Who Will Beat Magnus Carlsen?

If you follow my weekly column, then you probably noticed that I am a big fan of Magnus Carlsen. I like his chess style, his general attitude to play till the very end and his notorious disregard of the opening theory. I grew up at the height of Karpov's era and I can assure you that Carlsen today is what Karpov was to us, chess players of 1970s!

It is a well-known fact that all good things come to an end and even though Magnus Carlsen totally dominates the chess world today, he will be defeated at some point. (Cue the "Circle Of Life" song). So who will succeed Magnus?

If the chess history is any guide, then the new chess king will be younger than Carlsen and also he will play a very aggressive, "attacking like Kasparov" brand of chess chess. In my opinion, the Chinese prodigy Wei Yi is the perfect candidate to become the next world champion.

Sparks fly practically in every single game played by Wei Yi. We already analyzed the modern immortal game of Wei Yi here. He can find combinations even in the dry endgames that happen in the notorious "Berlin Wall":

God help you if you decide to play a sharp variation of the Sicilian against Wei:

The following recent game by Wei Yi is a textbook example of how to attack in chess. Try to find all the elements of his new masterpiece:

It is amazing how Black rook joined the attack in just three moves! 

Now find the beautiful finish of the game:

As Yogi Berra once said: "It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future."  

Nevertheless, I don't think I am going out on a limb predicting that Wei Yi will be the world champion in four to five years!