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Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen; born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, No. 1 ranked player in the world and reigning World Chess Champion in classical and rapid. His peak rating is 2882, the highest in history.

Carlsen was regarded as a chess prodigy as a youngster, and became a Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years, 148 days. This made him the third youngest grandmaster in history. On 1 January 2010, at the age of 19 years, 32 days, he became the youngest chess player to be ranked FIDE world No. 1.

Knockout (Matches) vs. Round Robin

Former challenger to the world chess crown, Boris Gelfand, when asked if anyone can beat Magnus Carlsen in the near future:

In matches, in general, anyone could. Carlsen is, of course, the clear favourite, but many would have a chance. As for tournaments – he wins the majority of them. Nevertheless, there are still contenders for his crown. I’m cautious in my predictions.

Perhaps, a majority of top grandmasters would agree that holding a tournament in a knockout (matches) format would yield a totally different result than when usually held in round-robin (or Swiss-system) format. That’s because different players perform differently between the two formats. Sometimes, a certain player acts as an Achilles heel against a particular opponent, but performs poorly when slated with the rest of the participants.

Thus, I think it would be interesting to follow tournaments that incorporate both formats. Maybe a round robin in the early stages that ultimately culminates in four-way knockout matches? Don’t you think?

FIDE Ratings List July 2016

The FIDE Ratings List updated for July 2016 is here. Check out the top 20 in the table below.

FIDE Ratings Top 20--July 2016

RankNameCountryRatingGames
1Carlsen, MagnusNOR28550
2Kramnik, VladimirRUS28120
3Caruana, FabianoUSA28109
4Vachier-Lagrave, MaximeFRA279810
5Aronian, LevonARM27920
6Nakamura, HikaruUSA27870
7Giri, AnishNED27859
8Ding, LirenCHN27783
9Karjakin, SergeyRUS27739
10Anand, ViswanathanIND27700
11So, WesleyUSA27700
12Mamedyarov, ShakhriyarAZE276412
13Topalov, VeselinBUL27610
14Svidler, PeterRUS27590
15Li, Chao bCHN27580
16Harikrishna, P.IND27559
17Rapport, RichardHUN275213
18Grischuk, AlexanderRUS27470
19Navara, DavidCZE274519
20Eljanov, PavelUKR27379

When a good move is enough

Grandmaster Radosław Wojtaszek in an interview about Carlsen’s playing style:

I noticed that Magnus Carlsen’s playing philosophy is to make moves that are good enough rather than the best. Making the best move again and again absorbs a lot of time and energy. The genius is economical: he plays 30 good moves and two excellent ones. It works. I think that principle applies not only to chess.

The next time I hit the chess board, I’ll keep this in mind. O wait, but which one is the good move?

The Bilbao Masters Final 2016

For this year’s Bilbao Masters, Wesley So is the defending champion, when he defeated Anish Giri in blitz playoff last year.

The Bilbao Chess press release:

The Final completes its competitive line-up, the strongest in recent years, with So, the winner of last year’s tournament, Nakamura and Giri, who are among the top ten of the international ranking and the 16-year-old Chinese player Yi Wei, the sport’s emerging world star.

The tournament, which has been recognised as one of the most prestigious in the world, will take place between 13 and 23 July at the Campos Elíseos Theatre, alongside the Villa de Bilbao, one of the most compelling Chess Opens of the year in which 140 players will compete.

This year’s edition of Bilbao Masters has truly gone more exciting, because on top of the familiar rivalry between Wesley So and Anish Giri, the organizers are bringing us a treat with the preview of this year’s World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin.

Who will win the 2016 World Chess Championship?

The World Championship is fast approaching. It’s time to put it to a vote. Who’s your favorite to win the 2016 World Chess Championship?

Cast your vote below now:

Grand Chess Tour 2016 Standings — after Paris and Leuven

Carlsen Wins Grand Chess Tour Leuven

After winning the rapid rounds with an impressive 4/4 performance on Day 2 of the tournament, World Champion Magnus Carlsen even cemented his dominance with an 11/18 performance in the blitz rounds.

leuven-blitz-2016-final-crosstable

Thus, making him the runaway winner of the combined rapid and blitz games that comprise the whole of the Grand Chess Tour 2016 — Your Next Move — Leuven, Belgium. Final combined results follow:

combined-results-leuven-2016-final

Wesley So makes it to the 2nd place at the conclusion of this Leuven leg. He is followed, this time closely behind, by Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand, by half a point each.

Wesley So in great shape so far in Grand Chess Tour 2016

Wesley So finished the first half of the blitz rounds of Your Next Move — Grand Chess Tour 2016 at second place with 5 points out of 9, although, tied with Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, and Hikaru Nakamura. Levon Aronian is slightly ahead at 5.5 points.

Crosstable after nine rounds of blitz games:

gct-your-next-move-2016-blitz-cross

With three-quarters through the tournament, Carlsen is still ahead in the combined score (rapid scores are multiplied by two):

Leuven Rapid Day 2: An Impressive 4/4 Performance by Carlsen

The rapid rounds are over for the Grand Chess Tour 2016: Your Next Move in Leuven, Belgium. A great performance was posted by the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, as he won all of his 4 games against three of the former world champions: Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, and Vladimir Kramnik, plus Anish Giri. In the process, he clinched the top spot with 18 rounds of blitz games to go in the tournament.

Chessbase:

If day one of the rapid games in Leuven was full of surprises, day two was no less so, though thankfully not due to record numbers of blunders. Vishy Anand started the day with a win, but after two losses lost the lead as he was caught up by Wesley So. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen showed he was back and managed to win the rapid phase after a fabulous 4/4.

The final crosstable of the rapid games follows:

Blunderfest in Leuven

Chess.com describes the first day of the rapid games in Your Next Move, Grand Chess Tour 2016, in Leuven, Belgium, as bluderfest:

Viswanathan Anand leads the Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour after five rounds of rapid chess. The first day of rapid saw a number of huge blunders that made the playing hall seem haunted.

That’s actually what makes the tournament more exciting and attract more spectators in the process. I guess that’s the purpose of rapid games, to bring out the human-nature in the world’s top grandmasters.

Remember, you can catch the rest of the rapid games in GCT Leuven 2016 LIVE here.

Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour.