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72-658: A19 , A-19 , etc. may refer to: A19, one of the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings codes for the English Opening A19 , a 2002 album by the Battlefield Band "A19", a song by Maxïmo Park from the Missing Songs album A19 light bulb , a common household bulb A19 road , a code used to identify a particular road in several countries 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19) ,
144-531: A Slav -like system consisting of c6 and d5, a direct King's Indian Defence setup with Nf6, g6, Bg7, 0-0, after which c5 and e5 are eschewed, or 1...f5, which usually transposes to a Dutch Defence once White plays d4. All irregular responses such as 1...b6 and 1...g5 are also lumped into this third broad category. If White plays an early d4, the game will usually transpose into either the Queen's Gambit or an Indian Defence . For example, after 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 d5
216-745: A 2777 PR. He tied for second place with Veselin Topalov at the M-Tel Masters (category 21) tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. He lost to eventual winner Alexei Shirov in their final game, dropping him from first. Carlsen won the category 21 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament, 2½ points ahead of second-place finisher Topalov, the world's highest-rated player at the time. He scored an undefeated 8/10, winning every game as white (against Topalov, Wang Yue , Leko, Teimour Radjabov , and Dmitry Jakovenko ), and also winning as black against Jakovenko. By rating performance, this
288-619: A PR of 2778. Carlsen played for the first time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament in Monte Carlo in March. In the 11 rounds, he achieved eight draws and three losses in the blindfold games, as well as three wins, seven draws and one loss in the rapid games. This resulted in a shared ninth place in the blindfold, shared second place in the rapid (behind Anand), and a shared eighth place overall. In May and June, he participated in
360-416: A Soviet field gun Aero A.19 , a 1923 Czech fighter aircraft design Arrows A19 , a Formula One car British NVC community A19 (Ranunculus aquatilis community) , a plant community HLA-A19 , a human serotype Saro A.19 Cloud , a 1930 British flying boat Subfamily A19, a rhodopsin-like receptors subfamily Vultee A-19 , a 1939 American attack aircraft [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
432-446: A chess set when studying on his own. Carlsen won the 72nd Corus chess tournament played 16–31 January with 8½ points. His ninth-round loss to Kramnik ended a streak of 36 rated games undefeated. Carlsen appeared to struggle in the last round against Fabiano Caruana , but saved a draw, leaving him half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov . In March it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer use him as
504-627: A claim to the d5-square from the wing, in hypermodern style. Although many lines of the English have a distinct character, the opening is often used as a transpositional device in much the same way as 1.Nf3 – to avoid such highly regarded responses to 1.d4 as the Nimzo-Indian and Grünfeld Defences – and is considered reliable and flexible. The English derives its name from the leading 19th century English master Howard Staunton , who played it during his 1843 match with Saint-Amant and at London 1851 ,
576-567: A day, his favourite pastimes included playing football and reading Donald Duck comics. He also practised skiing until age ten. From autumn 2000 to the end of 2002, Carlsen played almost 300 rated tournament games, as well as in several blitz tournaments, and participated in other minor events. In October 2002, he placed sixth in the European Under-12 Championship in Peñiscola . The following month, he tied for first place in
648-503: A game of chess. Both Holmes and Moriarty eventually play the final moves blindfolded by citing out the last moves in descriptive notation (rather than algebraic , as the former was contemporary in the late 19th century), ending in Holmes checkmating Moriarty, just as Watson foils Moriarty's plans. 1.c4 is also used in Pawn Sacrifice by Bobby Fischer in the climactic game six of
720-873: A lack of motivation. Known for his attacking style as a teenager, Carlsen has since developed into a universal player. He uses a variety of openings to make it harder for opponents to prepare against him and reduce the utility of pre-game computer analysis . Carlsen was born in Tønsberg , Norway, on 30 November 1990 to Sigrun Øen (1963–2024), a chemical engineer , and Henrik Albert Carlsen, an IT consultant . The family spent one year in Espoo , Finland, and then in Brussels , Belgium, before returning to Norway in 1998, where they lived in Lommedalen , Bærum. They later moved to Haslum . Carlsen showed an aptitude for intellectual challenges at
