Corus 2008 Final Round
This evening has been pretty busy with winners press conference, interviews, closing ceremony and dinner.
Despite many draws at the top of the A-group, today's games featured lots of fighting.
Aronian finished his game against Polgar first. Not surprisingly he came out of the long Marshall duel as black in a drawish endgame.
If anyone, Polgar looked slightly better and played (too long) for a win and was worse when she put up the necessary defence to draw.
Magnus and Radjabov played the Torre system and Magnus accepted a fairly equal position in order to try to outplay his opponent in the middle game. And he was quite successful. Positionally he was clearly better with both rooks in the d-file and no apparent weaknesses.
However, Radjabov found the good defence Nd6-e8-f6 and despite his better position Magnus could not find anything decisive for the next few moves and as time ran out he had to steer into a more drawish endgame towards the time control.
After exchanging rooks and queens, the opposite colour bishop was easily drawn. Radjabov played on for another 20 moves desparately trying to catch up with the leaders but with 2 against 1 pawn it was a draw in the end.
As white, Anand sacked a pawn against Kramnik and the latter avoided repetition of moves only to be allow Anand a ferocious attack against the black king. However, Kramnik defended brilliantly and after Anand missed Rd1 and gave up his bishop instead, his advantage disappeared. With queens off the board, a draw was agreed in the rook + 4 pawns versus rook + bishop + 1 pawn ending, and the winners press conference could begin.
Both co-winners Aronian (1st on second tiebreak Sonnenborn-Berger) and Magnus expressed utter satisfaction with their performance in Corus, and Aronian also qualified for the Bilbao Grand Slam Final in September.
Congratulations to Levon, a deserved and sympathetic winner, and to Magnus for his strongest tournament performance ever! (+3 against avg 2742, TPR 2830, gained 17 rating points!)
Vishy Anand was close to winning the last game and also the whole tournament, but in the end he had to settle for shared 3rd with T.Radjabov.
In Corus B and C, leaders Movsesian and Caruana secured their lead and won clear 1st and will promote to A and B next year. Congratulations.
Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to the professional and friendly organisers, and to all the sponsors headed by main sponsor Corus.
Despite many draws at the top of the A-group, today's games featured lots of fighting.
Aronian finished his game against Polgar first. Not surprisingly he came out of the long Marshall duel as black in a drawish endgame.
If anyone, Polgar looked slightly better and played (too long) for a win and was worse when she put up the necessary defence to draw.
Magnus and Radjabov played the Torre system and Magnus accepted a fairly equal position in order to try to outplay his opponent in the middle game. And he was quite successful. Positionally he was clearly better with both rooks in the d-file and no apparent weaknesses.
However, Radjabov found the good defence Nd6-e8-f6 and despite his better position Magnus could not find anything decisive for the next few moves and as time ran out he had to steer into a more drawish endgame towards the time control.
After exchanging rooks and queens, the opposite colour bishop was easily drawn. Radjabov played on for another 20 moves desparately trying to catch up with the leaders but with 2 against 1 pawn it was a draw in the end.
As white, Anand sacked a pawn against Kramnik and the latter avoided repetition of moves only to be allow Anand a ferocious attack against the black king. However, Kramnik defended brilliantly and after Anand missed Rd1 and gave up his bishop instead, his advantage disappeared. With queens off the board, a draw was agreed in the rook + 4 pawns versus rook + bishop + 1 pawn ending, and the winners press conference could begin.
Both co-winners Aronian (1st on second tiebreak Sonnenborn-Berger) and Magnus expressed utter satisfaction with their performance in Corus, and Aronian also qualified for the Bilbao Grand Slam Final in September.
Congratulations to Levon, a deserved and sympathetic winner, and to Magnus for his strongest tournament performance ever! (+3 against avg 2742, TPR 2830, gained 17 rating points!)
Vishy Anand was close to winning the last game and also the whole tournament, but in the end he had to settle for shared 3rd with T.Radjabov.
In Corus B and C, leaders Movsesian and Caruana secured their lead and won clear 1st and will promote to A and B next year. Congratulations.
Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to the professional and friendly organisers, and to all the sponsors headed by main sponsor Corus.
Many thanks for inviting Magnus to the A group in 2008, and many thanks for a great chess festival!
Henrik Carlsen
Wijk, 27.01.2008
Comments:
Posted by: usafan
Congratulations, Magnus. Great show!
Posted by: Caissa
Although many people have already posted feedback in your previous update, I'll still take the opportunity to congratulate Magnus once again! Let's hope he gets invited to the Grand Slam tournament, even though Aronian was chosen due to his better tie-break score in Corus.
Posted by: Christian R
Gratulerer! Dette var veldig moro :D
Posted by: Niranjan
Hi MAgnus! Please blog on to my analysis at
www.chessindia.blogspot.com
I am niranjan 13yr old from India
Congratulations for u r superb performancE!
please mail me at
niranjanchess23@gmail.com
www.chessindia.blogspot.com
I am niranjan 13yr old from India
Congratulations for u r superb performancE!
please mail me at
niranjanchess23@gmail.com
Posted by: Seth
Thank you Magnus for the exhilarating chess and thank you Henrik for keeping up this blog!
And, of course, congrats to Magnus on the great performance.
I wonder, how does Magnus plan to celebrate this remarkable achievement?
And, of course, congrats to Magnus on the great performance.
I wonder, how does Magnus plan to celebrate this remarkable achievement?
Posted by: andy
What a tournament for Magnus!!
Congratulations
Congratulations
Posted by: Lars Olausen
Fantastisk og gratulerer!
Posted by: Per Christian Øen
Gratulerer med en fantastisk prestasjon !
Posted by: Manuel López
Mr. Carlsen:
Great performance of your kid. You must be so proud! Hope the best for Magnus in the next appointment in Morelia/Linares!
regards
Manuel
Great performance of your kid. You must be so proud! Hope the best for Magnus in the next appointment in Morelia/Linares!
regards
Manuel
Posted by: Nina
Gratulerer med en fantastisk turnering!!
Lykke til i Morelia/Linares
Lykke til i Morelia/Linares
Posted by: Theokratix
Hurra!
Utrolig spennende å følge med på, og fabelaktig at det gikk så godt! Gratulerer!
Takk for god blog, i en verden med altfor lite sjakknyheter, er det godt å ha, dessuten nært og fint med kommentarer fra innsiden.
Utrolig spennende å følge med på, og fabelaktig at det gikk så godt! Gratulerer!
Takk for god blog, i en verden med altfor lite sjakknyheter, er det godt å ha, dessuten nært og fint med kommentarer fra innsiden.
Posted by: Chuck
Magnus, you have transformed from Wonderboy to Superman!!
Congratulations on a fantastic achievement.
Keep up the great work, and we all look forward to a brilliant future.
Play with heart in Morelian/Linares!
Congratulations on a fantastic achievement.
Keep up the great work, and we all look forward to a brilliant future.
Play with heart in Morelian/Linares!
Posted by: Svein-Erik
Congratulations - what a performance! Did Magnus have a second in this tournament? Kjetil Lie?
Posted by: Vidar
Gratulerer Magnus !
Leser på TWIC at ratingprestasjonen din i Corus ble 2830 mens Aronian sin ble 2829. Etter mitt skjønn viser dette en liten kvalitetsforskjell i din favør !
Leser på TWIC at ratingprestasjonen din i Corus ble 2830 mens Aronian sin ble 2829. Etter mitt skjønn viser dette en liten kvalitetsforskjell i din favør !
Posted by: Henrik Christopher
Amazing performance by Magnus, I suppose he will get a spot in Bilbao no matter what, but I guess a win in Linares wont hurt anyways :)
And of course Magnus will be underrated in Linares with 2733 elo and will if he can play at the same level as he has for the last few months enter the top 5.
Bu the way, will he have a second with him to Morelia/Linares?
Good luck!
And of course Magnus will be underrated in Linares with 2733 elo and will if he can play at the same level as he has for the last few months enter the top 5.
