World chess champion to give up title because he’s just ‘not motivated’

Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world chess champion, has announced he will not defend his title next year because he is just “not motivated to play another match” at the World Chess Championship.

“I simply feel that I don’t have a lot to gain,” Carlsen said Wednesday.

The Norwegian wunderkind made the announcement — a monumental one for the industry he has dominated for a decade — on International Chess Day on his new podcast, the Magnus Effect.