Last year, the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships, the final tournament of the year, saw plenty of controversy. The Rapid competition was shrouded by Magnus Carlsen’s jeans scandal. Then it just didn’t stop there as it seeped into the Blitz C’ship as well, where fans saw the World No. 1 share the title with Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final in controversial circumstances.
In a video which went viral, Carlsen could be seen telling the Russian Grandmaster to play short draws until the FIDE gave up. The video reportedly took place after the tie-breaker round, where the pair played out draws.
The video led to match-fixing accusations thrown at the pair, and Carlsen has already publicly revealed that his words were a joke to FIDE’s poor tiebreaker rules. Since then, Nepomniachtchi hasn’t publicly spoken to the media, and recently broke his silence, instead speaking on his preparations.
Speaking to TASS, he said, “I generally prepared for the December tournaments in advance. I played training matches with Alexander Grischuk. It’s nice that he also performed well, winning a [silver] medal in rapid. I did a little online training with Vladimir Chuchelov. In addition, I solved problems myself, played sports – kept myself in more or less good shape. On December 23, I flew to New York without stopping at home.”
“I will certainly focus on the World Cup and the Grand Swiss. These are the main tournaments for the year,” he added.
The Blitz final began with two wins for Carlsen, who then needed only a draw to secure the title. Ian staged a comeback in the first game, and then made it 2-2 in the fourth. In the sudden death, both played out three draws, followed by Carlsen’s proposing that they share the title, which was agreed by his opponent.
The Russian also won bronze at the Rapid C’ships. In December, he lost to Carlsen in the final of the Champions Chess tour. Meanwhile in September, he won the Gashimov Memorial. At the 2024 Candidates, he was leading, but was eventually overtaken by D Gukesh for top spot. He was the only player to not lose a game in the tournament.
