Is the World Chess Championship flawed?

Question

That is, is the way of selecting the champion ineffective? What about required rematches, good or bad? What may be some solutions if it is flawed.

Answer 1

They seem to be well thought out and seem to work.  No set of rules can please everyone.

Answer 2

yes

Answer 3

No.

Answer 4

IT DEPENDS

Answer 5

The presentday method is to hold a bi-annual tournament between eight of the top grandmasters in the world, playing one another twice where the winner is declared the world champion. Obviously this system is flawed as the players' participation is decided solely on their ranking in the world list at that time and if they're going through a bad patch then they lose that opportunity. Also, lesser players don;t even get a chance to try their luck at becoming world champion. Who knows, among those 400 wannabes there may be an actual outstanding talent to be found.

One must look at precedents to decide which is the best way to select the world champion and it's challenger.

In the past it's generally accepted that elimination matches are the best way to narrow down a group of candidates, where the final remaining candidate becomes the challenger for the title. As it's logistically impossible to play so many matches among everyone, there must be a series of tournaments from which will emerge the main candidates to play in the elimination matches. This sytem was adopted from 1963-96 and produce undisputed results.

The champ does not need to participate in this qualification tournament or matches as he has done so the previous cycle (the one where he qualified to become a challenger and subsequently champion). However, if a champion loses in the match then he by right must go through the entire cycle again and climb the mountain if he wants to reach the chess summit.

Matches are deemed the best way to decide who's stronger, since players cannot win by fluke to qualify - in matches the strength of players are tested over a period and the better prepared, fitter and more talented player eventually should prevail.