Rating list January 1, 2010
A major reason for not blogging much since March was the "secret" cooperation with Kasparov. It felt too awkward to try to relate inside stories from tournaments while suppressing the main news. After going public in September about the cooperation, and winning Nanjing in style, Magnus soon got his own blog making the continuation of this blog less meaningful.
At this blog at http://www.arcticsec.no/index.php?button=blog&main_image=35 Magnus thanked his trainer Garry Kasparov and his main sponsors investment-bank Arctic Securities and lawyers Simonsen for their contributions to his rise to the number 1 spot on the January 1st 2010 rating list with 2810 ahead of Topalov, Anand, Kramnik and Aronian.
I'd like to bring forth all the other persons and organisations that have made significant contributions and deserve credit. The pitfall is of course that someone may feel left out, to whom I offer my sincere apologies in advance.
Prior to Kasparov, Magnus has received support and training from GM Simen Agdestein through many years, and a special thanks for his invention, the chess class at the Top Athletes School that Simen started back in the late 90's and which Magnus attended through high school from 2006 to 2009.
GM Peter Heine Nielsen is a good friend that had occasional training sessions with Magnus for several years and was also his second during many tournaments.
His first important trainer was IM Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen who's pedagogical skills deserves special mentioning. I'd also like to mention that Magnus got some initial coaching from Bjarte Leer Salvesen in Baerum Youth Chess Club and from Sverre Johnsen, Oslo Chess Club back in 1999.
Before and during tournaments Magnus has also received valuable analysis from Dag Soedtholt and several other Norwegian chess players.
Chessbase, represented by founder Frederic Friedel, has for several years contributed with software including the invaluable Chessbase database and analysis engines Fritz, Junior and lately also Rybka. He has also been extremely helpful in providing important contacts throughout the chess world.
Online chess was a major contributor to Magnus training efforts especially from the age of 9 to 14. He has spent countless hours playing blitz on Internet Chess Club (ICC) and Playchess.
We have received technical help in PC and software matters, and special thanks go to Tarjei Svendsen for his many contributions.
In addition to main sponsors Arctic Securities and Simonsen laywers, Magnus has for several years had Smartfish, a producer of Omega-3 fish oil products, as a sponsor. For a one year period in 2007/8 he was sponsored by FAST, a search engine company now owned by Microsoft. As part of their strategy to help young people utilize their talents, Microsoft Norway sponsored Magnus from 2003 to 2005. His first sponsor, back in the first half of 2002, was IT consultant company Computas. You have all contributed significantly to make it possible for Magnus to travel to tournaments, hire trainers and acquire training equipment. Thank you!
Espen Agdestein has been of invaluable help. As sponsor agent for Magnus, he has helped secure the current two main sponsors Arctic Securities and Simonsen lawyers. And together with his brother Simen he was instrumental in securing several of our earlier sponsors as well.
Magnus' progress stems partly from participation in the many events organised by Hans Olav Lahlum at Gausdal. For many years Hans Olav put in countless hours, immense dedication and often his own money to continue the Gausdal tradition originally started and upheld for decades by Arnold Eikrem.
After his first tournament, the Norwegian Championship U-11 in 1999, Magnus benefitted from the weekly blitz tournaments in Oslo Chess Club throughout the autumn of 1999 and onwards. Our local club Baerum Youth Chess Club, headed by Oivind Ekeberg, was the first chess club contributing to Magnus' success. Later Magnus joined Asker Chess Club, represented by primus motor Joeran Jansson and others, and played several seasonal evening tournaments, blitz events, as well as the European Club Cup for Asker.
Magnus has participated in a huge number of tournaments and throughout the years he has on most occasions been accompanied to tournaments and looked after by grandparents, his mother and sisters in addition to the undersigned.
Chess has been recognized as a sport by Norwegian media in 2009 and this is consistent with the need to focus on physical training and nutrition in chess as in other sports. Magnus has cooperated with the Olympiatoppen this autumn and feels confident this is an important part of optimum preparations for chess tournaments.
