Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agree to share chess’ World Blitz Championship title, causing outcry from top players

(CNN) — Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi have caused a stir in the chess community after agreeing to share the World Blitz Championship title earlier this week.

Tuesday’s final in New York was locked at 3.5-3.5 when world No. 1 Carlsen suggested to Nepomniachtchi that they should share the crown.

The Norwegian had taken a 2-0 lead in the four-game contest before Nepomniachtchi launched a stunning comeback to level the scores, sending the match to a sudden death tie-break.

The pair then drew the next three games, and it was later determined that they would share the title after the proposal was accepted by Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of chess governing body FIDE.

“I thought, at that point, we had already played for a very long time and I was, first of all, very happy to end it, and I thought, at that point, it would have been very, very cruel on both of us if one gets first and the other gets second,” Carlsen later told reporters.

“So I thought it would be a reasonable solution. I think people of course understand that we’re both tired and nervous. Some people are going to like it, some people are not going to like it. It’s the way it is.”

The shared title capped off an eventful few days for Carlsen, who initially quit the World Rapid and Blitz Championships last week after refusing to change out of jeans.

FIDE said at the time that Carlsen breached the World Rapid Championships dress code by wearing jeans, barring him from a round and issuing a fine of $200. However, Carlsen, who was looking to defend his Blitz and Rapid world titles in New York, said that he would be returning for the Blitz competition after “fruitful discussions” with Dvorkovich and the main event sponsor.

Now, the decision to share the Blitz title with long-time rival Nepomniachtchi has sparked outcry from some of the world’s top players – the first time in history that a world championship title has been shared.

“This is a situation where I cannot stand with what Magnus has done,” prominent player Hikaru Nakamura said on his YouTube channel. “I do not think that there is any precedent for this, when you put out rules about the game itself and then suddenly you decide, ‘It’s okay, we’re going to go home’ … It’s unconscionable to me.”

Usually, the tie-break would continue for an indefinite period of time until an outright winner is crowned. FIDE’s regulations state that any “circumstance or unforeseen situation” is referred to the governing body’s president, with Dvorkovich on this occasion agreeing that the title should be shared with no second place awarded.

“I’m absolutely shocked that FIDE did this and I don’t think that it is right at all,” Nakamura added – and the American grandmaster wasn’t alone in his criticism.

“FIDE goes from forfeiting Carlsen (over the jeans debacle) to creating an entirely new rule,” Hans Niemann, whom Carlsen had defeated in the quarterfinals, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Seems like the the regulatory body of chess has no intention of being unbiased. They seem to only care about what one player thinks.”

Niemann also called the chess world a “joke,” while player and streamer Alexandra Botez said on X that the game is “getting soft.”

Former world champion Garry Kasparov made a pointed reference to the jeans controversy, writing on X: “I thought the first FIDE tiebreak was pants.”

Others, including grandmaster Ivan Sokolov, suggested that the final should have been decided by an Armageddon tie-break, a format often used to decide a contest after a series of draws.

In a statement to CNN, FIDE said that “the decision to share the title was not taken lightly,” adding: “It was based on the exceptional circumstances of the event and the players’ expressed willingness to accept this outcome.

“This decision does not set a precedent for future events, as FIDE remains committed to ensuring that tiebreak mechanisms are robust, fair, and transparent.

“This situation has already prompted valuable discussions within FIDE management to improve our regulations. Our goal is to maintain the integrity and competitiveness of chess while adapting to challenges as they arise.”

For his part, Carlsen told reporters that his decision to suggest a draw had nothing to do with the jeans incident from a few days before, as well as refuting claims that it amounted to match-fixing.

“I’ve never prearranged a draw in my career,” he posted on X, adding: “I think the match itself showed two players playing high level chess, equally matched and both deserving of a win.”

Nepomniachtchi, meanwhile, told reporters that the situation might encourage FIDE to return to Armageddon tie-breaks, but added that he wasn’t going to “whine too much” about the result.

This was Carlsen’s record-extending eighth Blitz World Championship title and Nepomniachtchi’s first having finished runner-up to Carlsen in 2014.

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