For the first time in his career, Magnus Carlsen (31) retires in the middle of a major tournament. He is cryptic in his explanation about the reason.
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It is Carlsen himself who reports this on Twitter on Monday evening:
– I have withdrawn from the tournament. I have always enjoyed playing in the Sinquefield Cup and hope to be back in the future, writes the Norwegian world champion.
Magnus Carlsen lost on Sunday to the American Hans Niemann in his third game in St. Louis.
Carlsen has also linked a video with Jose Mourinho to his tweet. There Mourinho says:
“If I say anything, I’m in trouble.”
– Shocking news, writes chess expert Tarjei J. Svensen on Twitter.
– The tweet speaks for itself, writes Svensen in another https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS/status/1566861731825127426.
This is how the chess expert Olimpiu Urcan commented on the loss:
– It must be embarrassing for the world champion to lose to me – I feel for him, Niemann said afterwards according to chess24. The American is ranked number 49 in the world.
NRK expert Torstein Bae speculates on the reason for Carlsen’s resignation. He thinks it has something to do with the Niemann party:
Bae goes even further and writes:
– The closest thing at the moment is that Magnus thinks Niemann cheated during yesterday’s party (got help from the programme). But this is not stated and is of course a very dramatic claim at the very top level.
The NRK expert also wonders what the organizer is doing:
– The question is also how the organizer reacts to this. It is not at all customary to withdraw without a reason. Also hits Niemann, who gets the win against Magnus the streak. While Nepo can smile as he loses against Magnus the district.
Chess24 writes something similar to Bae:
– It is obvious … that Magnus suspects foul play, but is not willing to make a public accusation. The day before, he lost to Hans Niemann after a 53-game unbeaten streak.
Chess24 expert Lawrence Trent believes that there is no reason to suspect:
– I saw the whole party. I’m sorry, he could have played that part. There was nothing special about the way Hans played the game.
According to the organisers, Carlsen’s three games in the tournament will count in the rating – but not the results.
The father, Henrik Carlsen, refers to his son’s tweet in a message to VG.
