Magnus Carlsen won't defend World Chess Championship, but isn't retiring

July 25, 2022 5:51 AM

Magnus Carlsen, the 5-time World Chess Champion, today ended months of speculation by announcing via his sponsors Unibet that he will not defend his title. The 31-year-old Norwegian is not retiring and vows “to be the best in the world, and not care about the World Championship!” That means Chinese world no. 2 Ding Liren’s last-round Candidates Tournament win against Hikaru Nakamura has earned him a lucrative match against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
posted by Etrigan (24 comments total)

I remember reading about Carlsen's fitness and nutrition routine in order to stay strong for events like the Chess World Championships, which is day after day of 12-14 hour chess matches. It sounded grueling, not just cognitively but physically, and I can't blame him for thinking "i've won enough of them and now i hate them so i'm done."
posted by entropone at 7:17 AM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

I was listening a bit to Hikaru on his Twitch chat , he made some interesting points:

- The lucrative match, might not be so lucrative-- sponsorships might dry up a bit as the western sponsors step away from the Russian/Chinese matchup, and China hasn't been that interested in promoting Chess.

- The exacting standards these GM's are playing at, means exceedingly boring (uncreative) matches, so to be in for a chance to win, you need to spend months studying tiny variations on a very limited set of boring time-worn strategies that Ian (if Magnus was playing) plays-- sounds like it's mind-numbingly boring rote work. No-one will go in guns blazing to take the title, they'll play ultra conservative for draws hoping for a single slip-up from Magnus.

- He probably wouldn't have stepped away if Hikaru had been the no.2 at the Candidates. I'm reading that as he can keep hold of most of his sponsorships/celeb if China/Russia takes the title, but if Hikaru had (they're both super-celebs in the Chess world) won the World Championship they could drift away.
posted by Static Vagabond at 7:32 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

Great for him, he really doesn't have anything to prove, and the championship format seems exceptionally unpleasant to go through.
posted by skewed at 7:35 AM on July 25, 2022

Hikaru always thinks its about him. Magnus was pretty clear after the last World Championship match that he wasn't going to defend it again. FIDE doesn't have any big western brand name sponsors like Coke, Nike, etc. The biggest sponsor for the Candidates tournament was Chess.com. For obvious reasons they are going to continue to as a sponsor.

Magnus doesn't care about being world champion because everyone still knows he's the strongest player. He's going to play more events and try to be the first player to break 2900 Elo in the FIDE ratings list.
posted by interogative mood at 7:55 AM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Chess.com reported that it was Alireza Firouzja, not Hikaru Nakamura, who Carlsen was hoping to face. And that his victory over Nepomniatchi last time was so definitive that Carlsen felt he couldn't sufficiently motivate himself to play his best against him in a rematch.
posted by dbx at 8:14 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

Glad he is getting out with his fingers intact.
posted by snofoam at 9:36 AM on July 25, 2022 [28 favorites]

Chess.com reported that it was Alireza Firouzja, not Hikaru Nakamura, who Carlsen was hoping to face. And that his victory over Nepomniatchi last time was so definitive that Carlsen felt he couldn't sufficiently motivate himself to play his best against him in a rematch.

It’s unfortunate for Nepomniachtchi because although he was clearly the underdog in the matchup no matter what, it seemed pretty clear that his underwhelming performance last time was a case of cracking under pressure. And he did great in the Candidates, so he really should have had a second chance.

Firouzja is the one everybody sees as the rising star, but he kinda fell apart himself in the Candidates this time, or at least underperformed.

Nakamura is a obviously a legit top player in addition to being a speed chess streaming star, but he’s still one of the less convincing of the pack of top players as a candidate to dethrone Carlsen in classical.
posted by atoxyl at 11:42 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

I think Carlsen is mostly just tired of going through the grueling format and the prep it requires when the past three times he’s either dominated the whole thing or tied the whole thing and then dominated the rapid tiebreaks. If there’s a realistic threat to him it’s either some new wunderkind who shoots to the top (as people are hoping Firouzja will prove to be) or otherwise just eventually getting too old to keep up.
posted by atoxyl at 11:50 AM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

This clapback from Carlsen to Hikaru was epic.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:14 PM on July 25, 2022

Magnus has said he regretted saying he would only play Firouzja and that in fact he had meant to indicate that he really didn’t want to play another WC match. The title isn’t worth much to him at this point. Like former world champions Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand his personal brand is more valuable than the FIDE title. He successfully defended 5 times which is on par with Kasparov and makes him the dominant player of his generation.
posted by interogative mood at 12:23 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think people are slightly misunderstanding the "he wouldn't have quit if Nakamura was #2" argument. The argument isn't that Nakamura is some particularly dangerous threat to Carlsen over the board. The argument is that if Nakamura had come in second behind Nepomniachtchi (which was looking like a likely result going into the final round) then Nakamura, instead of Ding Liren, would have played against Nepo for the championship. And if Nakamura won, as an American with a massive social media and streaming following, World Champion Nakamura would be a much more formidable competitor for sponsorships from western companies and other opportunities than a Russian or Chinese champion who lacks Nakamura's following.

