Magnus Carlsen

One week after the Candidate Matches in Elista it is fair to say that the overall response has been highly positive. The matches were exciting and offered a lot of fighting chess and very few short draws.
Congratulations to winners L.Aronian, P.Leko, B.Gelfand and A.Grischuk!
The fact that the top seeds went through gives a lot of credit both to the match format and the FIDE Elo system. Hopefully the next World Cup cycle will prove as fair, enjoyable and exciting.  

The matches in Elista was rewarding for Magnus in many ways. One of the least known is the improvement in pool following extensive training at the entertainment center in Elista. Did he beat Kjetil? Well,... it is not a fair question taking into account the fact that Kjetil has a pool board in his living room back home.

The support from second Kjetil Lie during the match against Aronian has received much well-deserved praise, but a less known fact is that he even visited the fantastic temple in Elista to perform the three ritual turnings of the "mani" praying for success.

An interesting feature related to the Candidate Matches is the FIDE rating policy. Will it be rated July 1st?

Following the April 1 farce (ending well though), we would have hoped that FIDE had made a clear rating policy statement and published it broadly well in advance of the July 1 list.

H.Carlsen