FIDE CEO responds to Nakamura's claim of Candidates rating spot serving to benefit Carlsen: 'Completely illogical'

International chess federation (FIDE) CEO Emil Sutovsky refuted American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura’s statement suggesting the Candidates qualification spot reserved for the top-ranked player was primarily in hope of having Magnus Carlsen challenging for the world title again.

In a chat with Chessbase India on the sidelines of the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, world No 2 Nakamura had stated that he wasn’t a fan of the ratings spot as far as Candidates qualification was concerned.

“It maybe is not politically correct to say this, but my view about the rating spot, it’s simply, you know, ‘we’re sorry, Magnus. Here’s here’s your chance to play the Candidates and become world champion again if you’re really interested’. And I don’t think there’s any other reason that FIDE have the rating spot,” Nakamura had said.

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Israeli GM Sutovsky, however, described Nakamura’s claim as “factually incorrect”, stating that the rule had existed before Carlsen rose to the top of the chess world.

“Hikaru often makes statements in good faith, but without knowing all the facts and that’s a problem. Of course, he has a larger platform, which makes it difficult to refute him from a smaller one. But that’s… well, acceptable,” Sutovsky told Chessbase India.

Hikaru could also be a beneficiary of ratings spot, Sutovsky adds

Sutovsky took another potshot at the 37-year-old GM by adding that he could also be a beneficiary of the rating spot, as it’s not limited to the world No 1 alone.

“He (Hikaru) claims we designed the rating spot for Magnus, but that’s completely illogical. This rating qualification has existed for years – there was always a rating spot (in fact, there used to be two). If it were specifically for Magnus, we would have limited it to only the world No. 1.

“Instead, the regulation states either No. 1 or No. 2 can qualify by rating. Ironically, one could argue we actually designed it for Hikaru in this case – why else would we leave it open to the top two?” the 37-year-old added.

Norwegian chess icon Carlsen, who has been the world’s top-ranked player continuously since 2011, had won the World Championship in his first attempt in 2013, defeating Indian legend Viswanathan Anand in Chennai, and would go on to defend it successfully in the next four editions.

Carlsen, however, voluntarily vacated the world title ahead of the 2023 edition, citing declining interest in the Classical format, leading to a face-off between Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi and China’s Ding Liren, winner and runner-up respectively at the 2022 Candidates Tournament.

Ding would go on to win the event in Astana, only to lose to Indian GM D Gukesh – who became the youngest world champion in chess history – in December the following year.