Posted by Jonathan Berry on July 17, 2008, 14:14:11, in reply to "Final results in 9th Karpov Poikovsky"
Chess Columnist - Nanaimo BC

Yes, chess can survive even this grievous Poikovsky blow. Soccer survived draws (though it may be a better game without draws). I don't know much about Cricket, but I understand that a match can have "no result" even after days of playing. Yet the game is popular, hugely so in some places. It's just a gut feeling, but it seems to me that in chess the number of sponsorships and number of events with plenty of top-100 players is increasing. I credit this to four things: there is light at the end of the tunnel regarding a sensible world championship format ("reunification" if you will); measures are slowly being tested to boost the competitiveness of the games; economic improvement in the former Soviet Union; it's not just Europeans anymore. If you had presented figures on: -- percentage of moves already known to theory; or -- number of games ending in premature draws; I would not necessarily have been so willing to give an optimistic response.