The Tal Memorial is an annual chess tournament played in Moscow from 2006 to 2018 with the exception of 2015, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal (1936–1992).
101-541: Many of the world's strongest players compete. In 2014 it was held only as a blitz tournament and the classical event was replaced by the TASHIR Petrosian Memorial. It returned in October 2016. The inaugural Tal Memorial was held as a ten-player single round robin event with a classical time control of two hours for the first 40 moves, one hour for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the rest of
202-613: A "proper" Championship (given the qualification scheme), and it left the decision to the corresponding internal Commission. For 2010, it was organized in conjunction with FIDE from the beginning. However, in neither case was an arbiter's report presented to the next FIDE Congress or General Assembly, as would be expected for a World Championship, and indeed occurred previously with the 2008 Blitz Championship. The 2012 Arbiter's report refers to 7th World Blitz Championship thus seeming to imply that 2009 and 2010 events were indeed Championships; although this report can be faulted for referring to
303-761: 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
404-635: 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
505-446: 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
606-584: 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
707-437: A game of rapid chess are, according to FIDE , more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes. Rapid chess can be played with or without time increments for each move. When time increments are used, a player can automatically gain, for instance, ten more seconds on the clock after each move. When time increments are used, the total time per player for a 60-move game must be more than 10 minutes but less than 60 minutes. Rapid chess
808-893: 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
909-625: 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
1010-615: 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
1111-614: 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
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#17327912162151212-479: A small increment, the time odds need to be larger to keep the situation balanced: Norway Chess has used 10 minutes to 7 minutes. Some tournaments utilise a bidding system for individual players of each match to decide how little time they would be willing to play with as black. The player with the lower bid for each match receives the black pieces with draw odds. This system minimises the perceived unfairness of Armageddon time controls that are decided in advance before
1313-610: A special clock that beeped every ten seconds to indicate the time to move. Players had to use their full ten seconds and move on the bell. In 1988, Walter Browne formed the World Blitz Chess Association and its magazine Blitz Chess , which folded in 2003. In some chess tournaments and matches, the final standings of the contestants are decided by a series of games with ever-shortening control times as tie breaks. In this case, two games may be played with each time control, as playing with black or white pieces
1414-528: A tournament with colours randomly allocated. Such an idea is reminiscent of the logical use case of fair cake-cutting . Armageddon chess does not scale well to slower time controls, as even in rapid the necessary time odds would need to be too large; in correspondence events or engine vs. engine events, it is simply unworkable. Larry Kaufman , Kai Laskos , and Stephen Pohl have tested using engines ( Stockfish , Komodo , and Houdini ) an alternative solution, allowing for equal times: Black has draw odds, but
1515-573: 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
1616-802: A two-second increment is preferred. In the case of time increments, the total time per player for a 60-move game must be 10 minutes or less (hence averaging 10 seconds or less per move). For the FIDE World Blitz Championship, each player has 3 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move, starting from move 1. Bullet chess games have less than three minutes per player, based on a 40-move game; some chess servers rate one-minute-per-player games separately. Lower time controls are called "hyperbullet" and "ultrabullet" for 30-second-per-player and 15-second-per-player games, respectively. Other common time-control options for bullet games include two minutes with one-second increment, one minute with
1717-445: A two-second increment, or one minute with one-second increment. The term lightning can also be applied to this variant. The use of increment in bullet chess is primarily to avoid issues with latency , as well to discourage playing from a lost position in order to win on time (also known as "dirty flagging"). Online bullet chess avoids practical problems associated with live bullet chess, particularly players accidentally knocking over
1818-402: 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
1919-506: 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
