Breaking News: Magnus Carlsen won't defend his title!

by ChessBase
7/21/2022 – Ending months of speculation, Magnus Carlsen has officially announced he will not be defending his title in a rematch against Ian Nepomniachtchi come the end of 2022. As a result, the second-place winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren, will face the Russian to determine the new World Champion. (Photo: Albert Silver)
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Although this was not the first time he had voiced reservations about the World Championship matches, many did not fully believe it would come down to this. Even Garry Kasparov recently expressed his doubts it would happen. 

"[...]If Magnus plays, and I can hardly believe he will not, we’ll probably see a tougher match."

Yet in a podcast that aired Tuesday, Magnus Carlsen ended the speculation once and for all as he explained he had already met with FIDE and made his decision known.

The decision

"[...]I’ve spoken to people in my team, I’ve spoken to FIDE, I spoke to Ian as well. And the conclusion is, yeah, it’s very simple, that I am not motivated to play another match. I simply feel that I don’t have a lot to gain, I don’t particularly like it, and although I’m sure a match would be interesting for historical reasons and all of that, I don’t have any inclination to play and I will simply not play the match."

He did go further to explain that the stress of the matches, more than even boredom, as many have opined, Magnus included, has weighed down on it. The many books on past matches certainly lend credence to this. Readers will recall the tales of hypnotists and coded yogurts in Karpov-Korchnoi, the endless behind-the-scenes battles in the 1972 match between Fischer and Spassky, and the Toiletgate scandal between Kramnik and Topalov in their reunification match in 2006 to name but a few.

"But the matches themselves have been at times interesting, at times a little bit of fun. The most fun match probably was the one in 2018. At least that was the most interesting one, and probably also for me it had the least stressful moments [...]"

Not retirement

Magnus Carlsen was quick to assure this was not a repeat of the Fischer incident nearly 50 years ago. While he won't defend his title, nor is he resigning it as Bobby Fischer did, and more importantly he is neither retiring from chess, nor even taking a step back from active play.

"Just so there’s no ambiguity here, I’m not retiring from chess, I’m still going to be an active player. I’m leaving later today to go to Croatia to play the Grand Chess Tour. From there on I’m going to go to Chennai to play the Olympiad, which is going to be a lot of fun [...] Obviously, I enjoy them a lot more than I enjoy the World Championship, and frankly I don’t see myself stopping as a chess player any time soon."

The forthcoming title match

Ultimately this means that per the FIDE rules, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren will face each other for the next title bout and the winner of it will become the new World Champion. What does this mean should the World no.1 and World Champion not be the same person? This is not a unique situation, and even after the 2000 match loss to Vladimir Kramnik, who now held the title, Garry Kasparov was still the Elo dominant player for the years to come.

Statement by FIDE President Arkadij Dvorkovich

As published on the official FIDE website

While Magnus Carlsen has not officially withdrawn yet, as he has not been sent the contract for the match and a deadline has not been formally set, at FIDE we understand his decision is final.

In view of that, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has issued the following statement:

Magnus Carlsen deserves nothing but respect from FIDE, and from the whole chess community, in whatever decision he makes regarding his career. Only a handful of people in history can understand and assess the tremendous toll that it takes playing five matches for the title.

Many other great champions, in other sports, have experienced something similar: with the passing of the years, it is more difficult to find the motivation to train and compete at the highest level, while the reward for the victory never feels as intense as the first day.

We had hoped that after some deserved rest, Magnus would look at this differently. Sports legends like him always strive for goals and records. He is still young and could possibly have added more classical titles to his already outstanding career, as he will surely try in the Rapid and Blitz modalities, which he favours.

Since he first expressed his doubts publicly, FIDE has been open to dialogue and to consider specific proposals to change the format of the World Championship. Some of these ideas were discussed in May with Carlsen and other top players, and in Madrid, we had a meeting where all the concerns were discussed openly and in detail. Alas, it did not change his mind.

His decision not to defend his title is undoubtedly a disappointment for the fans, and bad news for the spectacle. It leaves a big void. But chess is now stronger than ever —in part, thanks to Magnus— and the World Championship Match, one of the longest and most respected traditions in the world of sports, will go on.

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maxharmonist maxharmonist 7/22/2022 06:52
”So where does MC stand if he wants to be recognized as best and not WC? Pretty much on thin ice since he farmed the elo points and fame on Fide's expense. I wouldn't be surprised if Fide cancels his participation to top rated tournaments - - - This would be objectively correct approach if he is not interested in the title”

I’m genuinely puzzled by many of these posts…
physica physica 7/22/2022 05:46
@arzi

Personally I'm a bit surprised if it is true that he didn't graduate from high school. But that's irrelevant now and does not depend on his capabilities. People can do fine and better than people with 100% book worm education and zero own competence.

We are circling around one same question: why did he give up the title? I and you don't know why, and it seems he doesn't want to tell insultingly by giving such dull reasoning.

That being said, did he gave up because he just doesn't care? We saw this before and Garry left to form PCA. In this light G's decision was correct but didn't last long. I'm pretty sure if MC tries to form a new competing organization, it will end up same way or much worse. So where does MC stand if he wants to be recognized as best and not WC? Pretty much on thin ice since he farmed the elo points and fame on Fide's expense. I wouldn't be surprised if Fide cancels his participation to top rated tournaments as well as Candidate defining tournaments since they live in synergy. This would be objectively correct approach if he is not interested in the title. You can count on Fide's swiftness this time. They don't let anyone make fool of themselves as long as Garry did.

Garry's response sums this up neatly: he is disappointed on MC's decision but switches to blame Fide and its everlasting evil. What is Magnus' goal now with the bias he's trying to change how chess should be played? To make people stop playing classical chess and switch to rapid, blitz and bullet? Why don't count in chess boxing?

IMO we don't need to abandon classical format at the top. Just force openings that humans can't memorize to draw such as French sidelines, Indian systems, Benoni, Robatsch, Alekhine, KG, Dutch etc. but keep them secret til the start.
arzi arzi 7/22/2022 03:41
Maybe Fide should end this current WC system? Either ends it for good or changes it a bit that it can be played every year. These matches are played to find out who is the best player of the planet. Actually, WC matches don´t tell us who is the best player of the year. Winning the WC match and having the highest elo number proves at least the strenght of the player compared to his latest opponent. Carlsen has kept his elo number at a completely different height than other players year after year. Caruana once had his number quite close to Carlsen's.

Perhaps, however, the results of other strong tournaments should also be included when we start comparing the best player of the year? Maybe Fide should use a similar system to that used in tennis and completely stop the world championship matches, or at least change its format to something that would resemble, for example, Wimbledon? They don´t need any WC matches in tennis, why? Because they have a different kind of scoring system and way to determine the best player of the year.
arzi arzi 7/22/2022 02:49
To lajosarpad and AgainAgain.

This format they are using in WC -match does not allow too many mistakes. One and first mistake can be the last one. Also, this format includes both a rapid and a blitz option if the games cannot be solved in the classic time format. That is why it is quite silly write about unconvincing wins. They have been CONVINCING wins because of the system they are using. Of course if they would use 24-game format and it would still end draw, then we could say it was "unconvincing". However, even then Carlsen would be a WC because of the draw option. One match between Kasparov and Karpov ended also draw but Kasparov retained the title. Nobody wrote then that it was unconvincing win for Kasparov because everybody knew the rules who would win the title in case of draw.
crispsa crispsa 7/22/2022 01:41
Gary Kasparov is the undisputed GOAT!!!
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:05
@nirvana 1963 My position is that Karjakin should have been allowed to play and if he won, then it would have been unnlikely for Carlsen to allow him to play against the second-placed player. And, if Karjakin would have not won the candidates tournament, then he would not be in the position to claim anything. Depriving him from playing already created controversies, which deepened by Carlsen's withdrawal from the world championship.

No matter how much you hate Karjakin for his world view, nobody prevailed against him and this allows him to make claims and create a rival organization.

@Dumof I agree that Nepo is a worthy challenger

@KingZor good point. This will damage even the candidates cycle.

@Flachspieler

"The best would be if the winner of Nepo vs Ding achieves a positive score against Carlsen in the following years."

Yes, that would increase the legitimacy of the world champion. Back in the 70ties, Karpov played tournament after tournament to restore the legitimacy of the world championship.

@Portlyotter I share your worries and the comparison between a good meal back in the days and fast food in today's chess is spot on.

@Rawdzilla I fully agree.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:05
@nirvana 1963 However, his support for Putin does not automatically increase or decrease his abilities as a chess player, so it's technically possible that he would have been the winner of the candidates. Now, if he claims that he would have been the winner of that tournament and FIDE banned him out of fear, then lots of people will believe him, ultimately leading to a schism in the chess world. Now that Carlsen, the player who has narrowly defeated Karjakin in 2016 has disqualified himself as a world champion, there are two possibilities: either Nepo or Ding Liren will become the world champion. If Nepo wins, then Karjakin can say that in 2016 he fared much better against Carlsen than Nepo in 2021. On the other hand, if Ding Liren wins, who did not manage to qualify to this candidates tournament and was a last-minute replacement to Karjakin, Karjakin could always say that if not for the discrimination against him, Ding Liren would have not even played in the candidates tournament.

So, if we are not taking an ideologically blinded position, then it's easy to conclude that Karjakin might be the best player at this moment, FIDE deprived us from knowing whether this is the case.

You say that he should have been banned for life. But this means that whatever the dominant ideology of FIDE is, chess players must be in line with it. So, if we politicize the qualification system of a world championship, then the title of world championship loses prestige. In my view your point is very close to the approach of Lybia to the world championship it organized in 2004 and where they didn't allow Israeli players to play, because "they might be spies". As a result, we allow the world championship to be disputed which ultimately harms chess.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:04
@nirvana1963

The aim of a chess world championship is to determine who the best chess player is. We have a system in order to determine who the best player is and in the 2016 cycle Karjakin was a challenger, who fared very well against Carlsen, he won the 8th game and then Carlsen had a run for his title, something he never had to in his other matches, so Karjakin after game 8 came closer than anyone of beating Carlsen in a world championship match. Then Carlsen won the 10th game, equalizing the score and the match was tied 6-6. Afterwards, Carlsen won the rapid playoff, but this does not change the fact that the match was very close and it could have easily ended with an outright win for Karjakin. Accordingly to the rules, Karjakin had to qualify as a candidate in the current cycle and he managed to do it. If the candidates tournament would have gone normally, with Karjakin being allowed to play and another candidate winning the tournament, then Karjakin would have no credible claim. But it turned out that instead of letting him play, FIDE, due to political reasons that you apparently agree with discriminated him from the cycle.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:02
@Arzi "And the championship could be decided by blitz games. Months of preparation, candidate matches could have led to a blitz game that decided the champion."

True. That is a serious flaw in the current system, I agree.

"128 players cup system is the only reasonable system. The whole tournament in a two weeks once in a year, without preparations of months of the players. Even Magnus Carlsen would play in it, I bet."

Quite a categoric statement and I find it unconvincing, as you ignore some serious problems with this system. In 2004 this system was applied by FIDE for its world championship and the winner was Rustam Kasimdzhanov, whose Élő points never before that or after that approached the top of the ratings, his name was relatively unkown and his wins in the matches were sometimes very narrow, requiring rapid and blitz tiebreaks, which, by the wayis also a flaw of the world cup system. So, how worthy a champion was Rustam Kasimdzhanov? He never reached the absolute pinnacle and in the 2005 San Luis world chess championship tournament he was at shared penultimate position, just a year after becoming a world champion. So, this short format of a world cup yielding a world champion is unreliable in terms of the result, as the winner is not necessarily better a chess player than the others.

"Why is it difficult understand that someday even for World Champion the chess can be quite stressful"

I think everybody understands this. But some of us expects a champion to overcome his stress.
Theochessman Theochessman 7/22/2022 01:01
Funny how comments are suddenly allowed again for this article, while all the others still have censorship on them.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:01
@arzi "The 24-game match was no better. It couldn't be played every year."

I disagree with the statement above. Ever since Botvinnik's era, the 24-game system ensured that the match is finite, there are enough games played to determine who the better player is (except when the match was very much balanced), the result was undisputed and the world champions resulting from this system were always provably very successful in chess during their reign. The foundation why you think the 24-game match was not better than the 6-win match is that it was not a yearly event. But I do not see why should it be a yearly event. And you completely ignore that the 24-game matches were fantastically interesting to the majority of chess enthusiasts.

"All candidate matches were completely pointless and time-consuming."

