Even in a historically action-packed month of chess, Qatar Masters stood out for the presence of Carlsen and Nakamura. In the end, neither managed to lift the big prize near the sandy dunes, as the Norwegian put up one of his worst performances in a long time, giving way to a new generation of players to secure the prize.
Ultimately, the tournament was settled between two Uzbek youngsters, who coincidentally shared a first name, too. 19-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov, #28 in the world rankings, fell short in the tiebreaks against 21-year-old compatriot Nodirbek Yakubboev, who was ranked at #118 heading into the prestigious tournament.
Hikaru Nakamura, still chasing a spot in the next Candidates Tournament, and with it, an opportunity to challenge for the world chess championship title, ended the event in seventh place with a score of 6.5/9, just half a point short of the two tournament leaders. He still lost a few rating points along the way, marginally damaging his chances in the race for Candidates qualification, but nothing to an extent that would risk his position in the race with Alireza Firouzja, the French youngster who’s also gunning for the rating-based invitation spot.
On the surface, Carlsen’s ninth-place finish with six points wouldn’t seem that devastating in the field of 158 players, but when you’re peerless in the Elo rankings, a showing like this will cost you 17.2 of your precious points. A performance rating of 2650, far below the Norwegian’s 2827 live score, is a testament to how much he struggled—or how little he cared—about the tournament.
While the Norwegian has clearly shown that he can still outdo the best in classical time control should he really put his mind to it (as evidenced by his World Cup win to finally get the final big trophy that’s been missing from his collection), he’s put up multiple stinkers by his standards in slower time controls, like his winless run at Norway Chess earlier this year. Couple this with yet another cheating-related drama, and this has been an event to forget for Carlsen and his fans alike, even if he continues to dominate the competition in faster time controls.
Next up: the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament. With the world’s 100 highest-rated players and a few other nominees invited to participate in an 11-round brawl with little margin for error, the top two finishers of the tournament will immediately punch their ticket to the Candidates Tournament. Whether either of the Nodirbeks can one-up their impressive performance in Qatar will be one of the main storylines of the event. Carlsen, of course, won’t be there on the Isle of Man: having abdicated his classical world chess championship title in 2022, he still shows no interest in reclaiming the throne he’s vacated, no matter the pretenders.
