How Chess Players Have Improved: Past to Present

Hello everyone! A few days ago, I was experimenting in a line of the Alapin Sicilian. When I went to the opening explorer, there was a person with the last name of Nepomniachtchi and a rating of 2400. I wondered; Who is this? Then the thought occurred to me; Nepomniachtchi wasn't always 2780.

So I thought: How did the strongest chess players play when they were young?

These made my day!

#1: Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen: A name we all know too well. He has reached the highest rating of 2882 FIDE. But how did he play when he was younger? Let's find out. 

This beautiful game was played when Carlsen was 15. He played the game masterfully, only playing an incorrect move once. But once Carlsen's opposition got stronger, he edited his style, playing and grinding his opponents.

Let's see if you're still tactically aware. 

So where did Nepo go wrong? It was a seamless conversion. It almost makes you wonder if Magnus was winning from the start. If you look closer, however, you see that Nepo messed up on the move 130. 

Wow. 

I'll do one more player, and then I'll show you some tactics. You can see if you can guess whether the player was young or new. 

#2 Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer was actually a major player even before he was fifteen! In fact, he won the US Championship at 14, a large accomplishment. Let's look at one of his games in his youth. 

Let's see some of his older games now. 

Puzzles, Puzzles, Puzzles.

In the comments, tell me which ones were played by people over 15 at the time and people under 15 at the time. 

Thank you for reading!

Of course, we must finish with a meme...