Now, do I think that actually played into Carlsen's thinking in a big way? Probably not. But it's a more plausible argument than the "Carlsen was scared of Nakamura" straw man that it's been misunderstood as/reduced to by various commenters on Twitter and other places.
posted by firechicago at 12:33 PM on July 25, 2022

If HIkaru had won the candidates or been the runner up it would not have affected Magnus’ decision in the slightest. Magnus doesn’t care about Hikaru. HIkaru has sour grapes over blowing the final game against Ding in the candidates and the winning position he had against Nepo and this is what he’s telling himself because otherwise he has to accept that he blew his best shot to become World Champion.
posted by interogative mood at 1:07 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

The world championship as it is currently contested makes no sense. The champion sits out all the fighting and waits for one player to challenge him. It would be like the winner of the world series sitting out the next season waiting for a team to try to take the world series crown from them. Also, world championship chess matches have a LOT of draws, which makes for boring games and a pretty dull few weeks of chess. Much better to invite the top dozen or so players in the world to a double round robin tournament and have the winner of that tournament be crowned as world champion.
posted by MarioM at 3:48 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

It is true that there are not many games/sports with a world champion who holds their title until a challenger defeats them in single combat. Boxing is the main one I can think of. I personally think it's charming. When I was growing up, part of chess history was knowing the lineage of world champions, along with the lore of the most important games and stories from the matches. It wouldn't be quite the same if there was just a yearly tournament like the World Series. (In fact, FIDE did this for a while, when Kasparov formed a rival organization in the 1990s, and everyone thought it was silly.) But the tradition may have run its course.
posted by dfan at 4:02 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

The world championship as it is currently contested makes no sense. The champion sits out all the fighting and waits for one player to challenge him.

I will not stand for this slander of the 1986 All-Valley Karate Tournament.
posted by Etrigan at 4:03 PM on July 25, 2022 [8 favorites]

I think people are slightly misunderstanding the "he wouldn't have quit if Nakamura was #2" argument.

I understood it, I’m just not really inclined to think it would dent Carlsen’s brand much if he’s not directly passing on the lineal championship (boxing is definitely sort of the obvious comparison except that chess has a more structured path to the title fight).

In fact, FIDE did this for a while, when Kasparov formed a rival organization in the 1990s, and everyone thought it was silly.

Indeed the champions from the last time something like this was done are pretty much not even considered legitimate, although it’s obviously a different situation since Kasparov still held and would defend the title, he had just split off his own organization. And I believe those championships were run as elimination, which seems much sillier than round robin.

If I recall correctly a round robin tournament was held to crown the first FIDE champion, after Alekhine had died holding the (previously somewhat more informal) title. I guess that’s the one Botvinik won.
posted by atoxyl at 6:13 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Indeed the champions from the last time something like this was done are pretty much not even considered legitimate, although it’s obviously a different situation since Kasparov still held and would defend the title, he had just split off his own organization. And I believe those championships were run as elimination, which seems much sillier than round robin.

Much sillier but also much more entertaining. It certainly helps with the "people just draw all the time" situation. They kept the format for the World Cup, which is my favorite recurring tournament these days.

If I recall correctly a round robin tournament was held to crown the first FIDE champion, after Alekhine had died holding the (previously somewhat more informal) title. I guess that’s the one Botvinik won.

Yep, in 1948. It was a quintuple round robin that lasted two and a half months.
posted by dfan at 6:37 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

people (not here) are reacting to this like it’s pope benedict retiring all over again. i love playing and even used to passionately study chess, but it’s just a game, and carlsen would no longer be the champion at some point no matter what. if age or death were the cause instead of retirement, would that make the next one any less a champion? carlsen can’t play capablanca so who will ever know who was better (but more importantly, why would anyone care)
posted by dis_integration at 7:11 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Defector (paywalled) is again on top of this with a very interesting article on this situation
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 7:23 PM on July 25, 2022

Much sillier but also much more entertaining. It certainly helps with the "people just draw all the time" situation. They kept the format for the World Cup, which is my favorite recurring tournament these days.

Honestly I’d kind of rather just see more fast games taken seriously.
posted by atoxyl at 10:44 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

who will ever know who was better (but more importantly, why would anyone care)

Oh, trust me, we care. Chessplayers debate constantly about who was/is the GOAT, and which of the top players in history could have defeated which of the others. Magnus' decision ensures that for decades to come, the debate will continue to rage on about how many more championships he could have won, whether he was better than Kasparov, Fischer, etc. Most intellectuals of the game agree that he is the best of all time, based on his level of play and dominance over time.
posted by TreeHugger at 7:55 AM on July 26, 2022

Most intellectuals of the game agree that he is the best of all time, based on his level of play and dominance over time.

And as with most other sports, you're always going to find people who will say "Oh, sure, but if Kasparov or Capablanca had the benefits of modern training techniques..." or "Oh, sure, he's great, because he learned so much from Alekhine and Fischer...".
posted by Etrigan at 8:05 AM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

I suppose I’m about to be the guy Etrigan is referring to but “most think” seems like overstating it. I’d expect most players to name *either* Carlsen (highest peak rating ever, second longest reign on top in the modern era) or Kasparov (still the longest reign by quite a bit, unless you go back to guys like Lasker who were still making up their own rules for challenges). The significance of absolute, rather than peak rating does get into similar issues as in other sports, where it has to be acknowledged that the game is different now - a top player from the current era of computers is probably objectively stronger than a top player from a prior era but perhaps we should adjust for that to fairly judge “greatness”?

Sometimes you’ll also see people naming Fischer because he had a hot streak that has never been replicated, but he didn’t really play long enough or against enough of the other acknowledged modern greats to really be confident that he would have held up. Or then a favorite early 20th century player, or Paul Morphy, who was sort of the Fischer of the 19th century and spent an abbreviated career just effortlessly destroying the (clearly pre-modern) players of his day.
posted by atoxyl at 11:51 AM on July 26, 2022

I think that the Defector article dances around the issue a bit. Magnus isn’t motivated to defend the title because he transcends it . He’s the undoubted best in the world. When Ding or Nepo wins the WC match the serious chess world will still see Magnus as the real champion unless they are able to run up a huge score against Magnus in classical events in the future.
posted by interogative mood at 5:20 PM on July 26, 2022