The Indian Express and its authors.
FIDE Controversy over the FIDE WRBC
Overall situationWhat will be covered by this blog?
1. Chess 960 Scandal regarding the Chess960 club and specifically GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen
2. “Jeans Fine” in FIDE World Rapid Championship and GM Magnus Carlsen forfeiting from both FIDE WRC and FIDE WBC.
3. GM Magnus Carlsen claims he has brought about an agreement with FIDE so as to play the FIDE WBC, -IN JEANS-
4. Controversial situation between GM Hans Niemann and GM Magnus Carlsen
5. Match between GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Yan Nepómniashch
6. Disclaimer
1. Chess960 Scandal.
Some days prior to the beginning of the FIDE WRBC, a scandal between GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Magnus Carlsen, and FIDE shocked chess fans worldwide. GM Hikaru Nakamura posted a video "WHY MAGNUS AND HIKARU ALMOST SKIPPED THE WORLD RAPID AND BLITZ" in which he explained that there was a rising controversy due to a secret invitational Chess960-chess-club created by both him and GM Magnus Carlsen. The issue seems to lay in the fact that this club was planning on launching a World Chess960 Championship, which ending in itself would not be a problem. However, the fact that this championship WOULD NOT CARRY the FIDE label could lead to misconceptions about a “World Championship” not being organized by the World Chess Federation.
Whilst, this is mostly speculative information since neither of the parties regarding this issue has stated the real reasons for this argument. The founders of this Chess960 club were hesitant to reach an agreement with the ruling body of the game. Nevertheless, there seems to have been a true impact upon the GMs taking part in the FIDE WRBC given that both GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen (who, at the time, was both the defending world rapid champion and world blitz champion) were discussing not even attending to the event.
1.1 Chess 960 background
Why was it created?
To those who may not be sure what chess960 is, it is also called Fischer Random (Since GM and former world champion Bobby Fischer considered by many, the greatest player of all time — was the “creator” of this Chess variant), or Freestyle Chess. It is nothing else but a chess variant in which the pieces in the first row are randomly placed (for instance, the knight could occupy the rook's spot and so forth). This alternative was suggested by GM Bobby Fischer to avoid the intricacies of “prep” that back in his days was the key strength of the Soviet School of Chess which he was playing against.
Why is it becoming trendy nowadays?
Nowadays, after the arrival of Chess Engines and modern computation systems and AI, this preparation has become much stronger which at some point renders some openings in chess as unplayable or straightforwardly draw-ish. This is one of the main reasons why GM Magnus Carlsen decided to quit defending the FIDE World Classical Chess Championship back in 2022. That being said, he continued playing Chess960 classical events, since there is an argument to be made that Chess960 reduces the options to "prep" since there are 960 different starting positions.
The current state of Chess960
The main problem regarding these events is that since the World Chess Federation (FIDE) does not organize a ton of them, they mostly rely on entrepreneurs interested in chess to back up these tournaments. This was the case of the "Fischer Random GOAT Challenge" tournament held in The Weissenhaus Resort on the German Baltic coast, and some other events. Up until this point, this seemed to be the only way to organize Fischer Random events until this scandal. Now there seems to be some sort of agreement between FIDE and the Chess960 club so as to organize these events the proper way, for both the parties.
2. Jeans Fine
During the 9th round of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship, GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Yan Nepómniashchi were fined by the Chief Arbiter of the event for not following the dress code (basically by wearing Jeans). After that, there was only one more round to be played that day, thus, even though GM Yan Nepómniashchi went to change the pants after paying the fine, GM Magnus Carlsen asked the Chief Arbiter to stay with the jeans for that round (after paying the fine). Finally, the arbiter's decision was confirmed by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in this official communicate
Long story short, GM Magnus Carlsen was denied this option, and since he had not changed the jeans he was not paired for the upcoming round, after which he forfeited from both the WRC and the WBC. After that, he attended an interview given by IM Levy Rozman (Chess's biggest YouTube creator, also better known as Gotham chess) in which, GM Magnus Carlsen stated that he was done with FIDE and said "fuck you (FIDE)". (source)
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that throughout these events, social media was scattered all over the place. On the one hand, chess masters were joking about this jean issue (like GM Anish Giri, GM Yan Nepómniashchi, IM Levy Rozman, WGM Nemo Zhou, WGM Dina Belenkaya, and many others). On the other hand, chess enthusiasts' opinions (like myself) were diverse as well. Hence, there was mainly an argument to be made about whether some players could be above the law in certain moments and situations and whether this dress code law should be entirely removed by FIDE.
3. Magnus Carlsen plays the WBC
After all this drama, FIDE informs via social media accounts that GM Magnus Carlsen will be playing the FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship. However, GM Magnus Carlsen states in an interview that he will be playing --IN JEANS--.
