Chess has
originated in India but somehow these days the attraction for chess seems to
have gone down except for the time when Anand was the world champion. Of course
we had Hampi winning the world rapid chess crown a few days back.
Till now the
interest for chess with the public is rather subdued, perhaps that is the
reason why we virtually know nothing about the current world chess champion
Magnus Carlsen of Norway who is unique.
I played chess till intermediate and it had many books which gave the
good opening moves and also games between great players..I used to study from
them and play. Ofcourse not on a regular basis but now and then. Magnus Carlsen
was an unknown quantity when he defeated Anand to become the world champion in
2013.
From then
onwards he is the unchallenged world champion. He won the world championship in
2014,16 & 18 and would be defending it again in 2020.
There are 3
chess world titles to be won and Carlsen has them all.1. World Chess
Championship 2. World Rapid Chess Championship and 3. World Blitz Chess
Championship.
The Elo
rating system is the one which measures the skill of a chess player in number
of points......the highest points ever achieved are by Carlsen. He has 2882 points
with Kasparov being in the 2nd position with 2851 achieved way back in 1999. Comparatively
Anand has 2817 and Hampi 2606..
The
greatness of Carlsen is that his opening moves are unorthodox and are unpredictable
by any book. Even computers cannot play with him because of his unconventional
style.With his unpredictable opening moves he rattles his opponents and make
them submit to him.
Carlsen was
the national champion of Norway when he was just 9 years old, Grandmaster when
he was 12, and World number 1 at 19 years of age.
The
greatness of Carlsen is that he has ripped the image of a big chess player as a
spectacled and unassuming guy. He sports a six-pack and plays football beach
volleyball tennis rock climbing swimming skating and golf and that is simply
unbelievable versatility.
