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Carlsen keeps on winning
13 June 2008 0:06 AM | Last modified: 0:58
The Magnus Carlsen fairy-tale goes on and on. At the Aerosvit tournament he shines again, starting off with a 4.5 out of 5 score. Virtually he’s the world’s number two now.
Yesterday we put up the poll in the right column, with which we can speculate about the moment Carlsen will take over Viswanathan Anand’s number one spot at the world rankings. This question gets more relevant by the day as Hans Arild Runde’s virtual standings now look like this:
Live World Rankings June 12, 2008
| Rank | Name | Rating | Change | # games | # events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Anand | 2798,1 | -4,9 | 2 | 1 |
| 02 | Carlsen | 2792,2 | +27,2 | 21 | 4 |
| 03 | Kramnik | 2788,0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 04 | Morozevich | 2787,9 | +13,9 | 20 | 3 |
| 05 | Ivanchuk | 2778,2 | +38,2 | 30 | 4 |
| 06 | Topalov | 2777,0 | +10 | 10 | 1 |
| 07 | Radjabov | 2744,1 | -6,9 | 31 | 3 |
| 08 | Mamedyarov | 2742,1 | -9,9 | 23 | 2 |
| 09 | Leko | 2741,0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Shirov | 2738,9 | -1,1 | 16 | 3 |
Admittedly, Shirov blundered in an equal position today, and the Aerosvit Tournament shouldn’t count for the July 1st rating list (and so anything can happen between now and October 1st), but still it’s breathtaking, what’s going on here.
As always, Carlsen himself, together with his father Henrik, will surely stay cool. And perhaps that’s the ultimate strength of the young Norwegian: nothing really surprises him, nothing seems to make him uncomfortable and no-one seems to scare him. This also makes him somewhat intangible - if we compare Carlsen’s rise to the top with Kasparov’s, the latter still wins in terms of amazement.
The way the Boss-to-be blew away the elite with his energetic style and ocean deep preparation worked like a tornado, feared by everyone. Lately, Carlsen seems to separate himself from his colleagues with an ultra-subtle playing style combined with an iron will, converting minimal advantages, often in difficult endgames.
In a period without Kasparov, differences are small within the top 5 and opening preparation seems a bit less important than at the start of this century. But in the end, just like in Kasparov’s time, chess is about pure will power behind the board: energy, persistence and allround chess qualities. And that’s what makes Magnus Carlsen grandiose.
Aerosvit 2008 Round 5 Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 1 | Carlsen,M | 2765 | +334 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5/5 | |||||||
| 2 | Volokitin,A | 2684 | +92 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 3.0/5 | 7.00 | ||||||
| 3 | Karjakin,S | 2732 | +29 | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3.0/5 | 6.25 | ||||||
| 4 | Svidler,P | 2746 | -43 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 2.5/5 | 6.25 | ||||||
| 5 | Eljanov,P | 2687 | +40 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 2.5/5 | 5.50 | ||||||
| 6 | Nisipeanu,LD | 2684 | +31 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | 2.5/5 | 5.50 | ||||||
| 7 | Shirov,A | 2740 | -35 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | 2.5/5 | 5.00 | ||||||
| 8 | Ivanchuk,V | 2740 | -33 | 0 | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 2.5/5 | 5.00 | ||||||
| 9 | Alekseev,E | 2711 | -65 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | * | 0 | 2.0/5 | 5.25 | ||||||
| 10 | Jakovenko,D | 2711 | -69 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 2.0/5 | 5.00 | ||||||
| 11 | Onischuk,A | 2664 | -88 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1.5/5 | 3.75 | ||||||
| 12 | Van Wely,L | 2677 | -106 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | 1.5/5 | 3.25 |
In case you were wondering if any other chess player is participating in Foros, the answer is yes. And it’s about time pay some attention to them too! What follows are fragments from rounds 4 and 5. The first three rounds were covered here.
Eljanov-Carlsen
Volokitin-Karjakin
Alexei Shirov
Sergey Karjakin
Alexander Onischuk
Links:
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Magnus Carlsen for Obama’s Vice President!!
Amazing !!! He grows in the elo list faster than chess softwares !!!
The real question is if the Anand-Kramnik match for the world title has any value now.Many people dispraise the way he wins many games(tricky moves in ”draw” positions).My view is that its not his problem but his opponents problem.BESIDES
Τhere is no win in chess with perfect play from your opponent.
