How To Beat Magnus Carlsen as Black

Magnus Carlsen is considered the strongest player who ever lived. Amongst his many records, having an ELO peak rating of 2882 is worth mentioning, besides being world champion for 10 years, between 2013 and 2023.

That’s why it is not surprising that beating him is hard, really hard. He actually holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games.

That’s why every time we see him lose a game, this can be a great opportunity for us to analyze what his opponent did to learn a very important skill to improve as a chess player, which is beating stronger opponents.

At the 2024 World Rapid Team Championship in Kazakhstan, Magnus had a very good performance with 6.5 points out of 8 games. However, there was one player who managed to beat him.

Rapport is one of the most creative players at the top level, if not the most. And at his game against Magnus in the 4th round, he played true to his style.

One of the most common ways to beat a stronger opponent is to go for an attack against the king. And this is what Rapport does in the game. But to do that as Black against Magnus is nothing short of extraordinary.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggested: Get my Free Course "Your Daily Improvement Plan" 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s why I decided to analyze this game deeply. What I noticed is how Rapport tries to go for uncommon lines and trying to choose sharp moves every single time that this is possible.

This entails some risks but in this game Rapport’s approach paid off.

If you want to analyze this wild game, check out my full analysis here: https://youtu.be/4JHbyDsPmuw