Magnus Carlsen shocks Fide by withdrawing from elimination series
Leonard Barden
The Guardian, Saturday 13 November 2010
Magnus Carlsen has shocked chess by withdrawing from the global body Fide’s elimination series to decide the 2012 world title challenger. The 19-year-old Norwegian was the favourite to qualify to meet India’s Vishy Anand, the reigning champion.
Carlsen cited as factors in his decision the official body Fide’s frequent rule changes during the qualifying process, the short four-game quarter and semi-finals played in quick succession, and the holder’s privilege to be excused until the final match. He proposed that future championships should be decided by elite tournaments of several players.
His withdrawal brought a mixed reaction from grandmasters and fans. Some applauded his principled stance, most opposed his wish to change the traditional match format in place since 1886, while some claimed that Carlsen was afraid of defeat by the experienced Vlad Kramnik and Levon Aronian. Aronian’s reaction was that “the world will not collapse”, while another candidate, Israel’s Boris Gelfand, said that he had earned his own place by “blood and sweat”, hinting that Carlsen should do likewise.
In a field where all the other candidates are East Europeans, ex-Soviets or both, Carlsen was a young and dynamic Western contender and the heir apparent to Bobby Fischer, who in his time also withdrew from the world series and got his wish to have the candidates tournament replaced by matches.
Did Carlsen write his own script or was he advised by managers and sponsors? Probably a bit of both. Garry Kasparov recently grumbled that Carlsen lacked a strong offboard chess work ethic, while the Norwegian’s father is a known advocate of tournaments over championship matches.
Significantly, too, Carlsen has strong media and sponsor links. His statement was front page news in Norway, and he was an ambassador for Tromso’s successful €15m bid for the 2014 Olympiad. His one-man breakaway carries strong echoes of Fischer’s 1975 attempt to play Anatoly Karpov outside Fide and the 1993 coup by Kasparov and Nigel Short. Appearing a rebel against the system will do his marketability no harm at all.
The organisers of the London Classic at Olympia on 8-15 December, which has both Anand and Carlsen in the field, have previously bid for the option to stage the 2012 title match, in the hope that it would be Anand v Carlsen. This cannot now happen. So the bold move could be for London, as in 1993, to go for a high profile breakway series in 2011 which would still allow the winner to play the official match a year later.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Magnus is King. He just doesn’t want to beat his friend Anand.
It’s a character decision, not one of fear. One that should be applauded.
The reactions to this do indeed seem very mixed. I agree with Carlsen’s opinion and his decision not to play in the candidates tournament. I think keeping his #1 ranking by consistently winning major tournaments is more important than the WC title. When was the last time a chess WC was ranked #1?
The WC is ranked number 1 currently. live ratings are a joke and meant for clowns.
Probably Anand has signed an agreement with FIDE not to play matches for the title outside of FIDE,
I do not think that Magnus Carlsen will be sadly missed amongst candidates!
I think it is too bad not to see Carlsen, but this is not the end of things. We will still see more of him in the future.
“The organisers of the London Classic have previously bid for the option to stage the 2012 title match, in the hope that it would be Anand v Carlsen. This cannot now happen. So the bold move could be for London, as in 1993, to go for a high profile breakway series in 2011 which would still allow the winner to play the official match a year later.”
Hmmm. I smell Guardian have a good source for this bold prediction. It may come through. Mind my words…
Let’s don’t start that matches outside FIDE mess again!!!
I agree with Aronian’s ” The world will not collapse” & Gelfand’s “Blood & sweat” comments. Anand too has got to the top by ‘talent,blood & sweat”. Present day youngsters want to do it the easy way – talent alone! They don’t have what it takes to win a proper match up. Carlsen may win tournaments,but he will surely crumble in a match vs top opponents.
If he’s not up to it, he’s not up to it, and that must be respected, but I do think the sport suffers as a professional entity when the best opt out like this, and the constant tension over championship match demands through history is not good. The world has been waiting for an Anand-Carlsen match, and we’re not going to get it for a while now. Oh well.
History remembers Adolf Anderssen fondly because he was sporting, friendly, and willing to take on the juggernaut Morphy and enjoyed the games even though he lost. Likewise, Morphy was game to play against any comers in his trip to Europe. Who is not well-remembered is Staunton, but then Staunton was no Carlsen in terms of talent or demeanor. Fortunately, Carlsen has the advantage of youth, for now. I hope he doesn’t squander it.
Good for him. Matches are boring as snot.
Kasparov hit it on the nail! Magnus is lazy and doesn’t like to work at chess as a match would entail. Without work he will never defeat Anand, Aronian, Kramnik, Topalov, Grischuk, Gelfand in a match. Kasparov proved he was best by winning tournaments, being number one rated for 20 years mainly and winning all matches until Kramnik stopped him. Fischer did same for three years before he quit playing. Magnus does not have a 140 rating advantage over number two like Fischer did or 80 point advantage like Kasparov did. He is barely a few points ahead. This does not make him dominant player like Paul Morphy was in his days or Fischer or Kasparov! That being said, empirical data proves he is not dominant player yet. He is no Anand who plays and wins without complaining like a crybaby. Magnus even said he didn’t want to go through what Kasparov did to become World Champion. Since 1886 title has been decided by match and Magnus is not too sure he he could win this. He just lost 5 games recently! Fischer, Kasparov and Morphy even Capablanca, Alekhine, Lasker never did! Unless he can beat the World Champion in a match he is not the best player in the world. He is just one of many that can win first place in a tournament. He is no Manny Pacquiao who doesn’t duck anyone and has earned the respect of world by beating everyone in the ring, not avoiding a dangerous opponent like Mayweather is doing. Perhaps Magnus is a coward and the recent five defeats have shown he is not invincible.