Wesley So beats Magnus Carlsen in Grand Chess Tour Paris 2016 — Rapid Round 1

The Grand Chess Tour 2016 has started, and first stop was Paris, France. The Paris leg is composed of 10-player Round Robin Rapid and 10-player Double Round Robin Blitz games. Check out results and standings of the tournament.

What made this tournament really exciting is that right at the start of the tournament, in round 1 of the rapid games, GM Wesley So defeated the World Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Chessbase reports:

World Champion Magnus Carlsen is top favorite in Paris but the tournament did not start well for him. In the first round Carlsen played with White against Wesley So and with bold and creative play the World Champion reached a completely winning position in which he had two queens against queen and knight. But then he could not make up his mind which winning move he should play and lost on time – a bitter loss particularly so because the rapid games are played with a time-limit of 25 minutes for the whole game and a 10-second increment per move.

Apparently, Carlsen was winning the Rapid Round 1 game but lost on time.

Check out the game below. Also, you may also replay all round 1 games.

Levon Aronian on Chess Training

Levon Aronian:

As a rule, a strong chess player never trains with a strong chess player. You discover new steps and develop new strategies during the game, and it’s not desirable that another strong chess player knows about them. That’s why there are special assistants, who, although being good players, are not the strongest.

A great insight into the work put by a grandmaster into his chess. Read more about how he dealt with his defeat in the recent Candidates’ tournament and other issues in this Aronian interview.

Photo courtesy of Champord.

Carlsen wins Norway Chess 2016

Chessbase:

After seven rounds Magnus Carlsen looked almost certain to win the Altibox Norway Chess tournament. But then he lost against Levon Aronian in round eight, endangering his tournament win. But things went his way in round nine. Aronian drew against Pentala Harikrishna while Carlsen defeated Pavel Eljanov to win Norway Chess for the first time.

A true champion knows how to pick himself up after a fall–even from the penultimate round.

Carlsen ahead by a full point with 2 rounds to go at Norway Chess 2016

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Chessbase reports on Norway Chess: Carlsen and Aronian win:

In round seven Magnus Carlsen played against Vladimir Kramnik, one of his predecessors as World Champion. Carlsen seemed well prepared and won a fine strategic game in which he exploited Black’s weak square f5 in textbook fashion. Levon Aronian used his space advantage to harass Black’s king and to win with a mating attack. The three other games were drawn.

With the way Carlsen is playing outstanding chess in recent months, I wonder if he gets to break the 2900 ELO rating barrier anytime soon?

Check out Carlsen’s win against Kramnik in Round 7 of Altibox Norway Chess 2016.