Does Magnus Carlsen retire from over-the-board chess?
This morning social media has been buzzing with discussion about Magnus Carlsen’s announcement that he is retiring from over-the-board chess.
IM David Martínez in an article for Chess24 wrote that Carlsen announced this morning at a brief press conference in Almaty, where the rapid and blitz world championship is being played, that he will not play face-to-face chess again “for at least a year.”
He quotes the champion as saying: “After a lifetime playing on the board, I have decided not to play face-to-face chess again until at least 2024. Of course I will continue to be very active online.”
“The online world gives me the possibility to compete from home, in a swimsuit, with my noodles and demonstrating that the level of play like this is not lower than what I am doing here.”
“After a lifetime of traveling, I hate p*t** airports, Uzbek food and having to queue to go to the bathroom between rounds.”
Does this mean we won’t see Carslen in the upcoming Tata Steel tournament, we don’t know. So far we haven’t seen a reaction from FIDE, while Twitter is bursting with comments:
News will be updated.
