Can Alireza Firouzja go all the way?
After his thunderous victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi in the recent championship match, World Champion Magnus Carlsen said he had lost his passion for this form of competition over the years and may not play another World Championship match.
As reported by Chessbase, Carlsen explained, “Passion must be the main driver. I have always liked to compete, but chess for me [is] mainly driven by passion for the game.”
Carlsen noted that he had already played the previous generation (in Viswanathan Anand twice) and three leading players of his generation (Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana and Nepomniachtchi) . “It is unlikely I will play another match unless maybe if the next challenger represents the next generation,” he added.
Carlsen did mention the name of 18-year-old Alireza Firouzja as a representative of the next generation. Firouzja is currently ranked No 2 in the world in classical chess, according to the December 2021 FIDE world chess ranking. He has qualified for the next Candidates Tournament, which is a round -robin featuring eight of the strongest contenders worldwide. The winner of the Candidates opposes the current world champion for the title.
A former child prodigy, Firouzja was born in Iran and is now a French national. He won the Iranian National Championship at 12 years of age and became a Grandmaster at 14. He started playing chess at the age of eight. Can he win the Candidates?