As Magnus Carlsen sat in his dressing room, euphoric and chatty after finally suppressing the stubborn resistance of Fabiano Caruana to retain his world chess title, he made a stark confession. “If I had lost, it could very well have been my last world championship match.”
The words came as a thunderous bolt from the blue and they are bound to send tremors through the chess world. After all, Carlsen has been the world No 1 since 2010 and would have been a warm favourite to regain his title in 2020 if he had lost. Yet, for the first time, here he was acknowledging that he would have contemplated turning his back on the biggest prize in his sport at the age of 27.
Written by Exclusive by Sean Ingle
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/nov/29/magnus-carlsen-my-last-world-championship-match-chess under the title “Magnus Carlsen: ‘If I had lost, it could have been my last world championship match’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
