He had already won just about everything there is to win, including five world titles. Only that one major prize was missing from his impressive honors list: the World Cup, a biennial knockout tournament in which many top chess players participate. Now Magnus Carlsen has also won that event. In the final in Baku, the 32-year-old Norwegian defeated Indian talent Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (18) on Thursday. Carlsen needed a tiebreak for that, after two draws in classic games. But also in blitz chess he has proven several times to be the strongest player in the world.
His final victory after the war of attrition in Azerbaijan – the World Cup lasts almost a month – will taste all the sweeter as Carlsen, world champion for the first time in 2013 and unbroken number one since 2011, refused to give up his world title this year. to defend. The classic World Championship match was no longer a challenge for him. Moreover, the preparation took up too much of his time, which meant that he had less time for what he likes to do most: playing (and often winning) tournaments. Carlsen also objected to the format of the duel: twelve classic matches, possibly followed by a tiebreak with rapid and blitz matches. And so Carlsen has not been world champion since April this year.
Read also: this elaborate portrait from January of this year, about the bad boy Magnus Carlsen
For comparison: a World Cup without a superpower like Brazil or France. Because they have informed the world football association FIFA that they no longer agree with the structure of the most important sports tournament in the world. Unthinkable in football, but not in chess, where everything is conceivable on the board within the rules of the game.
As a result, the chess world has been saddled with a new title holder, Ding Liren, who became the first Chinese world champion this year by beating Russian Ian Nepomnyashtsjii. The problem for Ding Liren, and therefore for chess as a whole, is that he will never be taken for granted as world champion as long as Carlsen is still active and has the highest rating. He now has a live rating of 2,839, while Ding (fourth in the world ranking) follows at a suitable distance with 2,780.
Dominant and ambitious
For Carlsen, chess has become more and more “business.” In addition to winning tournaments, as he is obliged to by his status, this means, for example, all kinds of (sponsor) obligations and other duties. Carlsen is reminiscent of Garri Kasparov, the Russian world champion (1985-2000). Equally dominant, ambitious, driven and relentless, both named as ‘one of the greatest chess players ever’. Also applies to both: the status as the world’s best always want to confirm at top tournaments. Unlike some former world champions who sometimes took some time off, with a well-filled wallet after a lucrative World Cup match and perhaps also to avoid competitors (and possibly lose face).
Only one can be the best in the world, and that has been Carlsen for more than ten years. In addition to the ‘classic’ tournaments, Carlsen also won the Rapid World Cup four times and the Blitz World Cup six times. At the end of last year, he won both tournaments, making it the third time in his career (after 2014 and 2019) that he simultaneously held the world titles in all disciplines: classic, rapid and blitz.
What do you still have to gain? Nothing, Carlsen must have thought. When Carlsen had qualified for the semi-finals in Baku – the top three of the World Cup are assured of participation in the Candidates Tournament next year – he indicated that the other three players were sure of that ticket regardless of the further course. Carlsen no longer feels like a World Cup match, and therefore also not in the candidates tournament, the winner of which can challenge Ding Liren.
What Carlsen may still be interested in, as he has said before, is a strong knockout tournament for the world title. The battle for the World Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments, is perhaps the perfect blueprint. It could give world chess federation FIDE something to think about.
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