Thanks for your insights, Thomas and Dr. Berghorn! I know the style is a trickey question, since one has to be able to play wide range of positions to get to the top level. Morozevich, for example, plays nice positional games from time to time. But, still, 'Karpov like' is a nice compliment coming from Kasparov, since 12th champion was his greatest rival. Whether Karpovian or Fischeresque, Carlsen is on the way to become a universal player. I hope he may demonstrate a kind of brilliance Fischer or Kasparov demonstrated. No offence to the great players abound, but I think chess can benefit from a superstar right now. Maybe we will live to see Carlsen wipping up some great fights both against older generations and his contemporaries such as Karjakin and Giri.

@redpawn&lone-tiger

Not that it matters, but just on a side note to correct your idea of Germany ;) :

Those dresses you talk about are NOT traditionally german- they are traditionally bavarian. Which of course is Germany too, but they are a regional (traditional) wear. They have nothing whatsoever to do with Dortmund (totally different region). Saying the leather trousers and the little hat are typically german is like saying a kilt is typically british. Bavaria simply happens to be a region with rather strong traditions which has somehow taken over the international image of ALL Germany.
Oh, and they are not "beer dancing customes" either. What's a beer dance anyway?;)

And by the way those dresses on the photos are not worn by the average chinese either...neither by businessmen. It's traditional (and expensive) wear again (like the leather trousers and the hat by the way, they can be really expensive and are only worn by traditonal bavarians or during the beer fest, what you probably meant by "beer dance" ;) ) which are only worn on certain occasions nowadays. So saying "it's as normal for them as a tie and a shirt for us" stretches it quite far.

Enough. :) Back to chess. Carlsen is in Chucky-Mode (I thought mentioning Kasparov would be too boring).

My stories about the fisheating and the brainperformance has a somewhat deeper meening. However, as someone said, it was more of a John Gleese comment than a serious comment. We need some funny statements in all this serious comments.
Make no mistakes. Carlsen is a miracle!!

With a little bit of fish eating, he might be even better, or??

And my apologies too everybody who felt bored by my last post- I won't do it again. Strictly chess from now on (I personally don't care about the dresses anyway).

;)

I just went over the Carlsen - Radjabov game. Brutal. Carlsen is a tactical genius. Radjabov is top ten strong. We must give Carlsen his due. How will he fare against Topalov when Topalov has the white pieces? Exciting chess!

What i'm curious to see is how Karlsen will cope with the pressure of his new status (because now he'll be the man to "stop" for other super GMs ) in the months to come and how would he fare in Match format against the likes of Aronian , Anand or even Kramnik with their vast experience and strong mental ability , cause becoming a true world champion means winning a world championship match against one of the big boys .

This said , it's clear that Magnus is on fire right now , no question , playing at this level at such at young age forces my admiration and respect and means he'll be right up there to contest for the world champ crown in the future

But to say he's the best is rushing things a bit IMHO , i understand the enthusiasm about Magnus , but i believe that Anand is not finished , Aronian is an amazing player well capable of upsetting anyone and Topalov is in confidence crisis at the moment , but at full strength , it's difficult to write him off . we should not forget Ivanchuk also had period of great form recently , form doesn't last , what is important is consistency , and in this regard , guys like Anand , Aronian won't be easy to surpass IMHO .

Regarding the "imposition" of Chinese clothing I refer you to NIC 2009/1 page 9 by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam: "Among the novelties they had thought up was a countdown clock on a large flat- screen television showing the seconds left till the start of the round and the Chinese suits the participants were to wear AS STIPULATED IN THEIR CONTRACTS. Before the tournament the players had to provide their measures on on their arrival in Nanjing they each received two custom made suits, one grey and one black."

There is no evidence to suggest the organizers twisted any arms. If you don't want to wear the clothing don't sign the contract. What is the big deal? The players freely choose. They don't have to do anything they don't want to do. They are having fun and getting paid. It is a great event. It is well run, unique from other tournaments and players are "besieged by hordes of fans asking for autographs and photos". And most of all the quality of the games are quite high. This is great for chess.

I agree, the traditional chinese shirts adds to the brand of the nanjing tourney

Dr. Berghorn, I have to agree with you regarding Carlsen's style. To be honest, when I first heard Kasparov's opinion on Carlsen, I was a bit suprized: Karpovian Carlsen? He resurrected Dragon from ashes with Radjabov, and he played Alekhine at the beginning. That being acknowledged, I think Kasparov meant something else, rather than style or opening choices. Well, I am not entitled to talk about the quality of Carlsen's talent, but I would like to hear more about it from Mr. Kasparov!

