Challenging the relevance of Chess World Cup, Candidates
The Chess World Cup, which will be held in Georgia from September 2, is considered to be one of the strongest tournaments in the calendar in 2017. It has been enhanced by the participation of Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion and the No.1 chess player by a distance.
The reactions have been largely positive. FIDE’s executive director, Nigel Freeman told a chess website, that they were delighted with Carlsen’s preparation while the head of the Organising Committee of the Chess World Cup has expressed pleasure that Georgians would get a chance to have a glimpse of the world champion. Everything seems fine on the surface. However, Carlsen’s participation has also presented FIDE a new challenge. If he reaches the final of the tournament, then the relevance of the tournament and that of the subsequent Candidates tournament comes into focus.
The world No.1 is a huge fan of the knock-out system and that was the reason why Carlsen had wanted to play the Chess World Cup in 2015 but had to skip it because of scheduling issues. Having gotten the chance, he will want to make full use of it as technically, there is no such rule that bars a reigning champion from playing. FIDE might have covered up the potential of Carlsen entering the final. However, they will be presented with another challenge, and that will be Sergey Karjakin.
FIDE has technically not covered up the possibility of a final between Carlsen and Karjakin. The Russian GM, who has directly qualified for the Candidates on account of being the loser in the previous world championship, could potentially make it to the final along with Carlsen. If both these players enter the last round, what does FIDE do? Will the two losing semi-finalists then get an entry into the Candidates? Will there be a separate tournament?
With a potential of a CarlsenKarjakin final in World Cup, what happens to the nature of the Candidates tournament? Karjakin has already entered directly. However, what will make the situation interesting is Carlsen. If he decides to play and goes on to win it, then will Carlsen play himself or a super computer in the next championship?