Magnus Carlsen’s match-fixing video downplayed by FIDE president in blunt remark: ‘As for sharing the Blitz title…’
Breaking his silence on the match-fixing controversy for the first-time, FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich defended Magnus Carlsen in an interview.
Magnus Carlsen has been facing the heat since 2024’s year-ending FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York. First, it was the jeans scandal during the Rapid Championship, and then it went a notch higher during the Blitz C’ship, where a viral video surfaced after the final accusing him of match-fixing.

The Blitz final began with two wins for Carlsen, and he looked in total control, needing only a draw to seal the title. But then Ian Nepomniachtchi staged a comeback to win the next two games, making it 2-2. In the sudden death, both Grandmasters played out three draws, followed by the World No. 1 proposing that they share the title, which was agreed by his opponent.
Also Read: FIDE chief defends Viswanathan Anand in brutal criticism of Magnus Carlsen: ‘If you want to attack someone…’
According to reports, FIDE officials, who were present in the venue, initially didn’t agree with Carlsen, but soon fell to his demand. Then a video surfaced on social media, where Carlsen could be seen ordering Ian to play out short draws if the FIDE didn’t let them share the title. Since then, Carlsen has also publicly stated that he was joking with his opponent in the viral video, and it was a dig at the poor tie-breaker regulations.
The video didn’t receive a positive response from fans, current and former players. Many chess Grandmasters pointed out that in other sports, a title clash has stretched for hours till a winner wasn’t decided.
FIDE president defends Magnus Carlsen
Breaking his silence on the controversy for the first-time, FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich defended Carlsen in an interview with ChessBase India and criticised the regulations.
“As for sharing the blitz title, I think it is a lesson in terms of regulations. The regulations were not perfect. Basically, we created the risk that it can last forever, which is not good. After two games nobody would expect that it could end up like that, but Ian was back in the game, leveled the score and it happened,” he said.
“So regulations were not perfect, it is clear. My argument basically was that players did not have real motivation. It was evident even without any videos that I saw only next morning about their joking suggestions. I really think it was kind of a joke since they knew they were being recorded, in the camera just in front of them.
“Actually, I didn’t see this video when taking the decision. I just thought that there was no motivation at that point. Also, it was just a few hours before the New Year. Come on, we are on all in festive mode already! OK, it is sport and we all want them to fight to the very end, but the motivation was already down, and it was really difficult to push and play hard. So at that point I didn’t see any other solution and people who were in communication with me did not suggest any other option. So there was no discussion about that basically, and everyone was more or less okay with it,” he added.
Other than his controversies in New York, Carlsen has also been criticised by Indian chess fans, for his words on D Gukesh. After the 18-year-old defeated Ding Liren to become the youngest world chess champion in history, Carlsen spoke on a podcast that the match wasn’t up to the level and criticised Gukesh.
