Stockholm, May 10 (IANS) Reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen was a notable absentee at the Online Nations Cup that ends on Saturday. 36 of the world’s top masters are competing in the online event in the absence of regular tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Website promoters Chess.com claimed that Carlsen was invited for the tournament but the Norwegian was not “willing to play under the same financial conditions as the other participants”.
Carlsen took note of the tweet from Chess.com and did not take their statement kindly. He retweeted the statement with the quote, “Thanks for putting up a very entertaining event, and letting me now that I will be invited to events in the future! Now that you have outed me as greedy, I will ask for at least triple what I would have asked this time, though.”
Earlier, Chess.com said in their statement that they would have loved to have Carlsen participate in the tournament.
“Unfortunately, though an offer to play was extended by each of FIDE Director General Emil Sutovsky and President Arkady Dvorkovich, our understanding is that Magnus was not willing to play under the same financial conditions as the other participants. We have the utmost respect for Magnus’ talent, and he will continue to receive invites to Chess.com’s events on a regular basis, just as he has for many years,” said the website’s statement.
–IANS
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