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Comment by deshpand | Hacker News Reader

I don't know all the history, but Magnus comes off as above the game.

“I am playing at least one more day here in New York and, if I do well, another day after that,” Really? And I saw another quote that said "f*k you"

Whatever his frustrations are with the governing body, the above are unacceptable behavior. I don't understand why they need to bend over backwards and modify the rules and mollify him.

He has also accused another player of cheating, after he lost, then he settles out of court. And he doesn't want to participate in the world championship, but chooses to make comments about the quality of games.

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> “I am playing at least one more day here in New York and, if I do well, another day after that,” Really?

This is taken a bit out of context. Day 1 is a qualification phase. Only the top 8 after that ends up playing on day 2. Saying «I will play two more days» would be more arrogant since it would imply he thinks he would easily be top 8.

EDIT: It could however be considered a subtle criticism of the format. Previously there were two days with 10-11 games per day. With the new qualification system you’re suddenly more dependent on having a good first day. Many players have expressed that they thought it was more fair to have more games over two days.

Thanks for the clarification on this particular point. I was not aware of it.

I’ve been following this over the years and while I’m a bit tired of it to address your other points directly, let me at the very least say that while he’s clearly very emotional and not always reacting in the most productive way, there’s typically a somewhat sensible reason behind it. He’s not a complete crybaby. He clearly cares a lot about the game, and he’s met a lot of unnecessary resistance.

But yea, he’s been acting far from perfect the last few years.

Magnus can afford to skip any tournament he wants, but if doesn't participate, the tournament is a much worse one. One could argue a tournament where the best in the game doesn't want to participate is a lower level one.

Magnus is not the best at Blitz, and was already doing poorly before he quit.

He is the reigning world champion and has won 5 out of the last 6 world championships in Blitz. By what criteria is he "not the best at Blitz"?

[edit] You might be referring to rapid, as you mention he was doing poorly before he dropped out. However, he was also the defending rapid world champion and won 3 out of the 4 last championships there (excluding the one that just finished that he dropped out of). He was indeed not doing great in that tournament, but he was still in the running to possibly win it.

Yes, I mixed them up, and you are of course right as proved by his joint win of the event!

> Whatever his frustrations are with the governing body

Changes wouldn't happen to governing bodies if people didn't resist.

Top comment in a similar recent thread [0] sums it up nicely:

> The context in which this happened matters a lot.

> There have been tensions between the FIDE organization and top players like Carlsen since the latter have been promoting an alternative chess organization around Freestyle chess (aka Chesss960), which has slightly different rules.

> I.e. this is less about "dress code enforcement" and it is more about "Carlsen is fed up with the FIDE organization in general".

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42527572

> Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen[a] (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world.[1] His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.[2][3]

Magnus is a giant and a celebrity in the chess world. It would be like hosting the G7 but disinviting the US from the meetings because Trump wore a sweater.

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