Chess: Five-times champion Magnus Carlsen aims high after abdicating title

Magnus Carlsen will not defend his world championship title in 2023 against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. The five-times title winner will instead aim for a new record playing level.

Carlsen explained, in a podcast for Unibet: “ I am not motivated to play another match. I feel that I don’t have a lot to gain, and I will simply not play.” He said that he had thought about his decision since well before the 2021 series where he defeated Nepomniachtchi without losing a game.

The months of work required before a match where many games reach computer-assisted opening preparation are a major negative. In the Bobby Fischer era title matches were staged every three years, but it has since dropped to two, meaning that Carlsen has had to schedule several months of prep every other year.

A 40-minute meeting in Madrid on 3 July between Carlsen and Fide’s two top officials seems to have triggered the final decision. Carlsen wanted the world title match to be drastically revamped, with perhaps a set of four rapid games a day counting for a single match point, elements of blitz and bullet, and slow classical games much reduced, while for Fide is was essential to continue the championship’s long tradition since 1886 of classical games dominating the format.

The decision to walk away was always on the cards, but the shock to chess fans was that Carlsen announced it so early, many months before a host city or prize fund was announced and a player contract was available. He did it on International Chess Day, thus respecting a Fide deadline which has since been denied.

Carlsen’s timing may have been a shrewd move in the context of the ongoing question whether he or Garry Kasparov ranks as the greatest of all time. The Norwegian can now