792-573: A later move. If Black manages to play d5 before White plays e4, then the game could transpose into variants of the Queen's Gambit Declined . When Black plays 2...Nf6, these lines are often called the Anti-Benoni, since these positions are often reached after the transposition 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3, where White avoided the Benoni Defense that would arise after 3.d5. After 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4, Black could follow up with 4...e5 forcing White's knight to go to
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#1732847693692864-464: A line played several times by Mikhail Botvinnik in 1958, in his final match for the world championship with Vasily Smyslov . Instead of playing an early d4, White can also play Nf3 and fianchetto the king's bishop (g3 and Bg2), transposing into a Réti Opening. Also, after 1.c4 c6, White can transpose into the Polish Opening , Outflank Variation, by playing 2.b4 !? , which can be used as
936-611: A one-year siviltjeneste (an alternative civilian service programme) at the college. Over the course of that year, Carlsen's rating rose from 904 in June 2000 to 1907. His breakthrough occurred in the Norwegian junior teams championship in September 2000, where he scored 3½/5 against the country's top junior players and gained a tournament performance rating (TPR) of around 2000. Apart from chess, which he studied about three to four hours
1008-596: A rapid match against Peter Leko held in Miskolc , Hungary, scoring 5–3. In June, Carlsen won the annual Aerosvit chess tournament , finishing undefeated with 8/11 in a category 19 field and achieving a PR of 2877, his best PR at that point in his career. Playing in the category 18 Biel Grandmaster Tournament, Carlsen finished third with 6/10, with a PR of 2740. In the Mainz World Rapid Chess Championship, Carlsen finished in second place after losing
1080-596: A rapid tournament 28–30 August at the Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament in Kristiansund, Norway. The field featured World Champion Viswanathan Anand, female world No. 1 Judit Polgár, and Jon Ludvig Hammer . In the preliminary round robin, Carlsen scored 3½/6 to qualify for the final, second behind Anand. In the final, Carlsen defeated Anand 1½–½ to win the championship. Following this event, Carlsen suffered setbacks in his next two tournaments. In
1152-606: A stir when he switched to it from his customary 1.e4 late in his career, employing it against Lev Polugaevsky and Oscar Panno at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970, and in his world championship match against Boris Spassky . Opening theoreticians who write on the English Opening divide it into three broad categories, generally determined by Black's choice of defensive setup. The Symmetrical Defence (classified A30–39 in ECO )
1224-466: A surprise weapon if Black does not know very much about the Polish Opening. The many different transpositional possibilities available to White make the English a slippery opening for Black to defend against, and make it necessary for them to consider carefully what move order to employ. For instance, if Black would like to play a Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD), the most accurate move order to do so
1296-569: A trainer, although this was put into different context by Carlsen himself in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel , in which he stated that they would remain in contact and he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov. In 2011, Carlsen said: "Thanks to [Kasparov] I began to understand a whole class of positions better. ... Kasparov gave me a great deal of practical help." In 2012, when asked what he learnt from working with Kasparov, Carlsen answered: "Complex positions. That
1368-402: A young age. At two years, he could solve 500-piece jigsaw puzzles ; at four, he enjoyed assembling Lego sets with instructions intended for children aged 10–14. His father, a keen amateur chess player, taught him to play at age five, although he initially showed little interest in it. He has three sisters, and in 2010 stated that one thing that first motivated him to take up chess seriously
1440-532: Is 1...c5, and is so named because both of the c-pawns are advanced two squares, maintaining symmetry. Note that Black can reach the Symmetrical Defence through many move orders by deferring ...c5, and often does. For example, 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 (or 2.Nf3) c5. Either player may make an early break in the centre with the d-pawn. Similar to the Open Sicilian , an early d2–d4 for White can arise on the third move in
