Thursday, August 07, 2008

Arise King Magnus?

Melbourne's The Age newspaper boldly declares, "The search for Bobby Fischer is over."

Now, for those of you who argue that chess is a game, not a sport, and therefore has no more right to be discussed in these pages than, say, the world cluedo championships, you're probably right.

Regardless, the rise of "Magnificent Magnus" has chess fans hopping. They've needed a new Bobby Fischer ever since the last one was exiled to Iceland after being excommunicated from the US for lauding the twin tower attacks. True story.

From 'Magnificent Magnus' one move from checkmate.

Frankly, I don't know. The kid's talented alright, but the new Fischer (whatever that means)?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

the kid is over rated...

Anonymous said...

if you look at his games he is incredibly lucky, his opponents are simply scared. in that sense yes, he is over rated and cannot sustain that kind of luck.

however, he does have guts. he has the guts to enter these kinds of equal positions and is rightly rewarded when his opponents crumble with the clock or simply freak out.

the new fischer? doubt it. he lacks the real class, but he might learn it with time. let's see what happens.

elite players with talent, class and sustainability: anand, kramnik, ivanchuk, kamsky (coming), leko, topalov.

and dont forget the younger elite with those (growing) attributes: radjabov, aronian....carlsen....

the mens chess world is getting more and more exciting.

tanch said...

Two words: Viswanathan Anand

Anonymous said...

At 17 he’s about to become world number 1 and he’s overrated? And incredibly lucky? Yeah sure. What a series of moronic comments...

Anonymous said...

yeah he's just 17 and incredibly talented but alas! look, the kid has already develop quite a number of wretched fanatics just like the anonymous guy above me. what a pity ;) Magnus will be a world champion in 3 years time but not now.

Ryan said...

It's always hard to tell how good a prodigy really is, and whether he/she will sustain their interest and ability into their adult years.

However, Carslen will be 18 soon and is already close to the top - on the live ranking list he is around 2/3 in the world.

Given all this,I find the negativity of the first two comments surprising. It's impossible to say what the future holds for Carslen, but his 'present' is already very impressive.

Btw - I'm not sure why anyone would say Carlsen lacks 'class' in any sense of the word. ???

Kevin Bonham said...

cebu2012 writes: "Magnus will be a world champion in 3 years time but not now."

These could quite be prophetic words, since Carlsen's next chance to win the world title (if FIDE sticks to its intended timetable) is 2011. The current arrangement is that to qualify for a match in 2011 he must win either the 2008-9 Grand Prix or the World Cup 2009, and then win a match with the winner of the other.

Chaos said...

I firmly believe the question is not if Magnus will become world but simply 'when.'

I'm also shocked to hear the word 'luck' in chess... given the main attraction of chess is it being one of the only games in the world without any component of luck (Go being the only other one I can think offhand). So his opponents failed to see a move or made a blunder - this is NOT luck. I would also note this happens as often to Magnus as it does for him (Anand vs Magnus Linares?).

Having said all this, whoever your favorite player is... it is impossible to deny Magnus has gained quite the following among chess fans. He is a young talented player with a busy schedule... but the next Fischer? It is hard enough to figure out what that is as well as if it applies to Magnus.

Anonymous said...

during the time of fischer grandmasters commented that he played so simply yet he made 19 consecutive wins in his showdown with spassky in the world chess champioship...now we are reading that magnus plays simple chess...amusing...time will tell but definitely magnus is on his way to the very top of chess world.