On International Chess Day, Magnus Carlsen left everyone dumbfounded by announcing that he would not be defending his World Champion title. This historical decision will tremendously impact his life and the chess world in general. Let's breathe out and discuss some possible scenarios that could await us. 

As a chess fan and admirer of Magnus Carlsen's games, this is the scenario I would love to see most. There is a certain chance that getting rid of the burden of having to defend the title will positively affect Carlsen's play. He will no longer have to function in siege mode, preparing for one challenger after another. Then he could qualify for one of the next Candidate events by rating. Get sucked in and, knowing his competitive spirit, aim to win the tournament. Then maybe Carlsen will be willing to fight for the chess crown again, especially if the format changes. This would be a highly unconventional path that should help Carlsen become the GOAT in the eyes of most of his contemporaries. And, more importantly, in his book.  

Please show me the chess GOAT in this picture! 🐐

Talking about the GOAT status, most experts were expecting Magnus to play it safe. He would probably beat Nepo again. Then in a couple of years, maybe defend the title again versus a peer or one of the relatively inexperienced young guns. This would amount to a record seven titles. By that time, he would have been on top of the rankings for like 15 years. Coupled with other spectacular achievements, this should have been more than enough to shush all the critics and catapult Carlsen to the #1 spot on the all-time rankings of chess legends. Well, I guess the pundits were wrong! Magnus has his own ways, and that's one of the qualities that makes him such a dominant champion. 

From what I have noticed, most people tend to underestimate how tough it is to keep winning matches one after another. 

For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that Carlsen has an 80% chance of beating the challenger in a match. That is 4 to 1 odds, which most of us would find insanely good. However, under such circumstances, the probability of winning two matches straight is already 64%. Three matches – 51.2%, which is essentially a coin toss. Four matches – 40.96%. Still not bad, but more likely not to happen than to occur. Five matches – 32.768%, less than one-third. This is where Carlsen is currently at. To break Lasker's record, Carlsen needs seven titles, so let's keep crunching numbers. Six matches – 26.2144%, down to almost one out of four. Seven matches – 20.97152%. As you can see, even if you are a huge favorite in each individual match, the odds keep decreasing rapidly if you have to go through a chain of trials. 

I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.

This option is the evil twin of the scenario described above. Switching to playing chess less professionally could have a negative impact on Carlsen's motivation and focus. Without clear goals in sight, other "distractions" could take over his life – poker, fantasy football, bullet, alcohol, dating – who knows what! Also, part of the reason why most opponents are intimidated by Carlsen is his dominance as a World Champion. Will they give him the same level of respect over the board once he concedes the title?

 Also, there is an inevitable change of guard happening. Carlsen was successful in crushing the older generation (Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, etc.). For them, it was natural that he was the guy to replace them at the top. Now, he was also able to beat into submission his peers and GMs aged 25 or so. Most of them seem to have become complacent and more interested in retaining/securing a top-10 spot or recording a best-selling Chessable course than realistically shooting for the #1 spot. The young guns, however, have a different mindset. It is not even personal. For them, it is just a rule of life that to climb to the top, they will have to overcome everyone already there. And as history tells us, this is what will happen eventually. In other words, they don't have this piety towards Magnus and will probably have even less fear of him once he loses the crown. 

While we are at it, I don't believe that the "go for 2900" goal is effective enough. First of all, it is not process-oriented. Secondly, it seems shallow and lacks a purpose behind it. Whenever chess players bring up rating goals, they usually have something very specific in mind. "I need 2800 to qualify for the Candidates tournament". "I have to become 2750+ to get invitations and make a living as a pro player". "Getting to 2650 should be good enough to represent my country along with my friends". "If I hit 2500, I will become a Grandmaster and will be able to make an efficient transition to coaching and writing books". What will change in the world or in Magnus's life if Carlsen pulls off an inhuman feat of chess strength and reaches 2900? We will probably see some articles in mainstream media. I will check out his PM bio section and change 2882 to 2900. And that's about it. 2900 is just a random number! 

