And he wins Wijk with a round to spare even after the current wc was gifted 2 points from the get go.

DIR and Vishy sitting in a tree, b-l-i-t-z-i-n-g

this magnus guy needs to learn openings

He suggested in the post-game conference yesterday that it doesn't really matter. Everything is playable.

Putting that to the test today...

At least I correctly predicted Carlsen getting +7. Caruana and others failed me.

There were some interesting endgames today. One of these days I am going to learn how to defend R vs. R+B in case I have to play against Aronian one day and draw. :-)

Naiditsch won a nice endgame too. It seemed like an absolutely drawn pawn endgame but he first managed to transform it into a queen endgame with an extra h-pawn and then he managed to win that. Impressive to watch. He will play in the A group next year.

Looking at chessgames.com, since 2007 it looks like Carlsen is:

Kramnik +3 =10 -4
Anand +2 =17 -4
Aronian +7 =18 -2
Topalov +8 =4 -3
Ivanchuk +8 =13 -2
Karjakin +2 =8 -0
Radjabov +6 =13 -1

In total, since 2007 Carlsen is +36 =83 - 16 vs his most elite competition, not too shabby especially since this includes games when he was 16 years old.

However, since 2011, or roughly since when Carlsen turned 20 the results are:

Kramnik +1 =4 -0
Anand +1 =8 -0
Aronian +2 =9 -0
Topalov +1 =0 -0
Ivanchuk +3 =3 -0
Karjakin +1 =5 -1
Radjabov +1 =3 -0

In other words, in 43 games against the worlds top 7 or so players, Carlsen has lost exactly once (+10 =32 -1). In addition, Carlsen has never been beaten by Morozevich, Nakamura, Grishuk or Gashimov, among others. Adding in those 4 makes Carlsen +16 =46 -1 against the top 10 or so players in the world. Is that performance equal to Fisher in 1970/71? Probably not, but IMO still worthy of at least putting Carlsen into the discussion of "greatest of all time" (whatever that means). And he's 22 years old . . .

Thanks Analyst, that's very interesting. What a ridiculous score by Magnus, I didn't realize it would be quite that murderous

Thanks for finding that Analyst -- those numbers are impressive. If we exclude Ivanchuk and use the current ratings for all other players, that's a 2879 performance (21.5/37 against 2789 opposition).

It is fair to say that he is outclassing the competition at all levels.

Those numbers are amazing given that Magnus has a very risky playstyle, some of his openings are a bit unconventional to push for interesting positions. Not many of his predecessors varied their openings as much as Magnus has been doing.

Sveshnikov also shared his thoughts about the players.

"Nakamura plays openings superficially and makes mistakes quite frequantly. He is interesting as a practical player, but... Carlsen's weakness is above all the opening. At this stage of the game he is not a strong player. He should be outplayed in the opening, while his opponents do the opposite. The way new generation plays the opening... I would say those aren't neither Polugaevsky nor Kasparov. They lack succession in openings. They just play chess, that's why their chances to fight for the title are small. Honeslty, I prefer Karjakin's play. I like him as a player and he really has a perspective. At the moment Carlsen shows a good practical play, but if Kasparov won't coach him with his preparation methods I would say Magnus's future doesn't look so promising. He is surely a very talented player, but only those who will be making the strongest moves can become the champions. Only scientific component of chess has a chance to win nowadays. Not a single practical player has a chance of becoming the champion without scientific approach to the subject."

I don't quite understand the portion I highlighted in bold. Carlsen is clearly the strongest player in the world and has an outrageously good record against the top 10 players the past 3 years. I'm not sure what Sveshnikov wants or is expecting.

Definitely lol'd. A lot. Not sure how I missed this earlier. Hilarious.

TexAg06: I think Sveshnikov wants Carlsen to be a Russian.

Haha. That's about the only explanation that jives with what he said.

Hahah that's exactly what I took away from that quote as well. Smelt strongly of sour grapes.

Numbers corrected as Carlsen has a loss vs Karjakin. Doesn't really change anything, but the data should be accurate

chess.com has some excellent videos on this topic. I watched them and two weeks later i had the ending for the first time in my life, and won.

Yeah, as amazing as it is, it's not a +20=0 -0 run through the Interzonal and Candidates: Taimanov, Uhlmann, Petrosian, Larsen, Smyslov, Gligoric, Mecking, Reshevsky...I mean, wow, that's a pretty unreal great list.

Not counting forfeits, he won the WC +7 =11 -2 over a guy he had never beaten before. At one point he was +6 =5 -2 in the Match.

Starting from Candidates he was on a +24 = 8 -3 run against: Taimanov, Larsen, Petrosian, Spassky. That's 80%!!

Going back and not counting Panno's 1. C4 resigns, add 1-0 over Gliga, Uhlmann, Taimanov, Reshevsky, Mecking, Canadian champ Suttles and you get a +30 =8 -3 consecutive run.

That will never, ever, ever be seen again against top flight GM competition esp in WC matches and elimination events.


Still, Carlsen is amazing and a huge favorite to win the Candidates.

I rarely nitpick like this but...it's "jibes." I just got done listening to an hour-plus of youtube videos by a guy who mispronounced words constantly so I think I'm on edge for this type of error.

I'm as big a Fischer mark as anyone, but everyone here seems to act like Magnus is 30-years-old and at his peak. Fischer's 6-0 streak happened when he was near his prime years, if not in them. Magnus is more than half-a-decade away from his prime. If history is any indication, he's going to get significantly stronger than his 2870 strength that we're seeing now. The FIDE list didn't exist when Fischer was 22, but Kasparov was rated 2700 at around the same age (22 years 2 months), and gained over 150 points (!) by the time he peaked. Some of that is inflation, but regardless, a 100-point gain seems reasonable and yet is so astonishing to imagine given what Magnus is currently rated that it seems silly to even say it.

With that in mind, it's not safe to say at all that there will never be someone dominating like Fischer does. Magnus with a rating of 2960 (I could only bring myself to add 90) could clearly be capable of something incredible.

I'm happy to make a wager that Carlsen never goes on a +30 =8 -3 run against top-flight WC-level competition in elimination tourneys or matches [as opposed to like a 'fun' quad round-robin against Nordic GMs or something] nor a +20 =0-0 run in eliminators.

As you note, Magnus will likely get better so it's not impossible he does. I just don't think anyone ever will...kinda like Wilt's 100 or Cy's 511 or Wayne's 2857 points.

What odds would you put on Magnus doing it in March and vs Anand? He gets 14 games in March and then certainly more than 6 vs Vishy - I believe the match is set for 12 classical games.

What are the odds that he goes on a 20-0-0 run during those 26 games as a starting point for discussion? {obvs longer odds than if he ever does it}.

Maybe I'll put up a poll.

I think the odds are at least 54-cow.

You're hedging. Fischer's 20-0 run did not include games against the reigning World Champion.

That being said, 2 years ago at this time, when Magnus had a rating of 2814, what odds would you have put on him crossing 2900? I'll bet a LOT longer odds then you would now, where it seems to be actually more likely than not. If someone had said then it wouldn't happen, my response would be the same, he isn't anywhere NEAR his prime, and given how quickly he has developed, he's capable of some amazing things.

In fact, if we search back on this board, I probably did say that to someone.

Or lou gehrig 2130 or ty Cobb 4189 or maris 61. Just sayin

They are amazing numbers, but I would never characterize Carlsen's style as risky.