The first reactions of Carlsen’s withdrawal from the WCC title

And yes, it’s true! What the chess world was expecting, but hoping it didn’t happen, struck us on the International Chess Day. The reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his World Chess Championship Title in 2023 against the Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, and – as expected – Twitter is on fire.

“I’ve been thinking about this decision for a long time, more than a year and a half. I spoke with people from my team, with FIDE, with Ian. It’s very simple. I am not motivated to play another match.” Carlsen stated on “The Magnus Effect” podcast, this morning to confirm the expected.

The first consequence of this decision is that the World Chess Championship 2023 will be played between the 2022 Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi and the Candidates runner-up Ding Liren. These two news combined brought a boomerang of reactions that we’re sure are going to trend for a while! Here are the first comments.