Levy Rozman shared his opinion on the World Chess Championship Cycle in an interview with El Mundo. Rozman criticizes the fact that Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura play few tournaments. Levy believes that the Candidates Tournament does not make sense in the modern era.

Levy Rozman

Levy Rozman

American IM, content creator

“Who’s the best in the world? Probably Magnus, still. But who’s second or third? We don’t know, because the best players don’t face each other regularly. It’s a shame. In other sports, this only happens if someone gets injured.

Nakamura doesn’t go to tournaments. Neither does Carlsen. Sometimes Caruana doesn’t go. The current system sucks. My biggest disappointment is that we don’t know who the best player is.

I don’t think the Candidates Tournament makes sense in the modern era. I want the best players to make a very good living and become stars. Right now, we don’t have them, and it’s not getting better.

When guys like Hikaru and Magnus start retiring, I don’t know what will happen. There’s no clear leader right now, and that’s disappointing.”

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura played in one and two Classical tournaments in 2026 respectively. They are the active World’s No. 1 and No. 2 in the official FIDE rating. Reigning World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju is currently World’s No. 26 in the live rating.

Credit: Rafal Oleksiewicz