Magnus Carlsen has dominated the chess scene for over a decade now. But the Norwegian hasn’t been world champion for a long time – because he doesn’t want to be. This bothers the former Russian titleholder Anatoly Karpov, who blames the superstar for this reason.
Anatoly Karpov has clearly criticized chess superstar Magnus Carlsen for relinquishing his World Classical chess title.
“Carlsen is of course the most charismatic chess player at the moment. But he made a mistake by giving up the world title even though he was still the obvious champion,” Karpov said in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS. Karpov went on to judge that the Norwegian had become “arrogant”.
Carlsen voluntarily gives up his world title
Carlsen announced his withdrawal from the World Cup in mid-2022 and relinquished the title that he first won in 2013 and was able to successfully defend four times in a row. The reason he gave for his withdrawal was the game format, which in his eyes is no longer up to date, takes up too much time and ultimately is not exciting and varied enough.
In recent years, the Norwegian has increasingly focused on formats with shorter thinking times and also freestyle chess. He was extremely successful here too. Among other things, he won several world championship titles in blitz and rapid chess. In 2026 he also won the title in freestyle chess.
Meanwhile, Carlsen’s withdrawal from the classic World Cup cycle has slightly damaged the reputation of the most prestigious title. Neither his immediate successor Ding Liren (China) nor his heir Dommaraju Gukesh (India) were considered the best players in the world before, during or after winning the World Cup. Only one player has had this reputation for many years: Magnus Carlsen.
