MEXICO CITY (proceso.com.mx).–Probably one of the most attractive tournaments on the international circuit is the World Cup. It is held every two years and this time the venue was Baku, Azerbaijan, the birthplace of former world champion Garry Kasparov. About 200 players participated in the open section and about 100 women in the women’s section. These days the final is played between the women and the men reach the semifinals.
Regarding the open section, the four semi-finalists are: Magnus Carlsen, Nijat Abasov, Fabiano Caruana and R- Praggnanandhaa. Carlsen, arguably the best player in history, is looking to win one of the titles that he has already been denied twice. In the semifinal, at the time of writing this, Carlsen has qualified for the grand final, awaiting the result of the match between Caruana and Paraggnanandha, which is tied at one point so far, after the two games at classical rhythm, played yesterday. and today. The winner will be decided in quick games and if the tie is maintained, they will reach a final game, that of “armageddon”, which will define the winner.
It should be noted that three of the four semifinalists will win their place in the candidates’ tournament, which will take place in 2024. However, Magnus Carlsen, former world champion, who already refused to defend his title a year ago, has commented that He does not plan to participate in the world title cycle. Therefore, the other three semifinalists would automatically qualify, as Carlsen’s place would be left vacant.
It should also be noted that perhaps Carlsen has questioned the value of being World Champion, a title that for many years has been very important in the world of chess. However, it seems that by handing over his title to Ding Liren, the title has lost its “lustre”, so to speak. Come on, the chess community seems to only care that Carlsen, World Champion role or not, is the best player currently on the planet. Thinking about that, it has some validity to wonder if the title of World Champion is already obsolete.
Let’s see if the young man from India, Praggnanandha, can beat Caruana in rapid games (which hasn’t been his forte, although he has improved considerably in recent years). If so, we would have a very interesting duel between two prodigies: Carlsen (one of the youngest grandmasters in history) and Praggnanandhaa, who is a representative of the new generation of grandmasters from India, who even made it (four of them), to the quarterfinals in this World Cup.
As for the women’s tournament, IM Nurgyul Salimova faces GM Aleksandra Goryachkina for the World Cup title, while China’s Zhongyi Tan loses to Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk.
Without a doubt, the World Cup has brought an incredible number of extraordinary games. In fact, the games can be downloaded from https://worldcup2023.fide.com/en/pgns. But perhaps the most relevant thing is to see Carlsen win despite saying that he is bored and annoyed by the classic rhythm of chess, and that in order to return to the world cycle, a radical change would have to be made in the way in which the players are chosen. players who can participate in this cycle to decide who is the World Champion. And it is that it gives the impression that the Norwegian is above all his rivals. It seems to be a league above the best grandmasters of the moment. Maybe this is why he gets bored.
