World Chess Championship: New drama moves the chess world

The chess world is certainly not short on drama. Some of them have recently even reached the mass media, thanks to the pandemic-related boom in brain teasers. The biggest was probably the accusation of cheating that world champion Magnus Carlsen made against the American Hans Niemann. This was followed by late-night jokes on major US television stations about sex toys allegedly used, an unsuccessful counter-suit and now an association fine against Carlsen, as there is no doubt that Niemann cheated, just not in the game against the Norwegian superstar. The topic has now been closed in the community, but new dramas have long been stirring, and the world association Fide, as is so often the case, is acting quite amateurishly.

The guardians of chess had only hoped for positive headlines from the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. After all, Fide traditionally organizes the world title fights in rapid and blitz chess during this period. The best men and women compete against each other in up to 21 rounds. It’s drawn quickly and doesn’t take long to think about. Many people like that. But some of the fan favorites are missing. For several reasons, all of which can be traced back to Fide in some way.

First of all, there is the time and place: After Almaty 2022, the association once again chose Samarkand in Uzbekistan, a place in Central Asia that is difficult to reach, especially for people from the American continent. The most famous chess streamer Hikaru Nakamura, probably the best blitz chess player in the world alongside Carlsen, quickly decided that he would not compete and showed his viewers why: Depending on where you start your journey from in America, it takes until to 44 hours to Samarkand. Cost just under 4000 euros. “Great job, Fide!” Nakamura remarked sarcastically.

“That’s awful. It’s so difficult to get there and incredibly expensive,” said his compatriot Fabiano Caruana, second in the world rankings behind Carlsen in classical chess. »I had to arrive four days in advance just to avoid falling asleep on the board because of the jet lag. Of course this is great for Russians, Indians and players from Central Asia. But the best place would be somewhere in Europe. Everyone is doing quite well there. Do we just ignore the fact that a large proportion of the best players come from the Americas? But they are almost excluded.”

It’s also about the date: the World Rapid Chess Championship started on December 26th. World number seven Wesley So from the USA has not taken part for years because “Wesley is a deeply religious person,” explained Nakamura. “But Fide assumes that we have no families and only think about chess.” The Christian Orthodox Russians, on the other hand, have no problem because they celebrate Christmas later. By the way, Fide boss Arkady Dvorkovich is Russian. The fact that so many tournaments are currently being held in Central Asia also has to do with the fact that Western states do not want to allow Russians, who compete under a neutral flag, to enter the country because of the war in Ukraine.

So the World Championships are now missing some stars from the USA. The biggest drama, however, is not about an American, but about a Frenchman: Alireza Firouzja is one of the best three blitz players alongside Carlsen and Nakamura, but is not in Samarkand either. However, his waiver has to do with the classic World Cup. The most prestigious title is to be awarded again in autumn 2024, and the opponent of the Chinese defending champion Ding Liren will be determined at the Candidates Tournament in Toronto in April. Almost all of the eight places are already occupied. The player who is best placed in the world rankings on January 1st gets the last one.

Until a few days ago that was Wesley So; Firouzja and the American Leinier Dominguez were just behind. But there was no longer a big tournament where you could collect a lot of points. So Dominguez traveled to Barcelona to compete in a pre-Christmas tournament at a small chess club. There was little to gain against weaker opponents, but if he had won all the games he would have moved past So. After two draws the dream was gone. Dominguez was now in danger of losing so many points that he would fall out of the top 10 in the world rankings, so he decided to abandon the tournament. Why? Only the top ten in the world will be invited to next year’s lucrative tournaments. The native Cuban didn’t want to put that at risk, even if fans criticized him for it on social media.

Only Firouzja remained. He wanted to rely entirely on security and quickly invented his own tournament, invited three weak opponents and called the whole thing “Alireza Firouzja’s race to the Candidates Tournament”. He then took part in another small tournament in Rouen. The 20-year-old won eleven out of twelve games and actually overtook Wesley So, who preferred to celebrate Christmas at home with his family.

The chess fans are beside themselves and talk about manipulation of the system. Firouzja did nothing illegal. Fide announced that one had the right to refuse points at dubious tournaments, but it would be difficult to prove this. A rule change requiring that competitions and participant fields be announced 30 days in advance came too late.

This development was foreseeable. Ding Liren also only qualified for the 2023 Candidates Tournament – and ultimately for winning his World Cup title – after playing 28 games in just one month in his home country against friendly Chinese grandmasters. »Fide wasn’t bothered by it last year. Now enjoy the consequences! That serves you right,” tweeted Jan Nepomnyashchi. The Russian was defeated by Ding in the World Cup duel in May 2023.

By the way, Magnus Carlsen won the World Rapid Chess Championship in Samarkand. It was his 16th title in one of the four common chess variants. In the women’s tournament, Russia’s Anastasia Bodnaruk defeated India’s Koneru Humpy in a thrilling playoff final. The titles in the blitz version will be awarded this Saturday. All of this almost got lost in all the excitement surrounding Firouzja.