Context:
At the FIDE World Blitz Championship a few days ago, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Nepo) played each other to a 2-2 draw in the championship round. The match was set to go into tiebreakers, but Magnus offered Nepo to not play the final game and instead share the title for 1st place, which Nepo accepted. Surprisingly, the tournament organizers accepted this and Magnus and Nepo were crowned joint champions.1
Obviously, the chess world has been awash in controversy over this. Personally, I think it is ridiculous but also hilarious. To me, it seems now that there is more money in chess now for creating drama than there is in actually winning.
What do stackers think?
Footnotes
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In following this story, I was also surprised to learn that two high jumpers shared an Olympic Gold in the 2020 olympics, which I think is a travesty. At the risk of sounding like a boomer, sharing medals seems like a very Gen Z thing to do. ↩