Magnus Carlsen Participating in the World Cup (And a Better System)

Magnus Carlsen is the world champion of chess. He has been for a number of years now. He fought off a rematch with Anand. He defeated both Karjakin and Caruana to retain his title against these two new challengers (albeit in the tie-break portions for both matches). So, Carlsen has nothing left to prove.

His own path to the championship did not involve the World Cup. There are several paths for a candidate to make it to the Candidates Tournament — the tournament that decides the challenger to the title. The World…