Magnus Carlsen (Sixteenth/Current World Chess Champion) Bio
Magnus Carlsen
Sixteenth World Chess Champion
Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chessgrandmaster, No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning World Chess Champion in classical, rapid and blitz. He was born November 30th 1990 in Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway. His peak rating is 2882, the highest in history. A chess prodigy, Carlsen became a Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years, 148 days, making him at that time the second youngest grandmaster in history, although he has since become the third youngest. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world No. 1.
Magnus Carlsen is known for his attacking style as a teenager and later developed into a more universal player. He does not focus on opening preparation as much as other top players and plays a variety of openings, making it harder for opponents to prepare against him. His positional mastery and endgame prowess have drawn comparisons to those of former world champions José Raúl Capablanca, Vasily Smyslov, and Anatoly Karpov.Carlsen had an aggressive style of play as a youth, and, according to Agdestein, his play was characterized by "a fearless readiness to offer material for activity”. Magnus Carlsen found as he matured that this risky playing style was not as well suited against the world elite. When he started playing in top tournaments he was struggling against top players, and had trouble getting much out of the opening. To progress, Carlsen's style became more universal, capable of handling all sorts of positions well. He opens with both 1.d4 and 1.e4, as well as 1.c4, and, on occasion, 1.Nf3, thus making it harder for opponents to prepare against him. Evgeny Sveshnikov has criticized Carlsen's opening play, claiming in a 2013 interview that without a more "scientific" approach to preparation, his "future doesn't look so promising".
Carlsen modeled for G-Star Raw's Autumn/Winter 2010 advertising campaign with actress Liv Tyler, the campaign was shot by Dutch film director and photographer Anton Corbijn. The campaign was coordinated with the RAW World Chess Challenge in New York, an event where Carlsen played an online team of global chess players who voted on moves suggested by three GMs: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, and Judit Polgár. Carlsen, playing White, won in 43 moves. Film director J. J. Abrams offered Carlsen a role in the movie Star Trek Into Darkness as "a chess player from the future", but he had to decline, unable to get a US work permit in time for shooting. In 2012, Carlsen was featured in a 60 Minutes segment, and appeared as a guest on The Colbert Report. He was also interviewed by Rainn Wilson for SoulPancake. In August 2013, Carlsen became an ambassador for Nordic Semiconductor.
Magnus Carlsen versus Viswanathan Anand
The second game was played on 9 November 2014. The opening was the solid Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez where Carlsen played 4.d3 instead of the main line 4.0-0 Nxe4. Carlsen gave up the bishop pair to double Anand's c-pawns and the result of the opening was roughly equal. However, Anand's moves 16...Rd8, 18...Be6, and 19...Ng6 all contributed to making his position more unpleasant. In the heavy-piece endgame Carlsen's active pieces and outpost on e6 gave him a clear advantage. The game ended abruptly when Anand blundered with 34...h5??, allowing 35.Qb7 forcing instant resignation, because there is no good defense to 36.Rxg7+ Kh8 37.Rh7+ Kg8 38.Qg7 with checkmate. 34...Qd2 was the way to fight on but Anand's chances of a successful defence were slim. Carlsen took the lead in the match.
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence (ECO C65)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. 0-0 d6 6. Re1 0-0 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 Re8 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Nc4 Bb6 11. a4 a5 12. Nxb6 cxb6 13. d4 Qc7 14. Ra3 Nf8 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh4 Rd8 17. Qh5 f6 18. Nf5 Be6 19. Rg3 Ng6 20. h4 Bxf5 21. exf5 Nf4 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rc3 c5 24. Re6 Rab8 25. Rc4 Qd7 26. Kh2 Rf8 27. Rce4 Rb7 28. Qe2 b5 29. b3 bxa4 30. bxa4 Rb4 31. Re7 Qd6 32. Qf3 Rxe4 33. Qxe4 f3+ 34. g3 (diagram) h5 35. Qb7 1–0
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