Chess superstar Magnus Carlsen and his team took part in the Global Chess League this year. But the Norwegian doesn’t seem to agree with the tournament’s rules. A comment about this now brought him headwind from another star of the scene.
Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura doesn’t want to let Magnus Carlsen’s complaints about rules that were allegedly not followed go so easily.
“I was very disappointed that Magnus spoke about this topic,” said the American in an interview with “ChessBase India”: “When you play these types of tournaments, it is up to the players to find out about the rules in advance I’m not necessarily someone who does that, but I accept the rules.”
Nakamura continued: “All these complaints reflect badly on the sport of chess and they are simply unnecessary because they cause people to tune out and think that chess is something crazy.”
“Dubious”: Magnus Carlsen complains about “illegal trains”
In the Global Chess League, with prize money of one million US dollars, six teams consisting of six chess players each compete against each other. There must be at least two women and one young player per team. Magnus Carlsen took part as the top player in the Alpine SG Pipers team, Hikaru Nakamura was at the start for American Gambits.
The games in the Global Chess League are played with a rapid chess thinking time of 20 minutes per player without additional time credit. This sometimes leads to some trains being moved extremely quickly – and game pieces sometimes even tipping over when they are moved.
In a game played by his teammate Daniel Dardha, Magnus Carlsen was recently upset that his opponent had made “several illegal moves”. However, the referee “never intervened,” he complained to the short message service X. His devastating conclusion: “Unfortunately, we are a dubious sport.”
Nakamura cannot understand the Norwegian’s harsh verdict. According to the 36-year-old, formats like the Global Chess League, which was only held for the second time, give the sport a “higher entertainment factor”, which is important if the game is to become more attractive to spectators. The Triveni Continental Kings team won this year.
Source: www.sport.de