Anyway, I fully understand that Carlsen has won pretty much everything there is to win in chess, apart from the Chess Olympiad gold and the World Cup. Hence, it is painstakingly difficult for him to come up with new competitive goals for himself. 

There were some speculations that Magnus would try to postpone his decision and wait until the FIDE elections in August were over. If the Baryshpolets/Nielsen ticket wins, Carlsen should be able to tweak the World Chess Championship format whatever way he likes. 

However, it looks as if Carlsen has made up his mind and is unlikely to reconsider his decision in the nearest future, regardless of who becomes the next FIDE President. Also, there are a few other "ifs" in this narrative, which makes the outcome rather unlikely.

Let's combine this scenario with the one where Magnus reconsiders his decision due to financial concerns. For people who don't care too much about the game itself, it is inconceivable how Carlsen could let go of a more or less "guaranteed" paycheck of another €1.2 mln or so. Well, first of all, WCC matches require a few months of preparation and a large team. If you factor in the expenses, you may as well be left with peanuts. Secondly, if you are someone who doesn't care too much about money and you have reached financial independence, you would probably not do something you don't enjoy just because it allows you to deposit some more cash into your bank account. You have no actual use for that money anyway!

It's nice to be financially secure. Apart from that, I don't really care too much about money. 

Generals are always prepared to fight the last war. It is tempting to think by analogy, recalling the period when Garry Kasparov was no longer the official FIDE World Champion, yet most people perceived him as the best player in the world. 

Compared to Garry Kasparov in 1993, Magnus Carlsen has arguably more resources for an efficient split from FIDE. There are plenty of voices out there chanting that FIDE needs Carlsen more than he needs FIDE. Suppose the general public keeps seeing Magnus as the clear #1 in the world. In that case, there is a possibility that Magnus will, officially or unofficially, compete against other challengers, putting his reputation on the line. 

I find this scenario rather unlikely because smart people tend to learn from the mistakes of others. Carlsen's former mentor, Garry Kasparov, was rather vocal in criticizing himself for the decision to split from FIDE, which resulted in a period of mayhem. Even nowadays, some people still ask whether there are different federations in chess, similar to boxing, and which title exactly Magnus owns. 

Summarizing, I believe there is a chance that Magnus will play some unofficial commercial matches against the players he finds worthy challengers. Still, I doubt that he will go as far as Fischer in 1992 and try to portray those as World Championship matches. 

What if the aliens that reportedly abducted former FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov challenge the Earth to a chess game, Mortal Kombat-style? Magnus Carlsen will probably lead the team of our realm's champions, and we will have to keep our fingers crossed that this will be enough for our planet to win the contest! 

Under such circumstances, people will stop caring about the puny title of the World Champion. Instead, Carlsen could potentially become the best chess player in the Galaxy! 

Don't miss your chance to learn from Magnus Carlsen while he is still the World Champion!

How will Magnus Carlsen's decision to concede the World Chess Champion title affect his life and our world in general? 

What Does the Future Hold for Magnus Carlsen?

In part, this blog post was inspired by the movie “The World Champion” that is in theatres in Russia right now. It is based on the World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi, held in Baguio, Philippines, in 1978. I haven’t seen the film yet and don’t have high expectations based on what I have read about it. Still, I will check it out since movies about chess are a rare species. Anyway, Anatoly Karpov is a 6-time World Chess Champion and one of the best match players of all time. Interestingly enough, he was introduced to matches early in his chess career. For example, Anatoly fondly recalls a “serious” match he played in the city championship final when he was still a kid. 

Most of us will never get to participate in the World Chess Championship title, the World Cup or any other event where the match system is used. One might wonder: is there any reason for playing a match at all if you may never have to do it in your competitive practice? 

Here are the top-9 arguments why you may want to give this format a try:

Take your game to the next level. Matches improve your fighting spirit and help you learn more about yourself and your potential opponents. If the partners are of more or less equal strength, they are likely to discover the Achilles’ heels of each other, hence providing a plan for future improvement. Also, the matches themselves are beneficial for the chess development of the players since they help develop those chess muscles as you play in an intense environment. 

