• Report Magnus Carlsen and the old debate between purists and revolutionaries

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A few months ago, Norwegian Grandmaster

Jonathan Tisdall

interviewed his compatriot

Magnus Carlsen

for

Chess.com

and asked him if his biggest advantage over his rivals was his experience in long, long, long World Cup games.

"No, my biggest advantage is that I play better chess," replied the world champion.

Carlsen observes the Candidates Tournament in Madrid that begins this Friday from above: he knows he is superior, he is superior.

The title has been his since 2013 and even before, since 2011, he is number one in the ranking.

Recently, he chained more than two years without losing and touched 2,900 ELO points, an outrage.

“Right now it is untouchable.

No one can take the crown from him in a 14-game World Cup.

For that to happen, the rest need to evolve a lot or he has to lose motivation”, explains the Spanish Grand Master

Miguel Illescas

.

And therein lies the issue: Carlsen is getting bored.

Firouzja's challenge

In recent years, even before his 2021 title defense, he has dropped the possibility of giving up his title and this time it seems that he means business.

"The chances that he will disappoint those who expect him to play the next World Cup are very high," he proclaimed after his last victory, although he quickly opened up hope.

According to him, he said, it will depend on his rival.

If the Iranian nationalized French

Alireza Firouzja

wins the Candidates Tournament , he will play against him;

if he beats anyone else, he supposedly won't even sit at the table.

«Firouzja is a challenge for him, a motivation, because he is very young [he is 18 years old] and there is a lot of talk about him.

Somehow, before him she could show that she is capable of defeating the new generation as well.

And there would be some media expectation, he would not give Carlsen a champion before even competing.

With the others nobody knows what he will do.

If he wins the Candidates Tournament [American Fabiano] Caruana, for example, it will take a lot to convince him.

In the 2018 World Cup they already faced each other, signed 12 tables and the Norwegian found it very, very uncomfortable.

It would be necessary to put a lot of money on the table for him to play, "Illescas analyzes, and he is not without reason with the economic issue -many have pointed out that Carlsen only plays hard to increase his cache-, but there is another issue in the air: the format.

A format change

Carlsen has long demanded that the World Cup not be confined to classical chess and that games at the traditional rhythm be combined with semi-fast and fast games.

According to him, the format with which the best in the world is decided rewards defensive players, like Caruana, and cancels the show.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE), which has introduced many novelties in its tournaments, does not seem to be in the mood to play its World Cup, but if Carlsen is not...

«If he presses a lot, perhaps the leaders will consider a change.

Either way, they should do something.

For me the best idea is to play a playoff every day.

That is, if the classical chess game ends in a draw, then play a tiebreaker, so that there is always a winner.

There are many ways to streamline the tournament », explains Illescas who, like all the experts, does not see a clear candidate for victory these days in Madrid.

According to a survey of 500 readers of King's Pawn, the chess magazine he edits himself, the options are almost 33% divided between the Chinese

Ding Liren

, Caruana and Firouzja.

For chess it is important that the best man wins and, at the same time, that someone wins who forces Carlsen to rise from his throne.

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