Magnus Carlsen once again proved he is a phenomenon that is rarely seen in chess. The world No. 1 underlined that claim by winning a record-extending ninth World Blitz title on Tuesday, prevailing in testing conditions.
The 35-year-old Norwegian told reporters that the 2016 World Chess Championship victory over Russian Sergey Karjakin was his toughest title win.
“My toughest title win is the 2016 Classical World Chess Championship win. If you are talking purely blitz titles, it’s probably this one and the 2017 when I had to really dig out of really, really deep hole after the first day. Feels good and I don’t think I looked likely to win this event.
“But as long as I am not mathematically eliminated, you know, ruling me out is probably not a good idea.”
Despite winning the Rapid world title a few days back, Carlsen didn’t have it easy in the qualifying round of the blitz championship, losing multiple games, including one to India’s Arjun Erigaisi. It was touch and go as Carlsen secured a place in the semi-finals by playing out a draw with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He also forfeited a match in the 19th round to Armenian GM Haik Martirosyan.
In the semi-finals, Carlsen defeated American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana 3-1. In the final, Carlsen refused the offer of a draw from Uzbek Abdusattorov, and came back with a unique pawn move to clinch the title 2.5-1.5. This was Carlsen’s 20th world title victory.
Carlsen admitted that he was pushed to the brink due to his poor temperament and play, but enjoyed the return to his best. “This was definitely one of my tougher ones,” Carlsen said.
“I wasn’t doing a lot of the right things in the first 14 rounds. My pace was too slow and I generally could not keep my cool in time trouble, which is a pretty bad combination when you are playing slowly.
“I had a few wins under my belt and I was starting to feel a bit better. Once we got to knockouts, I thought I should really try and enjoy this because I didn’t necessarily expect to be there.
“It was very tough. As everybody saw, it could have gone differently, but nevertheless, I felt that I was playing with house money at that time. Incredibly tough, but the blitz championship is really important to me since it’s one of my favourite formats to play.
“I may not always look like that, but I really enjoy the challenge and since it’s many rounds and now knockouts as well, it just makes it very very challenging. Very satisfying win. Very very tough event, but super happy that I managed to, at some point, defy the odds and come back.”
Asked if he had lost a bit of his mojo, Carlsen was quick to point out that he remains the best chess player in the world. “I don’t think I am getting worse compared to my opponents,” Carlsen said. “I think the rapid is a different kind of event because I don’t expect to win it in the same way, but I did feel here that the blitz was mine to lose.
“That, since it’s a lot of rounds, 19, and four qualifiers, I felt I would really need to play subpar to not make it, which almost happened. But so the pressure I put on myself with that sometimes can make it difficult, but apart from that I don’t think I have gotten remarkably worse at speed chess for sure.”
