Magnus Carlsen retains his chess title for 2018

I wanted to do an article on Magnus Carlsen for some time as I'm a chess fan and an occasional chess player.  With Magnus retaining his World Chess Championship Title for 2018, I think its the best time for me to share my thoughts....

My 12 year old daughter plays chess at school tournaments and professional chess held locally and internationally.  She aspires to rank higher some day and presently holds Women Candidate Master title which she has gained at the Oceania Tournament held in New Zealand.  

We met Magnus Carlsen in 2014 at the 42 Chess Olympiad held in Baku, Azerbaijan while representing the New Zealand Team. My daughter is a huge fan of Magnus Carlsen and it was amazing to meet him and at the same time see him play at the biggest event with 180 countries in the Open and over 130 in the Women’s section.

Magnus stayed in the same hotel as us; as the hotels were delegated based on the alphabetical order of the Country. We bumped into each other a few times, in the hotel lifts, lobby or while dining and also saw him play in the game arena at the Crystal Venue.

During our short conversation in the lift, he was very polite with his talk and was concerned with his performance at the event. He politely said..."It's not my best performance at this tournament". Norway Team finally settled for the 5th spot at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2014 with the USA taking the first position in the Open Section.

Magnus a chess prodigy, his passion for chess started at a very young age and won the World  U12 Chess Championship title in 2002 at age 12.  After a few years, he played against top players and achieved the World Chess Championship Title which he has held since 2013.  

We are excited that Magnus Carlsen retained his  World Chess Championship Title for 2018 after defeating the American No. 2 player, Fabiano Caruana in a quick Rapid Session for a clean sweep 3-0 result. The results were equalised for the Classical games after battling for 3 weeks with a long time control, hence, the Rapid Session was held to decide a  winner.

Magnus’s strategy for this tournament was quite smart, taking his opponent to play in the Rapid Session with 12 games deadlock in the Classical games.  Magnus is a No.1 player in Blitz where speed is the key factor in having a short time control for players to think faster with quick moves. Magnus is a Champion in this category too.

At the board, both were equally patient with their moves and had near misses but nothing too careless although Magnus had a slight advantage to convert to a win in his first round. Eventually, the players settling for a draw, this result possibly affected Magnus ’s mindset during the next 11 games as Fabiano is a very strong Classical player ranking 2nd in the World. 

Fabiano kept the pressure rolling for the World Champion almost in every match and is disappointed with his final result and on missing the title.

The brilliance of their thinking abilities and the games they played during the event displayed various strategies to millions and millions of fans who watched them play online from around the world. It was worth watching them play and also to support our favourite. 

A very focused Magnus is beaming with pride and joy on winning the title as we see in this picture with the winning trophy and the medal.  

Well Done 'Magnus' and Congratulations.!

 Thank you for visiting us…If you like reading chess stories please subscribe to keep you informed.