There is not a whole lot to further develop in this topic other than the fact that given that there have not been further changes regarding the dress code law but GM Magnus Carlsen was allowed to play in jeans, there are changes likely to come in the future as pointed out by FIDE in this official communicate.
4. GM Hans Niemann and GM Magnus Carlsen
After FIDE announced the pairings for the quarterfinals of the WBC, the chess world was kind of shocked that GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Hans Niemann would be playing in the quarterfinals. This is such an important match since these GMs have had their arguments after the Cheating Scandal which I am not going to further develop because there is already so much information out there (I highly advise checking the GothamChess series regarding all the drama starting with his youtube video).
The match was rapidly heated as GM Hans Niemann checkmated GM Magnus Carlsen, gaining a quick lead. Yet, GM Magnus Carlsen managed to level the game after defeating his rival in the following rounds. Once the final game was over, the drama began. GM Magnus Carlsen started making gestures with his arms while looking at his opponent and finally stumped his king against the chessboard. Some fans from both parties felt that this was somewhat disrespectful and disruptive manners, even though GM Hans Niemann has not officially stated anything regarding this issue nor addressed it.
5. Blitz Worlds Champion(s)
Heading towards the last round, the FIDE WBC final was one of the most iconic and bittersweet rivalries we have witnessed in the last decade: GM Magnus Carlsen, current Blitz World Chess Champion defender, and GM Yan Nepómniashchi, the challenger.
Why is this rivalry so iconic?
Back in 2021 GM Magnus Carlsen was the defender of the FIDE Classical World Championship and GM Yan Nepómniashchi was the contender after winning the FIDE Candidates in 2020. Long story short, albeit GM Yan Nepómniashchi showcased a rather resilient chess, managing to draw 7 games, it was the expertise of GM Magnus Carlsen that ended up coming on top. Likewise, they would often end up in the final round of several tournaments, for instance, the Global Chess Championship organized by Cheess.com this year.
Notwithstanding this rivalry, they have shown to actually get along pretty well off the board, GM Ian Nepómniashchi via his Instagram account has posted several pictures he took with Magnus Carlsen, and they even joke and laugh after a chess game, is such an interesting friendship!
However, when it comes to chess itself, although GM Yan Nepómniashchi is one of the greatest and most resilient players of the last decade, he has not managed to attain gigantic FIDE titles. Ultimately, this is probably because his direct rival is GM Magnus Carlsen who is considered, by many, the greatest chess player of all time.
What happened in the final?
Even though most chess enthusiasts (including myself) were probably expecting an easy final round from GM Magnus Carlsen, it was nothing close to it, and believe me, this is an understatement. Although GM Magnus Carlsen indeed managed to get two quick wins, the match was anything but over: GM Yan Nepómniashchi quickly bounced back with two exhilarating wins in a row.
After this, the Norwegian Grandmaster was a bit on the back foot for the rest of the match, as he actually couldn't get a decisive advantage and was mostly relying on his expertise to draw the games. Thus, it was GM Yan Nepómniashchi who had the opportunity to convert and seal the deal.
After a series of draws, Magnus Carlsen asked for a break and shocked the whole world with a "novelty move", something without precedents in the chess world: a joint champion title, -- "in the seek of Bobby Fischer" movie fashion --. Even though everyone was shocked, the main FIDE Arbiter decided to hereby authorize this decision. Thus, the 2024 FIDE Worlds Blitz Championship has two champions: GM Yan Nepómniashchi and GM Magnus Carlsen.
5.1 Public Opinion regarding the two champions
A lot of disbelief has arisen from social media and streaming platforms after FIDE decided to allow the request by GM Magnus Carlsen to have a joint World Blitz Champion. Many people argue that FIDE Laws and regulations state that "both players shall play until there is a winner" whereas other individuals believe that this was the right call since this was such a moment and it was such a wholesome attitude from both players, that breaking the rules in this case was justified.
Still, there is some sort of controversy regarding the Female World Blitz Champion title since many argue that GM Ju Wenjun and GM Lei Tingjie should have been allowed to share the title as well. When it comes to Grandmasters and top players, opinions are even more scattered: GM Hans Niemann has told via streaming that "FIDE has become a joke" which sums up pretty well most of the opinions commented on in social media posts that showcase the overall discontent regarding the World Chess Federation and its --shady-- laws.
6. Disclaimer
I hope this article has managed to be as unbiased as possible, as I just pretended to inform you of the current state of the subject. This is my first blog as well, so if it turns out to be boring or not useful whatsoever, please I would appreciate it if you let me know it. I expect to write another blog with my personal view on this matter to whom it may be interested. With nothing else to say: