Miklcisn/Ssko
Fging ss wi M gnus lsn
Volume
of the ongoing series
Editorial board GM Vctor Korcno GM Helmut Pfleger GM Ngel Short GM Rudolf Tescner
0 DITION OLMS
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Adran Mkhalchshn
Oleg Stetsko
FIGHTING CHESS WITH MAGNUS CARLSEN
Transaed and edited by Ken Neat
0 EDITION OLMS
m
T Auors Arin Miklisin (brn 1954) has an excell ent i nternatinal reutati n, abve all as a fin e chess traine r The Ukrainianbrn grandmaster wrked frm 1980 t 1986 with the 12th wrd chamin Anatly Karv, and he has als assisted Zsuzsa Plgar, aya Chiburdanidze, Vassiy lvanchuk and Arkady Naiditsch As cairman f the FIDE Trainers' Cmmissin, ikhalchishin can als call n n his wealth f exerience as an active ayer He articiated in severa USSR natinal chaminshis, 4th lace in 1984 in the 51st chaminshi in his hme city f Lvv being his greatest cmetitive success He has als taken art in fur Chess Olym iads , three times fr h is new hmeand f Sl venia (2000, 2002 and 2004)
Ol Ssko (brn 1936) was a rfessina airfrce it and a chess layer f Sviet master standard, wh layed several time s i n the strng USSR Armed Frces chaminshi s After his retirement in 1984 he was ainted t the traini ng staff f te USSR natinal team, which in 1989 he heled t win th e secnd Wrl d Tea m Cham i nsh i i n Lucerne Stetsk then wrked as a jurnaist fr the restig ius magazine, f which Anatly Karv was the editrinchief n the 1990s tgether with the weknwn grandmaster Eduard Gufeld he wrte several bks, i ncudi ng T Compl Drgo and Wg w Torr k
Bibli grahical nfrmatin ublish ed by Th e Deutsche Natinalbibithek The Deutsche Natinalbibithek lists this ublicatin in the Deutsche Natinalbiblig rafie; detailed bib ligrahic data is avaiabe n the nternet at htt://dnbdnbde
Cyright © 2012 Editin Ol ms AG Williknerstr 10a CH8618 Oetwi l a S/Z rich, Switzerlan d Emai: inf@editinmscm Internet: wwweditin lm scm All rights reserved This wrk is rtected by cyright N art f this ublicatin may be rerduced, stred i n a retrieva system r transmitted i n any frm r by any means, electrnic, el ectrstatic, m agneti c tae, htcying, recrding r therwise, withut rir erissin f the ublisher Printed in Germany Printed n acidfree and ageingresistant aer Editr Ken Neat Phtgrah: © Ray rrisHil l Phtgrahy Transatr: Ken Neat Tyesetting by: Art & Satz Ulrich Dirr, D80331 unich Prin ted by: Druckerei Fr iedr Sch mcker GmbH, D49624 Lnin gen Cver: Nikas We i, D79104 Freiburg SBN13: 9783283010201
Contents
Prefae Magus Carse - Hero of e Copuer Era
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50
if h T
Game M Carlsen- P Eljanov
Game V KramnikM. Carlsen
Game V TopalovM. Carlsen
Game M. CarlsenL. Aronian
Game M. CarlsenV Topalov
Game T Radjabov- M Carlsen
Game M. Carlsen- V lvanchuk
Game 0 Y PelletierM Carsen
Game . Dominguez- M Carsen
Game M. Carlsen- T. Radjabov
Game . Aronian- M Carlsen
Game M. Carlse. Aronan
Game M. Carse A Beliavsky 0
Game M. CarlsenL Dominguez 0
Game M. Carlsen- V Anand 0
Game L. DominguezM Carlsen
Game M. CarlsenA Gschuk
Game 0 M. CarlsenV Topaov
Game M. CarsenWang Yue
Game M. CarlsenD Jakovenko
Game M CarsenP eko 0
Game M. CarlsenV Topalov
Game M Carlsen Radabov
Game M. Carlsen- V Anand 0
Game M CarlsenR Ponomariov
Gam M Carlsn- V Kramnk
Game S KarjakinM. Case
L AoaM. Carlsen
Game 0 D. NsipeanuM. Carlse
Gam R PoomaovM Carsen
Game M. Carlsen- E Bacot
Game M. Carsn Nakamura
Game M. Carlsen.D. Nispeanu
In
Tournament and Match Record Index of Carlsen's Opponents Index of Openngs 0
2
