The consequences of Carlsen’s abdication

The reigning World champion has decided not to defend his crown. How will this affect competitive chess?

Theirs is one of the most exclusive clubs in sport. So exclusive, only 16 members have been added to it in 136 years. Becoming the undisputed World chess champion is indeed among the most difficult things to achieve in sport, or in any other sphere of human endeavour. And yet, the club’s most recent member, Magnus Carlsen, has chosen to abdicate his crown, which had been sitting firmly on his head since 2013.

But when he announced his decision, on a podcast recently, pieces did not jump off chessboards. Carlsen had given hints about his abdication last December; there was no motivation for him to contest another title match. He, however, had said that he would play if his opponent was Alireza Firouzja, the Iran-born prodigy who became a French citizen last year.

For Firouzja to earn the privilege of challenging Carlsen, he had to win the Candidates tournament, held at Madrid recently. But he fared badly, finishing sixth in a field of eight.

The event was won by Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. He had won the previous edition of the Candidates too, but was decimated by Carlsen in the World title match at Dubai last year. The Norwegian won 7.5-3.5, with three games to spare.

It was after the match that Carslen spoke of the possibility of not defending his crown. “It’s been clear to me for most of the year that this World Championship should be the last,” he said then. “It doesn’t mean as much as it once did. I haven’t felt that the positive outweighs the negative.”

But not everyone believed that he would actually keep his word. After all, a World title is a World title. And he had just turned 31 at the time.

He was 22 when he won his first World title. He scored a crushing victory over Viswanathan Anand at Chennai, the five-time World champion’s hometown, in 2013.