Magnus Carlsen

I could not agree more.

Stand for what you believe is right! Don't let the fools at FIDE believe that they can do whatever they want without any consequences. I fully support your decision, although it's sad not to see Magnus in future GP events.

The correct choice. Congrats on your courage. Hopefully the others also pull out. The weaker ones won't of course but if the greats do then it'll be a fine reflection of Fides Feeble handling of this situatation.
The Chess Population...(fans) totally understand. Perhaps Magnus can coax Kasparov into a match next year. I'm sure the money would be there and It'd be a great experience for magnus.
Good luck
Mike Magnan

Correct decision by you...

.And finally someone took some protest action against FIDE's uncontrollable rule.

So I completely understand the step taken. Hope more players follow.Then FIDE will either have to live with some title which has less value than the KO-title from Libya 2004 (which itself was quite worthless), or it will come to reasoning and finally get a stable cycle.

Though, to be honest, I doubt they will ever get reasonable. They didn't get it in the last couple of decades, so why suddenly now?

Well done! This will set an example to other players who may have been sitting on the fence about taking drastic actions. Hopefully this will generate enough pressure on FIDE to revert the changes, or to try to save face somehow by delaying the changes. Whatever happens to the Grand Prix, we will all get to follow Magnus in top level events and he will get top level matching, so nothing is lost in that respect. It's just a shame if this FIDE nonsense delays the fight for the world championship title.

It is important not to look back, the descision is taken!
Good luck to Magnus on the coming fights :)

God beslutning. Bra noen tar et klart standpunkt til idiotien.

Lykke til i Gjøvik og Corus!

A courageous, sound and sensible decision because
Magnus, as a professional,
is obviously committed to the long haul.

Now Magnus can concentrate on taking his chess to the next level - when, hopefully,
no one can afford to treat him poorly.

Best wishes for 2009

Bravo, Henrik and Magnus!
What FIDE did with their Grand Prix is just crazy, and unacceptable.

Hello from New York! Good luck in 2009 Magnus! I watch your games on chessbase through fritz 9.

Does this mean Magnus is withdrawing from the entire cycle or just the Grand Prix?

Anyway, good decision not to bow for those criminals.

The right decision. If several others join you-Aronian, Wang Yue, Rajabov-the effect would be explosive.

The only right decision one can make.
Cangratulation for your
courage, Henrik and Magnus Carlsen! Hopefully now start other top players too to fight the FIDE .

Congratulation on a wise decision! Hopefully other GP participants will follow your example. Time to see who puts fair play first.

Hi Henrik

I totally agree with your stance here.
The reply you received from George Mastrokoukos was, transparently, unadulterated bullshit.

Firstly, he tries to argue that the changes are not detrimental to participants in the GP.
This is clearly plain wrong.

He then proceeds to justify the decision based on the possibility that the GP series could be truncated to less than the scheduled 6 tournaments.
If this were to be the case, then the proposed WC qualification would be impossible anyway.
The scheduled participants of a cancelled event would have played one less event than those who were not scheduled to compete in that event.
How on earth do you work out the top 2/3 in this case???

I was also amused that FIDE placed the clause 17.3 "Everything in these regulations can be completely ignored by FIDE on the whim of Kirsan" was categorised under "17. Payment of Prize Money and Stipends".
Maybe they didn't want this clause to get too much attention?!

I really hope this mess gets sorted out soon, good luck to the Calsens in 2009.

Hilsen
Neil

kudos and respect!

And the nerve of stating that the agreements are not biased, is almost enough alone to scuttle those corrupt and incompetent FIDE morons.

Hello Henrik and Magnus,

I want to support your decision as well as many others did. Being the first to make such a decision among the top players is of course a tough thing to do, but you're totally in your right.

Hopefully other top players will follow your example and FIDE can finally realise they are not to behave with the top players like they have been behaving the last decade.

Good luck with the coming tournaments and I might spot you in Wijk aan Zee!

Tu as bien raison,Magnus,le génie des "Echecs"...!

I absolutely agree with you. FIDE is a shame, and chess world need the new organization. All the best!

FIDE has outplayed itself. Just as we were getting our hopes up again after years of uncertainty, deceits and unpredictability, they show their true self again. There's probably noone wanting back the schism of two organizations, but FIDE surely is not an organization working for the benefit of chess players or chess fans. I fully endorse your withdrawal and hope the serious, good players follow suit! Now is the time for dethronement of FIDEs leadership!

Henrik,

Not only the decision is wise and the right one to make, but the way you and Magnus have dealt with this entire matter is impeccable, and a model for everybody else.

Best wishes,
Alexandru

Alex Shirov's open letter and your decision to leave the GP series is probably the best way to demonstrate that the chess we all love depends on players and not on administrative fools from tell-me-again-where.
Congratulations.
A passionate chess fan.

The chess world needs Kirsans sudden change of plans as much as a hole in the head

Magnus is doing the right thing. Absolutely

To quote Bob Marley: Get up, stand up. Don`t give up the fight !

I can just agree with the other comments:
Well done!
Perhaps this is the only way to show FIDE that we need to have clear and fair regulations and not such nonsens.
Good luck!

I fully support your decision to withdraw for the Grand Prix. It's about time FIDE gets told "where the cupboard is supposed to stand" ;-)

White text on black background really strains my eyes. Can you do something about that ?

Absolutely the correct decision to withdraw from the GP. Once again FIDE shows how incompetent and incapable they are. I hope all the players follow your example, as otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if FIDE found some stupid reason to punish Magnus in any way. But I guess they wouldn't stand a chance in court if it went that far.

As someone else also asked, is Magnus also withdrawing from the rest of the cycle (meaning the World Chess Cup) or just the GP series?

Good luck in 2009, look forward to some exciting chess!

I Love your blog first time posting long time reader.

I agree with your decision but I think maybe the reality is not that FIDE is trying to cause troubles but that There just is not enough money with the recent global financial meltdown. money has always been a problem

maybe they should televise chess in america through espn2 like billiards and poker maybe with 10 min blitz events first (for short attention spans)
with commentary to explain to people what is happening. then a fan base and capital could build maybe start with 2 am slots and build up to prime time events

You are right in your stance to withdraw and FIDE was only trying to salvage what to me is a sinking ship and well they failed.
FIDE should not change the rules halfway through without an agreement with all of the players involved.

also i like the white text on black background but maybe there could be two themes on the website where if you click a button the theme changes to black on white for those who want that. i've seen sites like that.

All my support to you Magnus and let me tell you I could not agree more on your decision.
Someone had to stand up and say no to all the mess FIDE is in organizing chess... to say the least...

Of course many people don´t speak their mind maybe because they depend on what positions they are in Federations etc..etc...

The GM world was never united... only few.

Fischer, although not so good in many other aspects of his life, was one who in the 60´s had the courage to stand up and say no to some people and powefull organizations.

My respects GM Magnus Carlsen.

Slutt å være så barnslig. Ta det som en mann og spill på! Var dette Magnus' egen avgjørelse eller var det fatter'n som satte foten ned i harme?

Hilsen Espebjørn

Espebjørn Aspetveit är ute och cyklar. Du är ju nu vuxen och fattar förståss egna beslut. Och det tror jag du gjort sedan länge! FIDE är FIDE och ska man ha med dem att göra så är man utlämnad åt godtycke. Tycker man inte som dem så är man emot dem. Tartakower skulle ha spelat och aldrig klagat. Men du är inte han...

Det ända sorgerliga med detta är att du för tillfället avskriver möjligheterna att bli världsmästare. Så gjorde och Fischer. Sen krossade han dem när han väl fick chansen. 6-0,6-0,6-2 rena rama tennissiffrorna!

Dear Henrik, I have posted a lot in russian forums these days, so I'll try to make a brief summary for English speaking readers. I have mixed feelings about your decision. It's good to feel that chessplayers are no longer FIDE's poppets and that Kirsan's and Makro's personal behaviour should change as quickly as possible. But I still wonder what's Kirsan's fault in what happened with Grand Prix when it was Borg and Kok's project. And what is wrong with Russian winter for Norwegians. And why not to look for a more suitable compromise if your critisim is not directed at the change itself.
On the other hand FIDE need to take a real lesson about the transparecy and fairness and I'd like to thank you for giving it to them.
Alexei Shirov

I truly hope that FIDE will negotiate, given Magnus's, Shirov's, and now Aronian's reactions.

But I don't
think they will. They will bunker down because they don't in fact represent players - they are all about power - and by that I mean that they will become more aggressive the more they are challenged. They are corrupt and self serving. Worse, they seem to have no intention to listen to others, acting like tyrants.

In history, regimes like FIDE do not compromise graciously, they seem to prefer to drag everything they can down the drain with themselves.

But now that Aronian and Shirov are also speaking out with Magnus, maybe there's a chance.

I support your decision to withdraw from GP series. The things which FIDE does now (including this change of rules in the middle of the competition) and has been doing for the last decade, are unacceptable. The words "Chess as a sport, chess as an attraction to sponsors, the situation of top chess players in general and the Chess World Championship cycle, are in our opinion best and only served by a system which is transparent, fair and
predictable" are absolutely right. The protest, in my opinion, is necessary, especially from elite players. Hopefully this decision will exert influence to the opinions of others. Also I hope that you will have enough suitable tournaments anyway.
Best regards!
Andrey Deviatkin
P.S. I tried to send the comment several times, but without success. Perhaps I'll be lucky now (if so, please erase the P.S.)

All (or more precisely most of you :-) ),
thank you for your support and encouragement!
Håkon,
the decision taken by Magnus to withdraw from the GP does not, for the time being, apply to the 2011 cycle in general.
Espebjørn,
min humoristiske sans er ikke godt nok utviklet. Du må nok være mer tydelig mht intensjonen når du lager slike spøkefulle innslag :-)
Alexei Shirov,
thank you for your comments!
I would like to respond briefly on some of them;
- The two organisers that have cancelled their GP events are firstly a friend of Kirsan (Montreux) and a secondly represented by a FIDE VP from Qatar (Doha). Taking into account the control FIDE has over GlobalChess, Kirsan's ownership in the company and the link FIDE - Doha/Montreux organisers, we do put the responsibility mostly on FIDE (and not on G.Borg in GlobalChess).
- As Norwegians we don't mind Russian winters and Magnus has indeed been to Khanty-Mansyisk twice and in Moscow many times during the winter.
As communicated in more detail to FIDE after the change from Doha to Elista our main concern was the safety hazard involved in travelling through Moscow, flying Moscow - Elista and not least travelling by car within Elista for two weeks in wintertime.

Henrik C.

Henrik,
I think a vast majority understands Magnus' descision, no worry. Still some people are thinking, did he give some opportunity away ?
And some other may think, don't get stuck in the middle of politics,
it drains energy and distorts the main goal.
And may be others are only "disappointed" for not seeing him playing again soon enough in an important tourney.

It's easy to
forget he is only 18, a very young man with many
many opportunities to come. .

Firstly, Magnus, best wishes for your 18th birthday. I really hope you had the oppurtunity to enjoy it a bit!

Secondly, i want to express my respect for your decision to withdraw from the Grand Prix cycle.

And at last, probably not very useful at the moment, I'd like to share a link with you:
http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?src=heft&id=62500
It leads to the German Medical Doctor's magazine. The article generally praises Magnus and his chess skills and shows one game from the simultaneous games for GM Popovic in August. Still, it's the one game Magnus lost against Dr. Hofstetter...
Nonetheless, the article concludes with Magnus' chances to become World champion.

So my best wishes from Germany for the near and farer future for both Magnus and his family!

Selv om jeg ikke har betalt kontigenten, lar jeg min røst høres. Vi vet, med løsig stor sannsynlighet, at Magnus, før eller siden, kommer til innta den helt fremste posisjonen i sjakkflokken; han kommer til å bli sjakkens regent og majestet. Og dette er ikke mindre enn en gyllen erfaring som behøves for å komme Anands indiske tøfler. Så hører jeg at Magnus trekker seg? Dette må tas opp i kongressen! Dette er ikke en konge verdig! Det er mangfoldige tusen mennesker som sitter klar med penn og papir for å nyte, analyse og ta lærdoms av Magnus' prektige partier.
Hvorfor ikke lide litt urettferdighet fra FIDE, skulle det være et hinder for en tronarving? Måtte ikke Fischer lide når russerne samarbeidet i turneringer for å knocke ham ut? Er det ikke slik at alle får kalde føtter før eksamen og ønsker å trekke seg? Beklager, men med respekt, synes jeg dette er stymperaktig, og ikke verdig Hans Majestet på brettet å velge minste motstands vei. Magnus kan jo nå helt til topps, vil det ikke være mer vektig hvis Magnus likevel deltar på tross av alt dette, og når han vinner hele turneringen, tror du ikke han da skal bli hørt? Det er lett å stikke, men vanskelig å bli. Jeg håper ikke denne avgjørelsen er endelig. Jeg trodde jeg så spøkelser når jeg leste at Magnus hadde trukket seg! La oss håpe at far og sønn kan i samdrektighet kan omvende seg fra et slik lettvint vei, og heller velge den smale vei som fører til vinst, både for Magnus og sjakken for øvrig!