Find out who is the better player. Quite often, there is some friendly rivalry between peers if their chess expertise is similar. One game is not enough to find out who is the better player. A way to prove one’s superiority is to beat the opponent in a match spanning a relatively long distance. Of course, nowadays, such matches are more often played in blitz or even bullet, but good old matches with a classical time control are more indicative of a player’s true strength! 

That being said, many users of the Play Magnus app believe that beating Magnus Carlsen at a certain age once means that they have “passed the test.” However, to show true dominance, you had better not get a single win and run away with it but crush Magnus in an actual match! Actually, he should be happy to take on you since his Instagram profile states explicitly: “Beating someone once isn’t revenge!” 

Eliminate a specific weakness. This approach was advocated by Mikhail Botvinnik, who was known for playing serious training matches as part of the preparation for his World Chess Championship duels. For example, he suggested that someone who often gets into time trouble should play a training match, exclusively focusing in each game on time management. He also recommended using the method to get rid of other chess shortcomings.

Stay in shape. By far, not all of us play tournaments regularly enough. Training, playing blitz games, and other such means of staying in shape are not nearly as effective as real-life sparring.

Polish your openings. Let’s say you want to master a new opening. It will take a while until someone plays it against you. Also, you will not be prepared well enough due to a lack of practical experience. That’s why most of the pros use matches to test out new lines and get a feel of the opening. Of course, if you are aiming for this goal, you should discuss it in advance with your partner to know what type of positions will pop up on the board. 

Have fun. Chess matches are quite entertaining and memorable. You can hold your own “World Championship” and fight valiantly for the title against your friend! Just make sure you don’t spoil your personal relationships this way!

I remember how back in the day, we played a self-proclaimed “Chess & Poker World Championship" match against one of my friends in Moscow. First came the chess portion, and then the Texas Hold’em. As far as I recall, it was a tense battle that I eventually lost on the combined standings, but being the runner-up of such a “prestigious” event didn’t hurt! 

Roleplay. This takes the “have fun” principle to the next level. You and your opponent may consider dressing up for the occasion and recreating one of the legendary historical matches, including the ones that never took place. For example, let’s say you are a fan of Bobby Fischer, while your friend likes Anatoly Karpov. You don’t need a time machine to travel back to 1975 and see how the match between Fischer and Karpov would have unfolded! Just play it out yourself. 

Mark time. In the pre-smartphone age, chess has been known to be a popular time killer. Even though it is a less relevant pastime these days, it is still there. People still play chess with their companions when traveling by train, even though you have to choose your partners with caution. Also, in certain prisons, playing chess is an activity allowed for convicts. On a separate note, this practice could potentially lead to some controversial rating manipulations.  

Spice up your relationship. Growing up, I noticed some strange figures on my favorite chessboard. Something like 12.5-7.5 and so on. I asked my parents what this was all about. Even though they were by no means professional chess players and couldn’t be called ardent fans of the game, they still managed to play a reasonably large number of games between themselves in their youth. Of course, this tip has many limitations. First of all, the gap in chess proficiency should be relatively small, or else one might have to introduce a handicap into the equation. Secondly, not all people take chess defeats easily. There have been some grim stories about the loser murdering the victor, not to mention more prosaic outcomes such as quarreling. Nevertheless, it seems to have worked out fine for my parents, as they didn’t break up and are close to their 50th wedding anniversary! 

Last but not least, here comes a warning. Matches require a lot of energy and dedication. It is not a good idea to prepare for a tournament by playing a match if you don’t have a reasonably large time gap ahead. Make sure to end the challenge at least two weeks before the tournament, or even a month in advance, so you have enough time to analyze the games and make adjustments.

Good luck and have fun playing chess matches! 

Have you ever played a chess match? There is always a first time! 

A 2700+ GM once mentioned to me that he often loses interest in the tournament after 5 or 6 rounds. This phenomenon is well-known to many of us. What are the reasons, and how do we make sure we perform well in the last few rounds of the tournament? 