Bu the way, will he have a second with him to Morelia/Linares?
Good luck!
Posted by: Greg
My hearty congratulations to Magnus for co-winning the Corus 2008!
Magnus played beautiful and fighting chess and I have to say he is fast becoming the darling of the Chess world.
I hope he maintains his very likeable and humble nature even after he breaches the 2800 mark - which he surely will.
With ambassadors like Magnus, perhaps the best days of Chess are still ahead of us.
Best of luck with rest of 2008 ...and Henrik, please do keep up the blog.
Looking forward to seeing Magnus on some Norwegian talk show as well.
The last Rost (?) show clip, now on youtube, is very funny!
Magnus played beautiful and fighting chess and I have to say he is fast becoming the darling of the Chess world.
I hope he maintains his very likeable and humble nature even after he breaches the 2800 mark - which he surely will.
With ambassadors like Magnus, perhaps the best days of Chess are still ahead of us.
Best of luck with rest of 2008 ...and Henrik, please do keep up the blog.
Looking forward to seeing Magnus on some Norwegian talk show as well.
The last Rost (?) show clip, now on youtube, is very funny!
Posted by: stein
Gratulerer med spillet og seieren!
Nå håper jeg bare at Magnus kan legge av seg uvanen med å besvare alle spørsmål med "well" eller "well OK".
Han er ikke alene om dette, de snakker jo sånn alle sammen, men desto bedre om han kunne komme ut av det!
Ser frem til pressekonferansene fra Morelia-Linares :-)
Nå håper jeg bare at Magnus kan legge av seg uvanen med å besvare alle spørsmål med "well" eller "well OK".
Han er ikke alene om dette, de snakker jo sånn alle sammen, men desto bedre om han kunne komme ut av det!
Ser frem til pressekonferansene fra Morelia-Linares :-)
Posted by: Simon
Congratulations...
Next step is...world champion!
All the best.
S
Next step is...world champion!
All the best.
S
Posted by: Sven
Congratulations on a superb result and thanks for all the joy we got from all the exciting chess. Having a father following him so close must be special indeed - keep up the good work Henrik!
Posted by: Vidar
Forresten. Gratulerer til deg og din familie også Henrik, som gjennom strategiske valg og handlinger har hjulpet Magnus frem til hvor han er i dag.
På Corus'
hjemmeside er det et flott sort/hvitt bilde av deg og Magnus som jeg synes reflekterer så fint det asketiske aspekt i det
å "drive med" sjakk, men også de valg som er blitt gjort for å føre Magnus fremover.
På Corus'
hjemmeside er det et flott sort/hvitt bilde av deg og Magnus som jeg synes reflekterer så fint det asketiske aspekt i det
å "drive med" sjakk, men også de valg som er blitt gjort for å føre Magnus fremover.
Posted by: Bjørn Smestad
Congratulations on a great tournament!
I'm a bit confused about the "1st on second tiebreak Sonnenborn-Berger" comment. The Corus homepage says Levon and Magnus are "the joint winners" of Corus 2008. Do Corus have tiebreaks or not?
The reason I'm wondering about this, is that the Grand Slam of chess (in Bilbao) supposedly will invite the "winner" of Corus and three other major tournaments. Do you have any indication of whether Magnus will be invited?
I'm a bit confused about the "1st on second tiebreak Sonnenborn-Berger" comment. The Corus homepage says Levon and Magnus are "the joint winners" of Corus 2008. Do Corus have tiebreaks or not?
The reason I'm wondering about this, is that the Grand Slam of chess (in Bilbao) supposedly will invite the "winner" of Corus and three other major tournaments. Do you have any indication of whether Magnus will be invited?
Posted by: karik
Onneksi olkoon!
