CHENNAI: Three world titles in four years show without a doubt Magnus Carlsen’s dominance in the world of chess. The Norwegian was pushed to the limit by Sergey Karjakin, but the World No 1 came into his own in the quicker games to retain his crown.
For the first time, Carlsen looked vulnerable and beatable, even though he managed to win in the end. Karjakin gave a good account of himself and could have become world champion if he had capitalised on chances. The Russian deserves accolades for making the match interesting and sharing the honours in the classical part of the match.
Carlsen was clearly the superior player in the rapid games. “I’m very happy that at the end of the match I managed to find joy in playing. Today, I have to say that it was fun to play. I was in a kind of a dark place at some point in this match, but I feel it’s better now. I’m looking with confidence at the future,” said Carlsen.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand had tweeted: “Congrats to Carlsen. Sometimes hanging in long enough is more important than playing best moves.”
It has been another year of Carlsen’s dominance. Starting with his title triumph in Wijk aan Zee, he added two more titles to his kitty in Norway Chess and Bilbao. Carlsen also won the Grand Chess Tour’s rapid event in Leuven (Belgium). The world’s best player had the satisfaction of leading Norway to their best-ever fifth-place finish in the Chess Olympiad.
Carlsen sets out to win every tournament a la Garry Kasparov. He is successful most of the times. The Mozart of chess not winning a tournament is an aberration! What makes him the most lethal player? Carlsen bucked the trend of over-reliance on an opening advantage.
He was happy to get into a playable position after the opening and was confident of outwitting even the best players in the middle-game and endgame. Added to that, he keeps putting pressure even from innocuous positions, which has resulted in him turning drawn games into winning ones!
Factbox
Age: 26 | Country: Norway
Ranking: World No 1
Rating: 2,840
High points
2016: Third world title and fifth Wijk aan Zee win
2015: Second world rapid title
2014: Second world title
2013: First world title