oldstrangers]

Well yeah, the match format wasn't ridiculous in the 80s and 90s when it was still human prep vs human prep.

[Andrew_nenakhov]

So, now you have computers that show you the best moves, ok. But this knowledge still has to be squeezed into a human brain. So I don't see any problem with the match format. And even 'draw death' talks are laughable after latest candidates tournament and yours championship.

[oldstrangers]

Memorizing 20-30 or even 40 lines is next to trivial for a Super GM. And prior to this year with more decisive games, the championship was becoming incredibly stale with every event being decided by tie breaks. And despite how exciting this event was, it was still decided by rapid tiebreaks. So do what Carlsen says, reduce the number of classical games and throw in rapid and blitz, winner takes all. That makes the most sense.

[Andrew_nenakhov]

Quite the opposite approach would be better. Tiebreaks only happened because players are actively seeking them for various reasons, playing to 14 draws in previous matches. Set the formula to 5 wins in classical (like it used to be), and it would be a real chess championship event. Players would no longer seek draws hoping for some luck in the tiebreaks.

[oldstrangers]

...and then you get what happened in 84-85, a match that lasts 48 games and 159 days.