Posted by: Xtra
wonderboy schmonderboy, hard work and a devilish instinct to win pays off, very impressive to play so many good games and not get depressed when making blunders! And very enjoying chess to watch, no really dull games as opposed to the older players. and also nice presentations on the chessvibes videos, im not sure I would do so well speaking english when I was below 18 years old.
corus doesnt use sonnenborn-berger tiebreak so magnus is co-winner, not second. so he did win corus. but for grand slam purpose he did not win. however both anand and kramnik are invited to the grand slam, but it is likely that they decline because of the world championship match which is taking place pretty close to that game. in that case the logical thing would be that magnus gets the invitation I guess.
corus doesnt use sonnenborn-berger tiebreak so magnus is co-winner, not second. so he did win corus. but for grand slam purpose he did not win. however both anand and kramnik are invited to the grand slam, but it is likely that they decline because of the world championship match which is taking place pretty close to that game. in that case the logical thing would be that magnus gets the invitation I guess.
Posted by: John Gonzales
Could it be that Magnus is ?the one?? His play reminds me of the late, great you know who. Fighting in every game to win. To those who meet him OTB, be afraid, be very afraid. Long live Magnus and chess!!
Posted by: Gegga
Regarding rating performance: Well, Aronian is higher rated than Magnus. Therefore Magnus played better opponents than Aronian. That is why his rating performance is higher than Aronian's. :-)
Posted by: Jon Paxman
Hi Henrik,
I thought you would be interested to know that your comments regarding IM Zong-Yuan Zhao in November have proved rather prophetic.
You wrote:
"All credits to the most likeable young Australian, who is clearly underrated and more than ready to play for his GM-norms in Europe this winter. "
blog.magnuschess.com/1195991801_tal_memorial__blitz_w.html
Since that time, Zhao has scored two GM norms finishing first in the First Saturday GM tournament, and another in Mondariz.
He is now on the cusp of his third in Gibraltar after victory over Nakamura and draws with Beliavsky, Gurevich and Areschenko.
I thought you would be interested to know that your comments regarding IM Zong-Yuan Zhao in November have proved rather prophetic.
You wrote:
"All credits to the most likeable young Australian, who is clearly underrated and more than ready to play for his GM-norms in Europe this winter. "
blog.magnuschess.com/1195991801_tal_memorial__blitz_w.html
Since that time, Zhao has scored two GM norms finishing first in the First Saturday GM tournament, and another in Mondariz.
He is now on the cusp of his third in Gibraltar after victory over Nakamura and draws with Beliavsky, Gurevich and Areschenko.
Posted by: Henrik Christopher
I'm afraid that is not correct Gegga, one if one 2800 player and a 2500 player played a 2600 player and they both got a draw out of it, they would both have a 2600 performance regardless of their own rating.
Posted by: Henrik Christopher
By the way, will Magnus be attending Gausdal this year?
Posted by: Ottar
Henrik
Christopher, Gegga is right. The Corus is a tournament where all play against all others. So Aronian have played against the same opposition as Magnus, except for the one game they played against eachother. In that last game Aronian met someone who is lower rated than the one Magnus met. Think about it and you figure it out :).
Christopher, Gegga is right. The Corus is a tournament where all play against all others. So Aronian have played against the same opposition as Magnus, except for the one game they played against eachother. In that last game Aronian met someone who is lower rated than the one Magnus met. Think about it and you figure it out :).
Posted by: Henrik Christopher
So the difference ceomes from Magnus facing Aronian rated 2739 while Aronian faced Magnus rated 2733. I can buy that one, thank you Ottar.
Posted by:
I sum vil nok påstanden " 2830 mens Aronian sin ble 2829. Etter mitt skjønn viser dette en liten kvalitetsforskjell i din favør !". Siden "the difference comes from Magnus facing Aronian rated 2739 while Aronian faced Magnus rated 2733"
;-)
;-)
Posted by: Alex
Hi Henrik!
Congrats to Magnus!
I´m from Brazil and Magnus here is a HERO!!!
:)
Congrats to Magnus!
I´m from Brazil and Magnus here is a HERO!!!
:)
Posted by: Henrik C.
All,
Thank you for all the enthusiasm and support!
Caissa,
I hope he is invited to Bilbao as well :-)
Niranjan,
Nice blog you?ve got there!
