GM Magnus Carlsen He won’t defend the World Championship against General Motors Ian Nepomnyashchi Next year. Carlsen said this in audio notation Tuesday. Under current regulations, the winner of the FIDE Candidates Championship, Nepomniachtchi, will now play the World Championship against the GM candidate runner-up. Ding Liren.
“I’ve talked to people on my team, I’ve talked to FIDE, I’ve talked to Ian too,” Carlsen said. “The conclusion is very simple: I’m not excited to play another game.” “I don’t have much to gain, and I don’t particularly like it, and although I’m sure the match will be interesting for historical reasons, I have no inclination to play and simply won’t play the match.”
Thus, Carlsen confirmed his previous suspicions expressed On December 14, 2021 and Later Appointment: After playing five World Championship matches, he is no longer enjoying it.
“It’s been a fun ride since I decided to play for the nominees in 2013, and that was to be honest kind of. I just decided it could be fun and since the World Championship has given me a lot and opened a lot of doors, I’m happy with that. The matches were the same. Fun at times, sometimes just a little fun.”
The Norwegian star leaves the door open to return to the match one day, but it is unlikely: “I do not rule out participation in the future, but I also will not count on it.”
Carlsen made his remarks on the first episode of the new podcast “The Magnus Effect.”
During the FIDE Candidates tournament, Carlsen had a meeting with FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovic and General Manager Emil Sotowski, who apparently didn’t have enough influence to convince Carlsen to defend his title for the fifth time.
Speaking about this meeting in Madrid, Carlsen said: “I had no demands or suggestions for this meeting. They had some suggestions, but the crux of the matter was that I was there to tell them that I was not going to defend the title in the next FIFA World Cup match.”
Dvorkovic told Chess.com that he respects the world champion’s decision, and confirmed that according to the rules, there will now be a Ding-Nepomniachtchi match.
As it turns out, Carlsen never changed his mind about a feeling he had been feeling for a while. “At the end of the day, the outcome remains, and it’s one that I feel comfortable with, and one that I’ve thought about a lot for a long time now,” he said. “I would say over a year, maybe a year and a half. Long before the last game.”
It did not help Nepomniachtchi qualified For the second match with Carlsen, who previously stated that he prefers a new generation opponent, especially GM Ali Reza Firouzja. “Four championships against five – it meant nothing to me. It was nothing,” Carlsen said in yesterday’s podcast. “I was satisfied with the work I did. I was glad I didn’t lose the match. But that’s it.”
Carlsen also reiterated again that he intended to continue playing, not matches: “Just so there is no ambiguity here: I am not retiring from chess, I will be an active player, I am leaving later today to go to Croatia to play the Grand Chess Tour. From there I will go to Chennai to play the Olympics. , which will be very interesting and Norway ranks fourth there. And on to Miami which is going to be one of the real highlights of the year – the FTX Crypto Cup which is going to be great. And right after that the Sinquefield Cup.”
In Chess.com’s first reaction, Ding said, “There are a lot of feelings going through my mind right now that I have to deal with, but I’m very excited to play a World Championship match, to fight for the crown, next year.”
Calling from Barcelona, where he is staying at a friend’s apartment, Ding revealed that he got Covid right after the favourites’ tournament and thus could not return to China yet. He has already fully recovered, and will now be back in about two weeks from now. The Chinese player is surprised by Carlsen’s decision:
“I knew he had his doubts, but I expected him to play. But I also understand that, being world champion means a lot of responsibilities, there are a lot of things to deal with.”
Ding noted similarities with Yuzuru Hanyu, a Japanese figure skater who, also yesterday, announce He retired from competition but promised to pursue his goal in exhibitions instead.
The world of chess witnessed earlier moments in history when the world champion did not defend his title. In 1946, General Motors Alexander Elkin He died as a champion, when the world championship championship was organized two years later, and GM won it Mikhail Botvinnik. In 1975, General Motors Bobby Fisher FIDE could not agree with the format of the match and lost his title to the winning GM winners Anatoly Karpov.
In 1993, General Motors Gary Kasparov He left FIDE and played the World Championship under the Professional Chess League instead. This led to a split in the chess world that lasted until 2006, when General Motors Vladimir Kramnik Win a reunion match with the FIDE GM Champion Veselin Topalov.
“It’s not an ideal situation not to have the best player defend their title, and creating your own organization is not great,” Ding said, adding, “It’s better for the fans that the best players compete for the world championship and Magnus has done that. Of course he was the best player over the years. We have come to a new era.”
Ding said he hoped Carlsen would return “one day” and felt that reaching the highest possible competition also gave himself a new responsibility: “I have to improve my English now!”