Hmm, doesn't every top player have his own unique style, at least to some extent? Noone is a clone of another top player, and you won't get that far merely copying someone else. Among the current top 10, maybe Kramnik and Leko on one hand, and Topalov/Ivanchuk/Morozevich on the other hand have _similar_ styles. Moreover, style is clearly more than opening choices - though both might be related. From a career perspective, I wonder if anyone's style evolves according to the openings he plays, or conversely, if opening preferences (which may change through time) become "fine-tuned" to one's style.

One thing is clear (to me), though: Kasparov's style is different from Carlsen's, giving him "added value" as a coach. He knows in which aspects of the play Carlsen can still improve, I guess opening preparation is one of them.

Apropos "STYLE": Doesn´t remind us Carlsen´s play a bit of the Fischer-style?! It´s fascinating to look back in the history of Bobby Fischer´s career while comparing it with the development of Magnus Carlsen´s progressive successes!

"but I think chess can benefit from a superstar right now"

IMHO it's double edged T.Goto . On the one hand it could be good for chess advertisement , in order to promote events in the main stream medias , but the negative is that a superstar might grab all the headlines and leave nothing for the other players . For instance when Fischer stopped playing in the 70's , the western medias stopped following chess as eagerly because

But i still stand to my point , Carlsen is not yet a superstar , because superstar means he's superior to the likes of Anand , Aronian or even Kramnik , which is far from being a fact yet , especially in Match play format . It's likely it will happen in a few years though

As for the style , i think Carlsen has a computer style ... i looked at many of his great games , it's just computer style , my comp agrees with most of his moves , he's quite versatile . I don't think he can be compared to Fischer's style , Fischer had no computer preparation , it was all his own ideas and understanding of chess , Fischer's style was more obvious when you compared his style with his contemporaries , nowadays , the difference of styles are far less apparent IMHO , i'd say Carlsen is a mix between Alekhine (positionally solid but creative ) and Polugaevsky (extremely good calculator , classical a but at ease in unbalanced position

Amazing!

On style and openings, a little Kasparov quip from 1987: He prepared for a clock simul against the Swiss national team, looking through hundreds of database games for each opponent (a rather novel approach back then). One of his opponents said he would sidestep Kasparov's preparation by playing an unusual opening - Garry's reply: "He can change his opening but not his style!"

[from my memory, I found the games (+4 =1) on chessgames.com, hence the event was in Zurich 1987]

Hey, look at the women's section.....
How come the women are not wearing chineese geisa clothings?
Why just the GM mens are made to wear these chinese shirts ?
That's sexist !

Do you know there are some tiny differences between China and Japan, cheongsam and Geisha clothing, sexism against men and sexism by men?
By the way: Nana Dzagnidze wears Chinese, seems to help.

I think the attire is refreshingly different. However, if an invited player really doesn't like this, would they be willing to drop out of the tournament just for this? "Probably not" would be my guess. I guess if the players provide feedback at the end that they would like this condition removed in future tournaments, and if the organizers ignored it, then it would be a sort of cultural imperialism. But as long as the players are ok with it, I think such uniqueness adds a lot of colour (literally) to the event.

Are we going to now see folks wearing red&gold to increase their chance of wins? ;)

@lanis -- >> and Topalov is in confidence crisis at the moment
what do you mean? he doesn't want to show any of his preparations for the big match, and he is at -1. This doesn't add up to a confidence crisis IMO.
In any case, slow or bad start, and a strong comeback in the second half is not new for him. So, while he is unlikely to trump carlsen to win the event from this stage, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him finish on +1 or even +2.

Funny how everyone answering to my posts with technicalities....but not understanding (or just not acknowledging understanding) of my point.

Michel83 - thanks for the cultural lesson on Bavaria...(not being traditional bear dancing German clothing...)
Bartleby - thanks for the note on difference between china and Japan (Geisha clothing).

Hope my point is understood regardless:
1. It's unusuall to have super GM's dress accodring to the requirements of the cultural venue they are in... (they should all be in professional business suits).
(I hope when they play a tournament in Hawaii - they will not make them dress with hoola dancing outfits). :-)

2.If you're going to make the men's GM section dress in these shirts - it would make sense for ALL participants wear similar outfits....