Eight participants will fight for the World Championship match against Magnus Carlsen in the Chess Candidates Tournament from Thursday (June 16, 2022). But he only wants to play against one possible opponent, namely the young Frenchman Firouzja. There would be many attractive opponents.
Long before the final field of participants in this chess candidate tournament was determined, world champion Magnus Carlsen had already sent an unmistakable message. Carlsen announced in December that he only wanted to defend his title against the young Frenchman Alireza Firouzja. Statements that he reiterated a few weeks ago.
If Carlsen does not compete, the runner-up in the tournament moves up
Firouzja as a challenger or none. “If someone else wins the Candidates Tournament, it’s unlikely that I’ll play the next World Cup”said Carlsen. “Then I think I could say I’m happy with what I’ve achieved.” If Firouzja does not prevail in the Candidates Tournament, which starts on Thursday, a curious situation could arise. Carlsen would voluntarily relinquish his title. The winner and runner-up of the Candidates Tournament would then play for the World Cup title in early 2023.
Other world chess champions have also not wanted to defend their titles in the past, Raul Capablanca or Bobby Fischer, for example. Capablanca did not see any equal opponents for itself. Carlsen also only seems to perceive the 18-year-old promoted Firouzja as a real opponent. Carlsen considers him a “genius”.
Firouzja gets the record, then it’s quiet around him
Born in Iran, he has had a rapid rise. At the end of 2021, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament at a tournament in Switzerland and subsequently became the youngest player ever to reach an Elo rating of over 2,800. Since then, however, he has played little, currently he is third in the world rankings. Off the board, Firouzja is calm and polite, but his playstyle is aggressive and dynamic. Firouzja seeks the decisions, takes the initiative in the game.
“He’s everything you could wish for in a chess player,” says even ex-world champion Vishy Anand. Carlsen versus Firouzja: That would be the dream duel, the dominator against his prince. Not only Carlsen wants this game. It’s still surprising that he only wants to play against the young Frenchman – because the Candidates Tournament is also spectacular in other respects.
Ding, Nakamura: There are many attractive opponents
On the one hand, there is Ding Liren, the Chinese number two in the world. Due to various corona breaks and quarantine periods, he was unable to take part in the qualifying tournaments for the Candidates Tournament. But then the already qualified Russian Segej Karjakin was disqualified because of his statements on the Ukraine war. Ding played dozens of games within a few weeks and thus moved up as the highest-ranking participant. He has beaten Carlsen several times, who has repeatedly emphasized his respect for the Chinese in the past.
Or Hikaru Nakamura. Actually, he already had it streamers made comfortable, reached up with his blitz games Twitter a (new) audience of millions. He probably also received one as an advertising medium for chess wildcard for one of the qualifying tournaments and won sensationally. If he were the Carlsen challenger, a World Cupmatch market better than ever.
Also Caruana and “Nepo” are back
or Fabiano Caruana, Carlsen’s challenger from 2018, who has repeatedly been described by the Norwegian as his toughest opponent to date, but has been somewhat overshadowed by the promoted team in recent years. The field is completed by Carlsen’s challenger from last year, the Russian Jan “Nepo” Nepomnjaschtschi, the two debutants Richard Rapport and Jan-Krzysztof Duda and the Azerbaijani Teymur Radjabov.
The first four games of the tournament will start on Friday (June 17, 2022) at 3 p.m. All participants play against each other twice. If there is still no winner on July 5th, the top two will fight in two rapid chess games for tournament victory and a ticket to the World Cup. If world champion Carlsen really doesn’t want to defend his title afterwards, the runner-up at the World Cup would also be there.