Other Sports: Chess-Nakamura downplays ratings controversy after taking ‘Mickey Mouse’ route to Candidates

Jan 6 (Reuters) – Hikaru Nakamura split the chess world this ‌year by reaching the Candidates Tournament after thrashing minnows at a series of low-tier events but the grandmaster is unrepentant and says ‌any player would make the same moves as him under the circumstances.

The world number two capitalised on a regulation that awards a ‌Candidates place to the highest-rated eligible player, provided they have played at least 40 FIDE-rated games during the qualification period.

With world number one Magnus Carlsen opting out of the world championship cycle entirely, Nakamura became the highest-rated eligible player by default and met the activity requirement, later describing his route to the Candidates as a “Mickey Mouse” path to the event that determines the challenger ‍for the world title.

Nakamura’s peers took the more conventional route, competing at elite events such ‍as the World Cup, Grand Swiss or the year-long FIDE ‌Circuit, where grandmasters fought tooth and nail for one of the other seven spots at the Candidates.

Nakamura documented his journey on social media, posting videos ‍and ​photos of his opponents, who were stunned at getting the chance to play a super grandmaster – players rated above 2,700 ELO – at events such as the Louisiana State Championship and the Iowa Open.

“The controversy is complete nonsense,” Nakamuratold Reuters via a virtual call from the Global Chess League, where ⁠he was playing with the Fyers American Gambits.

“Any chess player, they know the game. ‌They’ll do whatever they can to ensure the optimal outcome, just like they do when they actually play chess over the board.

“I think the vast majority of people did not ⁠have an issue with it. ‍I don’t see any issue with it, because I know that any player in my situation would have done the exact same thing.”

Nakamura said other players had “gamed the system” in the past to reach the Candidates, though his strategy was not well received by the governing FIDE, which introduced a rule mid-cycle aimed at preventing elite players from ‍gaining points for beating weaker opponents.

While FIDE told Reuters the adjustment was a technical ‌necessity, Nakamura said it was a “reactive” strike against him after negative social media coverage.

“It’s very much motivated by personal views and issues as opposed to what’s good for the game,” Nakamura added.

“I think FIDE are very susceptible to seeing comments on Reddit and Twitter. They have these knee-jerk reactions to what they view public sentiment as.

“When policy is dictated by a very loud and vocal minority versus the actual silent majority, you make decisions that are not in the best interest of the game.”

GAME THE SYSTEM

FIDE said the rule was aimed at preventing elite players from earning similar points for beating an International Master-level opponent and a much lower-rated club player.

“If a super grandmaster starts playing dozens of such games annually, it obviously distorts the meaning of the rating system,” FIDE said.

“With this ‌in mind, we corrected this anomaly to protect the rating system’s accuracy for the future.”

FIDE said its decisions respected current regulations and were not “knee-jerk reactions to block specific individuals”.

Nakamura said the outrage on social media was unnecessary but added that FIDE should probably take steps to prevent anyone else from doing it.

“I would say that going forward, there probably should not ​be a rating spot at all, because I think it’s too easy to game it,” he added. “Chess players will game the system.”

The Candidates Tournament will take place between March 28 and April 16 in Cyprus and the winner will take on reigning world champion Dommaraju Gukesh of India.

(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)