Magnus Carlsen has been an absolute legend in the world of chess, and it’s no surprise that some people find that a little annoying or even unfair sometimes. Within this long list of people, World Number 2 Hikaru Nakamura recently questioned FIDE and accused the organisation of favouring Magnus Carlsen, stating that FIDE accommodates regulations that favour Magnus and solely to bring him back in the Candidates.
Magnus Carlsen became the world champion five times and stepped out from the throne. Since then, Ding Liren of China and Gukesh D of India have earned the world champion crown. The FIDE rating is determined by an average of six months from the period of August 2025 to January 2026. To qualify, players have to play at least 40 games during that period and gather a minimum of 15 games across consecutive rating lists. Hikaru has questioned the authenticity of the rules, regulations and rankings needed to qualify for the Candidates tournament and that it favours Carlsen.
FIDE CEO Opens Up On The Allegations
Finally, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky has opened up on the allegations and said, “Hikaru often makes statements in good faith, but without knowing all the facts, and that’s a problem. Of course, he has a larger platform, which makes it difficult to refute him from a smaller one. But that’s… well, acceptable,”
He further explained, “He (Hikaru) claims we designed the rating spot for Magnus, but that’s completely illogical. This rating qualification has existed for years; there was always a rating spot (in fact, there used to be two). If it were specifically for Magnus, we would have limited it to only the world No. 1. Instead, the regulation states either No. 1 or No. 2 can qualify by rating. Ironically, one could argue we actually designed it for Hikaru in this case, why else would we leave it open to the top two?”
FIDE Never Expected Magnus Carlsen’s Return
FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky also explained that the organisation never expected Carlsen’s return. He said, “The reasoning is straightforward: It had nothing to do with Magnus. We never expected his return – why would he come back now? Would he suddenly return after losing 50 rating points? The suggestion makes no sense.”
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Not The First Time Hikaru Nakamura Spread False Facts
“This isn’t the first time Hikaru has made factual claims without proper knowledge. When we introduced the FIDE Circuit, he immediately called it ‘a stupid system’, claiming he could just win some random open with a 2900 performance. Only later did he realise you can’t earn many points in weekly tournaments – he simply hadn’t read the rules properly. I suspect the same happened here,” he added.
Also read: FIDE Bans Kirill Shevchenko And Revokes Grandmaster Title, Here’s Why
