The Fall Of The FIDE World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship has been the biggest and most well-known chess event in history. Ever since 1886, the first official World Chess Championship match, we have had many legends throughout the interesting history of the World Championship, such as Emanuel Lasker, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen, and more.
After all these years, it has held as the most prominent and important chess event in history. But, in recent years, many think it doesn't have the same feel. Why? Read on to find out.
Table Of Contents:
Magnus Quits And The Effects It Caused
Does Gukesh Deserve The Title?
Magnus Quits And The Effects It Caused
Magnus Carlsen has been an unstoppable force in the world of World Chess Championships. Starting in 2013, Magnus Carlsen held the title. But, after his win against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus cited a lack of motivation to continue defending the World Championship, as seen in this article from The Irish Times.
Magnus stated in some interviews and shows that he would only play if he got a "certain opponent". Who is this certain opponent was a mystery.
When Nepomniachtchi won his second straight candidates, in which he won with the most points since the modern format was introduced...
...what everyone feared, sadly, happened.
Magnus chose not to defend his title. He explains this significant decision in his podcast, The Magnus Effect at the time stamp of 51:04 to 1:00:58.
This "Magnus Effect" podcast really did have an effect on the public, as this decision significantly damaged the legitimacy of the event. Many people were skeptical on whether this would be considered a "real World Chess Championship".
Garry Kasparov, the 13th World Chess Champion, commented:
"Staying on top is harder than getting to the top because you are competing against the feeling you have already achieved your life's goal. Staying motivated after climbing the chess Olympus is like climbing mount Everest over and over again. Humans need purpose, and because of that I respect his decision to move on. I am not downplaying the players of the match, and I am sure it will be an exciting match between Ding and Nepo, but I can't call it a World Championship".
And, to everyone's surprise, the match victory went to Ding Liren. But, how did he get there in the first place?
Ding Liren was not actually even supposed to play in the Candidates Tournament. Due to Chinese restrictions, Ding did not play many tournaments outside of China in the time period of the Covid-19 breakout. This made it hard for Ding, since 6 out of the 8 spots in the candidates were only given out to people who did well in international competitions, such as the FIDE World Cup.
Ding thought he would miss out on the 2022 Candidates, but then a miracle happened. Sergey Karjakin, who had already had a spot in the 2022 Candidates, was around the time publicly supporting Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This led to FIDE banning him for 6 months for a violation of the FIDE Ethics Policy.
This meant he would miss out on the 2022 Candidates. The rules stated in this case, where someone with a spot in the Candidates was unable to play, the highest rated player that hadn't yet qualified for the Candidates would get a spot. Through sheer luck, the player that was chosen was Ding Liren. But there was one problem. He hadn't played 30 official rated games in the past year, which was a requirement to play in the Candidates.
Despite not being able to leave China, the Chinese Ches Federation organized 3 rated events for Ding to play in, which means that he was able to compete in the 2022 Candidates Tournament.
At the time of winning the 2023 World Chess Championship Ding had a FIDE rating of 2780, and a peak of 2811, making him one of the best players of all time. But, after the February 2024 FIDE rating update, he dropped to 2762. After that, he continued to drop noticeable amounts until he was rated 2728, making him the first reigning World Champion in modern times to defend his title while ranked outside the top 20.
This only more heavily justifies the popular opinion: The world chess championship is not what it used to be.
Does Gukesh Deserve The Title?
In 2024, chess history was made. Gukesh won the 2024 World Chess Championship against Ding, making him the youngest ever World Chess Champion, breaking Garry Kasparov’s long-standing record of 22 years, 210 days (set in 1985). Gukesh’s victory marked a generational shift in chess, showing how teenage prodigies are now capable of reaching the very top.
But the key question is, does he really deserve the title?
His opponent was Ding Liren, which was "only" the world no.23 at the time. I'm not downplaying either of the players, but I am not sure if he would have won if he versed Carlsen or Caruana for example.
Gukesh has proven that he has what it takes to beat these players, as he has beaten Carlsen 2 notable times, the more famous one being his victory against Magnus where magnus slammed the table.
So, does he deserve it? He would have had a harder time up against Carlsen or any other 2800+ GM then against Ding.
I think it is a matter of time for Gukesh to prove himself against some of the best of all time in a world championship match.
I hope this blog enlightened you about the fall of the World Championship in recent years. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you next time.
