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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 09 May 2024

Crown & record for Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen regained the world No.1 spot in rapid and is the world No.2 in blitz

Angshuman Roy Calcutta Published 26.11.19, 09:26 PM
Magnus Carlsen speaks to Woman Grandmaster Tania Sachdev on Tuesday as other Grandmasters look on.

Magnus Carlsen speaks to Woman Grandmaster Tania Sachdev on Tuesday as other Grandmasters look on. (Santosh Ghosh)

He came he saw and, well, he conquered. That in a nutshell has been the story of Magnus Carlsen’s stay in the city over the last five days.

At the iconic National Library on Tuesday evening, the world chess champion added another glittering trophy to his already loaded cabinet. The Norwegian won the Tata Steel Chess India — rapid & blitz which is also a part of the Grand Chess Tour, in front of more than 550 spectators.

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Carlsen’s impressive 27 points out of a possible 36 is also a Grand Chess Tour record for the highest number of points scored at a single tour event. And whom did he better? Magnus Carlsen himself. In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, he had logged a score of 26.5 points out of 36.

On Tuesday, Carlsen played the early part of the nine rounds of blitz despite being bitten by the stomach bug. His discomfort was such that in Round 10, the day’s first game, Carlsen settled for a draw with India Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi after just five moves.

“I offered a short draw since I desperately needed to go to the washroom. That was the case with most of the draws because I was very unwell and could not keep my eyes on the chess board… Only in the latter part did I start feeling better. Keeping that in mind, I am pretty happy with my day’s performance,” Carlsen said at the media conference.

“He complained of uneasiness just before the day’s action started. It was a stomach bug but he recovered well,” father Henrik Carlsen told The Telegraph.

The champion though did not want to accord too much importance to the record. “It tells me something about the level of performance I produced here and I am happy with that. To me, the record is just a bonus... It’s not something that I specifically aim for,” he said.

Carlsen also regained the world No.1 spot in rapid and is the world No.2 in blitz.

Would he chase the No.1 spot in blitz too? “The short answer is yes… I knew before Tuesday’s action that I needed to score more points than (Hikaru) Nakamura to regain the world No.1 slot in blitz. Now I am second and that’s better than being fifth,” Carlsen said.

Unwell he might have been, but that didn’t have any impact on his swag. “In the long run, it’s the No.1 ranking that counts and I think that’s the slot I belong to,” the champ said.

Carlsen had some words of advice for the young Indian Grandmasters as well as the budding players.

“For the parents I would advise not to push your ward too much. Let them grow at their own pace. The future is looking very bright for Indian chess. There are so many young players popping up everywhere and they really seem to love the game. I think that’s the most crucial part,” he said.

And how much is Carlsen taking home to Oslo? A cool $37,500 and a glittering trophy. “And also lots of love from this beautiful city’s affectionate chess fans,” he added.

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