From Spassky-Fischer to Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi (?)
This Day (11th of July) in 1972 it was the first game of the “Match of the Century” between the defending World Champion Boris Spassky (Soviet Union) and the Challenger Bobby Fischer (USA). 50 years later, we’re still wondering if the World Champion Magnus Carlsen will defend his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi due to – probably – lack of motivation or interest for the specific match.
This year is the 50-year anniversary from one of the most exciting – maybe the most exciting – World Chess Championship matches of all time. The American Bobby Fischer challenged the Soviet Boris Spassky for the title in 1972, right in the cold-war era. Since World War II, World Championships had been almost entirely dominated by the USSR, so the Soviet Union often equated chess dominance with intellectual and educational superiority. Under this political scenery, the Spassky-Fischer match was in high importance for both the US and the USSR.
It was pre-internet, pre-mobile phone, pre-online comment, pre-news channels, pre-streaming, but still there was live coverage provided in the U.S to make chess a prime-time material. The troubled but unique personality of Fischer attracted the media even more, and gave them plenty to talk about for years to come.
The match started on July 11th and ended on August 31st with overall 9 of the first 13 games decisive (!), and Game 6 still being studied and analysed as “the best chess game of all time”. After Fischer won the Championship with 12½–8½, becoming the eleventh undisputed World Champion, Hollywood had a full story to cover.
50 years later and 9 years after Magnus Carlsen has won his first World Championship (2013), the Norwegian is losing his motivation to be a part of the Championship cycle. According to the interview in the Unibet podcast after defending his title for the 4th time, Carlsen saw Alireza Firouzja as the only opponent who would stimulate him to take part in the Championship Match. After Firouzja’s disappointing performance at the Candidates 2022 though, and Nepo’s second win, Carlsen is in deep thoughts.
Carlsen’s positional mastery and endgame prowess is often compared to former World Champion Bobby Fischer, skills that are not easily challenged. In contrary with the 1972 match, Carlsen-Nepo in 2021 was beyond comparison less interesting. Nevertheless, Game 6 of this match was also written in history as the longest World Chess Championship game in history (136 moves, 7 hours 45 minutes)), which Magnus won triumphantly. The former World Champion Vishy Anand commented that Nepo couldn’t get over this disastrous game to lose the match with a 7.5 to 3.5 total score.
After this indifferent Championship experience for Carlsen, it’s not illogical that he doesn’t feel the urge to defend his title. But if Carlsen quits the cycle, the sport’s most prized property will be in jeopardy of becoming irrelevant: with the world’s strongest chess player out of the picture, the event will not determine the World Champion but turn into a formal affair and a series of ‘what ifs’ from the chess community and the media.
