Magnus Carlsen decides to quit the World Championship

Written by Administrator

Friday, 05 November 2010

Magnus Carlsen, the 19-year old Norwegian chess prodigy who is ranked #1 on the live chess ratings and widely recognized as one of the main candidates to become the next World Chess Champion, has sent an official letter to FIDE stating that he will not participate in the Candidates Matches next year.

To: FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov & FIDE World Championship Committee.

Reference is made to the ongoing World Championship cycle.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of my decision not to take part in the planned Candidate Matches between March and May 2011.

After careful consideration I’ve reached the conclusion that the ongoing 2008–2012 cycle does not represent a system, sufficiently modern and fair, to provide the motivation I need to go through a lengthy process of preparations and matches and to perform at my best.

Reigning champion privileges, the long (five year) span of the cycle, changes made during the cycle resulting in a new format (Candidates) that no World Champion has had to go through since Kasparov, puzzling ranking criteria as well as the shallow ceaseless match-after-match concept are all less than satisfactory in my opinion.

By providing you with four months notice before the earliest start of the Candidates as well as in time before you have presented player contracts or detailed regulations, I rest assured that you will be able to find an appropriate replacement.

Although the purpose of this letter is not to influence you to make further changes to the ongoing cycle, I would like to take the opportunity to present a few ideas about future cycles in line with our input to FIDE during the December 27th 2008 phone-conference between FIDE leaders and a group of top-level players.

In my opinion privileges should in general be abolished and a future World Championship model should be based on a fair fight between the best players in the World, on equal terms. This should apply also to the winner of the previous World Championship, and especially so when there are several players at approximately the same level in the world elite. (Why should one player have one out of two tickets to the final to the detriment of all remaining players in the world? Imagine that the winner of the 2010 Football World Cup would be directly qualified to the 2014 World Cup final while all the rest of the teams would have to fight for the other spot.)

One possibility for future cycles would be to stage an 8-10 player World Championship tournament similar to the 2005 and 2007 events.

The proposal to abolish the privileges of the World Champion in the future is not in any way meant as criticism of, or an attack on, the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who is a worthy World Champion, a role model chess colleague and a highly esteemed opponent.

Rest assured that I am still motivated to play competitive chess. My current plan is to continue to participate in well-organised top-level tournaments and to try to maintain the no 1 spot on the rating list that I have successfully defended for most of 2010.

Best regards,
IGM Magnus Carlsen

Source: ChessBase

Comments (6)

	1. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 12:46 05 íîÿáðÿ 2010 ã.
	i think this is a bad move from Magnus... he could have been the next world champion. i feel it is unfair to anand because he had to earn his right to face kasparov (i could be wrong here?!?) there is more honor for the one who beats world champion Anand in the current system.

	2. Written by Thor Rogan on 19:48 05 íîÿáðÿ 2010 ã.
	A strong move from Mr Carlsen!!! The only hope for future chess is to put pressure on FIDE for changes!

	3. Written by me on 04:33 06 íîÿáðÿ 2010 ã.
	Basically, Magnus Carlsen is right.

	4. Written by Þðèé on 05:19 06 íîÿáðÿ 2010 ã.
	Ìàãíóñ Êàðëñåí îòêàçàëñÿ îò ó÷àñòèÿ â ×å ß ñ÷èòàþ,ýòî íåâåðíîå ðåøåíèå.Åñëè åñòü âîçìîæíîñòü ïåðåâåäèòå ýòî íà àíãëèéñêèé ÿçûê.Òî ÷òî Ìàãíóñ Êàðëñåí äîáèëñÿ ôåíîìåíàëüíûõ äîñòèæåíèé è òàêîãî âûñî÷àéøåãî ðåéòèíãà â åãî 19 ëåò ýòî çàñëóæèâàåò óâàæåíèÿ è ïîäðàæàíèå åãî øàõìàòíîé ñèëû. Îñòàëñÿ îäèí øàã äî çâàíèÿ ×åìïèîíà Ìèðà,è íåèñïîëüçîâàòü òàêóþ âîçìîæíîñòü ïðîñòî íåäîïóñòèìî ýòî.Íàòàøà! Áîëüøàÿ ê Âàì ïðîñüáà! Ïåðåâåäèòå ýòî íà àíãëèéñêèé ÿçûê. Îñíîâíîå ìî¸ ìíåíèÿ,ÿ î÷åíü ïðîøó Ìàãíóñà Êàðëñåíà,ïðîäîëæèòü áîðüáó çà çâàíèÿ ×åìïèîíà Ìèðà! Êîíåé íà ïåðåïðàâå íåìåíÿþò!!! http://www.pogonina.com

	5. Written by Reed Richards on 19:50 06 íîÿáðÿ 2010 ã.
	Ìàãíóñ Êàðëñåí îòêàçàëñÿ îò ó÷àñòèÿ â ×å Sven Magnus Carlsen has shocked the chess world with his decision. FIDE will not be held to ransom, so if "the Kid" wants to be WCC anytime soon, he will have to eat humble pie with egg all over his face. Anand has a binding contract with FIDE granting him a ticket to the final. Yes, we want change, but is it not better to become the youngest WCC an negotiate from a position of strength? Anand, Kramnik, Aronian and Topalov must be all smiles...

	6. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 16:47 01 ìàÿ 2011 ã.
	Ìàãíóñ Êàðëñåí îòêàçàëñÿ îò ó÷àñòèÿ â ×å In my opinion the present WCC definitely DO NOT represent the 8 strongest players of the WORLD and therefore is a laughing stock all chessplayers know that, but Magnus is the only one who is willing to take action. The rest including Anand are more concerned about their earnings. I real champion would fight any competitor on equal grounds. Like an 8/10 player double round robin of the highest rated players WILL do.

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