Preface The swift rise of the young Norwegian Mag for great achievements Another impor nus Carsen to the top leves of chess has tant factor was the boys home situation literay overturned impressions about the Magnus has a secure basis-a whoesome possibilities of teaching taented children family, in which his sisters virtualy idoise Indeed, to progress at a young age from a him, and the attention and support of rela runofthemil master to a rea contender tives and of society Aready at the age of for the chess crown in ust five years is ten he had the hep of a trainer, and as his something that ony an outstanding tal prowess developed he also acquired the ent is capabe of doing In the history of support of financial bodies, including the chess only Garry Kasparov has achieved Microsoft company By presentday unior standards, Mag any simiar In this occurrence there is much that is surprising both the fact that nus began a serious study of chess rather such an extraordinary talent appeared in ate-at the age of eight The initial motiva 'nonchess Norway, and the way itself in tion was a promise by his father to include which this chess mastery was acquired him, if he played we, in the Norwegian For graduates and successors of the So under11 championship This stimulated viet Chess School, nurtured in a 'chess the boy to study chess for 2-3 hours a foundation estabished over decades, and day over a period of six months The rest fostered from childhood in clubs at io was accompished by his aconsuming neers aaces and then in chess schoos interest in the game Many point to the run by famous mentors, it is hard to imagine prevaence of computer preparation, even a boy grasping the wisdom of chess virtu calling Magnus a computer boy He does not deny his enthusiasm for the computer; ay on his own This is correct ony in the sense that indeed it would be strange not to mae Magnus likes to study chess on his own use of it in the age of universa comput But there were aso attendant circumstanc erisation For modern chidren, using a es Magnuss father, Henrik Carsen, was computer does not present any particular we known in Norway as a chess organiser, problems, and a grasp of the accompa and it was he who noticed his sons taent, nying programs comes quite naturally to observing that aready at the age of five them As for purey chess preparation, he had good anaytica ability And, not Carsen uses the computer as an instru surprisingly, knowing the precedent of the ment, and he reates sceptically to con famous Hungarian Judit ogar, from an tentions that it is emascuating live chess early age the father began assisting his son The main thing for Magnus is improving to become a chess professiona, hoping his mastery and achieving results Here
Preface
it is appropriate to recal the pithy saying of Mikhail Botviik: 'Chess canot be taught, one can ony learn it! It is unlikely that Magnus is familiar with the Patrarchs claim, but he has patiently learned, pro ceedig with the hep of the computer, picturesquely speaking, in sevenleague steps. Another very important factr in his im provement has been the reading of chess literature. In the words of his father, he literaly swallowed all Kasparovs series ret redecessors and rom them he remembers practicaly everything. These books are a kind of academc course on the classical heritage o chess And the fact that he prefers to work on chess on his own ('Magus is very independent as regards preparation, I only help him, testifies his trainer Simen Agdestein), is merey an indication of his charater In short, we see an example of the effective study of chess by correspondence, based on fertile ground In the opinion of one of the best trainers of the present time, grandmaster Yuri Razuaev, the boy pos sessed the gift of selfinstruction It od be icorrect to tak about the neffectivness of this type of study, with references to a lack of 'schooling There
have been coutless examples of success ful sefreaisation His way is famiiar to me not just by hearsay, sice at a mature age managed to achieve chess master standard and complete a correspondence course at the Aviation Institute y his 19th year Carlsen had completed his chess Academy, he had received high marks from his examiners by victories in very strong tournaments, and he was con tnuing to improve This is indicated by his attainment of the high point 2800 in the world rating list, which allows him to be regarded as the strongest player in the West Carlsen has made his 'way to the top in chess hgh society One of the many ways available to a talented young person We would like to wish that his 'life at the top does not collapse, as in the novel of the same name by the wellknown English writer John Braine n conclusion, we would like to thank grandmaster Andrey Devyatkin for help in describing the childhood stage of Magnus Carlsens chess career
O k USSR Master of Sport Senior Trainer of the USSR national team 1985-89
Magnus Carlsen - Hero of the Computer Era When we begi n eami ni ng the chess phe nomenon Magnus Carlsen and his way to the top, the first thing that comes to mi nd is whether we can co mpare the tal ented Norwegian with the brilliant chess geniuses of the second half o the 20th century, Ro bert Fischer and Garry asp arov. What is it that un tes h m with these great champio ns? bove all - a bril li ant memory. His first trainer, grandmaster imen gdestein, told me that he gave the young Magnu s an openin g book to read, and the net day, as if nothing had happened, he performed the new open ing to a hig h standard. True, a strivi ng for sharp position s im mediately on emergin g from the openin g, as possessed by the young Fischer and asparov, was not very apparent, but a lready at the age of fifteen he was confidently playing complicated openings such as the vesh ni kov Varation and the Botvin ni k Variatio n. Th e greatest influence on the develop ment of the young talent was undoubt edly made by the N orwegian grand master imen gdestein. This showed itself not only in chess, but also in the fact that Mag nus is a good footbal ler. fter all, his trainer played for his country at both chess and football , and he even scored a goal against Italy! They met when Magn us was 1 0 years old. Intially the boy studied with the Norwe gian master Torbjrn Ri ngdal Hansen, who
was do ing his mi litary servce at a Col lege for Top thletes, where gdesten ran the chess section nd with in a year he made in credble progress. h is is not surprisin g: Magnus was literally gripped by chess, playing in all possible tournaments and read ng nu merous chess books in Eng lis h. His first boo k was Find the Plan by Bent Larsen. t that time gdestein correctly thought that, for lessons with a boy who was at the stage of masterng the basics of chess, a computer was not needed. nd on ly later, when the openin g became an important element of the play in tour naments, Magnus began working with the analytical modules Fritz and Rybka gdestein worked with Magnus several times a month, spending two or three hours on the analysis of a game. In gdesteins opi nion, children cannot be forced to study chess. Of cou rse, t is not easy to teach a young ster to play, but if you can arouse hi s individual interest, miracles occur. This is how it was with Magn us motivation was the main key to success! Magnus thought that on the way to higher achievements he should become Noegian chamion, but in 2004 and 2005 the road was blocked by hi s epe rienced teacher, and it was only in 2006 that he managed to surpass hi m. urpris ing ly, Magnus was also unable to win in th e youn g age categories of th e European
ag nus Carlsen - Her f the Cmuter Era
Cham pionsh ips. But where now are those who fin ished ahead of hi m? In the history of chess this has also occurred with other players. For eample, up to the age of 1 6 the great Garry asparov was twice unable to demonstrate his superiority in class. I n the first stage of his work with Magnus, gdestein set the objective of reaching master level of play and he regarded in di vidual tournaments o nl y as stages towards the achievement of this aim. But already in 2004 he reali sed that he was un able to raise the youngster to a higher level, and the search for a new trainer began Contact with Garry asparov early in 2005 was not developed any further. But a mentor was foun d on candinavian soi