Exclusive | 'Magnus Carlsen will probably never return to World Championship, and we have to accept that': Anish Giri

The lineup for the 2026 Candidates Tournament is complete, with Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa clinching the last two available spots in the span of a week recently. World No 2 Nakamura qualified via the ratings spot last week while after a stellar performance at the London Chess Classic.
There’s one name, however, that’s missing from the World Championship cycle for the second consecutive edition – reigning world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who also happens to be a five-time world champion.
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Carlsen had won five consecutive world titles starting with his victory over Viswanathan Anand in Chennai in 2013, and the only reason he does not have six or more titles is due to the Norwegian Grandmaster voluntarily deciding against defending his crown in 2022. The decision cleared the way for Ding Liren to become China’s first world champion in 2023, with India’s D Gukesh defeating him the following year to become the youngest world champion in the history of the sport.
A key reason behind Carlsen’s decision was his declining interest in Classical chess, thanks to the rise of the faster Rapid and Blitz formats as well as his championing of ‘Freestyle Chess’ this year. And judging by the fact that Carlsen rarely plays Classical tournaments besides Norway Chess – his home event – it is highly unlikely he will be gunning for a sixth world title anytime soon.
Giri backs Carlsen’s decision to move on from Classical chess
Speaking exclusively to Firstpost ahead of the third season of the Global Chess League, where he will be representing Alpine SG Pipers, Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri added that chess is no different from other sports, in that the greatest athletes don’t compete forever and that the game must move on from the biggest of names at some point and embrace new stars.
“When I was growing up, I was following a little bit of tennis, and I was watching like Nadal play Federer. I guess I would be missing them, but there are other people there now,” Giri told Firstpost.
“And it’s the same across all the sports and in chess, too. I think there’s more longevity (in chess). You can stay around for much longer if you choose to. And if Carlsen chose to, he certainly could stick around for much longer too. Playing Classical, if he had motivation enough, maybe he would be able to probably maintain his title and active number one rank and all of that.
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“But right now he’s moved on to faster-paced chess, which is also a decent thing to do. It’s very well paid, appreciated, fun part of chess as well. You could just play only Rapid and Blitz chess and still make a good, good living and have a happy life. So for me that that’s… for everybody is a different decision” he added.
by winning the FIDE Grand Swiss in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand. And he intends to continue playing the Classical format, given he still has so much left to achieve. The 31-year-old, however, added that it was understandable for Carlsen to lose his motivation in Classical chess and the World Championship after a dominant run spanning a decade during which he was virtually untouchable.
“For me, of course, I want to play Classical because I have a lot to achieve. I would love to try and become a world champion at some point. But I can imagine if probably if you’ve been a world champion for five times or whatever it is, it’s like I think he himself lost count of how many times he was a world champion. After that, at some point, you can start questioning motivation.
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“He’s a great player. He’s been there for very long. But yeah, he chose not to play the World Championship cycle for already so long that he’ll probably never be back. And we have to accept that. I think for the rare fans also accepted that he’s retired. You know, it’s fine. Just move on,” Giri added.
‘Total Chess World Championship will not replace Classical World Championship’
Carlsen, however, has not completely severed ties with FIDE despite the two parties being at loggerheads with one another in the aftermath of the ‘Jeansgate’ scandal. The Norwegian will be competing in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships that will be taking place in Doha later this month.
He will also be part of the ‘T otal Chess World Championship’ – a joint venture between FIDE and Norway Chess whose maiden edition will be taking place in 2027. The event will be similar to the existing Grand Chess Tour, in that it will have a separate event for each of the three formats taking place over the course of the year, with the top players then competing in a final for the right to be declared ‘world champion’ across formats.
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Giri is among those looking forward to participate in the unique venture. And while there have been some concerns over the announcement, the 31-year-old reiterates what FIDE has also stated – that it will not be replacing the existing FIDE World Championship, which remains chess’ showpiece event and has been in existence for nearly a century now.
“It’s a fun tournament as well. And a nice challenge for me too. I think it sort of has the idea that it is supposed to have less importance than the Classical championship title. But we’ll see also what the prize funds will be. We’ll see how it will be organised and who will take part. I expect good prizes, everybody to take part.
“As far as I understand, what he told me personally – it’s not a secret, he said it also publicly – that the idea is that this is not supposed to replace the Classical World Championship title in importance. But this is something that they think would potentially be more important than just World Rapid or World Blitz title,” he added.
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‘Global Chess League an insanely strong, absolute world-class event’
The Total Chess World Championship, however, is more than two years away. For now, Giri’s attention is on the third season of the Global Chess League, which gets underway this Sunday and will conclude a little over a week later on 23 December.
After missing out on the opening season in Dubai and representing PBG Alaskan Knights in London last year, Giri is all set to begin a new journey with the Alpine SG Pipers in the third edition that will be taking place on Indian soil – at Mumbai’s iconic Opera House.
And the world No 8 will be part of a formidable team that also includes Fabiano Caruana and R Praggnanandhaa, ranked third and seventh respectively with the former also sixth in the world rapid ratings. Also in the team are China’s Yifan Hou, the women’s No 1 across formats, Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili and 19-year-old Indian GM Leon Luke Mendonca – who takes the ‘Prodigy’ spot.
“I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ve been preparing very much because lately I was focusing on the Classical chess part of the World Championship cycle, I had to qualify to the Candidates, which is something I fortunately accomplished. But in the meantime I had honestly paid almost no attention to Rapid and Blitz. So last few weeks I tried to regain my Rapid and Blitz form a little bit.
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However, despite such a stacked lineup, Giri’s reluctant to term Alpine SG Pipers ‘title favourites’ just yet, given the level of competition in the tournament that he describes as “insanely strong” and “absolute world class”.
“If you just name our team… you would think that we will win the tournament easily. However, if you start looking at other teams and you see how strong they are, you realise that things are not going to be so simple.
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“Basically this event is insanely strong. You know, on the top male boards, like there are three top male boards – there is the ‘Icon’ and ‘Superstar 1’ and ‘Superstar 2’. Even if you are on ‘Superstar 2’, you are facing an absolute world-class event. If you just collect like the third player of each tournament and make a tournament out of it, this is a top tournament.
“Like let’s say when you go into Olympiad, you know Indian team is going to do very well because which other team is as strong as Indian team. But GCL is different in that regard, in that it is so strong that every team is basically a stacked team. So it’s completely unpredictable,” the Dutchman signed off.