The Biggest Mishaps In World Chess Championship History

With the postponement of the second half of the 2020 Candidates Tournament on everyone's minds, I thought it would be a good time to look back on some interesting moments in World Chess Championship history from cheating accusations to players forfeiting games. Without further ado, here are the top ten biggest mishaps in the World Chess Championship cycle.

10. 2018 Candidates Tournament Venue

In the 2018 Candidates Tournament, many of the participants, such as Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin, were critical of the venue of the event. While this may not have been FIDE's biggest failure (hint: far from it), it still had a big impact on the playing conditions. Karjakin lamented the tournament organization after Round 1, "Actually I don't like almost anything in the organization of the tournament. I don't like the hotel, I don't like the venue and also it was a few times very noisy during the game. I don't want to say that I lost because of all these things, but I basically don't like anything."

9. Carlsen Exits Press Conference

In the 2016 World Chess Championship match, reigning champion Magnus Carlsen stormed out of the press conference out of frustration after losing his first game of the match and taking a deficit against challenger Sergey Karjakin. In doing this, Carlsen forfeited a small portion of his prize winnings. While Carlsen went on to win the match, this wasn't exactly a happy moment to look back on for him.

8. Kasparov and Karpov Fail to Finish Match

World Champions Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov failed to finish their 1984 World Chess Championship match after 5 months of uncompromising play. The format for the match was that the first player to reach 6 wins was crowned World Champion. Karpov started with a dominating 4-0 after 9 games, but was only able to get one more win over grueling months of play. Eventually, the organizers decided to nullify the match to create time for the next cycle. Unsurprisingly, the first to 6 wins format was never employed by FIDE again.

7. 2020 Candidates Tournament Partly Postponed

As you probably know, the second half of the 2020 Candidates Tournament due to the COVID-19 disease outbreak. The reason for this topic being so controversial centers around Teimour Radjabov, a participant of the event. Radjabov, among others, warned FIDE of starting the event based on the outbreak. When FIDE didn't heed to his request, he withdrew from the event, being replaced by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Many believe that Radjabov should be compensated because he was correct that the event shouldn't have taken place as it was officially ended at the halfway point. One suggestion is to restart the tournament with Radjabov playing at the expense of Vachier-Lagrave, who would not only be kicked out of the event but kicked out of the event as the co-leader. To find out more about the situation, you can check out my Youtube video below.

6. Carlsen Withdraws From 2010 Candidates Tournament

Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the 2010 Candidates Tournament despite being the highest rated player in the world at the time. In an open letter to FIDE, Carlsen stated that "...I’ve reached the conclusion that the ongoing 2008–2012 cycle does not represent a system, sufficiently modern and fair, to provide the motivation I need to go through a lengthy process of preparations and matches and to perform at my best." Carlsen also withdrew from the FIDE Grand Prix that served as a qualifier for the Candidates, alongside Michael Adams, the British #1, and other top players who chose not to even join the event in the first place.

5. Libya Hosts World Chess Championship

The 2004 World Chess Championship was held in Libya, which, to put it bluntly, is a center of human rights abuses and state propagated terrorism. Even excluding that, there is still a major issue: the Israeli delegation. Three Israeli players, Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, and Ilia Smirin, qualified for the championship along with other players who had dual citizenship to the United States of America and Israel. Due to political issues, all people with Israeli citizenship were outlawed from entering Libya. First, FIDE created a side event in Malta to ensure that Israelis could participate. The side event was cancelled due to a press release from the Libyan government, saying that "The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya will pleasantly provide entry visas to all the qualified participants of this great Championship". A couple of days later, Mohammed Qadhafi, the chairman of the Libyan Olympic Committee stated that "We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemy to this championship." Upon this misunderstanding, several chess players and institutions publicly denounced FIDE for the dubious decision to host the event in Libya. FIDE claimed that players with Israeli citizenships would still be let in, which turned out to be irrelevant as no Israeli citizens ended up participating.

4. Multiple World Chess Championships

From 1993-2006, two separate World Chess Championship cycles were held; one run by the FIDE (the International Chess Federation) and one run by the Professional Chess Association. The scuffle began when Garry Kasparov, reigning World Champion, and Nigel Short, his challenger, chose not to have their 1993 World Championship match under the auspices of FIDE. In the meantime FIDE, stripped Kasparov of his title and replaced Kasparov and Short with Jan Tinman and Nigel Short, the 1991-3 Candidates Tournament runner-ups behind Short. This mess meant that in the upcoming years, some players opted to play in one world championship or the other or even both. The Classical (Professional Chess Association) World Chess Championships were best-of matches, while the the FIDE World Chess Championships were a wild mix of best-of matches, knockout tournaments and even a round robin world championship. In 2006, Vladimir Kramnik, the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship, faced Veselin Topalov, the winner of the Classical World Chess Championship, in a long proposed reunion match (more about that later!).

3. Fischer Declines To Play Karpov

World Champion Bobby Fischer controversially forfeited his 1975 World Chess Championship match against young Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov. Fischer felt that the format was unfair and instead suggested that the first player to win ten games won the match. If the match was tied 9-9, the World Champion would maintain their title. The FIDE Congress voted for the first idea, but against giving the World Champion draw odds and the possibility of unlimited games, prompting Fischer to forfeit the match. Despite the nature of Fischer's eclectic demands, FIDE's decision not to abide by his suggested format may have robbed chess fans of the biggest World Chess Championship match of all time.

2. Fischer Forfeits Game 2

Bobby Fischer didn't show up to the chessboard in Game 2 of the 1972 World Chess Championship after the organizers chose not to heed to his demand that all cameras be removed. In fact, Fischer almost booked a flight out of the country before his second, William Lombardy, convinced him not to. Eventually, Fischer rejoined the match, heightening the pressure in the biggest World Chess Championship of all time.

1. Toiletgate

In the aforementioned 2006 World Chess Championship, Veselin Topalov's manager, Silvio Danailov, accused Topalov's opponent, Vladimir Kramnik of cheating. Danailov claimed that Kramnik frequently went to the bathroom during the games, saying that Topalov would forfeit the match if no action was taken. The Appeals Committee determined that the private bathrooms would be closed so as to prove whether Danailov's accusation was accurate. Kramnik's manager, Carsten Hensel, responded, saying "The restroom is small and Mr. Kramnik likes to walk and therefore uses the space of the bathroom as well...Mr Kramnik will stop playing this match as long as FIDE is not ready to respect Mr. Kramnik's rights, in this case to use the toilet of his own restroom whenever he wishes to do so." In waiting for FIDE's final decision, Kramnik forfeited Game 5 of the match. FIDE's final decision was to keep the private bathroom for the player and continue the match with the forfeit standing. Topalov faced a lot of backlash from the chess community as former World Chess Champions Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky, among others, supported Kramnik. Topalov later said in an interview with ABC, a Spanish newspaper, that there were clear indications of cheating and that Kramnik was being assisted by the Russian establishment. To this day, there is still no proof that Kramnik did or did not cheat to win the 2006 World Chess Championship.