Zombiegeddon

In an interview with VG (Verdens Gang), Norway’s reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen has, for the first time, commented upon Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin’s six-month ban, which, if confirmed on appeal, will exclude Russian Grandmaster from the 2022 Candidates Tournament. “I do agree with Karjakin in nothing at all, but I’m not sure whether we have the right to exclude anyone because of his opinions, however intolerable they may appear to us. Maybe it can pay off in tough times, but it also sets a precedent for the future”, Carlsen said. But his dilemma is also strategic: “Is it good to let him get what he wants? He wants to fall a martyr to the West’s ‘tyranny of sanctions’. This is the story he’s telling at home — and at least there it works well for him. So far, we helped him to get what he wanted. I don’t know if it’s good or not. I’m not sure”, he says. However, when asked if he thinks Karjakin will ever come back to the world chess stage, Carlsen laconically answered: “I doubt it”. In turn, Karjakin showed all his respect and sympathy to Carlsen, who always distinguished himself by his fair play. “Magnus is not as, shall we say, zombified as many others”, he said, as quoted by RBC. “And he always wins over the board, never off the board”. In remembering that American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, too, publicly throw a doubt on the legitimacy of the ban, Karjakin claimed to have received several messages of solidarity from foreign fellow Grandmasters, who, “for obvious reasons”, do not want to be named.