Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion

November 23, 2013

So, what everyone knew would one day happen, happened yesterday. Magnus beat Vishy Anand 6.5-3.5 in Chennai yesterday. My thoughts on the match will mature over time: not the greatest, and I am sorry for Vishy (who took defeat with great grace in yesterday's press conference), but Magnus's formidable strength shone through. The main aspect for me is the fact that he just keeps plodding on, good, simple [once you see them] moves, maintaining the balance or applying slow, steady, pressure until the opponent cracks.

I first saw Magnus close up at the 2006 Turin Olympiad, aged 15, when he played top board for Norway. He already had a reputation as a prodigy, as someone special, so our match against them, midway through the competition, was one I eagerly anticipated. (I first met him two years early, at the Calvia Olympiad, but we didn't play Norway then).

I believe I am correct in saying that Magnus' defeat of Mickey Adams on 28th May 2006 was his first victory over a member of the world elite. It was his appearance in the highest echelons of chess. (It was their first game, since when they have played a dozen times, with Magnus on about +6; Mickey has defeated him just once, in 2012).

I vividly recall the match. On board 2, as white, Nigel Short played a super game vs Leif Johannesssn, winning as white with his trademark 3e5 against the Caro, crashing through on move 22 and winning in 25. The game is worth playing through both because of the thrilling finish but also because of Nigel's prior positional master class- 12 Bg5! which only works because of 4 h4 h5 which takes away black's control of g5. On board 3, Jon Speelman lost a tough game, one I remember being worried about his position from early on, whilst Nick Pert had a very level draw, so we lost the match 1.5-2.5.

On any other day, Nigel's win would be Game of the Day, but Mickey's defeat was the talk of the Olympiad, and for me, having stood by my players throughout the game, it was the manner of Magnus's win which had an impression. We now know it as trademark Carlsen, but kids are meant to be without fear, attack relentlessly, and not play positional grinds. Magnus though played a brilliant positionally based tactic, which rocked me when I saw it on the board (e6!! and Bd8!!), and I know that Bd8! rocked Mickey.

I remember during the subsequent thirty odd moves of the game never being sure what was going on: was Mickey dying a slow death, or was he just suffering in a near drawn position? We now know that this your fate when playing Carlsen, and it doesn't really matter what the evaluation is: Magnus will play on, even in level positions where there is no risk to him, as he did in game 10 yesterday, when he could have taken a draw early on in the game, but instead played the psychological game and applied relentless pressure on Vishy. Magnus, the torturer.

Below are some pictures of Adams-Carlsen (note to self: next time you see a prodigy, make sure you get a good picture of him/her; don't just concentrate on your players). I recommend looking at the game, both for the e6 Bd8 combinational phase and the subsequent grind.

The trademark orange juice in full sight

White's next move in the above position would never, ever, occur to me; and when it was played, I still had no idea what was going on.

Here, I wondered if there was a technical melee, an explosion of the position, since if the N is captured, g5 wins the bishop.

But no, white plays Bd8!! and the point is revealed: white wins the exchange, his two bishops raking on the diagonals trapping the rook. Profound, brilliant, humbling.

From here, I wasn't sure what the nature of the fight was. Of course, white is the exchange up, but black has a pawn for it, and the knight has a good outpost. The game went on and on, until it became clear Mickey was losing. I never asked him about the game afterwards, knowing that such defeats are mentally wounding, and all he mentioned was the effect on him of Bd8.

The final position.