Magnus Carlsen has praised the way Hikaru Nakamura is trying to qualify for the Candidates tournament by playing in events with weaker opponents. Carlsen called Nakamura’s method “shameless” but also “probably the right thing to do”. Having played in only a handful of classical chess events this year, like the Norway Chess event, Nakamura needed to play a certain number of classical chess games till the end of the year to enter the Candidates via ratings spot in 2025. This is why Nakamura has been competing in regional events in the USA like the Louisiana State Championship and the Iowa Open, where the competition is not that strong.
“I kind of admire the way he is going about it because it is so shameless. The thing is a lot of players, they probably would have picked tournaments where there was maybe like a couple of IMs or something like that. But Hikaru just wants to make sure that he’s getting his games, which is the pragmatic thing to do. It’s absolutely shameless, but it’s probably the right thing to do. It looks like the system could do with some fixing. But I’m not part of that s**t anymore. So it’s fine,” Carlsen said in an interview with the Take Take Take app.
The path Nakamura has chosen to secure a spot at the prestigious eight-player Candidates tournament, which will decide the challenger for Gukesh Dommaraju at the next world chess championship, has caused plenty of controversy in the chess world. In previous world chess championship cycles too, other players like former world champion Ding Liren and Alireza Firouzja have snuck into the Candidates by playing in events that have raised eyebrows.
Nakamura is currently rated 2807 while Carlsen is at 2839. When Carlsen was asked if Nakamura rising in classical ratings and coming closer to him was making him nervous, Carlsen said, “Not really.”
Carlsen was then asked if he would consider playing in some classical events himself if there was a possibility of him getting dethroned as the world no 1, he said: “No. But I have farming points myself this year in the Norwegian League. But I was still playing two GMs and one IM, which is an incredibly dumb way to do it. But I am learning (from Hikaru) now.”
Talking about the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament, where players like world champion Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Alireza are competing, Carlsen said: “It’s been a super entertaining event. Quite unpredictable as well. You saw in the first two or three rounds that the top guns were at the top and now they’re not. Not all of them. Arjun’s looked really good so far. It will be very exciting to follow for sure.”
Asked which young player had most impressed him, Carlsen said: “Erdogmus is really really good. I mean, at almost unprecedented levels at that age. I mean he’s clearly impressed me the most from the very young non-established players.”
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