A video showed Magnus Carlsen joking with Ian Nepomniachtchi that if FIDE did not agree to let them split the World Blitz title, they could just keep “playing out short draws until FIDE give up.”

The joke raised temperatures on social media with players like Hans Niemann and Srinath Narayanan and chess legend Susan Polgar calling it out for impropriety. There were comparisons made to Nepo and Daniil Dubov playing out a short draw last year at the same event and getting penalised for it.

“I’ve never prearranged a draw in my career. In the video I’m joking with Ian in a situation where there is a lack of decisive tiebreak rules. This was obviously not an attempt to influence FIDE. It was said in the spirit that I thought FIDE would agree to our proposal. If anything it was a bad joke given the gravity of the situation,” Magnus Carlsen said on Twitter.

“I think the match itself showed two players playing high level chess, equally matched and both deserving of a win.”

Hans Niemann, who has had a complicated history with Magnus Carlsen, posted: “This is cause for an investigation by the FIDE Ethics committee. I can’t believe that two players who maliciously accused me and tried to ruin my career are openly breaking the rules. The irony simply can’t get any worse.”

Magnus : “If they like refuse, we can just play short draws until they give up.”

Isn’t this match-fixing, @FIDE_chess? Dubov & Nepo were double forfeited last year for pre-arranging a draw, why wasn’t similar action taken this time around? pic.twitter.com/WjyteaztLi

— Abhiraj (@mytywarriorking) January 1, 2025

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India’s Srinath Narayanan said: “Criticism of the regulations and using it as an excuse is nonsense here. The Wimbledon 2019 final lasted 4 hours and 57 minutes. Novak Djokovic won the 5th set 13-12 and won Wimbledon 2019. They didn’t make a pact to share the trophy or ‘keep losing one point each until they give up’”.

Talking about the conversation where Magnus is telling Nepo about playing out draws until “FIDE gives up”, Srinath later added: “It’s wrong, of course, at many levels. It also shows Magnus’s instinct to resort to blackmail if FIDE insists on following the regulations… Where does power reside in the chess world, in 2024 or 2025?”