What will be left for us Now? Magnus Carlsen leaves it All Behind

welcome back everybody to another important announcement recap today with this one having a more massive impact on the community in the chess world. Recently on july 20th also known as International Chess Day, the 16th reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has officially announced that he will not be playing in the 2022 World Championship match against Ian Nepomniatchi admitting he will forfeit his title for good. this was devastating news and caused quite the panic for many as people all around the world are now beginning to speculate what worth the title of World champion will even have? what will our future be like without magnus carlsen and how will this impact the top events in the future? lets dive in and break down all the small details to the upcoming news in the next few months, lets go warriors!

"I'm not motivated to play another match" - MC

nearly over a decade has passed since the Norwegian beat Anand back in there 2013 match, the start of a new era and the start to which many believed to be the reign of magnus which was true. over the next couple of years so many things changed and ultimately it was through each match that carlsens decline for motivation began to show even back in 2018 against Fabiano Caruana, the 2nd highest rated player at the time and clear competitor for the throne.

many chess grandmasters were ultimately shocked at the conclusion that magnus wasn't joking about forfeiting the title if GM Alireza Firouzja wasn't his new challenger. the pressure hyped many to believe if carlsen was mainly amusing the crowd or really intended on leaving for good and sadly he did. Most members of the elite presumed carlsen was just "in the heat of the moment" as stated by many in lots of interviews through many events like the candidates

Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi and many candidates didn't think much of his statement at the time considering 2nd place to not be of great Importance as they were at disbelief Carlsen would decline the match. when the news eventually broke out, some were incredibly shocked at how much 2nd place could have offered them a spot at taking the title of world champion. Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura were in the final round fighting for the spot with contender ding ultimately becoming the victor & replacement for the WCC match.

He announced on International Chess Day during a podcast dubbed "the magnus effect" about his decision and why he never really felt that it was beneficial anymore. he quoted that he had "nothing to gain anymore" and that he pretty much lost motivation for another match at the moment. this doesn't mean carlsen has retired from chess, this in fact only means he has given up on the World Championship but wants to focus on breaking bigger goals and more events.

"The End of An Era?" - Ding Liren

many were as i stated earlier shocked and the whole world took it by storm, lots of people such as @AnishGiri joked about the WCC match with ding/nepo, one of the chess youtube kings @agadmator noted carlsens forfeiture as being undefeated and hikaru said along with many that it was understandable and quite brutal to accept but very respectable.

since Magnus Carlsen forfeited the title, under FIDE rules the new world championship match will decide a new world champion and this will be settled between Candidate Winners Ian Nepomniatchi and Ding Liren. many view the match as having no sense of real spirit or purpose cause the real champion is no longer with us on this road giving the title less meaning. however, some like myself have come to see this as a new opportunity and a new era as stated by ding cause this gives room to others players who now can have a chance to fight for the throne.

"I knew he had doubts but i expected him to play. But i understand it also. Being a World champion means a lot of responsibilities; there are a lot of things to handle" - Ding Lirens First hand reaction on a call with chess.com

Ian was also not happy about the news saying he was disappointed in his interview but that nonetheless he respects Carlsens decision to forfeit the title. he also calls his decision a bit harmful to the world but that he doesn't know how harmful its impact will be. 

"From a Human Perspective, it's quite an understandable decision from Magnus and i respect it completely, despite my personal disappointment that it happened" - Ian on the situation and his opinion

this all of course again is very devastating and depressing news for the chess world at hand and the future honestly could be impacted by it as the title of world champion can be considered again meaningless. IMO when i first heard this, i thought it was a joke but then as i processed it in my thoughts i was like "woah he really did it and i can't blame him for being the best" so generally i feel like he has nothing to prove. Magnus has been the reigning champion for over a decade undefeated, has been the only consistent 2800 standing, shown that he is above the rest with dominant performance and as he said, he really has nothing to gain anymore. its not as special to him as it was once before and even though he has mentioned it many times before, i think it really just makes sense that he would let go of it at one point in time.

right now i have always pictured that only 2 people in my head would be able to challenge and take the title from his reign, those 2 people being Fabiano or Ding and well ding finally has his chance in a WCC match except its just not the way many people wish it was. it would have been amazing if Ding was battling carlsen for the title but unfortunately things happened and well now really i want to hope the best for Ian and Ding with me rooting for Mr.Liren as he is one of my favorite players and i have always considered him one of the top 3 best players in our era.

who will you cheer for in the 2022 WCC match between ian and liren? comment down below your thoughts on the situation and what do you have to say for this drastic decision? i hope everyone has a nice calm night and i will keep making more content along the way, cheers