Quote
But just as I think not all players who play in world championship events are world class, I choose to characterize all grandmasters as "world class". In a sense, of course, the titel grand master means world class in chess...but there are grand masters and then there are champions... and there is as much difference between Gary Kasparov (spelling) and lower grandmasters, like american Joel Benjamin and there is between between Fred and me in bridge.
ben
ben
Referring to the latest ELO FIDE list (http://www.maskeret....gi?jul04frl.zip), I think that most of the top 50 ELO listed cannot be discarded from a "world class" award, and I believe this is a common feeling in nthe chess community. To thses, we have to incluide many other players who have decided to stop playing regularly for others activities (e.g. coaching etc), such as Yusupov, Dolmatov, Ulf Andersson, and many more.
I mean, I do not think that a world class is necessarily someone who will fight for the world championship.
So I agree with the statement that a GM in chess is world class almost by definition.
And I also obviously agree that *some* of the GMs are of another planet compared to the rest :-)