l. ter contacts at a nu mber of jo int tourna ments in candinavia, the strong Danish grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen began working with the youngster. For a long time he had been keeping an eye on the young Norwegian and a year earlier he had commented in the press: te est had not known such a great talent since the time of Fischer, and at suc h a young age Carlsen was not i nferior to either arpov or asparov. t that time N ielsen was actively collaborating with Vishwanathan nand, and later, when he was having to work with both of them, he would sometimes enl ist Magnus to prepare Vishy for important events, such as, for eample, the match for the world champi ons hip with ramn ik in 2008. Working with N ielsen, Carlsen substan tially epanded s opening repertore, whi ch ha d to be greatly modernised. For eample, with Black he stopped playing the ings I ndian Defence, which di d not suit his style. t that ti me Magnu s was most successful in tense positions, in play m ove
by move, so to speak. lthough he was stil l a long way from the best players of this type, such as Fischer and asparov, he was nevertheless n otable for his sensibl e and logical play. True, at times his play looked somewhat simplified, sometimes automated, which was a consequence of fascination with computer preparation Not without reason, Garry asparov warned about the pointlessness of such play This is how he describes the essence of the play in socalled postmodernism chess: Nowadays most young players simply move th e pieces i n anticipation o f a mis take, like an icehockey team knocking the puck into the opponents zone, hopi ng that something will come of this. T he pu re pragmatism of the young shows itself in many games. Carlsen still needs to raise his u nderstanding to match up with h is energy an d optimi sm. But even so, Magnus did not develop li ke a com puter player, altho ug h the work with Nielsen, who made active use of the computer, seriously deveoped the ana lytical aspect of his talent, which is often called playing computer chess. Is this good or bad? Nowadays chess has changed, and the top pl ayers are not i ncl ined to phi losophise about the position; they need uickly and efficiently to find not so much the best move, as the optimal decision. This enables them for a lengthy time to maintain the tension o n the board and to set the opponent the ma imum discomfort in the solving of constant problems. The plan s for conducting the game in th is type of chess are far less concrete than d urin g the times of the great world cham pion s, who adhered to the c lassical style of pl ay, with the possib le eception of Mi khail Tal . But these plans are based on the inten
Mag ns Carlsen - Her the Cm ter Era
sty level of the posto ad are solved very frutful Magus possesses a atural exclusvely by cocrete measures, ot by gft for correctly evaluatg a posto, a very rare qualty, oe whch at a youg geeral reasog he wellkow traer Arshak etro age has bee possessed by may world sa, observg Carlsens play at the C champos I Kasarovs opo, style ouramet Wjk aa Zee 2004, was of play the Norwega yougster s close surprsed at how cofdetly the 13year to Karpov, Smyslov ad Capablaca But old boy could 'serve wth ether had, e sce Magnuss style of play s markedly play both 1 e4 ad 1 d4 wth equal suc dfferent from that of Kasparov, hs cotact cess At so youg a age, such a thg was wth the amous champon wll udoubt typcal only of Bors Spassky, the most u edly expad hs chess vews Usually a versal player of the Sovet Chess School, traner works wth hs pupl, but t s ulkely who (stretchg the pot somewhat) can that ths s what Kasparov does Hs role be regarded as the foreruer of the mod s rather that of a metor; there are thgs ern computer geerato Assessg Mag he can pass on to hs protg here s o uss play, Arshak Petrosan qute serously doubt that Carlsens openng repertore wll wared hs pupl, eter Leko 'Here s your be strengtheed-ths