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Magnus Carlsen was born in Tønsberg, Norway, the 30th November 1990. He learnt to play chess from his father at the age of 5. The game very soon became his big passion. Magnus first goal was to beat his sister, then his father and it obviously didn’t stop there. Magnus became an International Grandmaster at the age of 13, the youngest at the time.
To give you a sample of Magnus chess writing we bring you his blog entries during the Nanjing Pearl Springs tournament, where he wrote these entries usually the day after the game. The following contains only the parts relevant to his own game. At the end of each we have inserted a link to the ChessBase report of the corresponding round, so that you can reply the game if you want to follow Magnus' comments.
Nanjing 2010 Round 1 – 2010-10-20 20:04:00
One cannot help being impressed by the grandeur of the Nanjing Grand Slam tournament.
The opening ceremony took place in the main TV building in Nanjing and was broadcast
live (unless I’ve misunderstood). A highly spectacular show, great artists.
Against Etienne Bacrot, France (2716) I played the Scotch Opening as last year
in round 1 of Nanjing. Again I managed to surprise my opponent and Etienne spent
more than an hour on the clock before I was out of preparation. Moving his bishop
twice in a row to get via d7 to e6 tells you he had problems finding a good
plan. After the central breakthrough e5, with several subsequent exchanges my
position was clearly better. With open lines to his king he had to give his
queen and a pawn for rook and bishop and resigned as my f-pawn started to march.
Great start. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 Round 2 – 2010-10-21 18:14:31
Anand has played 1.e4 in all our recent encounters. Today we played the Ruy
Lopez Breyer as in Kristiansund and Bilbao earlier this autumn. I chose a variation
giving white a small advantage but Black is solid and ready to equalize if the
position opens up. Anand made various attempt without making significant progress.
After I got in d5 it is equal and Anand chose to liquidate most pieces to reach
a drawn opposite colored bishop ending. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 Round 3 – 2010-10-22 19:00:53
Wang Yue is the highest rated Chinese player, we have already met in many top
level events. Early 2009 he beat me twice, later I’ve won several times
including twice in Bazna in June. He is a solid player and as expected he went
for the Petroff against 1.e4. I chose a sideline with 3.d4 and he went for the
sharp variation with Ng4, Qh4, Bh2+ and sacrificed the knight on f2 for a pin
against my queen and rook. I was a bit surprised as this is considered to be
better for White, maybe he didn’t know the actual line in detail. He got
a rook and two pawns for the knight and bishop, but his pieces did not coordinate
well. After the exchange of queens I could take his c-pawn and still be able
to trap the annoying intruder on d1. A piece down facing the loss of both the
f and d-pawn he resigned. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing 2010 Round 4 – 2010-10-23 19:38:06
Vugar Gashimov is one of the three top-30 Azerbaijan grandmasters and
quite an aggressive player. We played the Ruy Lopez and he went for his pet
line with Bg5. A few moves later I quickly played Kg7 to protect h6 and immediately
regretted the choice. To avoid losing a pawn I had to allow some nasty-looking
tactics. Material-wise it was subsequently equal but due to several pawn weaknesses
and a passive bishop it was an uphill struggle throughout the game for me. Trying
to activate my rooks may not have been the right plan as I came pretty close
to a lost position; the jury is still out for all I know. The ensuing rook ending
is probably drawn and when my a-pawn survived I had more than enough counterplay
to secure half a point. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing 2010 Halfway – 2010-10-24 19:39:55
Despite his consistent high rating and world ranking, as White I have a very
good score in classical chess against Topalov. His performance in the Olympiad
was about as bad as mine and he hasn’t played at his usual level in Nanjing
either. On the other hand, he is often a slow starter winning many games in
the last 5-6 rounds of a tournament. I played 1.e4 once again and we entered
the Ruy Lopez. I chose a slow set-up to develop a long term initiative in the
centre and on the kingside. White is maybe not much better but has a more comfortable
position offering natural moves and strategic plans. I consistently chose quiet
moves gradually improving my position. His Qc8 allowed the knight to go via
h4 and g6 to trade of his dark square bishop after which f4 initiates a crushing
attack. In the final position I left my queen ‘en prise’ as his
best choice would be to take the pawn on e6 and play on a piece down. Alternatively
the e6-pawn together with my bishops would create complete havoc around his
king leaving me with a rook and 3 pieces against his queen. He duly resigned.
