MAGNUS CARLSEN (Board 1, open section)
Of all the Norwegian players, Carlsen is the one who probably does not need a presentation. He has been known as a chess star for many years already and it is hard to find a superlative which has not already been used about him.
I have been so lucky to have known Magnus from the very beginning of his career. Ten years ago, when Magnus was nine years old, I was working at NTG, Simen Agdestein’s chess school. I was asked to teach this little kid called Magnus together with his friend Brede. The first lesson went well. Magnus was a very bright and happy kid. He was really interested in chess and you could easily see that he was a big talent.
I remember we were playing after one of the lessons and I was playing without my queen. I managed to win, but for every week that passed it got harder and harder to beat him. A few months later he drew against the U20 champion in Norway in a rated game. From that moment on he improved with a speed that may not ever have been seen before.
Today Magnus is probably the best thing that has ever happened to Norwegian chess. He not only makes it more interesting to follow the top tournaments, but chess in general has become more popular in Norway. Almost everyone knows the name of Magnus Carlsen and everyone thinks that he is amazing.
There are many talents in Norway these days, and there will be many more Norwegian grandmasters in the near future. Magnus inspires talents everywhere. There are also more and better tournaments in Norway, and Magnus is of course also very important for the 2014 Olympiad in Tromsø.
Let’s turn to the Dresden Olympiad. Magnus of course played board one in the Olympiad. He played every round, something which I do not think many players in the Olympiad did. A tough task for a boy who had just turned 18. With 7,5 out of 11, after having faced players like Adams, Mamedyarov, Wang, Navara and Nyback, Magnus made a 2757 performance. Of course that is an amazing result, but Magnus actually dropped a few ELO-points. It can definitely be very hard to live up to the expectations.
Here is more from the Tromsø website.
A true genius.
why does this guy look like a chimpanzee.. should i throw him a banana..is he going to swing from vines if i give him a treat..