As you probably know already, after five draws, Game 6 became pivotal in the recent World Chess Championship match in Dubai. Magnus Carlsen won a breathtaking marathon battle spanning a record 136 moves, after which Ian Nepomniachtchi collapsed and scored only one point in the following five rounds. 

After adding the fifth World Chess Champion title to his collection, Magnus is smiling like a boss. Image by Niki Riga from the official site of the match.

For a more detailed report about the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, please check out the Magnus Trainer app. 

First of all, during a tournament, you should always be feeling “hungry” for chess. This is typically ensured by taking a proper break between your studies and the following competition or between two events. In other words, if you get fed up with chess due to overworking or playing too much, your performance is likely to drop. This topic has been briefly touched upon in our last week’s blog post. 

In contrast to this tip, Nepo played two exhausting training matches against former Challenger Sergey Karjakin before this year’s WCC. Unsurprisingly, at the very start of the match, Ian already looked tired and weary. 

Secondly, monitor your health and wellbeing. While non-chess-playing individuals often ridicule the concept of chess being a sport, any competitive player will tell you how demanding the game is in the physical sense. The effects of having to sit and keep concentration for a few hours a day are often multiplied by the necessity to travel to the venue, to sleep and eat in an unfamiliar environment, by falling ill, etc. Summarizing, one should be fit and healthy to play well.

Comparing Ian and Magnus in this department, Magnus has a distinct advantage overall. 

Even though Magnus has had some hiccups in his career, his nervous system seems to be much stronger than Ian’s. 

Ian lost a lot of weight and worked on his physical shape a lot before the match. However, Magnus has been doing this for years and is generally believed to be fitter than his ex-Challenger. 

I don’t know for sure what the sleep schedule of the players is like. From what I have heard and read, Magnus occasionally broke the schedule and stayed up very late in his childhood, but in general, his parents have explained to him the benefits of following a sleep routine. Meanwhile, Nepo makes the impression of someone who can easily stay well past midnight playing computer games and such. Once again, don’t take it for a fact; this is just an assumption. 

Magnus has been known to take nutrition seriously, eat healthily and to bring his own cook to WCC matches. As far as I know, Ian is less “professional” in this sense and lives the life of an average person. 

Thirdly, your psychological state often becomes the main culprit of your chess failure.  

For example, suppose you decide to set yourself certain rating or point goals before the tournament, which is not recommended in most cases. In that case, it is remarkably easy to lose motivation once you understand that the aim is not achievable any longer. 

Generally speaking, few of us can handle a rapid change in the narrative we created for ourselves before the event. Let’s stay you act like a typical action movie hero by visualizing your path to success which involves shredding all your opponents’ pieces to pieces. Well, how do you adjust if you lose the very first game terribly? Or if you shake off the defeat and lose again for some reason? This is a sophisticated subject, and it is hard to give universal advice. I am just saying that for some people having no plan for the event (“just play and enjoy every game!”) could be better than a rigid narrative (“I will win 5 games and draw 4, finishing at 7/9”). 

Speaking for myself, I have had those tournaments where I had high expectations for my performance, planning to harvest a lot of rating points there. If things didn’t go according to plan, I would stubbornly try to force the issue and come back without analyzing what exactly went wrong and why. Quite often, such drastic measures backfire and cause even more painful defeats. Then you realize that meeting your goal is already unrealistic, and your mental shape goes from bad to worse! 

Or, another common situation, something unpleasant might happen in your life and overshadow the importance of playing well. Top GMs have been going through lawsuits, divorces, political campaigns, and other distracting activities while competing in strong events. Obviously, their resulting performances tended to be abysmal. Of course, one can’t be insured against all sorts of hazards, but the rule of thumb is to try to adopt prophylactic thinking in life and chess. It will help you prevent some nuisances or abstain from entering a tournament at the wrong moment. 

Ian’s face says it all during the awards ceremony. Image by Eric Rosen from the official site of the match. 

Only Nepo knows what went wrong with his mindset after the catastrophe suffered in Game 6.