We would also like to thank the many chess enthusiasts contributing to chess as spectators and commentators, his chess friends at NTG, tournament organisers (as Corus, Linares and Tromsoe to mention a few), chess sites (as www.chessbase.com), chess blogs (with significant contributions from for instance Hans Arild Runde and Mig Greengard) and the influential people, patrons and politicians throughout the world supporting our great game one way or the other.
Henrik Carlsen Engerdal, January 1st 2010
June Update
Magnus played 4 tournaments in the 1st quarter and 2 in the 2nd quarter of 2009. He will be less active in 3rd quarter with more tournaments coming up in the 4th quarter again.
Before turning to a follow-up of Sofia and Leon, I'd like to dwell briefly on the 1st quarter super tournaments. Despite the financial crises, traditional top level chess events have continued in 2009. The only notable difference seems to be that the crisis have made the organisers even more focused on presenting the best possible event to players, on-stage spectators, via internet and for the media in general. Corus has a unique position in the chess world due to the 70 + year tradition, the presence of the whole world elite most years, and the huge number of players participating in the various tournaments. Linares, 'the Wimbledon of chess', exudes brilliancy by being closely tied to the World Champion and 9 time winner Garry Kasparov. Amber Rapid and Blindfold has attracted the world elite for 20 years and is renowned for the luxurious standard in every aspect and the relaxed atmosphere accompanying a fast time control event without rating implications. This year they all seem to have managed to improve further!
The financial challenges seemed to make the Corus organiser and management present during the event even more enthusiastic and helpful. Linares staged the whole tournament locally this year after the successful cooperation with Morelia in 2006-8 and everything from the decoration of the playing venue to the helpfulness of the organisers made a lasting impression. Regarding Amber it was difficult to see how the organisers could improve further but somehow they managed!
Magnus participated in Sofia for the first time, and despite his last round loss to tournament winner Shirov, he was very satisfied with his performance. In the second half he held Topalov and Ivanchuk to a draw with black in a convincing manner. His white piece victories against Dominguez and Wang Yue, added to his first round win against Topalov, gave him an impressive 4/5 score with white. In the last round Magnus (and Shirov) thought black had amble compensation until he blundered with Qc7 (mistakenly thinking he had mate threats preventing Nb4). The Sofia organisers deserve the highest praise for a very well organised event. The hotel and the playing venue were excellent. The park area where the event was held had a great atmosphere with plenty of chess players grouped around the benches deeply emerged in their favourite pastime. The city centre is compact, has many historical sights as well as modern buildings, and several new shopping malls.
Magnus played in a class cube for the second time, and in Sofia it was surrounded by a large group of enthusiastic and knowledgeable spectators following expert comments from female World Champion Stefanova and others. The air conditioning worked excellently in the cube. The players could hear a little noise from outside occasionally, but not to the extent that it represented a real problem. We think the cube is good idea and it has already succeeded in promoting chess in a great way. Some practicalities may be improved further, including, even better noise protection, one-way glass to avoid contact from outside and maybe an inclined spectator area to allow more people direct vision.
Magnus played in Leon 2005 in one of his first encounters with really top players. Although he had beaten Shirov in a single game in Drammen in January 2005, he was clearly no match for Anand in June 2005 and lost 3-1. But it was a useful experience, and it was a good backdrop for reflecting on his progress during the last 4 years having gone from a promising young player to the 3rd rank position in the world.
With semi-finals played on Friday and Saturday and the final on Sunday, the Leon Rapid tournament programme is not much of a burden for the losing semifinalists, it is reasonable for the Friday winner with his day off on Saturday, while quite tough for the Saturday winner.
Ivanchuk won fairly convincingly 2,5-1,5 in his semi against Morozevich, while Magnus needed more than 5 hours and 6 games to defeat Wang Yue on Saturday. In the first game, Magnus missed a win in the endgame (he discovered too late that he should have prevented the black king from returning to the 7th (and 8th) rank. In the second game he went for a very sharp line and later made too many ambitious (and not so good) moves and lost to a well-playing opponent. In the third game he more or less had to win and amazingly Wang Yue did the same mistake in the opening as Anand did last year in the final he lost to Ivanchuk. After drawing game 4, Magnus did not manage to get much from the opening in the first blitz game and it fizzled out in a draw. In the final game, Magnus played quite well, but was still maybe slightly worse when Wang Yue made a mistake in the ensuing time trouble and later lost the difficult rook ending.