It is incredible that FIDE listens so much to veterans like Seirawan and Nunn, and never talk to the players themselves. I must say that I am not impressed with these constant meddling in the system as well.

Makropolous has proven to be very sensible in many recent situations, but it seems that here he has failed, or been sidelined.

Our big problem in chess was for almost 15 years that one of the players was bigger than the system. As Kramnik had to learn bitterly, he could not take Kasparov's place - and at the moment only Anand and Magnus has the media potential to do so. And luckily I cannot see this happening.

It is time that FIDE becomes professional. They push all kinds of rules on the players to be more professional (Dresden) and supply us with incompetent arbiters and German techno-pop in the moments up to the start of the game. I can accept this, but FIDE at least has to provide the moral strength to allow the players to disqualify themselves. FIDE is only bigger than the players if they understand that they are. At the moment the situation is worse than ever, sadly.

Michael Adams quits as well previews.chessdom.com/tournaments-december-2008

Hello Carlsen
I think this messure is a good actiion against FIDE, but clearly not enough.

FIDE is run in a less than democratic way, by ppl that clearly belong in prison more than in a international sport board. If chess is to ever gain back its earlier good reputation, the whole board must be thrown and Chess need a big meeting to deside on a new system and a new international organisation. As long as you agree to play under the current mobsters at all, nothing will change.

I advice Carlsen to reject all communications at all with the current villains and dictators thats couped international chess until normal standards are reached.

Jeg viser til min tidligere kommentar, som ikke var spøkefullt ment i det hele tatt. Det virker som om Henrik Carlsen tar avgjørelsene, et syn jeg fikk forsterket da jeg hørte et NRK-intervju med Henrik om hvorfor Magnus trakk seg. Kunne ikke Magnus ha svart for seg selv hvis det var hans avgjørelse?

Roar,
I'm glad you appreciate Magnus' action but I cannot guarantee that he will follow your advice in the future :-)

Espebjørn,
jeg håper for din skyld fortsatt at du spøker. Om du er alvorlig får du heller se om du kan finne noe som helst i vår kommunikasjon til omverdenen som tilsier at Magnus ikke tar sine egne avgjørelser.
T.Ingul i NRK.no ba meg om et intervju, og derfor stilte jeg opp. At Magnus ikke velger å bruke mer tid enn han gjør på pressen er en fornuftig prioritering synes jeg. Og, prioritere må han om han vil leve et noenlunde normalt liv ved siden av sjakken.

Henrik C.

Turneringssjakk på Magnus sitt nivået er ekstremt krevende. Man hopper ikke bare på et fly og fullfører en super-GM turnering på sparket. Når utgangspunktet er at "bare seier er godt nok" så kreves det omfattende åpningsforberedelser for hver og en motstander. Man skal møte maksimalt motivert og skarp til hvert parti. I etterkant av slike tøffe turneringer må man analysere partier og hente seg inn fysisk og psykisk. I sum snakker man trolig om flere uker, i tillegg til selve spilletiden.

Ergo rekker bare Magnus et berenset antall super-GM turneringer gjennom et år, og spesielt nå som han går 3. år på videregående skole.

Vi, blodfansen, ønsker å se Magnus i aksjon til en hver tid. Men jeg tror trygt vi kan overlate til han selv å velge riktig turneringsprogram framover!

Bobby F +1

espebjørn +troll

-En annen ting Magnus må forholde seg til framover er blodfans som mener at de ?eier? sitt idol og som anser seg berettiget til å instruere han i hva han egentlig bør gjøre.

Å takle press fra media og fans er neppe et fag på Toppidrettsgymnaset, så her må Magnus lære ?the hard way?. Det går forhåpentligvis bra. Han virker i hvert fall ganske uanfektet av sin berømmelse.

Yours was a very thoughtful and appropriate response.
I hope you will be able to recover at least some damages for FIDE?s breach of agreement.
There must be some end to the ridiculousness of FIDE.
I mean, I understand that Kirsan was abducted by aliens and that must be hard for him to cope with.
But even that can only explain so much of his crazy behavior.
There is a limit.