1512-621: Is 1...e6 2.d4 d5. (Of course, White can again play the Réti instead with 2.Nf3 d5 3.b3.) If Black plays instead 1...Nf6 2.Nc3 e6, White can avoid the QGD by playing 3.e4, the Flohr–Mikenas Attack . The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has classified the English Opening under the codes A10 through A39: The English Opening is used by Professor Moriarty in the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows as he and Holmes discuss their competing plans over
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#17328476936921584-499: Is a Norwegian chess grandmaster . Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion , the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion , the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion , and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion . He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in
1656-417: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages English Opening The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: A flank opening , it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the centre by staking
1728-810: Is often called the Reversed Sicilian , though others call it the King's English. Bruce Leverett, writing the English chapter in MCO-14 , stated, "It is natural to treat the English as a Sicilian reversed, but the results are often surprising—main lines in the Sicilian Defence correspond to obscure side variations in the English, and vice versa." The third broad category consists of the non-...e5 and non-...c5 responses, classified A10–19 in ECO . Most often these defences consist of Nf6, e6, and d5 or Bb4 systemic responses by Black, or
1800-408: The 1972 World Chess Championship versus Boris Spassky . 1.Na3: Durkin 1.a3: Anderssen 1.b3: Nimzowitsch-Larsen 1.Nc3: Dunst 1.c3: Saragossa 1.d3: Mieses 1.e3: Van 't Kruijs 1.Nf3: Zukertort 1.f3: Barnes 1.g3: Benko 1.Nh3: Amar 1.h3: Clemenz Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990)
1872-669: The 2002 World Under-12 Championship in Heraklion , placing second to Ian Nepomniachtchi on tiebreak. He then obtained three IM norms in relatively quick succession: the first at the January 2003 Gausdal Troll Masters (score 7/10, 2453 PR); the second at the June 2003 Salongernas IM-tournament in Stockholm (6/9, 2470 PR); and the third at the July 2003 Politiken Cup in Copenhagen (8/11, 2503 PR). He
1944-480: The 39th Chess Olympiad from 19 September to 4 October, he scored 4½/8, losing three games, to Baadur Jobava , Michael Adams, and Sanan Sjugirov ; these were his first losses with the black pieces in more than a year. His team, Norway, finished 51st out of 149 teams. Carlsen's next tournament was the Grand Slam Masters Final on 9–15 October, which he had qualified for automatically by winning three of
2016-553: The FIDE World Chess Championship , becoming the youngest player ever to participate in one, but was knocked out in the first round by Levon Aronian . In July, Carlsen and Berge Østenstad , then the reigning Norwegian champion, tied for first in the Norwegian Chess Championship, each scoring 7/9. A two-game match between them was arranged to decide the title. Both games were drawn, which left Østenstad
2088-760: The Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal with a score of 8/9 and a PR of 2792. At the end of 2005, Carlsen participated at the Chess World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk , Russia. In the knockout tournament, he upset 44th-ranked Zurab Azmaiparashvili in round one, and proceeded to defeat Farrukh Amonatov and Ivan Cheparinov to reach the round of 16. There he lost to Evgeny Bareev , but won against Joël Lautier and Vladimir Malakhov before losing again to Gata Kamsky . Carlsen finished in tenth place and became
2160-591: The Biel Grandmaster Tournament with a 6/10 record and a PR of 2753. His score was matched by Alexander Onischuk and they played a match to break the tie. After drawing two rapid and two blitz games, Carlsen won the armageddon game. Immediately after the Biel tournament, Carlsen entered the open Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø, but his fourth-place result with +5=4 was a slight underperformance in terms of rating. In
2232-510: The C group qualified him to play in the B group in 2005, and it led Lubomir Kavalek , writing for the Washington Post , to give him the title "the Mozart of chess" (although, as pointed out by Edward Winter , the nickname had been given to many illustrious predecessors). Agdestein said that Carlsen had an excellent memory and played an unusually wide range of openings. Carlsen's prowess caught
