Friday, March 29, 2024

Carlsen before the coronation – fit with football and basketball


chess

The world chess champion is about to defend his title. The Norwegian clearly has his overwhelmed challenger under control. Only at the beginning of the duel did Jan Nepomnyashchi play at eye level.

Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen is about to defend his title.

Photo: Jon Gambrell / AP / dpa

Anyone who thinks Magnus Carlsen is a cool, disciplined rationalist is wrong.

The Norwegian, who turned 31 during the World Cup duel in Dubai, is so good at chess because he manages to enjoy the royal game as well as training and preparation. The world champion keeps memorizing moves much shorter than his rivals. In positions that others are bored of, he often finds details that put him on the winning road.

Carlsen just before defending his title

After three victories against his Russian challenger Jan Nepomnjaschtschi in Dubai, too, Carlsen is about to defend his title. He succeeded more often than his opponent in bringing prepared moves onto the board. With a clear advantage from the opening, he only came in the second game and missed his chance by overlooking it. At least as important as his preparation for the opening was his mental strength. Before the match, Carlsen had said of his opponent: “It will be his biggest challenge, how he copes with setbacks.”

At first, Nepomnyashchi played on an equal footing. After the draw in the fifth game, he expressed displeasure for the first time because he had not made more of an advantageous position. In the sixth game he made the defense difficult by making some incomprehensible decisions. Although there was a draw shortly before the end, the Russian had to admit defeat after almost eight hours of play and 136 moves. It was the longest game in terms of moves in the history of the World Chess Championship, which dates back to 1886.

After this grueling game, the challenger failed to put pressure on White the following day. In the eighth and ninth game, he made serious mistakes that are otherwise not to be seen at the highest level. Nepomnyashchi admitted and apologized that his game was not worthy of a grandmaster.

Concentration thanks to physical fitness

Carlsen, on the other hand, stayed focused, thanks in part to his physical fitness. He prefers to play football and basketball, which was also on the program for him on the days when there were no games in Dubai. To clear his head after games, he likes to watch Premier League, La Liga or NBA games.

His upcoming title defense is also good news for the Play Magnus group of companies, which has expanded rapidly since the beginning of the pandemic and went public on the Oslo Stock Exchange. His share package is currently worth the equivalent of eight million euros.

For Carlsen it would be the fifth victory in a world championship fight – and his best-paid one: He received 1.2 million euros in prize money as a champion, for Nepomnyashchi it would be 800,000 euros. The next title fight is planned for spring 2023. Carlsen’s upcoming challenger is set to be determined in late summer or fall 2022.

Six participants in the next World Cup candidates tournament, including Nepomnjaschtschi and Alireza Fioruzja, who is second in the world rankings at the age of 18, have already been determined. Two World Cup candidates will still be determined at the Grand Grix from February 3 to April 4, 2022. Two of the three Grand Prix tournaments will take place in Berlin on February 3rd to 17th and March 21st to April 4th.

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