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...World No1 Magnus Carlsen, in conjunction with the promoter Jan Buettner, has announced a new multimillion Freestyle Chess Tour, following last month’s inaugural event in Northern Germany....
...Carlsen survived, and went on to defeat Fabiano Caruana in the final. The pairing, a repeat of their 2018 title match, had a dramatic start as Carlsen opened 1 g2-g4!...
...There the format will be the best of two games at classical time rates, with a rapid decider if the score is 1-1. Carlsen describes the event as “a dream come true”....
...Tacitly pre-agreed short draws are a problem in top chess, so the ruling could create a significant precedent. The Carlsen v Kasparov debate will continue....
...Puzzle 2524 Vladimir Fedoseev v Magnus Carlsen, world rapid, Riyadh 2017. White played 1 Ke2? a3 after which the knight could not stop the pawn....
...Against Carlsen, his accuracy rate was in the mid-nineties against the No 1’s in the mid-eighties, a similar statistic to Carlsen v Niemann....
...Carlsen had prepared specially for the event with a training camp in Spain along with England’s David Howell, so was disappointed with his early results, but he did win a 19-move brilliancy of his own....
...Carlsen had been the one pressing, and when you have been on the back foot the whole time, you have a “I can still hold this” mindset rather than a “can I win?”...
...Beating Carlsen, however, would be like a League Two team knocking out Manchester City....
...Carlsen immediately withdrew from the tournament and issued a statement implying that the then teenager had cheated....
...Carlsen made his own contribution to the debate last year during a long interview with the podcaster Lex Fridman, when he said: “I think I can make a case for myself, for Garry, and for Fischer....
...Carlsen’s feats have occurred during what is economically a golden age for the world’s top players....
...Carlsen’s view is positive: “Everything around it is professionalised in a way that has not been seen before”....
...For Carlsen, the GCL comes at a time when he has just recorded his worst result for several years....
...Carlsen has implied that he could return to competing for the classical version if the format was speeded up, for example with two games a day and no rest days....
...The US 20-year-old made headlines last year when the world No1 Magnus Carlsen refused to play him. He later launched a $100mn lawsuit against Carlsen and others....
...Puzzle 2540 Ian Nepomniachtchi v Magnus Carlsen. AI Cup 2023. Black to move. The world No1 chose Nf5-e3 here. Can you do better? Click here for solution...
...The plan worked perfectly in the decisive third game of the first set, where So let slip a draw in an even rook and pawn ending, and in the final game of the second set, where Carlsen’s incisive finish concluded...
...The 20-year-old became a household name last year, when world No1 Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup following a loss to the American....
...Nepomniachtchi, 33, won the last two Candidates but lost the subsequent world championship matches of 2021 to Magnus Carlsen and 2023 to Ding Liren....
...Magnus Carlsen, now the ex-world champion though still the No1 ranked player, returned to chess this week after a brief period at the poker table....
...Carlsen’s decision not to defend his title for a fifth time got me thinking....
...The RAC’s excellently produced brochure shows that chess is experiencing a popularity wave at universities due to Magnus Carlsen, Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, and the easy accessibility of online speed...
...Its final dramatic game was settled only after Nakamura missed mate in two, Carlsen’s reply forced a win, and an agreed draw settled the match....
...Ding’s next classical tournament, at Stavanger in May, where his five opponents will be led by the world top pair of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, will test his credibility as world champion still...
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