Magnus Carlsen, world chess champion who no longer wants to be

The Norwegian renounces to put his title into play in 2023. He explained that he no longer had the motivation to play this type of match, but will continue to play in a tournament.

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The earthquake may be expected, it nevertheless shakes the planet of chess. Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, world number one in the points classification of the International Chess Federation (Fide) and world champion since 2013, confirmed Wednesday July 20 in a podcast which he had suggested in December 2021, namely that ‘He would not put his title back into play. He will not play the match, scheduled for the end of 2023, which was to oppose him to Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, which he had already largely beaten in 2021.

At 31, Magnus Carlsen confirmed that after playing and gained five world championships he no longer felt the desire necessary for a competition of this kind, a long duel of a month. “I spoke to the people of my team, I spoke to La Fide, I spoke to Ian too. The conclusion is very simple: I am not motivated to play another match,” he Explained during this podcast, before adding: “I don’t have much to win, I don’t particularly like that and even if I am sure that a match would be interesting for historical reasons, I do not I have no desire to play and I will simply not play the match. “The Norwegian also said that he had been thinking about this decision for a year and a half, well before the 2021 meeting against Nepomniachtchi.

In a statement published Wednesday July 20 on the Fide, the president of the Federation, the Russian Arkadi Dvorkovitch, took note of this choice: “Magnus Carlsen,” he writes, only deserves respect for the FIDE and the whole of the Echiquene community, whatever the decision he makes concerning his career. Only a handful of people in history can understand and assess the heavy price that must be paid to play five games for The title. Many other great champions, in other sports, have had a similar experience: with the past years, it is more difficult to find motivation to train and contribute to the highest level, while the Victory reward is never as intense as on the first day. “

The legendary bar of 2,900 points

Arkadi Dvorkovitch also confirmed to the Chess.com site that the 2023 world championship would oppose Ian Nepomniachtchi, winner in early July of the candidates tournament and 7 ^{e in the point classification of La Fide, at Chinese Ding Liren (2 in the world player) who finished second in this tournament. Obviously, this match is likely to miss some bit of attraction in the absence of Carlsen, best player of this beginning of XXI e century, who dominated the discipline since his arrival in the world in 2010 in 2010 . In the history of chess, there are only two examples where a player was crowned without facing the defending champion: the Soviet Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948, after the death of Alexandre Alekhine two years earlier, and his compatriot Anatoli Karpov in 1975 when the American American Bobby Fischer refused to put his title in play.}

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