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Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.
The opening day is when you find the participants in the most relaxed frame of mind. Not affected by losses yet, nor tensed about winning the event, you are able to get the best out of them when it comes to interviews. That's the reason why I prepared a quiz for them! What was the topic of the quiz? Well, when Amruta and I visited the Tal Memorial in 2018, we decided to ask the players if they recollected the gems from the games of the great Mikhail Tal. Now that the players were in India and also Vishy Anand would be celebrating his 50th birthday, it looked obvious to ask them to recognize some of Anand's gems! I managed to get four players to solve these positions — Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Anish's second Erwin l'Ami.
Carlsen holding the sheets of paper in his hand and trying to think about the answers! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
So which were the positions that were given to them and how did these players fare? Well, we will put down these positions here. Try your hand at them and then have a look at how these super GMs performed!
Fritz 17 - The giant PC chess program, now with Fat Fritz
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Magnus and Vidit were the best performers scoring 8.0/9. But the ninth position was the one that no one could solve! Magnus was very impressive because he could remember not only the move (that he could even work out by looking at the position), but he also knew the name of the tournament and the year in which it was held! Now this is simply tremendous!
Endgames of the World Champions from Fischer to Carlsen
Let endgame expert Dr Karsten Müller show and explain the finesses of the world champions. Although they had different styles each and every one of them played the endgame exceptionally well, so take the opportunity to enjoy and learn from some of the best endgames in the history of chess.
The 'Magnusificent' memory of Carlsen
The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999.
For Anish there is no form of structured learning related to such games
The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2
The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.
He picked up a position some time ago from social media, one from a conversation and so on! Well, it just goes to show how many different ways of improving at chess exist!
Vidit was super quick for the first six positions and then found the going slightly tough!
The Shining Sveshnikov Sicilian
Always wanted to play like a World Champion? Search no further! With Magnus Carlsen using the Sveshnikov variation as his weapon of choice in the World Championship match against Fabiano Caruana, this DVD could not be better timed.
Erwin l'Ami does well on the Anand's test!
| Rk. | Name | Rtg. | Nt. | Pts. | n | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TB | Perf. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2776 |  | 1.0 | 1 | 0.00 | 3573 | ||||||||||||
2 | 2870 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2760 | ||||||||||||
3 | 2801 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2757 | ||||||||||||
4 | 2772 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2741 | ||||||||||||
5 | 2760 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2870 | ||||||||||||
6 | 2757 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2801 | ||||||||||||
7 | 2741 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2772 | ||||||||||||
8 | 2731 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2722 | ||||||||||||
9 | 2722 | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.25 | 2731 | ||||||||||||
10 | 2773 | | 0.0 | 1 | 0.00 | 1976 | ||||||||||||
| TBs: Sonneborn-Berger | ||||||||||||||||||
A photo for posterity — all ten players in front of the national library | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