You may think so, but I disagree. I think the candidates matches were very interesting and I disliked the switch from them to tournaments, because chess is ultimately a battle between two thinkers and the system which had 8 players trying to prevail in 3 matches against members of the very best in order to be qualified as challengers was both very interesting and convincing and this system usually produced very worthy challengers.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 01:00
@Laramonet we can never exclude the possibility that the very best player would choose to make a scandal rather than defend his title. This was done by Fischer as well in 1975, when there were 3-year cycles in place. I agree that if the cycle is 3-years-long, then the match feels more special and the world champion is more comfortable, but, truth to be told, being a great chess ambassador and a great chess player are not necessarily going together. Fischer and Carlsen were absolutely great champions in terms of chess qualities, but, for instance, Anand was a much greater chess ambassador as a world champion. Carlsen could have given a more humble reason, like "defending the title for a decade is too difficult and I no longer have the mental strength to do it". That would made it clear that the match is interesting, but he is no longer able to be a protagonist. Instead, he started to criticize the cycle and prefer one possible challenger over the others.

@Almo77 these are already insanely rich people, they are not as motivated by money as the casual players who still have financial worries for the future.

@Arzi I do not see anyone here disrespecting Carlsen's right to make this decision. Those who are criticizing him, including myself find his decision and especially the reason given as questionable. How come that a world champion makes his title defense dependent of who the winner of the cycle is? This is arrogant and disrespectful to Nepo.

"There is no harm for chess because of his resign of title."

You may want to revisit this thought in half a year, when the reactions of sponsors and other decision-makers will be felt.

"The first match between Karpov and Kasparov proved that six win system was idiotic."

While I would use a different, more elegant wording, in essence you are right in the quote above.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 7/22/2022 12:59
@AgainAgain You are making three points and I agree with all. First, Carlsen's wins in his matches against Karjakin and Caruana were unconvincing. While we accepted him as the world champion afterwards, to be honest, I was not entirely sure that he was better than Karjakin in 2016 or Caruana in 2018. Carlsen's wins against Anand back in 2013 and 2014 were very convincing. His win by a very large margin against Nepo was convincing, but the main reason for his dominance in this latest match, according to my opinion was his successful win in the long and difficult 6th game, which has broken the will of Nepo. If Nepo would have gone for a draw in game 6, then the match would have gone into an entirely different direction, possibly ending with yet another win for Carlsen, but a Nepo win was also possible. Carlsen knows this perfectly well. So, while it's true that Carlsen was dominating the chess world, in terms of world championship matches the picture is not as clear, in view of the matches of 2016 and 2018. Your second point about mixing rapid and blitz with classical is something I totally agree with. I was very outspoken over the years about the fact that I favor classical matches with draw odds to the champion. I wonder whether you agree with this.

Finally, you pointed out the differences between the challenger's obligations to the world champion's obligations. And that's correct as well.
ChrisHolmes ChrisHolmes 7/22/2022 12:38
The Candidates Tournament regulations quite clearly stated that if Carlsen didn't for any reason contest the WCC, then the top 2 players from the Candidates would play a match.
Nepo signed up for it.
Ding signed up for it.
I see nothing shameless in Ding's Logic.
If there is anyone to blame (& people really enjoy blaming other people) it must surely be the committee (it was surely a committee) that drew up the regulations.
gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 7/22/2022 10:35
Ding's Shameless Logic
Ding emphasized the significance of the victory over Nakamura. According to this logic, Nepo should claim the historical significance of defeating Ding Liren. " I have defeated Ding, I should be directly crowned."
Ding shamelessly declared to Chinese media that 2023 Match of Ding and Nepo will be showdown between No2 and No3. No3 Nepo will challeng No2 himself.
Ding is a completely shameless Chinese.
gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 7/22/2022 10:35
Ding's Shameless Logic
Ding emphasized the significance of the victory over Nakamura. According to this logic, Nepo should claim the historical significance of defeating Ding Liren. " I have defeated Ding, I should be directly crowned."
Ding shamelessly declared to Chinese media that 2023 Match of Ding and Nepo will be showdown between No2 and No3. No3 Nepo will challeng No2 himself.
Ding is a completely shameless Chinese.
arzi arzi 7/22/2022 06:49
This WC -format is broken. If we want to see every year a WC -match then there is only one option. Cup -system. 6 win format is an idiotic system, 24-match is too hard to play once a year (maybe even once in two years) and also it is not fair system to the challenger (Draw odds). The system is too hard for both, WC and to his challengers. This current system is also broken because the classical time format champion can be solved in a one blitz game. Think about a 100 m running race at the WC, where two competitors who ran exactly the same time are decided by a draw rule, i.e. the gold medalist of the previous WC is also this year's winner. Same thing in boxing if all those "judges'" votes are tied.
arzi arzi 7/22/2022 06:26
physica:"If money and reputation meant all to Carlsen, he wouldn't have resigned the title. No person without (mental) issues, in his boots would've done it [cf. Fischer]."