The final against Ivanchuk brought all the nerve and excitement the audience could hope for. Lots of fighting chess with both playing some excellent chess mixed with some bad mistakes. Having defended well, Magnus got the chance to counterattack in the 3rd game and was trying to win the bishop endgame when he blundered his g-pawn. After another mistake he simply lost. In a must win situation in the 4th rapid game he got a very good position but from there on Ivanchuk defended excellently for 20 moves. Magnus missed a few promising continuations and in the end the queen and rook ending was probably theoretically drawn. In practice though, it is nearly hopeless for black as there as some many pits to fall into and so little time left on the clock. Ivanchuk erred with Kd6?, and the checks won the rook. 2-2. In the first blitz game, Magnus got a promising position from the sharp Sveshnikov variation and looked great when he missed a winning continuation. Ivanchuk again defended superbly and reached a rook + knight against rook ending which he held for 53 moves ending in a stalemate. In the second blitz game Ivanchuk held the dynamic balance my pushing his pawns on the kingside, but Magnus had an advantage and could have made it difficult with Ne4 instead of Nc4 as pointed out by Ivanchuk at the press conference. Draw. In the Armageddon, Magnus drew the white pieces, 6 minutes against 5 and had to win. Ivanchuk had a promising position for a while but when Magnus finally counterattacked the position was very difficult to defend. In a nice combination Magnus won a piece and when Ivanchuk's last piece was trapped he resigned with only a few seconds left. The Leon rapid has 4 participants as compared to the more typical 6, 8, 10 or 14 in classical high level tournament. Anyhow Magnus was very pleased to win Leon Rapid 2009, his first tournament victory in nearly a year (after being pretty close in Linares, Nice and Sofia). The Leon organiser does not escape our highest praise either :-) A very well organised event by Marcelino Sion with first class media coverage headed by famous journalist and commentator Leontxo Garcia, and lots of spectators in the large auditorium. Leon is a nice city with plenty of cultural sights and park areas. The devil is in the detail and the organiser excelled in many ways. For instance, when the hotel internet performed poorly they got Magnus a mobile internet card before we had even asked for one. Great job!
Friday 12th Magnus had his final high school exam and later that day he was celebrated as the "sport-student of the year" at the top athletes high school despite strong competition from a world class snowboarder and a junior world champion golf player.
Magnus is now planning to become a full time chess player for some time.
He is leaving for Dortmund on June 30. Round 1 starts July 2nd and the tournament finishes on July 12th. Format has changed from previous years, six players, double round robin and ten rounds this year. Magnus (2772) is first seeded ahead of Kramnik, Jakovenko, Leko, Bacrot and Naiditch in the strong category 20 (nearly 21) event.
Lommedalen, June 17th 2009, Henrik Carlsen
Mtel Masters 2009
The halfway mark of the 2009 edition of Mtel Masters was celebrated with a football match at the Levski stadium, between Chess United and (former stars) of PFC Levski, the Bulgarian 25 time league champion.
All six Mtel Masters chess players participated in the football and the team was strengthened with young FM Berbatov (closely related to Man U's player with the same name).
With some help from the Levski stars Chess United scored three goals in the final 2 minutes to level the score (6-6).
In the penalty shootout Ivanchuk again did a great job as goalkeeper and also scored on his (close-up) penalty. It ended in an 8-7 victory to Chess United and everyone was delighted with both the match and the outcome.
The first half of Mtel Masters 2009 has seen lots of fighting chess, and with the 90/40 + 30/rest time control it is more of a coincidence to have had only 5 out of 15 decisive games. As a good example, Dominguez has played his usual sharp openings, has even had lost positions during the time trouble in at least 3 games, but has managed to save them all in the end by resourceful defence. Magnus and Shirov has been in the lead since their first round victories over Topalov and Ivanchuk, while Topalov has picked up speed winning in round 4 and 5 to join the leaders at the half way mark at +1. Wang Yue and Dominguez are at 50% while Ivanchuk lingers at -3 having had as much headwind as he had tailwind last year (to reach 5 out of 5). Yesterday he played a beautiful attacking game against Topalov, avoided repetition several times but blundered in time trouble and lost in the end.
After a 7 weeks break from tournaments Magnus is happy to play here in Sofia. He is satisfied with his shared lead halfway but not completely satisfied with his own play. The game against Topalov in round 1 was probably a good one. 23... Bxe4 was maybe the decisive mistake after which Magnus finished the game in style. In the end his king reached a safe heaven on g3 while there was no such place for black king. 1-0, and Magnus first victory against a 2800-player!
Magnus played the Najdorf against Dominguez in round 2. White was better until 14.Bxd4?!. After 14...dxe5 15.dxe5 Qa5!, the position looked promising for black. Magnus tried hard but could not find anything decisive. Dominguez found the best defence and after simplifications he went for a repetition before the time control. (Interestingly he had the choice between checking the black king between g8 and h8 or 'checking' the black queen in the opposite corner!) Draw.
After blundering badly in the two first games, Ivanchuk played quite well against Magnus. Magnus did not get anything from the opening, in the middle game he was maybe slightly better at one point (after e4), but even as he won a pawn in the time trouble Ivanchuk easily held the rook ending to a draw.
Against Shirov, Magnus played the sharp Botvinnik variation in the Slav and thought he had a promising position out of the opening. However, when he played 24.Re3 he had missed 29...Ra5! after which white, if any, has the more difficult job to defend accurately. A piece down for 3 pawns (including looming queens-to-be on f6 and h6), moves were repeated before the time control in face of the deadly black threat Qf3!
Yesterdays game as black against Wang Yue was a bit of an anti-climax. White got a little initiative and could try to put some pressure on the black double b-pawn, but black probably has enough compensation in the bishop pair. Moves were repeated before move 30 in a position Magnus considered equal. Afterwards, Magnus told the press that sometimes it is hard to avoid such results when you play black.
Never having been to Sofia before, it is quite a revelation. The city centre is fairly modern, and the 1.3 million-inhabitants-city is nicely situated between various Balkan mountains reaching up to 2.300 meters. We see plenty of snow from the hotel window. (No need to feel homesick :-) )
The tournament is played in a glass cube in one of the main squares in Sofia, a popular attraction for spectators and passers-by. As in Bilbao, it is a little bit noisy inside the cube, but this is maybe a prize worth paying for bringing chess closer to the audience.
Tomorrow Magnus has black against co-leader Topalov at 4 pm local time.
Sofia, May 18th, Henrik Carlsen
Amber 2009 Free day
All aspects of the Amber tournament are of high quality, and the free day excursion to Cannes and the island St Honorat today was no exception. On the way along the coast line via Antibes we got an introduction to local history. The seaside location of towns like Nice has been both a blessing and a threat. Back in 2003 Magnus played a round robin in magnificent Taormina in Sicily, and we leaned that it had been conquered by at least ten different folk groups since 600 B.C. Conquerors have treated Nice slightly better, but it has had much the same history starting with the Greek seafarers followed by the Roman period and several folk groups during the dark ages.
The Greeks brought vine and olive to Nice and the monastery of St Honorat makes it own products. Upon arrival on the island we were treated with the 2007 red and white wines produced locally. After a light lunch and a walk to the monastery and ferry back, we had one hour in Cannes before returning to Nice. Impressively, nearly half the Amber participants had joined the excursion despite the relatively early start, and I think all enjoyed it very much in the perfect spring weather.
After the first free day Kramnik was leading with +3, but during the next four double rounds, Anand has gone straight from 50% to +5 and looks like a clear favourite the was he is playing. Kramnik, losing to Anand in the blindfold yesterday, is still at +3, while Magnus and Aronian are at +4 in shared second place. Leko in 5th at +1 is still in contention for the top places while the rest has a minus score with three double rounds to go.
In round 5 against Aronian, Magnus played well in the blindfold as black and secured a draw in a sharp battle. As white in the rapid, he outplayed black in the middle game, won a pawn and thought he was winning. However, he took an additional exchange a bit too quickly, and the game became very complicated as his bishop was trapped on b8. Continuing to play for a win Magnus in the end lost. After the long game he was both tired and a bit devastated by losing this way and hence being pushed back to 50%. At this stage he showed great determination to start a new trend and decided to focus on playing quickly and staying relaxed in the next rounds. In round 7 in a fairly equal position Wang Yue fell for a trick in the blindfold and Magnus subsequently won in style also in the rapid. He was also very satisfied with his blindfold win over Morozevich the day before. Against Topalov yesterday, the position he entered in the opening did not allow him to continue the strategy of playing fast. His position was 'loose' and he had to check it properly for every move. Topalov played a bit hesitantly, but by the time Magnus got a clear advantage he was also down to increments in a complex position. In the ensuing complications both players lost control. Magnus somewhat foolhardy avoided a repetition, but as Topalov blundered last, Magnus managed to win the game in the end. In the rapid he had the black pieces and as he commented after the game, he had had enough excitement for one day and was inclined to play safe. Draw. Amazingly Magnus is currently at +5 and a one point lead in the blindfold while he has -1 and 7th to 10th place in the rapid. The surprisingly great difference must partly be explained by having had the margins on his side in the blindfold while clearly not so in the rapid.
Tomorrow Magnus has the black pieces in the blindfold against Karjakin at 4 PM. The day after, he plays Kramnik, and lastly Radjabov in the final round.
Nice, March 23rd 2009, Henrik Carlsen
Amber Rapid & Blindfold 2009 started today.
What some may consider good news and others as not so good, I won't be updating the blog very often in the months ahead. One reason is that Magnus has become more sensitive with regard to sharing information about his games, and he will in general not reveal more on the blog than what he does in video interviews after the game and in the occasional annotations of games. Back to Linares; We would like to start by congratulating the 2009 winner Grischuk and equal first Ivanchuk! Maybe somewhat surprising to some, Magnus was not in any way devastated by ending half a point shy of the winners after having blundered quite badly in a winning position in the penultimate round against Radjabov. He is rather quite happy with having played many really good games and with the +1 result and sole 3rd place, despite the loss of concentration and some half points in the 5th or 6th hour of play. He emerged from the openings without any serious problems as black, and he got many good positions with white although he was out-prepared by Dominguez and Aronian. He beat World Champion Vishy Anand for the first time with classical time control and also won their "match" 1,5-0,5. It was also absolutely noteworthy that he beat the winner A.Grischuk (also for the first time with classical time control) in a great Sicilian, causing Grischuk's only Linares loss in 2009. The tournament showed that Magnus has again expanded his opening repertoire. And despite some opening problems in two games as white, as well as two major endgame blunders, he performed according to his January 1st 2009 rating, and expects to be ranked 3rd in the world on April 1, 2009!
Six out of the eight Linares participants had played in Corus this year, and Magnus has scored better than any of the others in the two events combined (+2)! As a last note on Linares, we'd like to thank the organiser for another excellent top event. It was well organised, in a most friendly atmosphere, and everything ran smoothly. Thank you!
Having waited for the release of the audio files from the December 27th video conference on World Championship cycles in vain for more than two months some news finally emerged from FIDE early this week. During the last weekend of Linares, the FIDE Presidential Board met and the press release did contain news about the World Championship cycles. The Anand-Topalov match has been deferred to latest April 2010 and UEP's bid for the next World Championship cycle was accepted. What is amazing about the press release is the lack of information regarding changes to the World Championship Regulations which the acceptance of the UEP bid must rest upon. If the regulations indeed were changed to accommodate the acceptance of the UEP bid for a candidate tournament / matches (and the 2011 World Championship match), with the candidates replacing the current stipulated match between the GP and World Cup winners, this could well have been worth mentioning in the press release. For one thing, we imagine that the GP participants in Nalchik would like to know the status of the World Championship regulations after several months of frustrating uncertainty. It could also have provided a tiny bit of much needed credibility to FIDE despite the appalling act of introducing a change to the regulations in the middle of the cycle. Alternatively, the possibility that the PB did not formally decide to change the WC Regulations and FIDE is planning to let the GP participants play another event without alignment between regulations and what FIDE is actually planning to do, would simply be beyond belief, and will hopefully be disproved shortly.
