King of the bored: chess champion ‘not interested’ in title defence
IT HAS garnered him fame, fortune and international acclaim but at the age of 31, Magnus Carlsen, regarded as the best chess player of all time, is stepping away from the game.
And his reason? He’s just not that into it. In an interview on International Chess Day, the five-time world champion said his experience had been “an interesting ride” but ultimately he is not motivated enough to play another gruelling three-week championship match.
“I simply feel that I don’t have a lot to gain,” Carlsen said. “I don’t particularly like it. Although I’m sure a match would be interesting for historical reasons and all of that, I don’t have any inclination to play and I will simply not play the match.”
Carlsen, who has dominated the game for more than a decade, has had a long love-hate relationship with the World Chess Championship.
Since becoming World Champion in 2013, he has encouraged a wave of popularity that has seen millions take up the game worldwide. Carlsen has sought to popularise the game for spectators with the launch of his own simplified cycle of world-class tournaments, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.
Outside the chess world, Carlsen spent time modelling for the Dutch fashion label G-star Raw and has also launched a successful business empire, founding the Play Magnus Group in 2013, which provides apps and online platforms designed to teach chess and encourage players.
The former child prodigy first won the chess title nine years ago when he ended Indian legend Vishy Anand’s six-year reign. Carlsen’s victory was heralded by Garry Kasparov and others as the start of a new era in chess with the then 22-year-old being the first new champion who had developed his game in the age of super-strong chess computers.
However, Carlsen, who went on to achieve the highest chess rating in history, revealed today he only entered the event “on a whim”.
He said: “It’s been obviously an interesting ride since the moment I decided to play the Candidates tournament in 2013, which was, to be honest, kind of on a whim.
“At some point, I just decided, ‘hey, I’m going to give the Candidates a try, could be interesting’, and ever since the World Championship title has obviously given me a lot, it’s opened a lot of doors and I’m happy about that.”
Carlsen, however, was scathing about his experience of defending the title against the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi
in Dubai last December. “It didn’t mean anything to me,” he said. “It was nothing. I was satisfied with the job that I’d done, I was happy not to have lost the match, but that was it.”
Carlsen has said he will focus on new goals such as becoming the first player to reach the 2900 rating mark and competing in elite events such as the forthcoming FTX Crypto Cup in Miami.
The last time a reigning champion vacated the throne was in 1975 when the mercurial American, Bobby Fischer, gave up his title rather than defend it.
Carlsen said he could return – but it is not likely. “I don’t rule out a return in the future, but I wouldn’t particularly count on it either,” he explained. “Just so there’s no ambiguity here, I’m not retiring from chess, I’m still going to be an active player.”
‘I don’t rule out a return in the future, but I wouldn’t particularly count on it either’