Five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has called classical chess “a science, like an art”, while the short form of chess is a “pure game”.
After winning the 2021 World Chess Championship, Carlson announced that he would not participate in the championship. This, in a way, paved the way for India’s 18-year-old D Gukesh to become the youngest player to win the championship last week.
Norwegian, speaking on the Tech Tech App podcast, said that classical chess is the worst criterion for determining the best player.
“It’s hard to say exactly what measures the best overall player. I’d say right now, if you want the kind of chess where you want the best round game, classical chess is probably the worst way because it’s so unforgiving. Weaknesses in your game It’s very easy to mask. And I think if you can handle both fast chess and freestyle, you’ve got your basic patterns, and quick strategies.
“Rapid chess, it’s a game. It’s kind of a pure sport kind of thing. But when you get to the longer forms of freestyle, it’s more like a science, an art,” he said.
The 14-match championship final between Ding Liren and Gukesh was tied at 6.5, with rapid chase tiebreakers looming. However, a big mistake by Ding in a tie situation saw Gukesh win the match and the title.
The overall quality of the match was criticized by many, including Carlson and world No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura.
While Carlsson does not compete for the Classical World Championship, he is a five-time World Rapid Champion as well as a seven-time World Blitz Champion.
New world champion Gukesh said that even though Carlson is not competing for the title, knowing that Carlson is better than him is a motivating factor for him.
He said, ‘Becoming a world champion does not mean that I am the best player, that is Magnus.
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