How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmaster in the World by Simen Agdestein

Author:Simen Agdestein [Agdestein, Simen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789056914424
Publisher: New in Chess
Published: 2013-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

18.Bh6! Magnus has won some brilliant games – this is one of them. 18…Bxh6 19.Qxe5 Rf6 20.Rg1+ Rg6 21.Qh5 Kg7 22.Rxg6+ hxg6 23.Rg1 Qe8 24.Ne4 c6 25.Qe5+ Kg8 26.Ng5 White wants more than a draw by repetition with 26.Qh5. 26…Bxg5 It is not easy to defend the black position but after this he is definitely lost. 27.Qxg5 Kg7

28.Rg4! White has enough material left to mate. 28…Bxe6 29.Qe5+ Kg8 30.Rh4 Mate is inevitable. 30…Bxd5 31.Rh8+ Kf7 32.Rh7+ Kf8 33.Qg7 Mate. Magnus used just an hour on the game, Rylander two.

Going into the last round Magnus needed only a draw to reach the IM-norm of 6 out of 9 and take his second such result. His opponent was a smiling women’s IM from the Czech Republic, Gabriela Hitzgerova (2195), who noted that the previous time they met, two years earlier, Magnus was rated 200 points below her – now he was 200 points above.

Magnus wanted to play for a win but when the draw offer came after just nine moves and five minutes, he chose, much to the relief of nervous fans watching, to accept. The second IM-norm was in the box.

Even if I had trained with Magnus for several years I had not seen him in action very often. Magnus usually travelled to tournaments with his father and I was seldom along. But in the Barents championship in Alta, which started four days after his success in Stockholm, we even stayed in the same cabin.

Along with the former deputy secretary general for the Norwegian Chess Federation, Torstein Bae, we were invited up by the skilled organisers and all ‘guests of honour’ were housed in the same cottage. A bit humbler lodgings than grandmasters were used to perhaps, but very pleasant. And the location was lovely, on the banks of the Alta, the famous salmon river that was the centre of controversy in the end of the 1970s because part of it was laid in pipes and used to create hydroelectric power.

We began our stay with a fine trip up the river, in gorgeous weather and under the midnight sun. It did end quite late and was hardly the best preparation for Magnus. In the two first rounds, played the day after the boat trip, he seemed tired and uninspired and narrowly escaped with two draws against presumably weaker opponents. After a good night’s sleep a new Magnus awoke, and in the last four rounds he played well and won all of his games.

Against Alf Roger Andersen (2165) from Alta Magnus displayed his positional understanding.

Magnus Carlsen

Alf Roger Andersen

Alta 2003

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 d6 5.Be3 b5 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.Qd2 Nb6 8.b3 Bg4 9.Ng1 You have to be good to make moves like this. 9…d5 10.e5 h5 11.h3 Bc8 12.f4 Nh6 There are many who like this kind of structure on the kingside, but to me this just looks like White has an overwhelming space advantage. The queenside pawn structure doesn’t help Black’s cause. 13.Nf3 a5 14.0-0 Nf5 15.Bf2 e6 16.a4 b4 17.

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