Well, if the education was not what you meant, then why even bother to mention it? I'm pretty sure that Magnus has no shortage of things to do even though he gave up his title. Magnus's missed education did not prevent him from starting a company. And nothing prevents him from starting his education again if he wants to. Do you often see ghosts and trolls in real life? By the way, Magnus is not quitting chess but WC title.

Do you mean with the line above that Magnus has some mental issues? If not, why even mention about it? If yes, do you have any facts behind your statement or are you just giving your humble opinion? Why is it difficult understand that someday even for World Champion the chess can be quite stressful, at least when talking about all these preparation for the coming WC match, the big expectations from people around the world (Not so good example to emerging generations of chess players from the Chess Ambassador of the world)?
TwoZero TwoZero 7/22/2022 04:17
Commentators have spoken truth here:

"...the WC format is quite broken if the Classic World Champion is decided in Rapid/Blitz."

EXACTLY! All your 6 months of classical prep is made into a complete joke when it's all wiped away in a series of rapid and Blitz games...

"..the root cause of all this is FIDE holding the World Championship too often."

Also this. The current cycle is just too much of a grind for the players involved. A WCC match every two years also means a candidates match every two years.

One non-cycle rest year out of every three takes away a bit of the grind and would just smooth out the whole process IMHO.
kenneth calitri kenneth calitri 7/22/2022 02:30
I am not sure it is given there will be a match between Ian and Ding. Karpov didn't have to play a match against Korchnoi when Fischer abdicated. Karpov was declared champion and rightly so. Why would Nepo not expect the same claim? He won the candidates fair and square. Why should he now have to play a match against someone he vanquished in the candidates? I love Magnus but he should have declared his decision prior to the candidates rather than artificially influence events with the speculation that occurred. Unless the $ from a match is the main allure, Ian may not so easily fall into line. Quite frankly the matches of 12 games were a disappointment for purists and the 14 games only a slight improvement. 16 games is a fairer test. With all that said I think there should also be a knockout WCC- but with a limited number of players and a longer match format. The 2 game format is not a meaningful length. Also, the format for the Rapid and Blitz WCC needs to be revised. How wonderful would it be to see a 16 game (or more) Rapid championship for two finalists. The set format was very cool and could be used prior to the final.
rawdzilla rawdzilla 7/22/2022 02:07
Hate to sound remotely political, Magnus, but doesn't Ian deserve a rematch when he so roundly won the candidates, even if he is, (or because he is), a ruskie? Fans might think you are afraid of him or have lowered yourself to politics like FIDE.
tom_70 tom_70 7/22/2022 02:04
Remember the root cause of all this is FIDE holding the World Championship too often.

He wouldn't be burnt out if he didn't have to spend 6 months prepping every year and a half. And doing that on top of a full tournament chess schedule. Nobody wants to go through that continuously.
saturn23 saturn23 7/22/2022 12:54
There are a number of reasons why Carlsen decided not to defend the WC title. I believe one important reason is that he knows that he is beatable. He already lost the number 1 in rapid and blitz (he is number 3 in rapid and number 4 in blitz). He is not the current rapid and blitz WC. I think that even if he decides to play for the WC there is a good chance that in a few years (let's say 3-5 years) he will lose the number 1 spot in classical chess and the classical WC title.

In the last few years Carlsen lost many matches (not games, matches!) in classical, rapid, blitz, chess960, online or over the board, against players like Aronian, So, MVL, Duda, Bu Xiangzhi, Ding, Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov, Dubov, Nakamura (some of these players won multiple matches against Carlsen, for example So won at least 3 matches). And of course Carlsen was not able to beat Karjakin and Caruana in classical WC matches (excluding tiebreaks).

It's pretty clear that, unlike Fischer and Kasparov at their best, Carlsen at his best is beatable. For example, after he turned 24, Fischer won every single tournament and match with huge scores (6-0, 6-0, at least 3 points over the second place in tournaments).

