By QUAH SENG SUN
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SINCE the end of last month, I’ve been spending some time marvelling at the progress of a young man whom I consider to be one of the most exciting chess players to have emerged in recent years.
As an eight-year-old kid, he started learning chess and by his 11th birthday, had attained an international rating of 2,072. For a player that was brought up on chess in the West, that was nothing much but since that modest start, that young chap’s chess prowess had shot through the roof.
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At the age of 13 years four months and 27 days, he became the third youngest grandmaster in chess history. He touched the 2,600 rating level in the January 2006 Fide rating list, then topped the 2,700 rating mark in the July 2007 rating list.
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Today, according to the Live Rating list, he has breached the rarified 2,800 rating level, one of only two chess players to do so. Only 18 years old, and he’s currently the No.2 player in the world.
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I’m talking about Magnus Carlsen. The whole world is talking about Magnus Carlsen. A phenomenal chess player from Norway with a phenomenal memory and chess talent.
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At the second Pearl Spring chess tournament that ended in Nanjing, China, last week, Carlsen brushed aside a formidable field that consisted of Veselin Topalov (Bulgarian grandmaster and former Fide world champion, ranked first in the world), Peter Leko (Hungarian grandmaster, ranked sixth in the world), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan grandmaster, ranked seventh in the world), Dmitry Jakovenko (Russian grandmaster, ranked 12th in the world) and Wang Yue (Chinese grandmaster, ranked 15th in the world).
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In my opinion, Carlsen made mincemeat out of them. In the first half of the double round-robin tournament, he almost made a clean sweep of his rivals, beating all of them except dropping a draw in his game with Wang. Then, having achieved a commanding lead, he slowed down his pace in the second half and conceded three draws. Despite that, he finished the tournament with an impressive eight points from 10 games.
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According to his live ratings, his rating shot up by an astounding 28.8 rating points against these top players. In the process, he beat Topalov, Wang, Radjabov and Leko by similar 1½-½ results, and won both of his games against Jakovenko.
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By contrast, while he was demolishing his opposition, the other players were making heavy weather playing against one other (other than Carlsen). In the 20 games that were recorded amongst themselves, all except three games were drawn.
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As a result, there was a wide chasm that separated Carlsen from Topalov. True, the former Fide world champion finished second in the tournament but he obtained only 5½ points. Wang was the lowest rated player among the six of them but he finished a very creditable third with 4½ points. Radjabov, Leko and Jakovenko finished with four points each.
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Incidentally, it was revealed last month that Garry Kasparov is now officially Carlsen’s trainer. They have been having training sessions for about nine months now. As a coach, nobody comes any bigger than Kasparov himself. In Nanjing, according to Carlsen, the games were “homework by Garry Kasparov and me.”
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Here are three of Carlsen’s games in Nanjing that I found particularly enjoyable.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 Na6 7. Be3 e5 8. d5 c6 9. g4 Nc5 10. Nd2 a5 11. a3 Nfd7 12. Rg1 a4 13. Qc2 Nb6 14. O-O-O Bd7 15. Kb1 cxd5 16. cxd5 Rc8 17. Bb5 Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Qd7 19. Nc3 Bf6 20. g5 Bd8 21. h4 Na8 (See diagram) 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Qxa4 Qc8 24. Rc1 Nb6 25. Qd1 Qh3 26. Qf3 Qd7 27. Qd3 Kg7 28. Rc2 f6 29. gxf6+ Rxf6 30. h5 Rxf2 31. hxg6 h6 32. Nd1 Rxc2 33. Nxf2 Rc8 34. Ng4 Bg5 35. Nf3 Nc4 36. Nxg5 hxg5 37. Ne3 Nxe3 38. Qxe3 Qa4 39. Qxg5 Qxe4+ 40. Ka1 Re8 41. Rc1 1-0
Magnus Carlsen vs Teimour Radjabov, Round 5
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. 0-0 Nge7 5. c3 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Qe2 d5 9. e5 d4 10. Be4 Qb6 11. d3 Rd8 12. a4 Nd5 13. axb5 axb5 14. cxd4 cxd4 15. Nbd2 Nf4 16. Qd1 Nb4 17. Nb3 Bxe4 18. dxe4 Nfd3 19. Bg5 Rc8 20. Nfxd4 Nxb2 21. Qe2 Nc4 22. Rfc1 Bc5 23. Nxb5 0-0 24. Nxc5 (See diagram: the four knights make for a very unusual position) 24….Nxe5 25. Be7 1-0
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Magnus Carlsen vs Dmitry Jakovenko, Round 10
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. e3 Ne7 9. Bd3 b6 10. Nf3 Ba6 11. O-O Bxd3 12. Qxd3 Nd7 13. e4 O-O 14. e5 Qe6 15. Rae1 Rfe8 16. Nh4 Ng6 17. Nxg6 Qxg6 18. Qd2 Nf8 19. f4 Qf5 20. Nd1 f6 21. Ne3 Qd7 22. Qd3 fxe5 23. dxe5 Ne6 24. f5 Nc5 25. Qd4 Ne4 26. Nxd5 (See diagram) 26….Qxd5 27. Qxe4 Rad8 28. e6 Qxe4 29. Rxe4 Rd6 30. g4 Kf8 31. g5 Ke7 32. Kg2 Rd5 33. Kg3 Kd6 34. h4 c5 35. f6 gxf6 36. gxf6 Rd3+ 37. Kh2 Rd2+ 38. Kh1 1-0
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