No Carlsen in Zurich 2015

The Russian businessman behind the Zurich tournament is quite upset about Carlsen not confirming his participation in Zurich. In an article at Chess24 he states that Kramnik is much more well known among the general public in the west, and now the latter (and Karjakin) will play Zurich instead of Carlsen, who Skvortsov seems to suggest is unknown to a western audience compared to Kramnik.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/carlsen-to-miss-zurich-after-sponsor-loses-patience

The whole thing seems weird, considering that the 2014 event had lingering discussions about Kramnik's participation. The organisers were in frequent contact with him before he eventually declined.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/why-kramnik-isn-t-playing-in-zurich-2014

Now, half a year before the tournament, the Russian organiser talks about how badly Carlsen behaves by not agreeing to play, while Carlsen's manager says that they simply declined the invitation already during the Olympiad. In any case, the tournament will be strong enough also without Carlsen. Chessbase article on the Zurich 2015 sponsor and event, without touching upon the Carlsen controversy:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/zurich-chess-challenge-2015-announced

Not tearing my robes over Carlsen's decision.

Unusual to hear an organiser talk like Skvortsov does about a player he allegedly wants to participate in his tournament, I doubt it will make it more likely that he will play there in the future. And even if Skvortsov would be right that Kramnik is much bigger in the west than Carlsen is, it is never easy to motivate why #11 is an improvement on #1.

"So, what will Carlsen be doing instead?"

It's only a few days between Tata and Zurich, and this year he chose Zurich. For 2015 he maybe prefers Tata instead.

So people are invited to tournaments based on how famous they are rather than how well they are playing.  Well that explains a lot.

"So people are invited to tournaments based on how famous they are rather than how well they are playing. Well that explains a lot"

Coming from one of the leading chess organisers, the tone is quite rude, it's close to "Carlsen is a nobody compared to Kramnik, I hope he loses to Anand, he is unknown in the west compared to Kramnik, he is not as big as he thinks he is" etc. It would sound a bit more professional to talk as last time, when the field was announced much later than now because Kramnik wasn't sure if he would play and eventually declined, when it was more like the usual: "Sadly he couldn't play this year, we hope he can come next year" etc without the added character assassination :-)

Maybe Carlsen couldn't go to Zurich because he's got a modelling photo shoot lined up elsewhere.

I bet he didnt act so ugly towards Kramnik when he declined to play . 

When Kramnik didn't play it sounded like this, going by Chess24 :-)

"We delayed announcing the line-up for a long time because we were waiting for Vladimir"

"When he returned from Norway we phoned each other and discussed it all again"

"Unfortunately it turned out the dates weren’t very convenient for Kramnik"

"Perhaps Vladimir is worried the dates of the Candidates will be switched at the last minute again"

"We agreed Kramnik will play our event in 2015"

"Vladimir has been invited to come to the opening ceremony as an honoured guest"

I doubt Carlsen got the honored guest invitation to the opening ceremony :-)

great to see kramnik playing, this means he won't retire anytime soon!!! :)

"seems like he got punished"

Agdestein claims they declined the invitation long ago though.

Someone so worried about the " world's condition "  shouldn't even be here eh ?  

Skvortsov sounds like a slighted lover rather than like the tough guy that punishes Carlsen that he tries to make it sound like. He wants no "unpleasant personalities" in the field but there's some sour grapes there I bet.

One of the things that I found worrying about Carlsen potentially not signing the contract for the upcoming World Chess Championship or criticising the venue (either explicitly or implicitly [by hesitating to sign the contract, for instance]) is that it could impact his future invitations to chess events in Russia (or with Russian sponsors). Skvortsov's recent trash-talk certainly lends credence to that hypothesis.

Kramnik better known in the West than Carlsen?  I doubt it.  I have many non-chessplaying friends who have heard about Carlsen, who has appeared on "60 Minutes" and "Charlie Rose," among others.  They also know about Garry Kasparov, who maintained a very high public profile (Deep Blue match, Wall Street Journal, etc.), but have never heard of Kramnik. 

This sounds like more of the Russian hyper-nationalism that Putin has been promoting.  It will play well at home.

"This sounds like more of the Russian hyper-nationalism that Putin has been promoting. It will play well at home"

Yes, and it has not only been directed against Carlsen personally but Norway in general after the problems with Lahno's switch before the Olympiad. Since then all hell broke lose in the Russian-Norwegian chess relations, with quite a confrontational attitude from the Norwegians directed against Kirsan/Russia/FIDE, Russian accusations against the Norwegians for the death of two participants, the talk about the Russian Chess Federation suing the Norwegians, and Carlsen's dragging out on signing up for the Sochi match. In the FIDE elections Carlsen was also a supporter of Kasparov, who the leader of the Russian Chess Federation said might "end up like Fischer".

Difficult to guess how this will continue. Maybe some more criticism against Carlsen from Russian organisers or less of Russian invitees in Norwegian events. It might be too much to suggest that the Russians rather discontinue the Chess Oscar award than give it to Carlsen for the fifth year in a row for 2013, but they usually present the winner with the trophy much earlier the following year, and now it's soon October. It does sound a bit conspiracy theory like to think they would discontinue such a long tradition for such a reason though, so it will probably just be awarded much later than usual.

Did you post a picture of the grumpy cat?