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2304-508: The Candidates Tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 , facing Levon Aronian in a six-game match at standard time controls, which Carlsen drew (+2−2=2) by coming from behind twice. The four-game rapid playoff was drawn as well (+1−1=2), with Carlsen winning the last game to stay in the match. Eventually, Aronian eliminated Carlsen from the tournament after winning both tiebreak blitz games. In July and August, Carlsen won
2376-744: The Glitnir Blitz Tournament in Iceland. He achieved a 2–0 win over Viswanathan Anand in the semi-finals and achieved the same score in the finals. He scored 6/8 in the 37th Chess Olympiad and achieved a PR of 2820. In the Midnight Sun Chess Tournament in Tromsø , Carlsen finished second to Sergei Shipov . In the Biel Grandmaster Tournament , he placed second, beating the tournament winner Alexander Morozevich twice. In
2448-643: The NH Chess Tournament held in Amsterdam in August, Carlsen participated in an "Experience" vs. "Rising Stars" Scheveningen team match. The "Rising Stars" won the match 28–22, with Carlsen achieving the best individual score for the Rising Stars team (6½/10) and a 2700 PR, thus winning the right to participate in the 2007 Melody Amber tournament. With a score of 7½/15, Carlsen placed 8th out of 16 participants at
2520-584: The Symmetrical Defence with 2.Nf3, where Black has chosen one of 2...Nc6, 2...e6, 2...d6, or 2...g6. After 3.d4, the game usually continues with 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4. The games can give a large variety of positional and tactical ideas, and can transpose into variants of the Open Sicilian involving the Maróczy Bind , such as the Accelerated Dragon , Taimanov, Kan, or Kalashnikov Variations, if White plays e4 in
2592-690: The Tal Memorial, Carlsen won the World Blitz Championship, played from 16 to 18 November in Moscow, Russia. His score of 28 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses left him three points ahead of Anand, who finished in second place. Carlsen entered the London Chess Classic as the top seed in a field including Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura , Michael Adams, Nigel Short , Ni Hua , Luke McShane and David Howell . He defeated Kramnik in round one and went on to win
2664-579: The World Blitz Championship in Rishon LeZion , Israel. In the rapid chess tournament Rencontres nationales et internationales d'échecs in Cap d'Agde , France, he reached the semi-final, losing there to Sergey Karjakin. In November, Carlsen achieved a shared 8th place of 10 participants in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow with two losses and seven draws. He finished ninth in a group of 18 participants in
2736-489: The age of 13, in the C group at the 2004 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee . He obtained a score of 10½/13, losing just one game (against the highest-rated player of the C group, Duško Pavasovič ). As a result, he earned his first GM norm , and achieved a PR of 2702. Particularly notable was his win over Sipke Ernst in the penultimate round, when he sacrificed material to give mate in just 29 moves. His victory in
2808-690: The associated blitz tournament, which was won by Anand. Playing in the top group of the Corus chess tournament for the first time, Carlsen placed last with nine draws and four losses, scoring 4½/13. In the Linares chess tournament , Carlsen played against top-rated players Veselin Topalov , Viswanathan Anand , Peter Svidler , Alexander Morozevich , Levon Aronian , Peter Leko , and Vasyl Ivanchuk . Despite being rated significantly lower than any of them, he finished in second place on tiebreaks with 7½/14, having scored four wins, seven draws and three losses, and achieving
2880-579: The attention of Microsoft , which became his sponsor. Carlsen obtained his second GM norm at the Moscow Aeroflot Open in February. On 17 March, in a blitz chess tournament in Reykjavík , Iceland, he defeated former World Champion Anatoly Karpov . It was a preliminary event leading up to a rapid knockout tournament beginning the next day. In that event, Carlsen was paired with Garry Kasparov , then
2952-581: The challenger to World Champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012. In November 2010, however, Carlsen announced he was withdrawing from the Candidates Tournament. Carlsen described the 2008–12 cycle as "[not] sufficiently modern and fair", and wrote that "Reigning champion privileges, the long (five-year) span of the cycle, changes made during the cycle resulting in a new format (Candidates) that no World Champion has had to go through since Kasparov, puzzling ranking criteria as well as
