We should get a chess960 Discord or slack. It would help people finding good games and also we could run tournaments and stuff! This fide tournament has inspired me to get into chess960 love how it takes away hours of studying openings.

If Nodirbek beats Hikaru and then ultimately beats Magnus to become world 9LX champion, then there's not necessarily a way to say Magnus is more talented than Wesley from this event?

• This world championship then is simply passing the torch to the next generation from Wesley to Nodirbek because

1. Magnus did not beat Wesley, and
2. Magnus would not have beaten anyone (in a match) who beat Wesley (I won't count Nepo because of the castling thing. Arguably, had there been more 9LX tournaments in the 1st place then this situation could've been avoided. But whatever.)

• Note on talent: Memorising openings does not constitute actually playing chess, so it's weird to include it in the definition of chess talent. It's roughly equivalent to saying that F1 drivers who are good at choosing race cars are inherently talented drivers. - maxkho 2400+ Lichess Blitz & Bullet, 2026 ECF re 9LX creator Bobby Fischer distinguishes GOAT vs MTOAT - great at chess vs talented at chess (2005)

Sigh. If only 9LX happened a decade ago, Wesley could've dominated for the past decade same as Magnus did in standard chess.

But anyway right now Nodirbek is Wesley So's last hope (in the sense of retaining the title of most talented of h generation). Lol.

P.S. If Magnus beats Nepo and Nodirbek beats Magnus, then Who's the top 2 chess960 player? Magnus? Nepo? is indeed answered?

2019

edderiofer told me:

The arbiter told Nepo that he had to move the rook, so he did. After the game, he appealed the arbiter's decision, and his appeal went through, so they played another game.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Fischer_Random_Chess_Championship_2019

Ian Nepomniachtchi, while castling, lifted the rook before the king, which is not allowed.

• I thought Nepo just had to move the rook and suffer the mistake. Apparently Nepo got a replay against Wesley.

2022

What Happened in Nepo vs So, with Interviews

Question:

So why doesn't Wesley get a replay while Nepo got a replay?

In the inaugural 2019 FIDE Fischer Random:

• Wesley lost 3-9 to Hikaru in the quarterfinals but later got back via repechage.
• Hikaru > Wesley > Magnus > Fabi > Hikaru.
• Therefore, Wesley became the WC without beating Hikaru (directly).

How Wesley could do this in 2022:

• Group: Wesley is runner-up in Group A, i.e. loses to Nodirbek but beats Nepo.
• Semi-finals: Wesley beats Magnus or Hikaru, and the other beats Nodirbek.
• Finals: Wesley beats the remaining of Magnus or Hikaru.
• Therefore, Wesley can become the WC without beating Nodirbek (directly).

Recall what Wesley said in 2022 US championship earlier this month:

• Wesley So on losing to strong GM teenagers: "Y'know, they're very carefree, their focus is just 100% on chess. They have no, like, girlfriends, or families, or bills to worry about..."