2020-411: Is also the top-ranked classical chess player, reigning World Rapid Chess Champion , as well as the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion . Carlsen is also the top-ranked rapid chess player. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) divides time controls for chess into "classical" time controls , and the fast chess time controls. As of July 2014 , for master-level players (with an Elo of 2400 or higher)
2121-419: Is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players. As of July 2024, the top-ranked blitz chess player in the open section is Magnus Carlsen from Norway , who
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#17327912162152222-518: Is more common in blitz and rapid versions. Play is governed by the FIDE Laws of Chess, except as modified by a specific tournament. However, in case of a dispute during a tournament, either player may stop the clock and call the arbiter to make a final and binding judgment. Chess boxing uses a fast version for the chess component of the sport, granting 9 minutes for each side with no increment. The rules for fast chess differ between FIDE and
2323-445: Is not allowed to castle short. Engine tests suggest that this is fair, although it has yet to be tried in practice by human grandmasters. Before the advent of digital clocks, five minutes per side was the standard for blitz or speed chess. Before the introduction of chess clocks, chess club "rapid transit" tournaments had referees who called out every ten seconds. The Washington Divan (2445 15th St. NW) had regular weekly games and used
2424-428: Is not equally liked among players. The short time controls in fast chess reduce the amount of time available to consider each move, and may result in a frantic game, especially as time runs out. A player whose time runs out automatically loses, unless the opposing player has insufficient material to checkmate , in which case the game is a draw. "Losing on time" is possible at even the longer, traditional time controls, but
2525-491: Is reduced by comparison, meaning that players will either lose or gain (or rarely both) fewer rating points compared to a solely Quick or Regular game. Any time control over 65 minutes counts under the Regular rating only. All of these time controls include the delay added to the time control, such as a 60-minute game with a 5-second delay, which is still considered to be a 60-minute game, not a 65-minute game. As of March 2013,
2626-694: 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
2727-490: 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
2828-577: 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
2929-661: The Plus GSM World Blitz Chess Cup, which has since been referred to as a world championship, albeit inconsistently. The second FIDE-recognized World Blitz Championship was won by Alexander Grischuk in 2006 in Rishon Lezion , Israel; the third World Blitz Championship was won by Vassily Ivanchuk in 2007. The 4th World Blitz Championship was held in Almaty in 2008, and it was won by Leinier Dominguez Pérez of Cuba. In 2009 and 2010, there
3030-554: The USCF . With the USCF, a game with more than 10 minutes affects the Quick rating, and the upper bounds for this rating is capped at 65 minutes per player. As 30-minute to 65-minute-per-player time controls are also under the Regular rating system, these games affect both the Quick and Regular ratings and are known as dual-rated games. However, the K factor (a statistic used for ratings)
3131-493: The 2005 Rapid to Cap d'Agde , but it was not held. Teimour Radjabov won the 2006 7th Cap d’Agde Rapid Chess Tournament , but this had no FIDE status. The yearly Frankfurt or Mainz events hosted by the Chess Tigers (2001–2010) were considered as the traditional rapid chess championship, and it often received world championship billing in the absence of an annual FIDE-recognized championship. In its last two years,
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3232-577: The 2009 Grenkeleasing World Rapid Chess Championship in Mainz was won by Levon Aronian , and the 2010 Open GRENKE Rapid World Championship in Mainz was won by Gata Kamsky . The Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) also held a World Rapid Cup in some of these years, and the annual Amber chess tournament (1992 to 2011) also had a rapid segment. There was also occasionally a Eurotel Trophy or Intel Grand Prix event, each of which would be of high stature. The first unofficial Speed Chess Championship of
3333-789: 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
3434-610: 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
3535-521: 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
3636-517: 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
3737-650: The FIDE World Cup of Rapid Chess (organized by the French Chess Federation in Cannes) was held contemporaneously to the Melody Amber rapids (thus splitting the top players between the two events), and it is sometimes considered to be official, although it was never named as a "championship" but rather a "world cup". Viswanathan Anand won the official FIDE 2003 Rapid Championship at the 6th Cap d'Agde event. After no bids in 2004, FIDE optioned
3838-786: 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
3939-667: 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
4040-719: 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
