@ fischerblanca: What major personality flaw did Lasker have?

On the other hand I can name one for Kasparov right now: arrogance. The way he behaved in that very short segment was typical; full of himself, then puzzled, then frustrated, then rude. Just like when he lost to Deep Blue.

its funny how some of the alltime greats alekhine, lasker, fischer, morphy, all had major personality traits/flaws, fischer was probably the worst in that respect, he was a huge ego that couldnt deal with losing.  Any champion in any field, sport, science, art, music etc. is that way. Im sure Magnus is the same. I stated that Fischer was the first Giant in the sense of his play grew beyond what his contemporaries could deal with from 1970-1972 that means spassky,korchnoi, tal, botvinik, etc. could no longer handle BF, he stood on all those shoulders and achieved greatness at the chess board. second He brought chess into the at the time a growth period that was unprecedented popularity. Kasparov sumed it up correctly when he basically said he suffocated from his own success

Sheer awesome-ness!!!!! He can remember 10,000 positions from past games???This is crazy!!People like him show what human mind is tryly capable of and here we are mere mortals who feel great about remembering 2 variations.

An extra story made by "60 minutes" on Magnus:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-57380913-10391709/a-chess-prodigy-explains-how-his-mind-works/?tag=strip

The CBS show on Magnus can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/7hyppzv

He drew with Kasparov and got ice cream???

How gangster is that? 

He has a nice family and seems to be a good kid overall. 

D

Wow the longest piece on 60 Minutes and it was on chess!  Terrific stuff and Naka got some face time too.   Didn't someone once play a 30 board blindfold?  Unbelievable skill.

There are parallels between him and Fischer, but Carlsen seems much more personable despite his occasional flashes of arrogance. Who knows what kind of person he would be without his father, and how much better Fischer might have been at life (and chess?) with one.

Nice segment on Magnus. They showed him playing a 10-board blindfold simul. Sick.

The show is going great so far!

Some interesting footage of Magnus when he was young

@AllogenicMan: Carlsen has achieved what you or me can only dream of at such a young age or even if work hard for the rest of our chess lives. He was beating the best in chess since he was in his diapers.Now think what you were doing at that age.Ya rite,sucking on your plastic nipple!! Kasparov didn't personally train Carlsen because he was an idiotic chess machine like you think he is.He trained him because he had a great spark and potential in him,he was a prodigy. In the game against Karpov,when carlsen beat him ,Karpov told this in the post game interview,"He is a very productive chess player as he's very creative on the board,producing fantastic positions". Now, either Karpov,Kasparov and the other chess legends attesting him are idiots or you are one.

So,dont sully yourself by badmouthing someone you cant even emulate or be.

carlsen Rocks...:)

i hate anand...

.....................................................................................................................................

You hate Anand because of? I hope It's because he's from India and you are from Pakistan...

@AllogenicMan: Are you OK? Any fever, night sweats, unintended weight loss or diplopia?

@AllogenicMan

Wow, way to be a jackass. The kid wants to play chess and he's damn good at it, what the f**k is your problem?

Well here's my 'mug shot' answer towards Carlsen's 'ad-promo' pic as submitted by 'FishN4Fish' below: 'POW!!' - with a good check in his ! ...

I don't know yet if I'll be watching 'it' this Sunday, as I already know this boorish 'punk' of a Carlsen not only cannot speak for himself, but that he as well doesn't compare in character, neither towards that of Fischer's earlier 1972 'promo', nor carry any of the self-imposed 'spokesmanship' towards his own game.  Someone other than himself should be speaking on his behalf, as he's nothing more but some programmed chess 'machine'.

Typically, these young kids coming fresh out of 'grandmaster school' now represent the new 'rock stars' of chess notoriety as we see it today.  Such is the 'sad truth' that the mortal game has (finally[!], perhaps[?]) succumbed itself to these self-appointed 'baby-masters', prematurely born out of bad seed within bastardized wombs, wilful to the exploitation of what should only now be thought of as a mere act of raping the very soul of chess's survival.

However, the sole fact that remains beyond our ill-conceived notions that chess may be soon 'cracked' sometime in this century by a much younger generation not only leads us to further believe in the prima facie that the game was meant to be eventually solved [through successive draw results], or that it was sullied to begin with, but that the royal game itself does not give one iota in as far as perceptions made towards marring its present image - as we, mere mortals, both young and old, Black and White, and for our present time, can only but lease some play amongst ourselves, atop its deep secret 'code' - as it continues to play us [as fools] amongst its checkered board.

And that's the way I see it! ...

wow

Cant wait, Carlsen is my favorite chess Grandmaster....since he was 13!!!

Whatever the concept here, armchair psychoanalysts, critics, and others in the mold of shaping others and controlling them: talent matters. You would not know who Magnus Carlsen is, unless you knew he plays chess well. Judgments fly, and all the rest of it. On topic, it is about chess. Fischer was a real human being, and liked home cooking. I know because I have talked with people who knew him. He was right about school, and brusque about teachers being idiots and so forth. Reading John Taylor Gatto and others is enough to explain it. I cannot mold your reality here with faint praise and veiled condemnation.

Now on chess, yes it is highly competitive, and it has it's analogy to war and hostility. But is it a game played with wooden pieces by real human beings. When you can see the game and carry it out, you've got something far greater, even solving conflicts over the board. You cannot lie about the position and succeed for very long. Politicians too often thrive on mendacity, dominating the discussion with ad homonym verbiage. It does not work in our quiet game.

I like Magnus, and he has an amiable style for things other than chess alone. I do not expect too much of him, but his delivery is good and he represents himself well. But this is only a narrow sampling. We in a cadre socially and businesswise of chess players over the years have been following the adventures of Anand. I like both of them, I like their game, and more power to everyone who loves the game!

P.S. You get to know about people when you work a World Championship, and along the way to it, knowing friends like the Edmondsons. Ed once told me when he was at analysis with Fischer in the Taimanov match he predicted Taimanov's loss of a rook. Bobby scolded him for his "suggestion," but there was twinkle in Ed's eye the next day when Taimanov obliged.

This question is to the person who says he hates Anand:

You say you hate anand. Just curious, why a chess fan would hate anand. Is it because you dont like his style of play, personality or because of the fact that Anand is from a country (India) which most of your contrymen are taught to hate from childhood or jealous of the fact that there is not a single Pakistani citizen in the top 50 chess rankings list??

Lets rise above the ghetto mentality of politicising chess and just enjoy the game,the legends its produced and the sheer skill required to excel at it.