Inches away from greatness

Magnus Carlsen a step away from greatness 
Amit Karmarkar, TNN | Nov 2, 2013, 01.23 AM IST

PUNE: Heard of a two-year-old solving a 50-piece jigsaw puzzle?

There was this Norwegian kid who used to do it with ease and now at 22, is the challenger to Viswanathan Anand's throne. Meet Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed World No 1, the unstoppable force who has beaten just about anybody on planet chess over the last few years.

"I have to pinch myself now and then to believe that all this is true," his father Henrik says of Magnus' rise. An amateur player himself, Henrik initiated his son to the world chess.

"He wasn't too keen on the sport when I first exposed him to it. Till he was seven or eight, he was into football, before he returned to chess on his own volition," Henrik told TOI during his recce trip to Chennai in August.

But once Carlsen got into serious chess, there was no stopping him. He crossed one hurdle after another, crossing Garry Kasparov's all-time high Elo rating of 2851 before he was 22. His biggest leap was from 2700-2800 within 17 months, a move that took Anand 13 years.

Even as Carlsen whizzed past Kasparov, the Russian master doffed his hat in praise of the new kid on the block. Kasparov saw a bit of himself in Carlsen and coached him to reach new highs.

"Congratulations to Magnus for his huge victory in Wijk aan Zee (in 2013)! He matched my record score of 10/13 there and without losing a game, and he pushed his record rating up even higher.

I would like to say he owes his success to my year of coaching him, but it was already clear then and even clearer now that Magnus is a very special talent with no limits on what he can achieve," Kasparov said.

Experts feel that Carlsen's game has looked even more solid since his Kasparov stint. "It's ironic that after a training stint with Kasparov, Carlsen has started to play more like Karpov," said K. Visweswaran, India's youth Olympiad coach.

"Carlsen's coolness is exemplary. He is ready to play equal positions. If his breakthrough idea is refuted, he doesn't seem to lose heart. He keeps on playing."

When asked if he can be described as a genius, Carlsen himself told The Guardian: "No, I am not. I'm just really, really good at what I do. I'm fortunate to do something I love, but I'm not a genius."

If he continues to be himself, maintains his equilibrium and strike rate, Anand will be seriously tested to save his fort. Carlsen has played his part in the evolution of chess, setting a new benchmark for the up-and-coming generation.

Though he is the youngest challenger for the classical matchplay world crown since Kasparov in 1984 (the Russian was 21 then), in terms of experience, Carlsen is way ahead of Kasparov in the early 80s.

"Carlsen brings new life to mundane positions," said India's Parimarjan Negi, who broke Carlsen's record of being the second youngest GM ever (at 13) by five days. "Opening theory doesn't matter much when he is playing."

Ditto with colours. White is generally considered the stronger piece because the player gets to dictate terms with it, but it hardly matters for Carlsen if he is playing black or white!

In the last six years, Carlsen has won 320 games and lost 116, with 190 wins with white and 130 with black. Among the defeats, 59 were with white and 57 with black. 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com