4141-531: The USCF has also added a separate Blitz class rating for any time control between 5 and 10 minutes per player. It is not possible for a game to be dual rated as both Blitz and Quick. Unlike Quick chess, 5 minutes can also mean game 3+2 (three minutes with a two-second increment ). Both official and unofficial FIDE-sponsored world championships for fast chess have been held since the 1970s. In 1987, Garry Kasparov (the World Champion of classical chess at
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4242-646: The Women's Rapid Championship. Anna Muzychuk won the Women's Blitz Championship. In 2015, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held in Berlin, Germany. Magnus Carlsen won the Rapid Championship. He also received the privilege of playing at a dedicated Board 1 the whole time, not having to move while others did. The given reason was that Norwegian television was sponsoring the event, and moving
4343-554: The Women's Rapid Championship. Valentina Gunina won the Women's Blitz Championship. In 2013, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the Rapid Championship. Lê Quang Liêm won the Blitz Championship. In 2014, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Dubai, UAE and Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (Women's Championships). Magnus Carlsen won both Rapid and Blitz Championships. Kateryna Lagno won
4444-656: The World (or World Blitz Championship) was held in Herceg Novi on 8 April 1970. This was shortly after the first USSR versus the rest of the world match (in Belgrade), in which ten of these players also competed. Eleven Grandmasters and one International Master played a double round-robin tournament . Bobby Fischer won first place, with a score of 19 points out of a possible 22. Fischer scored seventeen wins, four draws , and one loss (to Viktor Korchnoi ). Mikhail Tal
4545-598: 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
4646-493: 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
4747-699: 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
4848-598: 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
4949-591: 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
5050-638: 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
5151-406: The classical part did not take place and the Tal Memorial became solely a blitz tournament with the time control of 4 minutes plus 2 seconds per move in a double round robin of twelve players. In case of a tie the placings were decided by: number of games played with Black, number of wins, direct encounter, Koja co-efficient and Sonneborn-Berger score. In 2010 Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin shared
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#17327912162155252-472: The clock. Common times are six minutes for White and five minutes for Black or five minutes for White and four minutes for Black. This can also be played with a small increment. If there is no increment, then difficult questions arise when players must try to flag in trivial draws, which happened in the Women's World Chess Championship 2008 in the match between Monika Soćko and Sabina-Francesca Foisor . With
5353-566: The end of March 2016, they gave Agon six months to find an organizer for the 2017 event. At the Baku General Assembly in September, it was announced they had extended this deadline until the end of 2016. The issue of the non-payment of the players for the IMSA Mind Games was also brought up. Magnus Carlsen This is an accepted version of this page Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990)
5454-403: 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
5555-458: 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
5656-535: 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
5757-434: 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
5858-402: 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
5959-452: The game and 30 seconds added per move from move 60. The time control changed for subsequent editions to 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes with 30 seconds added per move from move one. Draws could not be agreed before move 40. For 2012 and 2013, a round-robin blitz tournament was held in order to decide the pairings for the main event with time control of 3 minutes plus two seconds per move. In 2014,
6060-438: The heavy cameras around would be too much hassle. After his first-round draw, he should not have been on Board 1 until Round 8 when he caught the leaders. Carlsen himself later called this "weird" that Board 1 would be reserved for him. Alexander Grischuk won the Blitz Championship. In 2015, FIDE did not receive the expected 80,000 euros from Agon 's organization of the event, causing a budget shortfall of 55,000 euros. It
6161-427: The pieces. Playing online also allows premoving , or committing to a move before the opponent has taken their turn. A variant of blitz chess where a drawn game is counted as a win for Black. This guarantees the game ends decisively, so it can be used as a final tiebreaker game. It was used in tournaments such as the Chess World Cup as a tiebreaker. To compensate for giving Black draw odds, White has more time on
