Carlsen's 70-board simul in Hamburg

It was shortly after the end of the Second World War that the first edition of Die Zeit was published in Hamburg – to be precise on 21 February 1946 – above the masthead of the very first issue. Since then the paper has been published weekly, on Thursdays, for seventy years. It is considered to be highbrow, with a centrist to liberal orientation, publishing dossiers, essays, third-party articles and excerpts of lectures of different authors – long and detailed articles published in a large physical paper format. It has a circulation of around half a million copies, with an estimated readership of slightly above two million.

Arriving at the venue (in the Harbour area of Hamburg) an hour early we were
surprised to see a long queue of people waiting for entry to watch the simul

Inside most of the opponents of the World Champion were ready and receiving instructions from the organiser

When the event was announced Die Zeit had asked chess players to apply for a place in the simul, with no upper limit for playing strength specified. Very soon 1400 applications were received – most opponents were chosen by lot. Four places were reserved for special guests, and two for young talents: Jana Schneider (see her game below) and Jeremy Hommer.

For the players – like nine-year-old Jeremy Hommer – there was sustenance for the long battle ahead

Here we have some pre-game consultation – between the former German Finance Minister
and candidate for Chancellory, Peer Steinbrück, and another young Carlsen opponent

At last the general public was let in and quickly filled the entire hall, after which...

... the World Champion arrives and is introduced by senior ZEIT reporter Ulrich Stock

Ulrich is a chess (and music) aficionado whom we tend to meet in places like Chennai and Sochi rather than in the newspaper offices in Hamburg, located just a few miles from the ChessBase office. In his introduction to the simultaneous exhibition he asked Carlsen if it would be okay to interrupt the simul at some stage to get his opinion on how things were going. Magnus reply: "Sure, but please make it brief – we don't want to break the concentration of my opponents, who are hard at work." Trademark Carlsen humour.

And then the simul was under way, one against seventy, quite a daunting task, you'll agree

Magnus at work – in the background you can spot another prominent opponent...

Yes, famous football star and coach Felix Magath, also a great chess fan

A bird's eyeview of the games in progress

The score at half-time, displayed on a "Play Magnus" screen

Kate Murphy is CEO of Play Magnus, Arne Horwei organises events like these

We have two games annotated by young players, the first by Jana Schneider:

The second is by Annmarie Mütsch, who is just thirteen years old

The Carlsen simul lasted six hours, and the final result was (hold on to your hat): 68-2, sixty-seven wins for the World Champion, two draws and one loss. One of the draws is especially interesting, but we will save it for a later article. Here is the only loss Magnus suffered.

Jens-Erik Rudolph vs Magnus Carlsen [Pictures of Rudolpj by Julia Keltsch for DIE ZEIT]

Winner Rudolph is a City League player and publisher of classical chess books

The game notation with the signature of the World Champion

What every opponent got: a Play Magnus chess set, signed by Magnus Carlsen

Football with Magnus

Here's a question for you: what is the best way to prepare for a marathon 70-player simultaneous exhibition? Football after breakfast! Magnus called André Schulz at ChessBase and asked him if he could join in a football session on the morning before the simul.

Magnus in action in a football game including a number of chess players

He's pretty good at this game, and certainly always has his heart in it

Keeper on Team Magnus was his second, Peter Heine Nielsen,
who happened to be in Hamburg to record a new DVD

The chess-football group with two guests

Pictures by Frederic Friedel, André Schulz, Julia Keltsch for DIE ZEIT