Carlsen Seals Nanjing Win

Submitted by SonofPearl on Thu, 10/08/2009 at 12:06pm.

If Magnus Carlsen (pictured) eventually becomes what many believe he is destined to be - the world chess champion - the 2009 Pearl Spring tournament may be remembered as a turning point.

In round 9 at Nanjing, Carlsen comfortably held a draw against Radjabov with the black pieces and thereby assured himself of clear first place, a cheque for 80,000 euros, and the best tournament performance of his life.

If Carlsen manages to score yet another win in the final round with the white pieces against Jakovenko, he will be very close to breaking the 2800 Elo barrier. Allowing for some ratings inflation through the years, this would make him a member of a very exclusive club consisting only of:

Garry Kasparov (peak 2851)
Veselin Topalov (peak 2813)
Vladimir Kramnik (peak 2809)
Vishy Anand (peak 2803)

All the games in round 9 were draws, so the standings with one round to go are:

Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2772	7
Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2813	5
Wang Yue	CHN	2736	4
Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2742	4
Leko, Peter	HUN	2762	3½
Radjabov, Teimour	AZE	2757	3½

» more Chess event coverage

| 3078 reads | 11 comments |

2 votes:

Comments:

by rfs - 2 years ago
mandaluyong city Philippines

Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 66

Magnus dominates Jakovenko in last round using Kasparov's pet lines in Queens Gambit to win this super chess tournament and surpass the 2800 barrier as Worlds no.2 behind Topalov in world ranking. With Kasparov around, Magnus is shaping up to become world champion in the future.

by StakeOut - 2 years ago
Auroville India

Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 56

MAGNUS OPUS DEI

by karfis - 2 years ago
London United Kingdom

Member Since: Sep 2009
Member Points: 3

What about karpov at linares he had a tournament rating of 2900/3000

by alphard1 - 2 years ago
Canada

Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 127

Maybe he'll be the first to reach 2900...maybe

by exigentsky - 2 years ago
CA United States

Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 441

Magnus Carlsen wins one of the strongest tournaments in the world with 8/10, 2.5 points ahead of everyone in the field. His tournament performance rating is over 3000 and his live rating is over 2800. Moreover, he hasn't even turned 19 yet!

HOW IS THIS STILL NOT FRONTPAGE NEWS ON CHESS.COM?! This is the most exciting chess development in quite a while.

by forrie - 2 years ago
Vanderbijlpark South Africa

Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 805

yue was also playing for a draw with that variation against the kings indian which lessened topalov's winning chances.

by nevin - 2 years ago
Tucson, Arizona United States

Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 73

80,000 euros... thats $118,296. time for carlsen to stay in the bahamas for a week.

by SisyphusOfChess - 2 years ago
Brainsin United States

Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 196

If, and I must stress if, Carlsen keeps having results like this, then he'll show himself to be the next Kasparov or Fischer.

Time will tell though. We've seen many young players over the last decade and a half or so who looked to become truly dominant world beaters only to peak and then level off somewhere in the 2700s while still quite young.

So is this result an anomaly, and will his next TPR be 2720 or even 2660? Or will he continue to turn in 2800+ performances?