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Notes -
I think there's an important element that's being overlooked here. A few months ago Magnus announced that he would not be defending his title in the next Chess World Championship. This strongly suggests that Magnus is not as heavily invested in chess as he used to be. That would explain both why he was beaten by such a weaker player and why he so casually throws the integrity of the game under the bus.
Magnus has been voicing his displeasure with the WCC format for more than a decade, even before he became World Champion in 2013, and has repeatedly suggested along the way that he might no longer defend the title. It's really not a surprise that he called it quits after five defenses. He's lost games to weaker players before - Andrey Esipenko was lower rated than Niemann when he beat Magnus at Wijk an Zee. He's won most of the OTB and online tournaments he played in this year and decisively won Tata Steel for a record eighth time in January. Frankly, I think he deserves some benefit of the doubt before everyone decides he's gone Fischer.
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