Grantland fights the good fight...

…but even I'm having trouble getting psyched for this:

It's time to get prepped for your new November obsession: the FIDE World Chess Championship finals between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. This is the most hotly anticipated chess match since Garry Kasparov's prime. Aside from matches involving the Russian grandmaster, this is the most anticipated match since Bobby Fischer squared off against Boris Spassky. It's well worth your time.

(link)


The problem is that this will be like watching Ali fight himself - lots of smart, sound positional battles, few mistakes, everything at a high level.  I suspect it will be Alekhine-Capablance II, where the more dynamic Carlson will adapt his style to exploit small inaccuracies by the aging Anand.  Chaos, and the sense of chess as a game of risk and nerve, will not be present.  Hope I'm wrong.

We need to adjust the rules of chess so this guy gets a shot.  He's awesome.