For that reason Bobby Fiske -- Carlsen should not be allowed to play in any tournament where other qualified Candidates are appearing.

As a Candidate who qualified to fight for the ultimate title of Chess, he has chosen to step away in order to massage his Nr. 1 slot in the ratings, while the other Candidates are having to work on their match-prep.

FIDE should decide that Carlsen can not appear in top-flight tournaments where other qualified Candidates are playing, until the Candidates' are completed.

Did this clarify anything?

This clarifies nothing !
Again this is very perplexing. It seems it is a decision taken by his father and manager rather than Magnus himself !
Again suffice to say it is a pity to see such potential being mishandled. Being world number 1 is not equal to being World Champion period IMHO.
These new age chess players have to know what the 'grind' is....so if you wanna change the system get to the pole first and then try to improve the system. You will earn my respect then.

Another weak letter.
The only thing clarified is that Henrik and Espen are not open about the real reasons. Attention/ $ is the most important thing.

Luckily, Magnus himself stated clearly in a chessbase interview how it was a decision made for his own interest. So it was not to pressurize a corrupt fide or to make a heroic stand for the good of chess.
The chances of winning this cycle just don't weigh up to the risks and financial losses associated with losing a match. So be it, let's move on.

There's not much new here.

How is the World Champion title/rating rank analogous to comparing tennis and golf? Tennis and golf has rankings, but no world championship title.

I hope FIDE and the top chess players do not go for a one-tournament or a no-match cycle. Anything can happen in that event, and imo it would diminish the status/respect of the championship title.

What a waste. Too much fame has made him a hot head. Not worth investing time in his babbles. Let's go to watch CHESS at Moscow and forget about politics in Norway.

Interestingly, the greatest sprinter in the history of athletics and current World Champion, Olympic Champion and record holder in 3 events- Usain Bolt still has to qualify for the final race in his events at the World Championships...he doesnt get a walk in fully rested...in fact, back home in Jamaica he has to run against weak amateurs to qualify for the HEATS in the Olympics LOL

Nonetheless, I am one of Carlsen's biggest fans, but its clear he needs to respect the tradition of the sport. He isnt yet in a position to criticize the system (he hasn't even played such a match before), and i just can smell Kasparov's involvement all over this decision...

I think psychologically, he will have a big advantage in subsequent touraments- with all other top players holding back preparation...

This clarifies what? My respect for Mr Carlsen is going down the tubes!. he seems to think he is the god of chess!, it;s Kasparov all over again. This is NOT good for chess. Hey kid wise up! chess has a long history of matches to decide the challenger. So if you don't want to go along take up something else other than chess like soccer or modelling. Anand is a class act.

I eagerly await another clarification from the Carlsen camp.

I get a sense from reading this clarification that Henrik and Agdestein didn't have much of a say in the decision making behind Carlsen's withdrawl. They do not sound very convincing.

Perhaps its time for Magnus to write a blog entry clarifying some of items.

As a chess fan I must admit I find Carlsen's withdrawal a big blunder. He is not number one on the latest Fide rating list and may soon be overcome by Aronian on the live ratings as well. So I am not sure he is in a position to think so highly of himself as to completely disregard (again!) the current world chess championship cycle. He of course has the right to do whatever he pleases with his chess career. I was rooting for Magnus to become the new world champion but now am rooting for Aronian. A pity Magnus is letting politics interfere with his chess. The current cycle is not perfect but it is reasonable. Sure, a series of four game matches is not the ideal solution to determine a challenger to the world championship but it is problematic to find sponsors for longer matches. I am disapointed with Magnus.

Finally, Danailov has met with his match. This duo is more capable than him.

Do we have any response from the reigning WC yet?

Anand being a close pal of Carlsen, I am eager to know his views on Carlsen's withdrawal!

This needs a press conference to clear air

Since the ongoing cycle lacks quality, predictability and is subject to changes on a whim by FIDE GM Carlsen lacks the motivation to required to do his absolute best.

If my understanding of this clarification is correct then I agree with and respect his decision. It was a personal decision and not an easy one to make. A man has to do what a man has to do.

Thank you for your exciting games, good luck in the Tal blitz, London and Wijk aan Zee tournaments.

I'm not convinced. Not even in the slightest. The only point I agree with is:

"The World Champion title has a long tradition and an important place in the history of chess."

but that's hardly compatible with anything else said by Carlsen's team: they precisely want to destroy this fundamental tradition and part of chess history.

I've always been a fan of Carlsen, but from now on I'll be rooting for Aronian!

If the problems with the format make it impossible to play then why are the other candidates reasonably happy with it?

Team Boy Wonder is not being entirely honest with the reasons for withdrawing imo.

A blunder by Magnus and his team for sure. The biggest mistake is to gamble with his fanbase. See what happened to Topalov (will he ever recover?). Rather than complaining and making chess political statements Magnus should fight for the WC title. If Lasker, Capablanca and the other worlds champions could do it - why not Carlsen? He will see people starting to root for his opponents. The whole thing is laughable. A good Norway story, as ws say in Sweden.

Look this is all fine and dandy. What I want to know is has Anand Viswanathan reacted (most likely not as its not his style). Seriously how much ever the Carlsen's say its not an attack on Anand that's rubbish. Of course it is.

I believe that at some point we will understand better what are the basis of Carlsen's claim; and I think that both,Carlsen and Henrik, are smart enough to make a clear petition; smart enough to know why they do something so important -not only for the "chess world" but for Carlsen himself;

Maybe, us, judging with such a distance, without ever living as an elite grandmaster, without -never- suffering from the advantages of the WC, maybe us, which do not know about the inside of Fide's decision, maybe us will understand, at some point, why Carlsen took such an importance choice.

