Bengaluru: For the first time, a world title in chess has been shared and for the second time in the course of a week, governing body Fide has allowed world No.1 Magnus Carlsen to call the shots.
After seven rounds of play in the final between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Carlsen in New York on Tuesday, the scores were tied 3.5-3.5 and the Norwegian was seen asking Nepomniachtchi if he would be okay to share the title. The Russian GM promptly agreed. According to the regulations, the players have to keep playing on until there’s a winner and the final decision in case of an unforeseen circumstance rests with the Fide president.
Four of the seven games they played in the final were decisive, so there was little to suggest that there wouldn’t have been a result soon enough. In what could be seen as a match-fixing attempt, Carlsen was captured on video suggesting to Nepomniachtchi that should Fide refuse the idea they could “play short draws till they give up”.
Fide did no such thing. President Arkady Dvorkovich gave the go-ahead for a shared title after a few quick phone calls with Carlsen and both players were declared joint world blitz champions. This is Carlsen’s eighth world blitz title and a first one for Nepomniachtchi.
“I thought we had already played for a really long time and I was happy to end it. I thought it would be very, very cruel on both of us if one gets first and the other gets second place so it would be a very reasonable solution (to share the title),” said Carlsen. “People of course understand that we are both tired and nervous. Some people are going to like it, some people are not going to like it, it’s the way it is.”
Asked to weigh in on how the decision was reached, Nepomniachtchi said: “I guess there was a case of shared gold in the Olympics (Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barshim agreed to share the high jump gold after deciding against a jump-off) in Tokyo. Also, the one decision I didn’t like too much, sharing gold (between Russia and India) in the Online Olympiad (in 2020), it was a bit controversial to me, but what to do? Maybe this will cause Fide to return to Armageddon tie-break to determine the winner. But yeah, I’m not going to whine too much.”
Earlier, Carlsen played Hans Niemann in the quarterfinals in what was their first over-the-board meeting since the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Niemann had defeated Carlsen then and it ended in the former world champion withdrawing from the tournament and accusing the American GM of cheating. The matter went to court, was later quietly settled outside and now there’s a Netflix documentary on it on the way. On Tuesday, Carlsen suffered a scare and was trailing 0.5-1.5 against Niemann after allowing a mate-in-one. He eventually won the battle 2.5-1.5 to progress to the semi-finals, where he took down Jan-Krzysztof Duda comfortably before facing Nepomniachtchi.
The shared title has not gone down well with the chess community. It’s being viewed as a mockery of regulations and competition. Earlier in the tournament, the Fide president eased the dress code regulations after Carlsen pulled out of the tournament for being asked to change out of his jeans. The rules were then tweaked to allow players to wear jeans to the games and Carlsen returned for the blitz competition in his jeans.
Vaishali wins blitz bronze
China’s reigning classical women’s world champion Ju Wenjun won the blitz event after staying undefeated in Tuesday’s knockouts. Vaishali Rameshbabu finished with a bronze – the only Indian medallist across both sections. The 21-year-old took down Zhu Jiner 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals before losing to Ju Wenjun 0.5-2.5 in the semis. After Koneru Humpy’s gold in the world rapid, a third-place finish for Vaishali marked India’s second medal from the tournament. On Day 1 of the blitz event, Vaishali dominated the women’s standings – with eight wins and three draws – to make Tuesday’s knockouts a full point ahead of the rest of the field.
No Indian player from the open section made the podium. Arjun Erigaisi came the closest with a fifth place in the rapid.