Seth,
With all his school mates / chess friends in Gibratar this week, I think he is going to delay the celebration.
Per Christian,
Hyggelig at storfamilien følger med!
Svein Erik, Henrik C.,
No, Magnus did not have a second in Wijk, but of course he continues to benefit from the work he has done together with Peter H. Nielsen and Kjetil Lie in 2007.
The plans for Morelia and Linares are not carved in stone yet.
Greg,
Thank you for those beautiful words.
stein,
Well, OK, vi får se, jeg tror egentlig mer på positive feedback enn korreksjoner :-)
Bjørn & others,
I?m a bit in doubt about the status of tie-break calculations in Wijk myself. Aronian the Corus trophy and the Grand Slam ticket, so they obviously does use it, but I think they play down the importance of this. Both co-winners were invited onstage during the closing ceremony.
Jon Paxman,
It?s great to hear that IM Zhao gets his deserved GM title soon! Give him my regards!
Henrik Chr.,
I doubt Magnus will play Gausdal this year, but maybe he?ll visit the site for some days together with his school mates.
Alex,
Good to hear from you!
Thank you for all the enthusiasm and support!
Caissa,
I hope he is invited to Bilbao as well :-)
Niranjan,
Nice blog you?ve got there!
Seth,
With all his school mates / chess friends in Gibratar this week, I think he is going to delay the celebration.
Per Christian,
Hyggelig at storfamilien følger med!
Svein Erik, Henrik C.,
No, Magnus did not have a second in Wijk, but of course he continues to benefit from the work he has done together with Peter H. Nielsen and Kjetil Lie in 2007.
The plans for Morelia and Linares are not carved in stone yet.
Greg,
Thank you for those beautiful words.
stein,
Well, OK, vi får se, jeg tror egentlig mer på positive feedback enn korreksjoner :-)
Bjørn & others,
I?m a bit in doubt about the status of tie-break calculations in Wijk myself. Aronian the Corus trophy and the Grand Slam ticket, so they obviously does use it, but I think they play down the importance of this. Both co-winners were invited onstage during the closing ceremony.
Jon Paxman,
It?s great to hear that IM Zhao gets his deserved GM title soon! Give him my regards!
Henrik Chr.,
I doubt Magnus will play Gausdal this year, but maybe he?ll visit the site for some days together with his school mates.
Alex,
Good to hear from you!
Posted by: Gegga
Henrik Christopher: I told you Magnus played higher rated opponents than Aronian. He played Aronian and "the others". Aronian played Magnus and "the others". :-)
Posted by: Øyvind A
Henrik,
Like Mig said on ICC, the tiebreaks are just to have someone to give the trophy to, otherwise it is a completely shared 1st place.
Congrats and GL in M/L. I'll be cheering
Like Mig said on ICC, the tiebreaks are just to have someone to give the trophy to, otherwise it is a completely shared 1st place.
Congrats and GL in M/L. I'll be cheering
Posted by: Wolfgang M.
Hallo Magnus, congratulations on co-winning Corus 2008. I devoutly believe that you are not only an excellent chess player but also a good soul. For both I admire you. Stay just the way you are!
If I had such a grandson I would be happy every day.
All the best to you and your father.
If I had such a grandson I would be happy every day.
All the best to you and your father.
Posted by: schlaufuchs
What a great result. Congrats to Magnus.
I wish you all the best for your next tounament in Morelia Linares. Looking at the opponents I guess it is a real challange. But I think you are able to do pretty well there as well.
Still a plus score there would be a great result.
I wish you all the best for your next tounament in Morelia Linares. Looking at the opponents I guess it is a real challange. But I think you are able to do pretty well there as well.
Still a plus score there would be a great result.
Posted by: ENPASSANT
Will Magnus play in the Grand Prix ?
Posted by: Gegga
Yes, he will play in the GP.
Trackback
Trackback-URL for this entry:
http://app.blogg.no/trackback/ping/5671933
http://app.blogg.no/trackback/ping/5671933
