Fragile Ego

FIDE comes under fire even on those rare occasions that they get it right.

What happened? FIDE comes out with an April rating list, and usually, although the official rules say that a certain March tournament won't be counted for that list, it gets counted anyway, because it's so important. Essentially, then, for all these years FIDE has been breaking its own rules to pander to the ratings-obsessed, insecure players out there. What do they do this year? They abide by their actual rules.

And someone complains. No, really. FIDE did everything by the book, and the Indian Chess Federation complained, because Anand is first if you count the tournament, second if you don't.

Who the hell cares? How immature do you have to be to care what your rank is? I thought this was all about the beauty and competition of chess.

Nope. Not for the Indians. And FIDE caved. What a farce.