Magnus Carlsen stood for a strong demonstration of power when he secured victory at Legends of Chess by crushing Jan Nepomniachtchi. He won all 13 of his duels.
When asked by Chess24 on how he plans on celebrating, Carlsen answered that he will prepare for the semifinals against Ding Liren of the final tournament of his chess tour.
-”I’m addicted basically. I love chess.”, he said.
The Norwegian world champion lost a few games during the 15 games of Legends of Chess, but each time he claimed victory over his opponents each time. First, he won all nine duels during the initial games, followed by both Peter Svidler at the semi finals and Nepomniachtchi at the finals with two straight games.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
“I am addicted to chess.” … as were most Vikings. 🙂
It is the game of kings … and war.
In the great 1969 movie Alfred the Great, King Alfred and King Guthrum the Dane are playing the boardgame of that time, Fox and Geese, while deciding the fate of their peoples.
I grew up on Brittany Lane in Rock Island Illinois, and one month all the older kids wanted to learn and play chess. By the time I figured out the moves, they had moved on to something else. Very frustrating.
My 13 years younger little brother won the $20.00 chess prize I offered him by stalemating me when he was *8*. (He very seldom plays now, and he takes forever to move, making me impatient and then make ill-thought moves of my own … and he wins.)
Back in Juneau Alaska, I was a walk-on and played and beat rated tournament players and won a tournament now 45 years ago. (I see things others don’t, make strange new moves which puzzle me too, and usually win the first game against others.)
And back in Alaska, my older son won his $40.00 prize for beating me when *he* was 8. As a high schooler he also won Alaska’s junior championship one year and then when he moved down with me tied for 2nd place in the USCF-supervised Illinois statewide high school age individual players tournament. (He’s now living his dream of being an aerospace engineer.)
Chess was reputedly created by nobles in India to school military cadets – hence elephants for castles in some sets – and I myself prefer designing and playing military and naval history chess/board games – wargames – free for anyone to print off and play on my webpage.
And the better-than-Battleship game I designed for my then-7-year old Norwegian-American daughter, a couple years ago and free on my webpage – Task Forces and Convoys: A Naval Chess Game – *she* immediately began beating me in! (Her teacher says she is “clever” in math.)
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS, Magnus! 🙂