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3024-610: The champion because he had superior tiebreaks in the tournament. In the Smartfish Chess Masters event at the Drammen International Chess Festival 2004–05, Carlsen defeated Alexei Shirov , then ranked No. 10 in the world, as well as the co-winner of the tournament. In the semi-finals of the Ciudad de León rapid chess tournament in June, Carlsen played a four-game match against Viswanathan Anand, who
3096-403: The event of a 1–1 tie had been revoked. The match was closely fought—Agdestein won the first game, Carlsen the second—so it went into a series of two-game rapid matches until there was a winner. Carlsen won the first rapid game, Agdestein the second. Then followed three draws until Agdestein won the championship title with a victory in the sixth rapid game. In October, Carlsen took first place at
3168-454: The final to defending champion Anand 3–1. In the qualification round Carlsen scored 1½–½ against Judit Polgár , 1–1 against Anand and 1–1 against Alexander Morozevich. In the category 22 Bilbao Masters , Carlsen tied for second with a 2768 PR. Playing in Group A of the 71st Corus chess tournament , Carlsen tied for fifth with a 2739 PR. In the Linares chess tournament , he finished third with
3240-445: The first international tournament. It did not inspire Staunton's contemporaries and caught on only in the twentieth century. It is now recognised as a solid opening that may be used to reach both classical and hypermodern chess positions. Mikhail Botvinnik , Tigran Petrosian , Anatoly Karpov , Garry Kasparov , Magnus Carlsen , and Ding Liren have employed it during their world championship matches. Bobby Fischer created
3312-523: The first round, Carlsen conceded a draw to his classmate Brede Hagen (rated 2034) after having a lost position at one point. A game which attracted some attention was his sixth-round win over his father, Henrik Carlsen. Carlsen reached the semi-final round of the World Chess Cup in December, after defeating Michael Adams in the round of 16 and Ivan Cheparinov in the quarterfinals. In the semi-final, he
3384-434: The first round, Carlsen lost with black to Kramnik; this was Carlsen's second consecutive loss to Kramnik, and placed his hold on the world No. 1 ranking in serious jeopardy. In his second round, Carlsen lost with the white pieces to Anand; this was his first loss as White since January 2010. Carlsen recovered somewhat in the latter part of the tournament, achieving a win over Shirov, and finishing with 2½/6. The tournament
3456-402: The following year and won both the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, becoming the first player to hold all three titles simultaneously, a feat which he repeated in 2019 and 2022. He defended his classical world title against Sergey Karjakin in 2016 , Fabiano Caruana in 2018 , and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021 . Carlsen declined to defend his title in 2023 , citing
3528-520: The game has transposed into the Grünfeld Defence , usually reached by the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5. White can, however, also play 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4, making it impossible for Black to reach a Grünfeld, instead more or less forcing them into lines of the King's Indian Defence with 3...d6. Black also cannot force a Grünfeld with 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5, since White can deviate with 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3,
3600-438: The ideas are: The Reversed Sicilian (classified A20–29 in ECO ) is another broad category of defence, introduced by the response 1...e5. Note again, that Black can delay playing ...e5, for example 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5 whereupon even though ...e5 has been delayed, once it is played the defence is classified as a Reversed Sicilian. After 1...e5, White has Black's position in the Sicilian but with an extra tempo . This
3672-412: The previous year's four Grand Slam chess events (2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010 Corus, 2010 Bazna Kings). Along with Carlsen, the finals consisted of World Champion Anand and the highest two scorers from the preliminary stage held in Shanghai in September: Kramnik and Shirov. The average Elo of the participants at the time was 2789, making the Grand Slam Final the strongest chess tournament in history. In