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#17327912162156262-604: 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
6363-420: The rapid championship of 2012 as being the 1st World Rapid Championship , which at the very least forgets Anand's official Rapid Championship in 2003. The balance of the evidence favors these Blitz Championships as being counted as official. In 2011, there was no official blitz championship held, but FIDE was involved with the Sport Accord Mind Games blitz won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave , with Hou Yifan winning
6464-403: The recently held World Chess Championship 2016 won the championship title albeit due to a better tiebreak over the second place Carlsen. Karjakin defeated Carlsen in their individual encounter. Carlsen was once again reserved board 1 for both championships. Anna Muzychuk also from Ukraine, won both the 2016 Women World Rapid and Blitz Championshipship. At the FIDE Presidential Board meeting at
6565-414: The regulations state that at least 120 minutes per player (based on a 60-move game) must be allocated for a game to be rated on the "classical" list; for lower-rated players, this can be reduced to as little as 60 minutes. Games played faster than these time controls can be rated for rapid and blitz if they comply with the time controls for those categories. Players of fast and blitz chess are exempt from
6666-440: The requirement to record their moves onto a scoresheet (A.2). The arbiter or their assistant is responsible for the recording in competitions (A.3.1.2, B.3.1.2). Electronic recording is preferred. A fast chess game can be further divided into several categories, which are primarily distinguished by the selection of time controls. Games may be played with or without time increments per move. Time controls for each player in
6767-443: The same number of points, but due to his loss to Gelfand was awarded third place on tie-break. The average Elo was 2757 (Category XXI). The 2011 competition was held from 16 to 25 November. Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik; all four rated 2800+ at the time of the tournament participated. Seven out of the world's top ten players participated in the tournament, and its average Elo of 2776 (Category 22)
6868-421: 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
6969-446: 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
7070-408: 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
7171-502: The time) and Nigel Short played a 6-game exhibition Rapid match ("Speed Chess Challenge") at the London Hippodrome, won by Kasparov 4–2. The 1988 victory by Anatoly Karpov in Mazatlan was officially called the World Active Championship , but FIDE changed the word 'active' to 'rapid' soon after. In 1992, FIDE held the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Budapest, Hungary. Both Rapid and Blitz Championships were won by Susan Polgar . The 2001 victory by Garry Kasparov in
7272-621: The title as their tiebreaks were all equal. [REDACTED] Jobava , [REDACTED] Karjakin (both — 12 points out of 18), [REDACTED] Radjabov , [REDACTED] Jakovenko , [REDACTED] Bologan and [REDACTED] Timofeev (all — 11½ out of 18) qualified as the winners of 40-players 9-round (two games per round) qualification tournament taken place 16–17 November 2006. [REDACTED] Grischuk , [REDACTED] Movsesian (both — 12½ points out of 18), [REDACTED] Grachev , [REDACTED] Karjakin and [REDACTED] Eljanov (all — 12 out of 18) qualified as
7373-661: 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
7474-443: 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
7575-471: 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
7676-412: The winners of 60-players qualification blitz tournament taken place 27–28 August 2008. [REDACTED] Carlsen and [REDACTED] Karpov were invited by the organizers. The 2009 competition was held from 5 to 14 November, with 10 of the 13 highest rated players participating: Viswanathan Anand , then the World Champion, Levon Aronian , Vladimir Kramnik , former world champion, Magnus Carlsen ,
7777-433: The women's division. Since 2012, FIDE have held joint World Rapid and Blitz Championships most years, with some years Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championships also being held. In 2012, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships were held at Batumi, Georgia and Astana, Kazakhstan (Women's Championships) Sergey Karjakin won the Rapid Championship. Alexander Grischuk won the Blitz Championship. Antoaneta Stefanova won
7878-553: 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
7979-450: The world champion of 2013, Peter Leko , Vasyl Ivanchuk , Boris Gelfand , Alexander Morozevich , Ruslan Ponomariov and Peter Svidler . The Elo average was 2761 (Category XXI), which was the highest ever reached by the tournament, trailing only the 2011, 2012, and 2013 tournaments. It was won solidly by Vladimir Kramnik with a +3 score, i.e. three wins and six draws . Ivanchuk and Carlsen shared second place with +2. The 2010 competition
8080-562: The world's top ten players participated. The Elo average for the tournament is 2777, making it a Category 22 event and one of the highest rated tournaments of all time. A blitz chess tournament on June 12 preceded the main event with a separate prize fund to determine the numbering of the players in the main tournament. In 2014 the classical event was replaced by the TASHIR Petrosian Memorial, sponsored by Tashir Group, which took place from 3 to 11 November. This tournament