s a strog compo future rval, you should observe hs play ent of Garry Especally sce as yet the very carefully He s already qute a strog level of the yougsters opeg repertore postoal player, and he places hs peces does ot correspod to hs strength of play correctly -a rare qualty for such a age At the same tme t s mportat to lear a A ew stage Carlses chess bogra more productve orgasato of the work phy bega qute recetly- the summer g process, order to make maxmum of 2009, whe he began workng wth Garry use of hs atural talet I the opo of Arshak etrosa, Kasparov her frst meetg occurred 2004 at the festval Reykjavk, whe the workng wth Kasparov should ot so much prodgys play mpressed Kasparov ther chage the youg Norwegas opeg rapd game, whch the maestro saved only repertore, so much as shft hs motva wth great dffculty A year later Magus to to the maxmum level Ths s the ap was vted by Kasparov to Moscow for proach of real champos to the play lessos wth the famous traers Yur Ra every game, and the accompayg feelg zuvaev and Alexader Nkt But ths work of ones ow superorty ca be nstlled was ot contued Carlse decled to only by a great champo hs approach follow the program developed by the Rus to the fght was dsplayed October 2009 sa traers, ad decded to mrove hs at the supertouramet n Najg It was there that t became apparet what Mag chess depedetly However, wthout hghlyqualfed help nus has commo wth the champos t proved beyod Carlses powers to m -he bega to be feared! I saw Magus at may Olympads ad prove o the 'star level acheved n 2008 (hs offcal ratg reached 2776), ad the Europea Champoshps durg hs de assstace of Kasparov proved most op velopmet perod And the rst thg that portue For Garry the feld of actvty was strkes you (cdetally, ths s also the
Carlsen e f the Cmute Ea
Danaiv is h gn lac gy, bh in tna aaanc, an n lay ll th chamins, apa m Ka an Pt rsan, y ngic, smtims hi s K, h ha nmus intnal ngy, hch h as abl as t t chss ba Th ri Kasa an isch as lt as sn as th t aiv at th chss ba Casn cnucs ctain pats a ga as ug imctiby, in h sty Ka ams, but, in cntas t thm, h n y s nt avi sha vaiatins, but haply gs i hm n in icain th yung st's thugh scninc s ha h nus ay vy sha aias, ihu ing u all thi as, ic Kaspa aays aim t Ys, h a instancs n h plays su icia y, but ths is tyical yung lays, h n alays u n stan an sns th ang s assciat ith h n's cuay s Calsn, sssss suc h a lin g, an this is vy imant in hi gh lvl lay I is ah mat ha is p bgis t isay its ny m a ctan int in th gam, but h h can alray b isistib gain, this is a vivi chaac tistic, tyical Kav an t a ctain tn Fisch In cnt ims Magnus has gatly a t his pth ustanng f chss, h has bgun isplay an abi ity t in mnima an lan chancs in th sitin a h has clay bcm m fcul in his lay That is, h has mast th tansti n t tal chss, th ainss igh t th n W a sing th vlpmnt f a ght I sh ul b sai that, i n thi yuth, nith Fisch n
Ks Thy bcam this h h gh in h cnfinc an p thi ay an, l's ma n sc t th ac, an aa nss thi missin in t chss l W a als bsin g this hnmn ih th incas in h masty t yung Ngian, hi ch s lct i n an a bil iy t in th bst cisins in any sitin Bu Calsn s nsaabl m is a H is smultanusly als a cmut play - it is a h sam h im hat h l ays, as h ls h bs ptim al slt n th basis his n in i iua l agith m Calsn s nt a statgist an nt a thn - h is a m, i an gi n ni ng h sluin s sciic bs n is y smbs uut ga an amc statn csat a ig h ug his ay lacs anastc mvs an iscs, it is staggng n is lgi c an cmsu I t is as thugh h has n ns - th tyical chaact a nh n But has it is nt ju s a qu stn th is Nt ihu asn, at th cnclusin th Nanjing tunamnt 2009, th 2 n plac T av ca: as th inn amng ppl, but Calsn is si mly m anh plant!' Th yu ha an panain, hi ch s n t ma Calsn ngm a an y m un saab l hs bs quats h yung Nrgian a hat hav ti p snt in his gams Thugh th chnl gy h g ams a sh h mnt th ms taln lay m th Wst, an cma Magnus a h mai stag it h m Magus O cus, h a ay as cts his play an in th fram n b t is impssb ncmass