Quote:
Originally Posted by The Yugoslavian
It's hard for me to root for karjakin because he's Putin's man. I agree with everything you've said though. He is a seemingly lovable nerd who just wants to chess and do his best. He very humble and modest but I also think he's very uninteresting otherwise. But he's likely only in this position because of Putin's direct and indirect support.
Id like him much better as a top twenty player with no real champion chance. Which it seems is what he is. Except he has a super human mental resolve and along with likely extraordinary preparation, has been very impressive.
Obviously I don't care for Putin - it's just that Karjakin seems like such a sweet guy that I can't help but root for him.
I have chess heros like Nimzowitch, Kasparov and Magnus who are pretty much the exact opposite of Karjakin.
My favourite chess-story is Nimzo getting up on the table and shouting "Gegen diesen Idioten muss Ich verlieren!" when losing to Sämisch, and I love Kasparovs huge ego and Carlsens arrogance, because they so they back up their arrogance with skill and superiority.
So chess-wise, Karjakin is very unlike all the other chess-idols I have. It's just that he's such a sweet, lovable underdog of chess.