Yet another grinding performance by Carlsen. A 3100 performance is simply amazing!
@Billy.
“Τhere is no win in chess with perfect play from your opponent.”
That hasn’t been proven! You are most likely right (I think you are), but there’s no proof of it yet.
Against top GMs Carlsen wins one objectively probably drawn position after another, just having the advantage suffices for him. He therefore must be in a class of his own.
“Ze komen op het licht af”
Just wait till he has the opening prep of a 23 year old!!!
Some of my thoughts about Carlsen.
Time Advantage:
Carlsen excells in the openings and is well prepared and therefore can play quickly. He picks up time in the opening. In the middle game he seems to be able to create complications one after another that again take time for his opponents to find the best moves. With time pressure he tries to force he opponents to make small consessions in position in the 10 moves running up to the first time period. He then grinds them down in the end game and converts his small advantages.
Psychological Advantage:
Carlsen is getting to the point now where player they know they are in for a long hard battle when they play him. They know that he tries to push them into time trouble and that he has the ability to convert on small advantages he picks up in the middle game.
Atistic Advantage:
Also I think that Carlsens minor autistic provides him with the ability of intense concentration, preference of routine, ability to follow interests for extreme lengths. I feel these atistic attributes help Carlsen to study chess with greater easy and consistenecy and to be very focused while playing and be less effected by the extreem stress that is experience in top play.
I think we all expect as Carlsen gets more experience that he will continue to improve. It hard to believe that we have a 17 year old #2 in the ratings.
The other wonderful thing about Carlsen is his humiliy. He is not cocky, a braggard, or overly excentric like may of the past great players have been. He is modest about his abilities and very mature in the way he handles himself for a 17 year old. This perhaps for me is as attractive as his playing ability.
I am sure we will all be watching today to see how he does.
@Tim 12:46
Is dat niet een uitspraak van Lodewijk Prins?
@Jeans 15:22
Klopt als een zwerende vinger.
“Also I think that Carlsens minor autistic provides”
do you have anything to back this up? just because he can concentrate very deeply doesnt mean he is autistic and you shouldnt post things like that without credible evidence. thats how romurs get started.
@bob
>>>you shouldnt post things like that without credible evidence.
You may want to do a bit of rearch. I quick Google of “Magnus Carlsen autism” would put you in the know.
Its a well known fact that Carlsen is autistic. When he was asked “Er du autist?” he answer, “Ja, er ikke det ganske apenbart?”
A quick google search is research now, SEO?
It is totally obvious that Carlsen’s “Ja, er ikke det ganske apenbart?” was sarcastic.
@ SEO Company
Are you a doctor? Do you know the different types of autism, the difference between autism, autism-related (milder) syndroms, simple non-autist low capacity of social interaction and normal shyness?
Yes, I also find that Magnus seems to be a bit shy and underdeveloped in his social skills (from what I see in interviews- I don’t know him personally and I suppose you don’t either). Does that without fail make him an autist?
By the way, the answer of Carslen doesn’t prove a lot- there were quite a few people speculating that he was being ironic. So I would be interested based on which informations except that interview you can say that it is a “well-known fact”.
I am not a Carlsen Fan by the way, I root for Shirov, Chucky and Hou Yifan.
And actually I don’t want to discuss that matter so much- I’d rather talk about the exciting Shirov-Karjakin game (that might get overlooked because everbody looks at Carlsen)!
Before more weirdness will pop up here: come on, guys. He’s a modest, perhaps somewhat quiet but otherwise totally normal 17-year-old. So cut the crap please.
Thank you Peter. To think that SEO Company actually didn’t understand Carlsen’s reply to that question was sarcastic is actually a bit scary. How can we convince him if he perceives reality so differently from us? I try to understand how there possibly can be people like SEO Company, and I try not to get upset by his preposterous statements. But still, what an idiot. Sorry.
Well Autism isnt a black or white syndrome its more on a spectrum, just as sexuality is. Perhaps all chessplayers would be higher than average on this scale?!
I also once came across the neaanderthal/autism hypothesis which seems at first ridiculous but is none the less interesting when you read the ‘evidence’.