But being so rude, I believe, guys, is not the way to judge a personal decision. No one judge your decisions with such a cruelty, no one attack you the whole time because of your age (too young, too mature), no one is following you every second of your life; i'm not covering Magnus with this, i'm not even trying to understand Magnus with this: I try to be less rude when I critize someone else.

Of course: his decision of withdraw from the Cycle is important, of course it is. But, come on guys, before thinking on Fide's wrong decision (permament wrong decisions), you attack with no mercy to Magnus Carlsen. Fide is still Fide, guys. And Magnus is taking -at some point- actions against the way they behave.

Now, you guys, read the others GMs comments about the Cycle. "The Cycle is not that bad", they said. But where were this gms when the Cycle was truly a bad one. Where were this players when Fide's corruption got into the top, into such an obvious and ridiculous manners. Where were this guys? I don't know. I'm not sure. Why do you listen this guys, now? That's a good question, I believe.

Seriously, I don't know the story behind this guys. But there were not a lot of gms reactions against Fide monarchy, so far.

Behave, guys. Carlsen is also a human.

I agree that this is not terribly helpful. The answers were certainly directly responsive to the questions posed, but those questions certainly do not seem very probative of the overall issue. Indeed, by harping on elements of Magnus's original letter, the questions distract from a broad explanation of the situation in a holistic way. The problem with this approach to the questions is that the original letter itself was far from a complete statement to begin with. The letter references that his views are a consistent with and a continuation of a dialog that began almost two years earlier, namely at “December 27th 2008 phone-conference between FIDE leaders and a group of top-level players.” And, as has been recounted elsewhere in detail, there have been other consistent and valid criticisms of the current system from the Carlsen camp in the interim that are not fully reflected in the current letter or the December 2008 statement. Perhaps the letter could have recounted that past dialog a bit more for clarity, because those critiques of the current system have remained and seem to be very relevant to this decision. But really there was no need for this. The letter expressly assumes that the elements of the prior dialog were already in evidence and hence did not need to be recited again. And that is no doubt true from FIDE’s perspective, to whom the letter was addressed.

You say that Espen and Henrik expressed hesitation to go into details regarding the weight and importance attributed to each of the factors Magnus refers to in his letter. But, again, other criticisms and more complete statements are in the public record, so focussing on what is mentioned in the letter alone would likley be an incomplete picture to begin with. In any event, getting into the weight and importance of each factor is utterly unrealistic. People can't vivisect complex decisions in that way. The overall situation is what it is, and given the fact that we are dealing with FIDE, after all, and that the current candidate system was cobbled together in a manner that lacked transparency and defies any rule-based explanation, it is no doubt unrealistic to to identify one single overwhelming causal factor alone.

I agree with those who say that the decision is what it is and we should move on. A cross examination of this type, for many reasons, is fated to be unsatisying. However, what puzzles me about this cross examination and about much of the reaction thus far is the implicit assumption that top players, barring some monumental justification to the contrary, are obligated to jump when FIDE says “jump.” I have no doubt that is exactly how Kirsan want things to be and, by freightening off legitimate commercial sponsorship and using his personal purse-strings as leverage, he has had no small amount of success. But I should think fans would not fall into this same trap.

Henrik seems to think that we the chess fans are a bunch of fools.
"The lack of motivation required to do his absolute best, is mainly concerned with the (lack of) quality of the ongoing cycle, not the title itself". With players like Gelfand, Aronian, Topalov, Kramnik...in it?
"We have to go back many years to find a World Champion that had to go through a series of matches to win the title. The recent champions had to go through one match only (or one tournament only)" Now, we have to go back to Kaspy before he split with FIDE, or Fischer before he resigned, or Alekhine before he died?
"He obviously weighed the pros and cons, including the expectations of chess fans, but in the end took the difficult decision to withdraw. (Withdraw might in fact not be a precise description, as we never received any formal information (or contract) regarding his participation." Obviously the prospect of losing in a match and then losing the number one ranking spot had the most Con. And of course he did not withdraw,... he simply chickened out! Cluck, cluck!

I never thought I would be saying this but please "ignore the troll"! (PS: I let you decide who is trolling the entire chess world now.)

After reading this article, two thoughts came to my mind:

1) If Magnus and his father really believe that the World Champion should not hold the title and instead should compete each cycle, they just don't understand chess. Think boxing, not football.

2) Anybody remember Rustam Kamsky? Sounds a lot to me like Magnus needs to cut the proverbial apron strings...

Hey Chessvibes; did you pick up the photo in this article on purpose? I think it is very telling... You can barely choose Magnus in the photo because of the two big guys walking 'in front of him' as you can barely pick up what he himself thinks in this 'clarification letter' because of these very same guys' vague statements.

Carlsen has to prove many things in chess, once he did all this, then we can understand if he withdraws. May be media attention might have gone to his team head and ended up in an unwise decision. Fide rating in Number one position is not stable it may keep on change but World champion post is fixed for a period of time till he is defeated.

I think a key point is being here: that Carlsen withdrew from the Grand Prix BECAUSE of the candidates matches being announced. The Candidate matches were not created on the premise of giving him some weird second chance.

if anyone hasnt yet seen the video of Carlsen cheating against Alexandra Kosteniuk, please watch it here. He cheats on camera in a blitz game. He is just a punk kid who has no respect for the game. who needs him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeyXKTVYenA