Seriously, everyone is talking nonsense, literally everyone is spouting complete rubbish. Even if Alex was wrong back then and acted inappropriately, Vitaly is doing the same now. As for all your subjective opinions about skills and where combat prowess is more valued, it's all complete nonsense. One person will sit in Minsk, sober, and "defeat" hungover players who are uncomfortable playing outside their home environment, while another will sweat it out online against someone who is tired and falling asleep after work. There are different aspects to everything... and this comparison with football is devilishly bad, which again is related to purely personal opinions. In general, I disagree with everyone, but regarding the main point, I support Numwan. Forcing two good players to play a specific game (and each player has their own preferred version) isn't worth it.