Carlsen knows that he probably achieved the maximum possible and things can only go downhill from here. Modern chess is very competitive, it requires a huge amount of energy, and he is not capable of becoming as dominant as Fischer or Kasparov. Giving up the title is a "logical" step for him in order to save energy and focus more on winning tournaments. He can still be the best player in the world for a while. But I think the arguments for him being the greatest chess player ever get weaker and weaker.
fgkdjlkag fgkdjlkag 7/22/2022 12:22
I have no doubt this is related to the state of high-level chess. Carlsen would play in a chess960 world championship. No opening preparation. Plenty of ideas to explore, whereas he does not feel he has much to learn from another classical world championship match.
Portlyotter Portlyotter 7/21/2022 11:09
I find this all very sad. Chess has fiddled about with the best qualifying process for ever. For me the zonal, interzonal,candidate match process over three years worked well.

Everyone had a chance to progress to every level and the cycle was not too onerous for the World Champion either.

The two year cycle is ridiculous because as soon as you finish one you begin the next. Speed seems to be the essence.

In football the World Cup 4 year cycle works well despite various attempts to speed it up.

I prefer quality, anticipation and tension that goes with a rarer cycle. As someone I know once said, it is easy for gold to become tin if it is always available.

The relentless pursuit of quick cash has wrecked chess and other sports such as cricket and rugby ( and soon football if some have their way)where there seems to be an endless unremitting sequence of games with no distinction between them.

When I was younger watching the slow but fascinating build up to the chess world championship was so good. You could chew over and digest the games at your pace. Setting up the pieces and waiting for the moves to come through was like enjoying a good meal.

Chess now has become like a Macdonald’s drive through where the desire to consume, by players and the media alike, has removed all sense of discernment.

Engines have also killed the beauty of the human mind and it’s application to chess and sadly there is no way back.
zedsdeadbaby zedsdeadbaby 7/21/2022 10:36
@Leavenfish - I would like to mark your words. By fall off do you mean lose #1 rating? If so, how long is, too long? Couple of years? Let me know and I will mark the words and come back to this :)
Leavenfish Leavenfish 7/21/2022 09:44
Mark my words: Magnus will miss all that paid for prep his 2nds have been dishing out to him for these World Ch matches!
He will 'fall off' before too long (it would have happened to some degree anyway) and resort to only playing in faster TC's where he will still be able to 'hustle' his opponents with minor league openings.
Mark my words...
flachspieler flachspieler 7/21/2022 08:53
The best would be if the winner of Nepo vs Ding achieves a positive score against Carlsen in the following years.
mc1483 mc1483 7/21/2022 08:09
@TwoZero: also, if you don't like the idea of draw odds, make 17 games instead of 16/18, with challenger having white first and last, THEN give draw odds to the champion.
Mamack1 Mamack1 7/21/2022 08:04
I don't see Carlsen as being "depressed" tbh. He may have dropped out of formal schooling early - like Fischer - but unlike him he seems a fairly well rounded person who seems to have educated himself to a significant extent.

I'm not happy about what he has done, but can understand it and to a significant degree I blame others.
ChrisHolmes ChrisHolmes 7/21/2022 07:09
MauvaisFou - you were talking about Kasparov, not Karpov. So naturally I answered about Kasparov.

It's interesting to me that the K v K match marathon took place before the breakup of the USSR in 1991. Perhaps both Karpov (who cracked up in games 47 & 48 of the 1st match, but who lived to fight another day when Campomanes cancelled the match) and Kasparov (who terminated the marathon before he was three quarters of Carlsen's age) were under constraints from the USSR that we don't know anything about.
gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 gjxqsjqw64gjxqsjgj64 7/21/2022 06:22
Best solution to Carlson's problem
Given the seriousness of the chess world championship. I think the best option is to cancel the 2023 World Championship. The 2024 candidate held first, with the winners of the two candidate (2022 and 2024) competing for the 2024 world champion. This guarantees the tradition that only the winner of the Candidates Tournament is eligible to compete for the World Champion. On the other hand, the chess world does not need to produce an unconvincing world champion in 2023. Does 2023 have to host a world championship?
physica physica 7/21/2022 04:56
@arzi

Trolls have problems with reading comprehension and shortcomings of human psyche.

If money and reputation meant all to Carlsen, he wouldn't have resigned the title. No person without (mental) issues, in his boots would've done it [cf. Fischer]. If he wanted to do it right/like a man, just lose the match on purpose. Either way rises controversies, choose your poison. This way he tries to save more 'reputation' but basically he's stating that the competition is joke. If he had chosen the other, he would've (or at least Fide) wrapped his chess career right after the WC closing ceremony.

But if you come with Bobby's/zoomer attitude: "I'm the best in 1972/2013-202X. I don't have to prove myself anymore, no one can beat me ever!" Tells more about you than your brilliant career. MC thankfully is not at the same level but as it is turned out, he has issues that may come outside chess.

Why would I pick on somebody about education? I was stating everyday matters that people have to cope with one way or another. What to do after chess? Garry and Anatoly: politics, Bobby: seclusion, Kramnik: chill.... Carlsen was exceptional talent way before high school, so it was logical/worth to try how far he could go. But like 30 out of 7 billion people can call themselves serious WC contenders, so odds are very thin.
AgainAgain AgainAgain 7/21/2022 04:39
Everybody cries about how difficult it is for poor Carlsen.
Let's not forget that the challenger have to prepare for qualifiying for the Candidates tournament. Then prepare for the Candidates tournament. Then prepare for the WC match.
So 3 preparations for the challenger and 1 for poor Carlsen. He was having it easy and still couldn't take it. No sorry for him.
arzi arzi 7/21/2022 03:37
To KingZor, I guess there is no effect to candidates cycle, why should be? There will be a champion and new candidate's places will be contested. The only difference to the past is that Magnus is not playing and either Nepo or Liren is the champion.
arzi arzi 7/21/2022 03:30
physica:"My conclusion is that he is extremely bored, and depressed about life or the state of the world. Internet says he dropped out of high school, so he has no education at all?"

Really? All those millions earned, championships won, interesting days lived have changed MC depressed about his life? Wow!! I think they did not have any chess lessons in high school? What about all these rich ice hockey players, football masters and other heros of sport who did not go to high school? Are they also depressed about their lifes? By the way, his family was strongly supporting Magnus with his "hobby", chess. Did they ruin Magnus´s life?
KingZor KingZor 7/21/2022 03:21
Something that no none seems to have commented on yet--at least not that I've heard--is the effect this will have on the candidates cycle. Will Magnus refuse to play in the Candidates tournament if he qualifies? Will we then have two wildcards? What if he wins one of the qualifying events, the World Cup, Grand Swiss, Grand Prix? Will the second and third place winners go to the Candidates? Even if he doesn't qualify for the candidates, what better wildcard than the world's number 1 player, which he will probably be for some time? Awkward.
arzi arzi 7/21/2022 03:17
To dumkof, now Nepo can prove his superb playing strength against Ding Liren. I hope Nepo wins. What if he loses? Maybe we should then insist that Karjakin should play against Ding Liren? Putin would probably sponsor that match with a lot of money got from stolen grain?
physica physica 7/21/2022 03:12
The guy was over halfway of achieving the status of GOAT ( 🐐? as Zoomers already call him) by technicalities: 1) breaking GK's reign 2) achieving 2900. Now, he terminated 1) for good and defamed the definition of classical WC. Not so good example to emerging generations of chess players from the Chess Ambassador of the world.

His reasoning for disliking being WC and liking to push 2900 makes no sense. He has been the player with energy and stamina higher like two orders of magnitude than any professional player since his adulthood. Surely time will take toll (or has already taken) but he has never collapsed as badly as his rivals at any time control. The preparation excuse nonsense is just lame. He beat prep masters Anand*2 and Caruana without being in any danger. Frankly, he belongs to the engine generation, so engine prep has been part of his whole chess career.

My conclusion is that he is extremely bored, and depressed about life or the state of the world. Internet says he dropped out of high school, so he has no education at all? All these kinds of things (start a family, another hobbies...) sum up and start to haunt you when you find your lifework unsatisfying.
dumkof dumkof 7/21/2022 03:02
People tend to underestimate Nepo relying on his 4-0 defeat against Carlsen, but don't forget that Kasparov also fell 5-0 behind, against Karpov, and still managed to win the match. Nepo simply collapsed psychologically and blundered like never seen before, in a title match. He has convincingly won the candidates twice in a row and is the number 3 rated player right now. Neither his superb playing strength nor his rating would suggest a 4-0 defeat against Carlsen. Nepo could win against anyone, when he plays like in the candidates. His creative and unorthodox style offer better winning chances against Carlsen, than the positional players.
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