World number one Magnus Carlsen is only 19 years old - but he became a Grandmaster of Chess at the ripe old age of 13 years old back in 2004! A Grandmaster title has to be won with something called "norms" - a 2600 performance rating in tournaments of a certain length, usually three events thus three norms. Magnus is the third "oldest" in the record books - the youngest person to ever become a Grandmaster is Sergey Karjakin who accomplished this amazing achievement when he was 12 years old. Simply amazing. Chess, Mathematics and Music are the three fields in which Child prodigies can happen - young people who develop their mental abilities and excel at their respective field or fields irrespective of their age and physical development.
Magnus Carlsen is now the highest rated player in the World at 2810 and is rated higher even than World Champion Anand Vishwanathan - who is third on the list! Right now Magnus Carlsen is leading the A section of Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands by half a point with one round to go. To "tune" into to how he is doing I recommend that you visit either of these excellent websites:
TWIC
CHESSBASE
For more information about the "Mozart of Chess" please feel free to go to Wikipedia's coverage HERE. A lot of people have Magnus pegged as the next World Chess Champion and he may even break Gary Kasparov's record of youngest ever - if he is given the chance! I look forward to many years of games from Magnus Carlsen as he is an upstanding and well balanced young man. A role model for all of our players!
- Chess Coach Sean Tobin
POSTED ON 1/30/2010 @ 6:20 PM
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