As an under 1200 rated player who hasn’t played in 10 years, I’ve decided to get back into chess and started watching the World Chess Championship match that Magnus Carlsen just won. I googled his name and found numerous articles praising his abilities and even calling him “The Mozart of Chess”.
Frankly, I don’t see it.
He has weaknesses all over the place in his game.
For Example.
Openings.
Look at all the moves he’s making in opening. Just checkmate him early with opening traps like Legal’s mate or the classic Bishop on C4 and Queen on F3 mate on F7. Just end the match early and go have fun the rest of the day.
Middle Game.
First of all, he wouldn’t have a middle game if he would just follow my advice on the openings. But if you missed your opportunity then, just sack a piece for a brilliant checkmate combo. Other players have done it. I’ve seen the games. The classic Bishop sacrifice comes to mind. Just get your pieces in the right location to do it and win. Simple.
End game.
Do I have to say it? Win in the opening or middle game as shown above and you never have to worry about an end game. And what’s with all these draws? I’ve played 30 tournament games in my short chess career and I’ve only drawn once! And that was in my first tournament! Just pick up an extra pawn and queen it. It’s not rocket science.
Conclusion.
I like Carlsen and am glad he won it, but he obviously needs to get back to some basics.
P.S. Before I get flamed, please take everything above as humor and NOT actual analysis.
Speaking of seconds, Carlsen still didn’t reveal his (except for Jan-Ludvig Hammer), even in the final press conference after he won the match. Everyone assumed that then he would tell. It was a bit rude not to.
I suspect he had at least one Indian player on his team. He was very comfortable in India, never had any “homesickness” problems like any foreigner does when they play in Russia, or like defending champ Anna Ushenina did when she just got destroyed by Hou Yifan for the women’s WC in China.
I think Negi said in an interview, or at least implied, that Anand was not much help beyond general encouragement. Surely Anand didn’t have a duty to help his potential competitors within India, but he may have lost good will because of it.
Anyway my theory is that (at least) one of the Indian GMs was helping Carlsen, and so Carlsen kept his team secret to avoid prying questions as much as possible. Maybe Carlsen invested part of his $130,000 special payment for agreeing to play in India, for some local help.
I was surprised but hardly offended that he did not reveal his seconds. I doubt that he will suffer any appreciable loss of goodwill for not revealing.
As for homesickness, I would be surprised if he felt any ill effects there. He has been traveling the world for a number of years. The match was shorter than many tournaments. He brought his own chef and his entire family was in India with him. The Hyatt is a five star hotel and he escaped to a resort on his off days. The local organization was good by any standard, although I always found the playing area to be a bit odd. It seemed cramped to me and the glass provided a bit of an animal-at-the-zoo effect. Also, they seemed to play on a bare DGT board plopped down on the table, with the cable running off to one side. Seemed a stark contrast to the superb table on which Spassky and Fischer played.
Interesting, and seemingly within the realm of possibility. No deep theoretical debates were had. Carlsen seemed content to play from his base, banking that he could outplay Anand from even or nearly even positions. The legend grows.
