Originally posted by FastEddieByou are a bit behind the developments:
While searching for the dates of the 2014 World Chess Championship, I stumbled upon this:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/aug/29/world-chess-champion-magnus-carlsen-title-threat
News to me!
http://en.chessbase.com/post/carlsen-signs-for-sochi-will-defend-title
It's interesting actually. Carlsen delayed signing for Sochie because the money was much lower than last World championship. I do wonder how much his decision to sign was helped along by Caruana's display in Sinquefield. The article you posted was written just before. I think, had Carlsen run away with that tournament, he may have held out a little longer before signing. As it was, and had Carlsen been stripped of the title, he would have been thrown back into the Candidates along with said Italian. I'm not sure he would enjoy fighting it out with Caruana in a candidates tournament...
That said, i don't think Fide would ever have stripped him. He is clearly the Strongest player in the World (Caruana is close, yes, but hasn't shown Carlsens consistency yet). I think the whole thing distracted Carlsen at Sinquefield. Caruana was on fire and likely would have won the tournament anyway but Carlsen was not at his best. Anyway, it's nice to have a new face.. 🙂