Magnus Carlsen lost to Hikaru Nakamura in the Final of the Chessable Masters: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Socks
Magnus Carlsen lost to Hikarau Nakamura in the losers final at the Chessable Masters, which was his last tournament as the world champion.
Black has a better chance of winning the Armageddon game if it is black than if it is white, meaning that if black beats White, it will mean that the winner of the grand finale will be the one who drew their first two games.
And it was a moment of unfortunate luck which separated the two when Carlsen’s mouse slipped meaning he put his queen onto F6 which allowed it to be taken by Nakamura and seal the victory.
Nakamura – wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “I literally don’t care” on the front – celebrated with a fist-bump while five-time world champion Carlsen could be seen exclaiming and grimacing in frustration.
He is the greatest player of all time, but can not win every match. Somebody needs to get lucky a lot. I was glad to have something that went my way.
“It’s like comparing the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Socks. I mean, the Red Socks won a World Series in 1918; they didn’t win again until, I think it was, 2004,” Nakamura said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/sport/magnus-carlsen-mouse-slip-hikaru-nakamura-spt-intl/index.html
Magnus Carlsen and the World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, after Nepomniachtchi’s loss at 2022 Candidates Tournament
I think the main thing is that I do not fall apart against Magnus, so that is what I found in the last couple years. In the past I would have fallen apart very quickly.
The Norwegian is choosing to relinquish his mantel as world champion this year after withdrawing from this month’s World Chess Championship where he would have defended his title against world No. 2 Ian Nepomniachtchi.
But Nepomniachtchi’s victory at the 2022 Candidates Tournament triggered Carlsen to announce there would be a new world champion after a long reign at the top.
Garry Kasparov, who held the world title for 15 years, has gone as far as to call this year’s tournament a “kind of amputated event” because of Carlsen’s absence.
While only Kasparov has spent more time at the top of the world rankings, the Norwegian grandmaster has been at the top for a long time.
Carlsen decided not to defend his title against Nepomniachtchi despite appearing to be at the peak of his powers.
“I feel I don’t have a lot to gain, I don’t particularly like [the championship matches], and although I’m sure a match would be interesting for historical reasons and all of that, I don’t have any inclination to play and I will simply not play the match,” he said on his sponsor’s podcast in July 2022.
“I’m not here to comment on Magnus’ decision, but it’s kind of an amputated event. I have my own history with FIDE, so that’s why I’m not going to change my view about the FIDE Championship. It’s a pity Magnus is not there and, naturally, the match between Nepo and Ding is a great show anyway, but it’s not a World Championship match.”
The second place finish at the Candidates Tournament qualified him for the championship. It came thanks to a dramatic last-round win against American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
There are a lot of feelings around my mind right now, I have to deal with. “But I am very excited about playing a world championship match to fight for the crown next year.
I expected Carlson to play despite his doubts. But I understand it also. Being world champion means a lot of responsibilities; there are a lot of things to handle.”
Chess.com: The Time Control Problem in the dBoseball Grand Unified Theory (IRCQED 2011)
According to Chess.com, the time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the next move, and then 15 more minutes for the rest of the game. There is a 30 second increment per move on move 61.