8181-503: 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
8282-609: 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
8383-508: Was a Category 22 event (average Elo rating of 2776.4). A blitz chess tournament on June 7 preceded the main with a separate prize fund to determine the numbering of the players in the main tournament. The Tal Memorial 2013 took place from 13 to 24 June 2013, with participants Magnus Carlsen , Vladimir Kramnik , Viswanathan Anand , Hikaru Nakamura , Sergey Karjakin , Fabiano Caruana , Alexander Morozevich , Boris Gelfand , Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , and Dmitry Andreikin . As in 2011, seven of
8484-611: Was a category 20 event (average Elo rating of 2748) and it was won by Alexander Grischuk . On 13 and 14 November the Tal Memorial Blitz tournament took place in Sochi , during the World Chess Championship 2014 . It was a 12-player double round-robin event and it was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov . Fast chess Fast chess , also known as speed chess , is a type of chess in which each player
8585-667: Was a distant second, 4½ points behind. Fischer won both games against each of Tal, Tigran Petrosian , and Vasily Smyslov ; all of them were past World Champions . By 1971, the Russian and Moscow five-minute championships had been going several years, with Tal, Bronstein , and Petrosian all having success. That year, Fischer played in a blitz tournament organised by the Manhattan Chess Club , and scored 21½/22. There were also strong tournaments in Bugojno (in 1978), which
8686-415: 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
8787-654: Was an event called the World Blitz Championship , held after the Tal Memorial in Moscow in November. It was won by Magnus Carlsen (in 2009) and Levon Aronian (in 2010), with the Women's Championship being won by Kateryna Lagno (in 2010). There is no record of a 2009 blitz event in the FIDE Calendar for that year; however, the October 2009 FIDE Congress discussed whether it should be
8888-620: Was at the time the highest in history. Both Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian finished on 5½/9 (a +2 score, two wins and seven draws). Due to the tie-break rules of the tournament Magnus Carlsen was declared the winner because he played the black pieces five times, while Levon Aronian played the black pieces only four times. The Tal Memorial 2012 took place from 7 to 18 June 2012, with participants Magnus Carlsen , Levon Aronian , Vladimir Kramnik , Teimour Radjabov , Alexander Grischuk , Hikaru Nakamura , Fabiano Caruana , Alexander Morozevich , Evgeny Tomashevsky and Luke McShane . This tournament
8989-523: Was called active chess by FIDE between 1987 and 1989. For the FIDE World Rapid Championship, each player has 15 minutes plus 10 seconds additional time per move starting from move 1. Time controls for each player in a game of blitz chess are, according to FIDE , 10 minutes or less per player. This can be played with or without an increment or delay per move, made possible by the adoption of digital clocks. Three minutes with
9090-487: 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
9191-518: 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
9292-541: Was held from 4 to 18 November, at the GUM Exhibition Hall in Red Square, Moscow. Many of the world's top players participated: in order of Elo rating , Levon Aronian , Vladimir Kramnik , Alexander Grischuk , Shakhriyar Mamedyarov , Sergey Karjakin , Pavel Eljanov , Boris Gelfand , Hikaru Nakamura , Alexei Shirov , and Wang Hao . Aronian and Karjakin shared first place with 5½/9. Mamedyarov scored
9393-624: Was later announced that approximately 200,000 euros were lost on the event. In 2016, the World Rapid Championships were held at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar. Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine won the 2016 World Rapid Championship, while Carlsen, after defending his title with difficulty in 2015, came in third place. In the Blitz Championship, Sergey Karjakin of Russia and contender in
9494-527: 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
9595-650: 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
9696-543: 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
9797-428: 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
9898-537: 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
9999-451: 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
10100-586: Was won by Karpov; and Nikšić (in 1983), which was won by Kasparov. In 1987, the S.W.I.F.T. super-tournament was held in Brussels, Belgium; first prize was shared by Garry Kasparov and Ljubomir Ljubojević . The first FIDE-sponsored World Blitz Championship was won by Mikhail Tal in 1988. In 1992, FIDE held the Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Budapest, Hungary. Both Rapid and Blitz Championships were won by Susan Polgar . In 2000, Anand won
10201-403: 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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