I’m quite satisfied with the quality of my play today, rounding the halfway
mark on a high note and looking forward to the free day tomorrow before facing
runner-up Bacrot, who won again, on Tuesday. [CB
report and games]
Pearl Spring 2010 Round 6 – 2010-10-26 19:13:04
The free day Monday came in handy. After the usual downtown dinner and late
table tennis session I felt in good shape, and as it turned out I really needed
stamina today. As black against in-form Bacrot something went seriously wrong
in the opening. In the Queen Indian variation with 5.Nbd2 I spent more than
half an hour on move 11. My original plan wouldn’t work and I couldn’t
find anything better than the actual game continuation promising me at least
four or five hours of endgame torture. It looked pretty difficult before the
time control due to his bishop pair (against my knights) and the weak pawn on
c5. Short of time he traded off the h-pawns. Later I managed to get in g5 to
get the worst behind me, and instead of pushing his b-pawn to continue his attempt,
he offered a draw after a repetition on move 48. The bad news is that I’ve
gone astray in the opening against both Gashimov and Bacrot with black. The
good news is that I’m ready to fight and managed to draw. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 Round 7 – 2010-10-27 19:34:16
Long interesting game today against reigning World Champion V. Anand. I got
a playable position from the Ruy Lopez opening and continued to make gradual
progress to get a winning position close to the second time control. He defended
stubbornly, and I missed my chance and let him off the hook early in the 7th
hour after which it ended in a draw after perpetual checks by Black. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 Round 8 out of 10 – 2010-10-28
18:37:41
Compared to last year the schedule has been tightened considerably. With seven
hour time-control and one free day versus 5 hours and two days last year, no
wonder the players start to look tired. Yesterday I was tired all day and the
long game didn’t improve the situation, but today I felt in really good
shape. At least a few of the other players were in a peaceful mood today. Wang
Yue played the Catalan and I went for the 4… Bxd2 variation that was quite
popular during the Olympiad. After having equalized from the opening I missed
a tactical finesse. He was slightly better but with his b3 followed by my response
Ne4 his advantage more or less disappeared. Trading off queens and two light
pieces he immediately forced a perpetual in the rook ending. With no decided
games today I’m still one point ahead of Anand and Bacrot. I’m facing
Topalov with the black pieces Friday. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 Victory! – 2010-10-29 19:28:13
I’ve won Nanjing 2010 with one round to go! Black against Topalov was
likely to be a significant hurdle and my opponent did play very well in the
opening and early middle game in the Catalan with 4… Bxd2. With time running
below 30 minutes and close to 20 moves left he swapped queens at the wrong moment
as he probably had missed Rb2! The position was still balanced but he continuously
had to watch out for tactical motifs and blundered badly with Rc3 which lost
to Nxf2+. My first victory with black in this tournament. Bearing in mind mediocre
results in the Olympiad and in Bilbao, I was highly motivated before the tournament
and I am of course tremendously happy with the result so far in Nanjing. [CB
report and games]
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 finished -Tal WC Blitz – 2010-11-01
23:09:40
Nanjing Pearl Spring 2010 finished, Tal WC Blitz next. I had white against Gashimov
and didn’t have much of an advantage from the opening. Allowing him to
capture on e4, the position opened up and his queenside pawns on dark squares
became vulnerable. He lost (or sacrificed) a pawn to gain counterplay on the
kingside. I missed an opportunity to enter a promising rook and knight ending
a pawn up, and instead he traded rooks to reach a drawn but somewhat tricky
ending. The queens and opposite-colored-bishop ending a pawn down proved manageable
for him, especially after I wasted a tempo with Qc7+ and a draw was reached
after 71 moves. Clear first with 7/10 and a 10 rating point gain made the tournament
highly successful for me, and the 24 hours travel back home went smoothly. In
many respects the Nanjing tournament was a top-level event of the absolute highest
class and I’d like to thank the organizer for the great event. In November
I look forward to the Tal Blitz World Championship 16th- 18th in Moscow as well
as possibly some pleasant activities with my main sponsors Arctic Securities
and Simonsen lawfirm. Finally I'm happy to present my brand new official website,
www.magnuscarlsen.com.
Hope you will check it out? [CB
report and games]