Today the 18th edition of the Amber Rapid & Blindfold started. This great event, organised with the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. van Oostrom, is staged for the second time in a row in the exquisite Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice. The 2009 edition is stronger than ever with the top 5 and 10 out of the world top 13 ranked players. The drawing of lots and opening dinner was held in the grand hall of hotel Negresco yesterday. Having drawn start number 12, Magnus played Gata Kamsky in round 1, and in an interesting position in the blindfold game, Gata blundered a piece and Magnus finished the game without allowing much counterplay. As black in the rapid game, Magnus was maybe slightly worse most of the game and having spent too much time in the middle game, he was down to increments in the endgame. In a worse, but maybe drawn queen ending, Magnus lost on time. 1-1 in round one. Two of the other blindfold winners, Anand and Kramnik also lost the rapid (to Leko and Morozevich). Only Aronian managed to win both games (against Ivanchuk) and is the sole clear leader a whole point ahead of ten players at one out of two points.
The weather is great in Nice, sunshine and +15oC.
Tomorrow Magnus plays black against Ivanchuk in the blindfold at 2:30 PM and he'll have white in the rapid at 17:45.
Nice, March 14th 2009, Henrik Carlsen
Linares 2009 Round 4
Today is a free day in Linares, and the organiser has most accommodatingly arranged for a game of tennis in the beautiful spring weather. The timing is excellent as today is also a free day in the Nordic skiing World Championship which Magnus follows with great interest (although his enthusiam does not match the level of Peter Svidlers passion for cricket:-)
In the first four rounds Magnus has been focused and spent more time on the clock than what we have become used to. He has fought well in every game, but has made too many oversights to be fully content with his play and result. With 10 rounds to go he is quite relaxed though.
In round 2 as white against Dominguez Magnus went into a line of deep preparation from Dominguez. Having spent lots of time investigating the critical line with e4 which would allow black to chase the white king into the middle of the board, Magnus wisely concluded that he should go for the repetition.
As black against Wang Yue in round 3, Magnus equalised from the opening. As white did not show any ambition to play for a win, Magnus made several attempts to get an advantage. 18...Na5 instead of Ke7 looked very promising, but later white defended well at the critical moments. Magnus still felt he had a slight edge both before and after a rook was exchanged close to the time control. White offered a draw at move 37, but Magnus decided to play on. Unfortunately he missed 40.Rc5!, blundering the a-pawn just before the time control, and he had to pull himself together and concentrate on securing a draw. In the end moves were repeated as white correctly concluded that pushing for a win with the a-pawn could easily backfire and lose.
Yesterday Ivanchuk played a side-line in the Grunfeld with 5.... Be6 and Magnus again spent lots of time in the opening. When black avoided the most critical line (11.... Nxe4), Magnus was simply better after the opening. He decided on 16.Nd5 and had a slight advantage due to his more active pieces. However, 22.Bc4 was a mistake, and after the response e5! Magnus discovered that black has 24.... Qxd4 after which white has to trade off most of the pieces. Black is slightly better in the ending, but as white has more than sufficient resources, Ivanchuk decided to trade knights and enter a dead drawn rook ending. With the resulting draw both players have 2/4 and share 4th - 5th place thus far. Anand has had three white's and has had winning positions in all three! Against Aronian the position was very tricky and he went on to blunder at a critical moment and lose though. As black against Dominguez in round 3 he did not seem to be in any serious danger, and yesterday he convincingly grind down Wang Yue to move back to +1.
Aronian played patiently against Dominguez yesterday and slowly outplayed him to win a pawn and later a second one. Dominguez wisely decided to fight on and Aronian somewhat surprisingly seemed to have serious problems finding the win with R+N+ two pawns against R+N. Finally he embarked on the right plan and after the exchange of rooks the knight ending is lost for black. 1-0, and an impressive 3 out of 4 for Aronian. He is sharing the lead with A.Grichuk who has started very well. Despite 3 black games, and getting into slight time trouble nearly every game, he has played and scored excellently. Yesterday he got some help though, as Radjabov misplayed a seemingly very good position to end up in a lost endgame.
In round 5 Magnus face co-leader Grischuk with the black pieces at 4 PM. Lets hope for a good fight!
Schachnews 