I would like to see candidates? matches all the way to the WC Championship and we all need to recognize that is obviously
the only way chess can really develop the press attention it deserves.

However, that should start only after the FIDE keeps its obligations to the current players.
I applaud your actions here and I hope other players recognize that FIDE may provide short term fixes but in the long run it is ruining careers in chess.

Henrik,

An opinion expressed in various forums is that by making this decision Magnus has limited his options, and that it was better to wait and withdraw later.
I strongly disagree with this opinion. I think the moral aspect is of utmost importance, and from a moral point of view the decision taken by Magnus is the correct one.
As I said in my previous post, I think
the way you and Magnus have dealt with this entire matter is impeccable.

Best wishes,
Alexandru

To Henrik:
Ofcourse u cant follow my advice.
To throw away a god given talent like Magnus on principle alone would be a waste.

I think in most sports/games the masters and leaders of the games all had to swallow some bitter pills during theyr campaigns.

The changes made now, will probably undergo a new change sometimes during the new year, where all top 10 players will be consulted, even FIDE understand the need for this.

And when the change of the change of the new cyclus is aproved of the top players, we will again have matches in the world cup cycle with Magnus innvolved to look forward to.

The GMs need a new organization to protect their rights.
But this shouldn't be like PCA or GMA, but more like a trade union or labor union.

Henrik,

I agree with you. It is necessary and important that he has a manager to take some pressure off of Magnus in regards of the media and fans.

Best wishes, merry christmas and a happy new chess year!

Henrik & Magnus.

I support your decision 100 %. Very wise.

Merry Christmas

Given the circumstances I believe that you made the right decision. Magnus should focus on playing good chess. The changes in the Grand Prix distract the players from this important focus. I hope that FIDE will come to their senses. For the sake of the players, the fans, the entire world wide chess community. We cannot entertain a world championship cycle that excludes Magnus Carlsen.

Yours,

Rauan Sagit
Stockholm
14 dec 2008

I think that Magnus was right.

Hi Henrik, now since circumstances may have changed based on latest interview of FIDE president, will you and can you change your's (Magnus's) decision? I hope he gets his chance to play WC match as early as possible in his career. He can be WC for long time. All the best!!

Pyada, There will be a video-conference according to FIDE page, elista2008.fide.com
I guess that Magnus can continue to play in GP if he wants to, but we will have to see the outcome of the conference.

Something OT,but now I think it can't be considered a
coincidence any more.
Why Magnus continues to have problems
with ~2600 ELO players having on mind his chess strenght?
It happend again.He has just lost to Bartosz Socko (ELO 2630) in Bundes Liga...

regards

Pro. I think it's a combination of pressing for the full point and the fact that it was not very important games. Don't worry.

Well,important or not lossing to 150 ELO lower rated oponent will cost him -7 ELO points.I just hate to see him lose like that!

Here's that game (in the case somone is interested):

[Event "BL 0809 SC Kreuzberg - OSG Baden Baden"]
[Site "Eppingen GER"]
[Date "2008.12.14"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Socko, Bartosz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2631"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 Rxa5 11. a4 b6 12. Bd2 Ra8 13. Ne1 Ne8 14. Nd3 f5 15. f3
f4 16. Nb5 g5 17. a5 c6 18. dxc6 Nxc6 19. axb6 Rxa1 20. Qxa1 Qxb6+ 21. Kh1 Rf7
22. Nb4 Nd4 23. Nd5 Qa6 24. Bd3 Nb3 25. Qb2 Nxd2 26. Ra1 Qc6 27. Qxd2 Be6 28.
Qa5 Rd7 29. Bc2 Qxc4 30. Ba4 Bxd5 31. exd5 e4 32. Na3 Qc7 33. Qxc7 Rxc7 34. Re1
Ra7 35. Bxe8 Rxa3 36. fxe4 g4 37. Bh5 g3 38. hxg3 fxg3 39. Kg1 Ra2 40. Rd1 Be5
41. Kf1 Rf2+ 42. Kg1 Kg7 43. Rf1 Kh6 44. Bg4 Rb2 45. Bf5 Bd4+ 46. Kh1 Rf2 47.
Rd1 Rf4 48. Re1 Be3 49. Bh3 Rxe4 50. Rd1 Bd4 51. Rf1 Bf2 52. Rd1 Kg5 53. Be6
Kf6 54. Bh3 Ke5 55. Be6 Kf4 56. Rb1 Rd4 57. Ra1 Ke3 58. Ra3+ Kd2 59. Bf5 Rh4+
60. Bh3 Re4 61. Ra1 Rd4 62. Bg4 Kc3 63. Rc1+ Kb2 64. Rd1 Rf4 65. Be6 Bd4 66.
Bh3 Kc2 67. Re1 Bc3 68. Rg1 Rf6 69. Be6 Rh6+ 70. Bh3 Rh5 71. Rf1 Rxd5 72. Bf5+
Kd2 73. Bg4 Bd4 74. Rd1+ Kc2 75. Re1 Bf2 76. Bd1+ Kc3 77. Bf3 Ra5 78. Rc1+ Kb2
79. Rd1 Ra4 80. Rd2+ Kc3 81. Rc2+ Kxc2 82. Bd1+ Kd2 83. Bxa4 d5 84. Bc2 h6 85.
Be4 d4 86. Bg6 Ke1 87. Bf5 h5 88. Bg4 h4 89. Bf5 Be3 90. Bg6 Kf2 91. Bf5 Bh6
0-1

