No surprise that I disagree.Spock wrote: Well the audience is important, as well as the players. Delicate balance. If the players don't like the rules, they won't play, and if the audience don't like the rules they won't follow the tournament. Maybe some players won't care about that, but I do believe that is what the WCCC is all about - putting on a show for the chess community. So in a way the people shouting on the forums' opinions are the most valuable of all.
The WCCC is all about putting a show for the sponsor. And the sponsor (of the WCCC) does not care about the CCC audience. They target the chess audience. And they do not care about the hardware at all.
It is funny, but in the F1, which is often dragged in as an example of a hardware limited competition, a similar argument is being fought between the organisers and the teams. The organisers (FIA) want a cap on the team budgets, the teams that are organised in the FOTA do not want that.
Now I ask you: If the FIA gets its way, will it attract more spectators?
If the FOTA gets its way, will it attract less spectators?
I guess the answer on both questions should be no. So please, let the spectators out of the discussion. They are no party in this.
Now, where the comparison between F1 and chess goes wrong is that the majority of the costs of participating in the tournaments are not in the hardware. They are in the fees (for the commercials), travel, hotel costs, meals and whisky (at least for some teams ). And those costs are more or less equal for all teams.
Richard.