The World Chess Championship is a significant cultural, artistic, and sporting event. In the most recent World Chess Championship, Magnus Carlsen retained his title by defeating challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, 7.5-3.5. Subsequently, Carlsen declined to defend his crown again, although he still plays in elite level over the board and online chess tournaments. Thus, the current World Chess Championship match--which began in Astana, Kazakhstan on Sunday--pits Nepomniachtchi, the winner of the most recent Candidates Tournament, versus Ding Liren, who finished second in the most recent Candidates Tournament.
Nepomniachtchi and Ding drew game one on Sunday, but in today's game two Nepomniachtchi sacrificed the Exchange and won in sparkling fashion after Ding played an unusual move order in the opening. Thus, Nepomniachtchi leads 1.5-.5 in a race to 7.5 points; there will be tiebreaker games if the match ends with a 7-7 score.
After each game, the players participate in a press conference, fielding questions from a moderator, from online questioners, and from credentialed media members attending the event.
I have worked as a credentialed media member covering sports events, so I have been "treated" to listening to idiotic questions asked by the likes of Andre Aldridge and Vincent Thomas. Mike Klein is a FIDE Master who has won a host of journalism awards. He should know better than to ask idiotic questions at a World Chess Championship press conference. His job is to ask questions that inspire the players to provide insights about the game of chess in general and about this prestigious event in particular.
Instead, today after game two Klein asked Nepomniachtchi who does he expect will be the first person to send him a congratulatory text message after Nepomniachtchi finally won a World Chess Championship game for the first time. In one question, Klein managed to combine a backhanded compliment--was it necessary to remind Nepomniachtchi that this was his first win in World Chess Championship play?--with a question that cannot possibly generate a meaningful answer. Nepomniachtchi replied that he will probably receive congratulations from his parents and from his friends, but that he is mostly avoiding social media to concentrate on the event. Klein followed up by noting that former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov liked the number 13 and then asking if Nepomniachtchi ascribes any significance to the number 13 since he obtained his first World Chess Championship win in his 13th World Chess Championship game. Nepomniachtchi replied, "No."
If Klein is trying to be funny, no one is laughing. If he thinks that he is asking insightful questions, no one with any modicum of intelligence would agree.
Grandmaster Irina Krush, a member of the World Chess Championship online commentary team (along with former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand), provided a welcome contrast to Klein's foolishness. She asked Nepomniachtchi if during the game he realized that a position similar to one of the game's opening positions had previously been seen in an online blitz game (Ding Liren-Levon Aronian). He replied that he was not sure, because during the game he was focused on figuring out the position's nuances. Nepomniachtchi went into some detail about his in-game thought process. Then, Krush asked Ding if he had been surprised by the recapture ...gxf6. Ding candidly admitted that he had been surprised, and that he had only considered ...Qxf6. He then stated what he had planned to play. Krush's questions were on point, and elicited thoughtful answers from both players. Chess.com can send Klein home, and cede their press conference time to Krush.
If the tone of this article seems harsh, part of the reason is that Chess.com is a repeat offender in terms of being an organization whose World Chess Championship reporters are woefully unqualified. During the previous World Chess Championship, "Sean from Chess.com" asked Nepomniachtchi if he had shaved off his famous "man bun" after a loss as an act of shame like samurais used to do. That kind of idiotic question does nothing to promote chess, the World Chess Championship, or the journalism profession. As a strong amateur chess player, a fan/historian of the World Chess Championship, and a journalist, I am saddened and offended by such nonsense.
Is it too much to ask of Chess.com that they hire competent journalists who are capable of asking questions that are not idiotic?
Side note: is it too much to ask of the various organizations that present awards to journalists that they honor people who are capable of stringing together coherent and insightful thoughts? Klein is just one of many people who have won so many journalism awards that they may actually have deluded themselves into believing that they are credible journalists.
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