Pro, you hate it, and all the other fans as well, including me. More important, I do not think Magnus enjoys it either... He hit the "wall" a couple of years ago when he stayed just under 2700 for quite some time. Now he is striving again, but probably he'll be back to 2785 again and hopefully over 2800 next year.

Championship Tournament must have four steps.
Attending in The first step is compulsory for everyone who wants to attend in Championship Tournament.
Players can give up attending next steps. But these players can't give up one step and attend the next steps.
In fact if a player wants to attend all steps must never give up any step.
Of course players who give up will be attending in this championship tournament.
In fact this championship tournament works with total points of players in these steps.
Tie break rule does not exist in first three steps.
Step 1:
Players will be attending in a double round robin tournament. Time control in this tournament is blitz.
Step 2:
Only the previous step players can attend in this step. Players will be attending in a double round robin tournament. Time control in this tournament is Normal.
Step 3:
Only the previous step players can attend in this step. Players will be attending in a double round robin tournament. Time control in this tournament is long period.
Step 4:
Total of all players points in these three steps are calculated for players ranking even those players who have given up any step.
Those players, who have same points, must attend in a match for recognizing their ranking.
The match is not as a tournament. For example, if 5 players have same points, they must attend in the match with each other separately and so on.
In this case, number of matches must be the lowest by knockout system. Time control in matches is long period.
For example, if 5 players have same points, must match with each other till champion of them to be recognized. After that, between rests of players this system is repeated. But same matches are not repeated again. In other words, two players never match two times with each other. Just one match is enough for recognizing who has higher ranking. For example, if Player "A" wins player "B" in a match and Player "B" wins player "C" in a match, then between Players "A" and "C" match will not be happen, Because Player "A" has defeated the stronger player regarding player "C".

Synes ikke det er vits å ta Espebjørn så seriøst. Han lever i en helt absurd egen verden. Nå er det jo en gang slik at Magnus er en av verdens desidert beste sjakkspillere. Han får forespørsler om intervjuer i øst og vest, og kan sikkert bruke mesteparten av dagen sin på andre ting enn sjakk-ting hvis han ønsker. Heldigvis: Det ønsker han ikke!

Henrik, derimot, spiller ikke fullt så mye sjakk - og fungerer som en utmerket talsmann for Magnus. Henrik snakker utrolig bra engelsk, mens Magnus ikke er på samme nivå. Selv om han selvfølgelig også er flink. At da Henrik - som helt sikkert er den i verden som kjenner Magnus best - er talsmann for Magnus - er ikke overraskende.

Dersom en pressetalsmenn for Aker eller for Topalov for den sags skyld uttaler seg, er det vel ingen som spør seg om Kjell Inge Røkke eller Veselin Topalov ikke er voksne nok til å snakke for seg selv.

Nei, Espebjørn, her må du slutte å snakke vås, og heller tenke litt på at Magnus faktisk er 100% avhengig av at Henrik stiller sånn opp, dersom han skal fungere på dette nivået - samt dersom hans meninger og tanker skal nå ut til verden.

Vi er veldig takknemlige for at Henrik skriver her på bloggen, slik at det er så kort vei fra Magnus's verden og ut til oss. Det er ikke mange andre stjerner som har en så bra blogg!