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#17328476936923744-408: The queenside and avoiding the transpositions to the Sicilian or the QGD; however, White could avoid the line by first playing 3.Nc3 and then play 4.d4, if Black doesn't play 3...d5 (see below). Same as above, the position could transpose into a Queen's Gambit Declined or an Open Sicilian involving the Maróczy Bind. There are several types of positions that can arise from the Symmetrical Defence. Among
3816-447: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A19&oldid=974916442 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
3888-421: The second time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament, held in Nice for the first time. In the 11 rounds he achieved four wins, four draws and two losses in the blindfold, and three wins, two losses, and six draws in the rapid. This resulted in a shared fifth place in the blindfold, shared third place in the rapid and a shared second place in the overall tournament. Carlsen was one of 21 players in
3960-446: The shallow ceaseless match-after-match concept are all less than satisfactory in my opinion." In early 2009 Carlsen engaged former World Champion Garry Kasparov as a personal trainer. In September their partnership was revealed to the public by Norwegian newspapers. Responding to a question in an interview with Time magazine in December 2009 as to whether he used computers when studying chess, Carlsen explained that he does not use
4032-408: The six-tournament FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010 , a qualifier for the World Chess Championship 2012 . In the first tournament, in Baku , Azerbaijan, he finished in a three-way tie for first place, with another 2800 PR. He later withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle despite his initial success, criticising FIDE for "changing the rules dramatically in the middle of a World Championship cycle". Carlsen won
4104-452: The title. Carlsen had also helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championships in 2007 and 2008 . Carlsen played in the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania on 14–25 June. The tournament was a double round robin involving Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand , Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. He finished with 7½/10 and a 2918 PR, winning the tournament by two points ahead of Radjabov and Gelfand. Carlsen then played in
4176-443: The top-rated player in the world. Carlsen achieved a draw in their first game but lost the second, and was thus knocked out of the tournament. In the sixth Dubai Open Chess Championship, held 18–28 April, Carlsen obtained his third GM norm, which made him the world's youngest GM at the time, and the second-youngest GM in history at the time (after Sergey Karjakin , who earned the title at 12 years and 7 months). Carlsen played in
4248-420: The tournament with 13/21 (three points were awarded for a win, and one for a draw; using classical scoring he finished with 5/7) and a PR of 2844, one point ahead of Kramnik. This victory propelled him to No. 1 of the FIDE rating list, surpassing Veselin Topalov. Based on his average ranking from the July 2009 and January 2010 FIDE lists, Carlsen qualified for the Candidates Tournament that would determine
4320-420: The world . His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history . He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at an elite level in classical chess at 125 games. A chess prodigy , Carlsen finished first in the C group of the Corus chess tournament shortly after he turned 13 and earned the title of grandmaster a few months later. At 15, he won the Norwegian Chess Championship , and later became
4392-431: The youngest ever player to qualify for the Candidates Tournament in 2005. At 17, he finished joint first in the top group of Corus . He surpassed a rating of 2800 at 18, the youngest at the time to do so. In 2010, at 19, he reached No. 1 in the FIDE world rankings, the youngest person ever to do so. Carlsen became World Chess Champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand . He retained his title against Anand
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#17328476936924464-554: The youngest player to be an official World Championship Candidate . Carlsen qualified for a place in the Corus B group due to his first-place finish in Corus group C in 2004. His shared first place with Alexander Motylev with 9/13 (+6−1=6) qualified him to play in the Corus group A in 2007. At the 2006 international 'Bosna' tournament in Sarajevo , Carlsen shared first place with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (who won on tiebreak evaluation) and Vladimir Malakhov; this could be regarded as Carlsen's first "A" elite tournament win, although it