Incidentally i don’t think Magnus has poor social skills. How many 17 year olds can court an audience & the press with cameras rolling without a little nervousness. And in his second language!!
Not knowing Carlsen personally, I don’t know whether Carlsen has autism or not. About a year ago I thought he was a very high-functioning autistic, but now I am not so sure.
In respose to Peter’s comment: I should add that it is possible to be both autistic and “completely normal” - these people are classified as “recovered autistics”.
In conclusion: Whether he is autistic or not makes no major difference, since if he is, he is fully recovered and has been for years.
‘SEO Company’,
I do not want to alarm you but; and I quote: “What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Rankin’s study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, “Nice weather we’re having.”
The science of sarcasm (not that you care)
Peter, Carlsen is clearly *not* a normal 17-year old: he may be very friendly if you know him, but he’s genius by all standards and therefore by definition anything but normal!
Perhaps it’s a bit awkward-sounding, but definitely not wrong by definition to suggest the possibility, especially on a topic about the guy.
There are many forms of autism, some severe, some rather light, like Asperger’s syndrome. An interesting aspect of some forms of autism is a restricted prosody and intonation. Anyone who’s heard Carlsen speak will recognize this immediately in his speech. Of course, that’s not *proof*, but why ignore it? Another frequent characteristic is intense preoccupation with a narrow subject. Surely Carlsen is also interested in other things, but I think we can safely say he’s rather preoccupied with chess. Another aspect can be extremely high intelligence. Another is impaired nonverbal behavior like not looking you in the eye, as Carlsen often does. You can call it ordinary shyness, but surely it’s not forbidden to also look at broader patterns.
I agree that perhaps this is too public a place to discuss it, especially since many people here don’t realise it’s not a ‘disease’ or whatever. Just like homosexuality isn’t a disease.
Also, I don’t think it would in any way ‘explain’ Carlsen’s phenomenal results, since most people with such a syndrome are not #2 in the world in any discipline
If Carlsen’s above-average results in chess and reserved behavour spells autism, then the same could be said about many other talented young players.
Magnus is certainly not autistic. I have known him since he was 9, and he does not lack social skills in any way at all. Everyone who knows him just a bit can see that.
I think I said slight autism and I noted it as just one of the things that give me an advantage.
The tournament is not finished but it is true that Magnus Carlsen is well on the way to win the tournament Aerosvit, unless a surprise.
Poll on my blog.
http://zenman-zenman.blogspot.com/
anyone who has ever met magnus and conversed with him in norwegian knows that he is definetly not autistic in any way. he just has a dry sense of humour.
Magnus Carlsen still won the poll …. on my blog gives the winner ….
http://zenman-zenman.blogspot.com/
Yes Zenman, we know you would like to have us surfing to your website, but now it’s enough thank you.
Come on CEO!
Listen to Magnus friends. Of course he has no form of autism. He’s a normal 17 years old chess genius.
Claiming Magnus has autism. I find as absurd as claiming Kasparov has autism.
Stop making a total fool of yourself.
Yeah, these days it’s very common to try to put a label on everyone and everything. But come on! The guy is a bit reserved, but how strange is that if you are 17 and everyone seems to want something from you? If you read some of his interviews, you will see that he is more socially savvy and generally more mature than lots of other kids of his age. And he certainly has more sense of humor than some of the people who react to this news item
While you are discussing curious stuff about autism, Magnus won another game and is now virtually the No. 2 in the World: http://chess.liverating.org/
The kid has excellent social skills - I don’t know what you guys are babbling about. How many adults (let alone 16 year olds) could have handled an interview on national TV as well as he did? http://youtube.com/watch?v=N003wIDsiCc
Whilst on the topic of autism, I suspect that Sergey Karjakin might possibly have mild autism. I don’t know him personally and haven’t seen him much in interviews/press conferences and the like, but I think there is evidence to suggest that this could be a possibility (but that’s all!).
Every time a human achieves something extraordinary there are people who run out of explanations fitting into their limited horizon and start to develop strange conspiracy theories.
People who believe that Magnus suffers from autism because of his little shyness, do also believe that Kurt Cobain was murdered because he was just too damn cool to commit suicide.
I agree he looks quite allright on that video, Ashish. Still, I also remember some truly ackward moments where the guy just seemed to be like a wax doll in a museum. Maybe he has multiple personalities?
(just kidding)