Did he start blaming himself for not winning with Black even though he had decent chances at some point? 

Did he lose confidence in his chess abilities? 

Did fear kick in? Everyone knows how tough it is to beat Magnus, and the challenge is almost insurmountable if you are trailing behind. 

Did he fail to readjust his narrative of how the match will unfold? Maybe he hasn’t worked out in advance what he will do should Magnus take the lead. Or, quite possibly, he and his team did consider this scenario briefly, but in real life, everything turned out to be harder than on paper. 

I guess that Ian should take a good rest and then analyze meticulously what went wrong in his head. This is the only way to fix the issue and to decrease the chance of it haunting him in the future. 

Even though it is next to impossible to provide exact solutions to all the issues mentioned above within one article, I hope that the post gave you some tasty food for thought. Before playing your next tournament, make sure to go through the items mentioned in this article and see if you can improve in some areas. 

Last but not least, we wish you a fantastic Christmas! Stay healthy, have fun with your family and friends, and don’t forget about chess should you be looking for some special gifts! 

How does one ensure a top-notch performance from the first round to the very last? Let’s explore this topic and use the Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi WCC match as a reference point! 

How to Avoid Getting Burned Out During a Chess Event

Have you checked the first part of the series about why we miss good moves in chess? I do hope that it has helped you somewhat reduce the number of blunders in your games. Still, to err is only human, so you will never be able to eliminate all the mistakes from your play. Anyway, let me share with you a few more tips on what you could do to take your game to the next level. 

Some years ago, I asked GM Arkadij Naiditsch whether it would be better for me to develop my style by studying the games of attacking players or to eliminate my shortcomings by reviewing strategic masterpieces. Being a rather categorical person, he replied: “You are too weak to have a style. Study everything!” That being said, you should take his comment with a grain of salt since, at that time, he seemed to consider all players rated below 2700 to be more or less patzers. Anyway, I would like to point out that our chess weaknesses do lead to poor decisions over the board. 

In a perfect world, we should all be striving to become universal players. However, perfection knows no limits. How do you start? A serious topic that has been hotly debated for years: should you rather focus on developing your strengths or prioritize getting rid of weaknesses? My opinion is that usually, it’s easier and more sensible to improve where you are naturally gifted. However, you will have great returns initially by focusing on what you do poorly. It’s just important not to get overzealous. Let’s say you have no clue about endgames. Spending about 50 hours to familiarize yourself with the most popular 100 theoretical endgames would boost your strength considerably. However, if you are not a fan of the endgame and have no natural feel for it, you may end up spending hundreds of hours going over endgames played by masters without really improving much in that department. And, in contrast, if you are a natural-born attacker who spends the same amount of time on tactics and typical middlegame attacking plans, your rating will grow much faster. 

Speaking about poor decisions caused by stylistic preferences, I have been loyal to the perception of myself as a tactical and witty player for quite a long time, so I used to run like the plague from exchanging queens. I wasn’t confident in my ability to convert a better endgame; didn’t evaluate well enough positions without queens on the board; felt like I would get more chances to win material or checkmate my opponents if the queens stayed. This is a typical chess deficiency, especially at the club level. I have to admit that I still haven’t solved the problem entirely, but having gone through many endings, endgame studies, and typical positions has improved my understanding and knowledge of the final stage of the game. As a result, nowadays, I am more willing to trade queens if it offers me certain benefits.  Amusingly, this has even led to a few situations where I have talked myself into trading queens in positions where it was more lucrative to keep them on the board! 

Feeling sick, being hungry or drowsy, losing concentration, and other similar reasons dramatically influence our tournament performances. Sometimes your mind starts wandering elsewhere and thinking about the next round game, your family relationships, how to spend the evening – anything but chess! Even for chess pros, it is quite tough to maintain a high concentration level throughout the game, especially when not being in the best physical and psychological shapes. Some of the World Chess Championship contenders bring up such reasons for losing the matches as strained family relationships, lawsuits, conflicts within the team, health issues, hypnotizers working for the other guy, etc. Of course, you can waive some of the arguments off as not serious enough or as made-up excuses, but the Grandmasters would probably not agree! 

