What Made Carlsen the 2024 Norway Chess Winner
One of the strongest chess events of the year, the Norway Chess Tournament, finished a few days ago.
As opposed to other great events like the Candidates Tournament in the case we had the privilege to see former world champion Magnus Carlsen playing.
Despite having a relatively weak start, that included an impressive loss against Rameshbabu "Pragg" Praggnanandhaa, Magnus quickly bounced back (as he often does, showing his champion spirit) to win the event with a 2-point margin over GM Hikaru Nakamura.
The winner
=> [Watch] Learn Magnus’ Skills
This is an event that I followed closely. After analyzing all of Magnus’ games, I deeply searched for some of the most important skills that still make Magnus the strongest player in the world.
1. Impeccable Endgame Play
Most wins in this tournament will come down to his ability to win slightly better endings or outplaying his opponents in equal positions.
Let’s take a look at the Armageddon game of round 2 where Magnus was playing as White against Hikaru Nakamura:
White to play
Here White’s main idea is to create a passed pawn with the move c4. But before going for that main idea, Magnus played the very strong 1.Kd3!, playing to bring the king to c5 via d4 before pushing the c-pawn. This way, the king will also be active, supporting the advance of the pawn.
Despite Nakamura’s resistance, Magnus won the ending, making it look easy.
2. Maximizing His Chances
Magnus is always looking for practical chances, even in fairly equal positions.
Black to play
Magnus had this position as Black in round 4 against Fabiano Caruana. Here he played the very nice 1…Ng3. White pieces are pretty tied down. There’s pressure on e4 and the knight cannot easily move as 2…Rd1+ would be fatal.
Caruana tried 2.Kh2 but after 2…Rxd2! 3.Qxg3 (if 3.Rxd2 Nf1+ wins material) Rxf2 4.Qxf2 Qe5+ 5.Kg1 Qxe4:
Magnus ended up being a pawn up and converted this very hard ending to defend for White.
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3. Building up an Attack at the Right Time
Magnus can still deliver a crushing attack when needed.
In his round 6 game against current world champion Ding Liren he had this following position:
White to play
Black is planning to get some play on the b-file by doubling rooks and invading with Rb2. Magnus did not care about that and went 1.Bd5+ Kh8 2.Qh5 Qf8 3.Re4 (Magnus bring more pieces to attack Black’s king). In this critical position Ding had to play 3…h6 but instead he went 3…Rb2?? and Magnus finished the game in style with 4.Qxh7+!!:
Here Ding resigned, not waiting for the checkmate after 4…Kxh7 5.Rh4#
If you want to see a more thorough analysis of these moves and ideas, check out my video about it: https://youtu.be/gkBsTR96VEM
