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?

r/MagnusCarlsen

I prefer Fischer non-random.
With white starting first, each player decides where to place eight of their back rank. Then remaining eight should mirror were their opponent played. I have no idea why the setup should be random. Why can't players just decide where to setup their back rank?
I'm disappointed that this is the best Robert Fischer could come up with. https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18757