The article is about one year old, but the Carlsen quote is actually from 2018 after his match against Caruana - and before the pandemic gave him the chance to introduce this format on the Internet. Another indirect Carlsen quote from this article: "The five-time World Champion has previously indicated his gripe is he's tired of playing world title matches and unhappy with the gruelling 14-game classical format."
The candidates will/would also be 14 classical games, and arguably tougher than a world championship match - you have several competitors and probably need a big plus score (50% and winning a rapid tiebreak won't be an option).
After Wijk aan Zee (13 classical games) Carlsen said "really tired now, looking forward to a few months without classical chess". But for a few games in the Norwegian League, his next classical event was Norway Chess which also didn't go well for him. He declined the overall Grand Chess Tour invitation, only accepting wildcards for rapid/blitz events. He will play Qatar Masters as he apparently gets excellent conditions. It overlaps with the US championship and finishes just a few days before the FIDE Grand Swiss, so it's unlikely to have an otherwise very strong field - I doubt whether anyone interested in, and still needing to qualify for the candidates, will play two events consecutively, with just three days in between for travel across time and climate zones.
Overall, Carlsen seems "done" with classical chess, and said that it should be "phased out" at the world top.
"My current favourite, which it has been for a while, is to keep the same format as now, except that each day you play 4 rapid games instead – relatively short rapid games, let’s say 15+10, as you play in the World Rapid – and you get one point for each day.
If you want to see who the best player is make them play as many games as possible, and if you keep the rapid format then there’s still room for opening ideas, preparation and everything, but the time allowed to conceal your weaknesses and everything is not there. You just up the stakes, you increase the chances for errors and everything, and I think it makes it more exciting and it gives a more real picture of the best players."
If I remember correctly, in an interview after one of the earlier rounds (against Keymer maybe), Carlsen said that he was asking himself why he was participating, as he found the classical component both "stressful" and "boring". It made me think he'd be unenthusiastic even about a world championship match based on, say, equal parts classical, rapid and blitz.
The article is about one year old, but the Carlsen quote is actually from 2018 after his match against Caruana - and before the pandemic gave him the chance to introduce this format on the Internet. Another indirect Carlsen quote from this article: "The five-time World Champion has previously indicated his gripe is he's tired of playing world title matches and unhappy with the gruelling 14-game classical format."
The candidates will/would also be 14 classical games, and arguably tougher than a world championship match - you have several competitors and probably need a big plus score (50% and winning a rapid tiebreak won't be an option).
After Wijk aan Zee (13 classical games) Carlsen said "really tired now, looking forward to a few months without classical chess". But for a few games in the Norwegian League, his next classical event was Norway Chess which also didn't go well for him. He declined the overall Grand Chess Tour invitation, only accepting wildcards for rapid/blitz events. He will play Qatar Masters as he apparently gets excellent conditions. It overlaps with the US championship and finishes just a few days before the FIDE Grand Swiss, so it's unlikely to have an otherwise very strong field - I doubt whether anyone interested in, and still needing to qualify for the candidates, will play two events consecutively, with just three days in between for travel across time and climate zones.
Overall, Carlsen seems "done" with classical chess, and said that it should be "phased out" at the world top.
This is an article from one year ago:
https://new.chess24.com/wall/news/sources-zero-chance-carlsen-plays-title-match-unless-drastic-format-changes
This may be the most relevant excerpt:
"My current favourite, which it has been for a while, is to keep the same format as now, except that each day you play 4 rapid games instead – relatively short rapid games, let’s say 15+10, as you play in the World Rapid – and you get one point for each day.
If you want to see who the best player is make them play as many games as possible, and if you keep the rapid format then there’s still room for opening ideas, preparation and everything, but the time allowed to conceal your weaknesses and everything is not there. You just up the stakes, you increase the chances for errors and everything, and I think it makes it more exciting and it gives a more real picture of the best players."
Dennis, many thanks for running this substack! :)
If I remember correctly, in an interview after one of the earlier rounds (against Keymer maybe), Carlsen said that he was asking himself why he was participating, as he found the classical component both "stressful" and "boring". It made me think he'd be unenthusiastic even about a world championship match based on, say, equal parts classical, rapid and blitz.