The unstoppable genius of Magnus Carlsen

young new delhi: “It’s ne'er soft.”

By a quirk of fate, the number one and last sentence of Magnus Carlsen’s press conference after becoming the World Rapid Champion looked to drive home the same point.

He started off by letting the world know that it’s never easy to come into such a tournament and win it. And he ended by sending a touching message to the 14-year-old Yagis Khan Erdogmus, who broke down during the final moments of his loss against the world No.1 on Sunday.

And we get it. It is never easy, yet Carlsen has amassed 19 world titles (5 classical, 6 Rapid and 8 Blitz). The greater mystery though isn’t how the Norwegian does it. Rather, why haven’t the rest of the best managed to get a handle on him after so many years.

The old days, way before Carlsen, were the age of novelties. New openings were a regular occurrence, positional play was still evolving and the non-availability of chess literature meant that preparation could be a hit-and-miss affair. So experimentation was fair game and even won many admirers.

But several of these openings – i.e. The King’s Gambit that was immensely popular in the 19th century, French Defence, Queen’s Indian Defence, Colle system – have been largely abandoned at the top level. As chess theory has evolved with the help of computers, strategic flaws or the possibility of strong counterplay has made players look at other methods.

Times have changed though. Chess has changed. A quick look at the internet will tell you a lot about how Carlsen plays. His favourite opening with white pieces is the Sicilian, Ruy Lopez, Queen’s Pawn, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Nimzo Indian and the English. With black pieces, he tends to go with Sicilian, Ruy Lopez, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ruy Lopez (closed) and the Giuoco Piano.

The chess world also knows that Carlsen loves nothing more than taking the opponent out of preparation by simplifying the situation and then letting his positional genius take over. He, for instance, is virtually unstoppable in a rook and pawn endgame.

With chess engines, AI and the world’s finest players looking for a chink in Carlsen’s armour, it is amazing no one has found it yet.

“When I am on my game,” Carlsen said on Sunday. “I am usually pretty good at every format you can put in front of me.”

It’s not like Carlsen knows something the others don’t. It is the same opening, the same middle game, the same endgame. They all prepare the same way, they all know the main lines and the endgame sequences. So, why is one man ruling over the rest?

The 35-year-old shed light on this facet in his own unique way.

“It’s never easy,” said Carlsen, who had a tournament performance rating of 2873 Elo. “Whenever a tournament starts, it doesn’t really matter what you’ve done before, and I think, specifically, the World Rapid Championship is a very difficult tournament to win. It is a relatively short distance (13 rounds) and it is a very big field with a lot of strong players.”

He added: “The serious advantage I have is that I am playing for first place when I am playing here. There are a lot of other players here, on the top boards, who want to get a good prize... Maybe a medal and maybe win. Getting one of the top prizes is the most important thing (for them) but for me, it is different. That is certainly a huge psychological advantage and one of the reasons why I am able to pull away at the end when others are trying to consolidate.”

It’s difficult to say whether this was Carlsen, from a position of strength, just driving home a point ahead of the World Blitz to bait the top guys into pushing themselves even more, or whether this is how he truly feels.

At a level, this is also Carlsen saying that he is only about the win. That is pressure but it also seems to get the best out of him. When you have conquered all the peaks, you still have your internal battle to fight, and that is still driving the Norwegian forward.

The road to the title wasn’t a smooth ride though. The loss to Vladislav Artemiev on Day 2 was a stutter that could have thrown him off.

“One of the difficulties in the World Rapid and Blitz is that you play a lot of games in a few days,” said Carlsen. “Here, if you have had a bad day and cannot stop the trend, you are probably going to ruin your tournament. That is something I am quite proud of... That I managed to reset and play... How I managed to do that? That is a little bit harder to answer because honestly, when things start to go South even with all the experience I have, I also find it hard to change that.”

Many players around the world will take whatever hint of hope that Carlsen offers. Indeed, if Carlsen is his own motivation, then taking him down must be pretty high on the bucket list of the other players.

For now, though, we have another tournament that’s told us that Carlsen isn’t perfect but he is inevitable.

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