Carlsen withdraws from Candidates 2024

Magnus Carlsen announced that he will not participate in the Candidates, giving his place to Nijat Abasov to compete in the tournament to choose the challenger to Dinh Lap Nhan's Chess Championship title in 2024.

The eight players for the Candidates have been confirmed, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Fabiano Caruana, Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi, Hikaru Nakamura, Gukesh Dommaraju and Alireza Firouzja.

Carlsen got his spot thanks to winning the 2023 Chess World Cup, but in an interview with Chess on January 6, he said: "I'm not participating in the Candidates, so don't worry."

Carlsen after a draw with Daniil Dubov at the World Blitz Chess Championship in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on December 30, 2023. Photo: Chess — Carlsen after a draw with Daniil Dubov at the World Blitz Chess Championship in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on December 30, 2023. Photo: *Chess*

Carlsen explained that he was no longer interested in taking part in the Candidates or reclaiming the FIDE World Chess Championship. "I like the current schedule, playing online tournaments at home and occasionally traveling for board games," he said. "I don't miss the world finals anymore."

Carlsen declined FIDE's invitation, meaning that World Cup fourth-placed Abasov will be promoted to replace him. The Azerbaijani is the only player in the 2024 Candidates with an Elo rating below 2,700, with his rating at 2,641. The other seven players are all rated 2,720 or higher.

Carlsen has been talking about this decision for a long time, during the 2023 World Cup. He explained that he would only want to play in the world final if FIDE reduced the number of standard games and added more rapid chess to the schedule. He said that was the right way to determine the best players. "If they want to find the best players, they don't need to look at the chess genres, they just need to look at my name," he added, laughing.

According to Elo today, January 7, Carlsen is the world leader in all three chess categories, with a rating of 2,830 for standard, 2,823 for rapid, and 2,886 for blitz. He just won the rapid and blitz championships at the end of last year, but his Elo has still dropped. The Norwegian has also won 17 chess categories, and has been the world's number one player since 2011.

Ding is currently the nominal King of Chess, after defeating Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 World Final. The Chinese player will have to defend his title later this year, against the winner of the Candidates Tournament.

Candidates 2024 takes place from April 2 to April 25, when players play a double round-robin tournament in Toronto, Canada.

Xuan Binh

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