– Why is he allowed to participate in the tournament? He (Carlsen) plays for fun, while the others fight to get to the Candidates Tournament, writes Russian grandmaster Sergej Karjakin in a post on Twitter.

Karjakin designates his compatriot Andrei Jesipenko. The 19-year-old has already impressed in a match against the world champion and won when they met in January this year.

But when they met again in July in a qualifying tournament for the candidate tournament for the next World Chess Championship, it didn’t work out for the Russian. The settlement was from the epic battle where Carlsen ultimately emerged victorious from the settlement after Armageddon.

But the fact that Carlsen was allowed to participate in the tournament makes Karjakin stunned.

– Why should Jesipenko qualify for the World Cup match against Magnus, when he has to play against Magnus first? Playing against Magnus should be the end of the journey, not the start, the Russian continues.

NRK chess expert understands Karjakin’s frustration

– It is of course strange that Magnus can beat other strong competitors, and thus eliminate a possible challenger for the next World Cup match, says Torstein Bae.

-NOTIf we then have such a system where the master sits and waits who will be the next challenger, then maybe we have to stick to it, so that you can’t participate and beat possible challengers, he says.

FIDE criticism

With the loss to Carlsen, Jesipenko’s only hope was to qualify for the Candidates Tournament in the very last Qualifying Tournament.

In the tournament, which will run from February to April next year, 22 of the 24 spots are reserved for players who qualified through the leaderboard or other tournament spots. Jesipenko was not one of the 22.

The last two places were chosen by the organizers. The choice fell on Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen’s second, Daniil Dubov, and Jesipenko’s World Cup dream went awry.

In the Twitter post, Karjakin questions the election.

– Why was Andrej Jesipenko not nominated?, asks Karjakin, and points out that Jesipenko has already impressed Carlsen.

– He was unlucky with the draw and met Carlsen in the qualifying tournament. But in any case, he managed several draws, and Carlsen managed to win only in blitz chess.

– Karjakin’s personal opinion

– The fact that Carlsen plays for fun is Karjakin’s personal opinion, retorts FIDE in an e-mail to NRK.

They specify that it is the same for everyone, and that the conditions of competition are clear to everyone in advance. In addition, there is a big cash prize for the winner.

– Magnus Carlsen is a professional chess player. In total, the prize pool was only $1.9 million, with the winner receiving $110,000. In addition to the prize money, everyone knows that there are two candidate tournament spots at stake. Jan-Krzystof Duda defeated Carlsen and qualified for the Candidates Tournament, Jesipenko was unsuccessful, writes FIDE.

Collaboration with Carlsen contributing

It was FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and the organizer World Chess who gave the last two places to Nakamura and Dubov.

Although Nakamura hadn’t played in a ranked classical chess tournament for nearly two years, it was Dvorkovich who wanted to include Nakamura in the final qualifying tournament.

– He is very strong and experienced and is very popular with the fans. I think he deserves a chance, the president said in a statement FIDE websites.

World Chess in turn has listed one checklist on why Dubov deserved a place in the tournament.

– He is the highest ranked player among those who were not qualified. Moreover, we see that his collaboration with Carlsen was very fruitful, which he proved when he won the Rapid Chess World Cup.

Types we can’t wait to see

Additionally, World Chess believes that Dubov is one of those receiving the most media attention, which is in line with World Chess’ goal of bringing more attention to chess.

– There are four different ways to qualify for the Candidates Tournament, and Jesipenko failed. He is a very good player for the future, and it is very commendable that Karjakin defends his compatriot. But complaints shouldn’t come after your favorite didn’t qualify or because someone else was nominated by the organizer, FIDE concludes.

Torstein Bae thinks Nakamura and Dubov were the obvious players to pick for FIDE.

– Nakamura is a big star in the United States, especially online with streaming. And Dubov is a former world rapid chess champion and has a phenomenal personality, he says.

– Clearly there are two guys we’re looking forward to seeing play.