The unprecedented joint World Blitz Championship title between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi has triggered significant controversy within the chess world.
After three inconclusive sudden-death matches, the world’s top-ranked player Carlsen and Russian grandmaster Nepomniachtchi agreed to share the title. This unique arrangement occurred when the Norwegian suggested splitting the title due to their continued stalemate.
“Of course, some might wonder if FIDE should have thought a bit making the regulations concerning final WC match situation like that, but understandable, a lot of time and energy was spent on the jeans clause, the person writing the regulations was already tired by then,” remarked former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, criticising the sport’s apex body.
Earlier in the tournament, Carlsen was disqualified from the Rapid section of the event for violation of FIDE’s dress code after he wore jeans and declined to change into formal attire.
An enraged Carlsen decided to not play the Blitz competition, but later changed his decision after FIDE amended its regulations, allowing competitors to wear jeans.
American Grandmaster Hans Niemann, who suffered a defeat against Carlsen during the tournament, shared multiple posts on X related to controversy around the decision to declare Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi as joint winners of the world blitz title.
“The chess world is officially a joke. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE IN HISTORY. I can’t believe that the official body of chess is being controlled by a singular player FOR THE 2ND TIME THIS WEEK. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE WORLD CHAMPION!” Niemann wrote.
“FIDE goes from forfeiting Carlsen to creating an entirely new rule. Seems like the the regulatory body of chess has no intention of being unbiased. They seem to only care about what one player thinks,” he added.
The controversy was further fueled by a video clip that appeared on social media, showing Carlsen telling Nepomniachtchi “if FIDE refuse (to allow us to share title), we can just play short draws until they give up.”
“This is cause for an investigation by the FIDE Ethics committee,” Niemann further reacted. “I can’t believe that 2 players who maliciously accused me and tried to ruin my career are openly breaking the rules. The irony simply can’t get any worse,” Niemann later wrote.
Chess grandmaster Susan Polgar highlighted that during the previous year’s tournament, both Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov received penalties for deliberately playing to a draw.
“What is the difference between the famous “Knight Dance” and “Title Share”? I hope some arbiters can explain the “rules” to me,” she wrote.