4536-415: Was able to recall the locations, populations, flags and capitals of all the countries in the world by age five. Later, he memorised the locations, populations, coats-of-arms and administrative centres of "virtually all" 356 Norwegian municipalities . He participated in his first tournament—the youngest division of the 1999 Norwegian Chess Championship —at 8 years and 7 months, and scored 6/11. Carlsen
4608-419: Was coached at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport by the country's top player, Grandmaster (GM) Simen Agdestein, who in turn cites Norwegian football manager Egil "Drillo" Olsen as a key inspiration for his coaching strategy. In 2000, Agdestein introduced Carlsen to Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen , a former Norwegian junior champion and later International Master (IM) and Grandmaster (GM), as Ringdal served
4680-463: Was eliminated by the eventual winner, Gata Kamsky, scoring ½–1½. In the top group A of the 69th Corus chess tournament , Carlsen scored 8/13, achieving a PR of 2830. Carlsen won five games, lost two and drew six, sharing first place with Levon Aronian . At the Linares chess tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ PR, scoring 8/14. He finished in sole second place, ½ point behind the winner World Champion Viswanathan Anand. In March, Carlsen played for
4752-527: Was not a clear first. Carlsen was close to winning the 2006 Norwegian Chess Championship outright, but a last-round loss to Berge Østenstad dropped him into another tie for first place with Agdestein. It also prevented Carlsen from beating Agdestein's record as the youngest Norwegian champion ever. Nonetheless, in the playoff held from 19 to 21 September, Carlsen won 3–1. After two draws at standard time controls, Carlsen won both rapid games in round two, securing his first Norwegian championship win. Carlsen won
4824-464: Was officially awarded the IM title on 20 August 2003. After finishing primary school, Carlsen took a year off to participate in international chess tournaments in Europe during the autumn of 2003, then returned to complete secondary education at a sports school. During the year away from school, he placed joint-third in the European Under-14 Championship and ninth in the 2003 World Under-14 Championship . Carlsen made headlines after his victory, at
4896-543: Was one of the greatest results in history, with a PR of 3002. Chess statistician Jeff Sonas has declared it one of the 20 best tournament performances of all time, and the best chess performance of all time by a teenager. In the Tal Memorial , played from 5 to 14 November, Carlsen started with seven straight draws, but finished with wins over former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Leko. This result put Carlsen in shared second place behind former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and equal with Ivanchuk. After
4968-428: Was ranked No. 2 in the world at the time and had won the 2003 World Rapid Chess Championship . Anand won 3–1. In the Norwegian Chess Championship, Carlsen again finished in shared first place, this time with his mentor Simen Agdestein. A playoff between them was played between 7 and 10 November. This time, Carlsen had the better tiebreaks, but the rule giving the title to the player with better tiebreak scores in
5040-486: Was the desire to beat his elder sister at the game. The first chess book Carlsen read was a booklet named Find the Plan by Bent Larsen , and his first book on openings was Eduard Gufeld 's The Complete Dragon . Carlsen developed his early chess skills playing by himself for hours on end—moving the pieces around, searching for combinations , and replaying games and positions his father showed him. Simen Agdestein emphasises Carlsen's exceptional memory, stating that he
5112-399: Was the most important thing." Carlsen shared first place alongside Ivanchuk in the Amber blindfold and rapid tournament. Scoring 6½/11 in the blindfold and 8/11 in the rapid, Carlsen accumulated 14½ from a possible 22 points. In May it was revealed that Carlsen had helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov, which Anand won 6½–5½ to retain
5184-403: Was won by Kramnik with 4/6. Carlsen finished this tournament with a rating of 2802, two points behind Anand at 2804 who temporarily ended Carlsen's reign at world No. 1. These setbacks called into question from some whether Carlsen's activities outside chess, such as modelling for G-Star Raw , were distracting him from performing well at the chessboard. Carlsen said he did not believe there
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