World No1 Magnus Carlsen earlier this month officially confirmed he will not participate in the Candidates Tournament 2024. In the extensive interview for chess.com, Carlsen now spoke what would be the format of the World Championship he would accept to participate in the Match, and what should be the qualities of the World Champion.
Chess.com: Why won’t you play in the FIDE World Championship?
Magnus Carlsen: Yeah I’m not playing the candidates, don’t worry about that. I would say the main reason that I’m not playing the classical World Championship is that I don’t enjoy it. It’s as simple as that. I think under the current format with the time control that there is, it’s extremely unlikely that I will compete in the classical World Championship.
I’ve had a great two years since I played the last World Championship – I really don’t miss it. I really like the life that I have now, both playing from home but also traveling and playing tournaments. I simply don’t need it.
Chess.com: What would it have to look like? What would the format need to be for you to consider going back?
Magnus Carlsen: I think if you reduced time controls, made it more games, that would be a very good start.
Chess.com: What should be the thing that establishes the number one player in the world? What kind of competition could it be?
Magnus Carlsen: I think the number one player in the world needs to be good at everything really, at all formats. Obviously, the rating system usually lags a bit behind but if you look at that over time that’s a pretty good indication of who are the best players.
Also if you want to know who the best player is, you don’t have to look at all the different formats and so on, you can just look for my name, that’s a good way to do it.
Speaking about his motivation to play, Magnus said that he loves playing chess and that he still has goals to accomplish. See the complete interview below.
The tournament is an eight-player, double round-robin tournament, with 14 rounds where each player is facing the others twice: once with the black pieces and once with the white pieces. The tournament winner will qualify to play Ding Liren for the World Championship in 2024.