As you can see, even at the very top level, the outcome of the game is often determined not purely by who is the better player here and now but by many other factors. The more of them are in your favor compared to your opponent, the higher the chance to succeed. Of course, this sounds a bit like the “it’s better to be healthy and rich than sick and poor” tip of advice, but your performance could indeed improve if you honestly assess yourself in non-chess departments and make notes on what can be done better. 

If the twist of events in the game is unfavorable for us, sometimes it is tough to admit it and to adapt to the changes. Many encounters have been lost due to stubbornness and unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious. For example, a person who had a considerable advantage might blunder and keep playing on as if he is still way ahead. Trying to break the laws of chess leads to painful defeats. 

Another common chess sin is losing patience. There are an amazing number of players who can’t handle the tension of playing long games, especially if the position is not to their liking. For example, most amateur players, especially young and impatient ones, have no clue what to do in “boring” endgames or positional struggles. They always try to get something going as soon as possible, even if it comes at the cost of damaging their positions. Older people have another problem: they typically get tired and start feeling like they should finish the game as soon as possible regardless of the result since otherwise they will lose focus at some point and self-destruct. Chess is a cruel sport for them: quite often, elderly players can be seen begging for draws or blundering terribly when ahead on the board. 

Finally, there is that typical case of getting punished for being impatient to convert a winning advantage asap. A good illustration of this scenario is Viktor Korchnoi’s performance in Linares Anibal Open’1998. Viktor (2625) managed to trap the opponent’s queen early on in the game and to win material. His lower-rated opponent Julian Estrada (2395) didn’t give him any credit and continued playing as usual. The two times runner-up of the World Chess Championship became infuriated and started blitzing out the moves only to blunder a queen in return and lose! However, when a similar situation occurred in one of the following rounds, the veteran showed that he has learned the lesson and managed to convert the game in style.    

Here it is Korchnoi’s turn. He is White and has a queen for a rook and a pawn, which should be an easy win. Typically, you indeed don’t play on in such positions against a former World Chess Championship challenger.

A few moves later, we can see that White made life more difficult for himself. But what followed next is “inexplicable”. Korchnoi hastily played 41.hxg6 and resigned after the obvious 41…Rh2+, picking up the queen with a skewer. As usual for such cases, his opponent got to hear what Viktor the Terrible thought about his manners and chess skills! 

Summarizing, if you do a careful performance review based on the six areas of improvement mentioned in the first and second parts of the series about missing good moves and follow at least some of the recommendations, you should definitely improve as a chess player. 

However important general chess tips are, they are no replacement for studying eye-opening chess lessons and doing tricky training exercises. Check out Magnus Trainer for a course recommended by the reigning World Chess Champion himself!

What are the main reasons behind our chess blunders? Let’s look at a few more nuisances and learn how to do better!

Ian Nepomniachtchi’s first Instagram post in 2014 included this uplifting image. It was published on November 23. Please make a mental note of the date and read on to realize what a sign of things to come it turned out to be!

Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament with a round to spare, thus qualifying for a World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen. The main chess event of the year is scheduled to take place in Dubai, UAE, from November 24 to December 16, 2021. Even though Magnus and Ian have been friends for a long time and trained together, you can expect an exciting clash of styles in their duel for the chess crown!

Make sure to check Magnus Trainer on April 29th for a new lesson featuring a report about the Candidates Tournament and Carlsen’s review of Nepo as a player, pinpointing his strengths and weaknesses. Who do you think is the favorite to win?

Meanwhile, let’s see how well you know the biographies of these two outstanding chess Grandmasters. Take the quiz and see whether you can tell Carlsen from Nepo!

What Does the Future Hold for Magnus Carlsen?

Play a Chess Match

How to Avoid Getting Burned Out During a Chess Event

Why Do We Miss Good Moves? – Part II

Take the Carlsen vs. Nepo Quiz!