Hikaru Nakamura interview: World No 2 on Magnus Carlsen’s ‘we’re not a serious sport’ statement and why he doesn’t mind no-increment rule | Chess News

Ever since the much-talked-about draw between Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin and Daniel Dardha in the Global Chess League in the matchup between PBG Alaskan Knights and Alpine SG Pipers, there has been plenty of chatter in the world of chess about the no-increment format and the role of arbiters.
Stars like Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana have reacted sharply on the role of arbiters. The five-time world champion even went as far as tweeting: “Nihal had made several illegal moves and the arbiter never stepped in — we’re not a serious sport unfortunately.” Caruana then stated on his C Squared podcast that chess arbiters are “95 percent useless”.
Asked about Carlsen’s tweet, world no 2 Hikaru Nakamura said he had not seen the tweet about chess not being a serious sport but told The Indian Express: “It’s hard for me to understand why Magnus would say that, because if anything, you’re only sort of bringing chess down with such a statement. So I don’t really know why Magnus tweeted that… It’s just all very strange to me.”
The no-increment rule has also evoked debate, especially from purs. The American Gambits icon player defended GCL’s format and said that if chess wanted to attract more casual observers and convert them into fans, there would have to be some “sacrifices that needed to be made” in terms of the “purity of the game”. He stated that having an event like the GCL experiment with having no increments in games was critical because the chaos on the board and the spectacle of pieces flying would be exciting for those from outside the sport.
“Ultimately, I think you also have to realize what the purpose of GCL is. As I view it, it is to try and grow chess, to bring in a bigger audience, hopefully get more corporate sponsors, drum up the interest amongst the casual fans. The casual fan and how they view these incidents is going to matter a lot more than anything that Magnus or Fabiano have to say. Ultimately, Magnus Carlsen’s opinion should not hold as much weight as a casual fan’s if we’re trying to grow chess for a bigger audience,” Nakamura said.
Stars like Norway’s Magnus Carlsen have reacted sharply on the role of arbiters in chess. (PHOTO FIDE Michal Walusza)
The no-increment rule is a rarity at chess tournaments, but it was very common a few decades ago. The rule has led to frantic scrambles as the clock ticks down. Nakamura pointed out that he was among the handful of people besides Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler and coaches of the teams who had played no-increment chess before GCL. So, he told himself that he would never get into a time scramble even if it meant losing with plenty of time on his clock.
“I think expecting to be able to hold tournaments like, say a Grand Chess Tour event and just bring in a casual fan is never going to happen. To someone who doesn’t follow chess very closely, they’re probably going to enjoy the show, the wild moves and all the chaos in a way that a serious chess player won’t,” Nakamura said.
Talking specifically about the Dardha incident — where Sarin accidentally dropped pieces in a time scramble but was not warned the arbiter and finally escaped with a draw with three seconds on the clock — Nakamura said: “It’s always on the players in these split-second moments to make your decision. If someone plays an illegal move, do you play a move? Do you stop the clock? Of course, it’s messy, but if Dardha doesn’t claim it, then I don’t think anybody can really complain about it. And to me, it’s just a little bit odd because when you play a tournament, the onus is on the players to read the rules and regulations, to understand what the time format is.”
Nakamura said that anyone who had an issue with the no-increment rule now should have raised the issue before the event started.
“If players have an issue, you should make a point of it before the event and not once the event has started. So, to me, it doesn’t really hold a lot of water.”
(The writer is in London at the invitation of Tech Mahindra)