22 November 2013 was a historic day for Magnus Carlsen: the Norwegian chess player became on that day world champion chess. The 22-year old Carlsen defeated the former world champion, Viswanathan Anand from India, with a score of 6.5 to 3.5.
World Champion Magnes Carlsen
During the match between Anand and Carlsen, the Scandinavian was clearly the stronger chess player and Viswanathan Anand, who was world’s number one since 2007 and played in his home town Chennai, lost the chess match in an inglorious way. By becoming world champion Magnus Carlsen won 1.1 million Euros, while Anand will receive 750.000 Euros. The Norwegian was the big favorite, since he has been on the number one position on the world chess ranking for the past three years.
It was also remarkable that Carlsen won the world championship without the support of any coaches or trainers. His team consisted of family, friends and fans. Normally, in events like this, chess players have advisors who they can consult between games.
Second-youngest World Champion
Magnus Carlsen, who turns 23 on 30 November 2013, is a young world champion chess, but not the youngest world champion in history. Gary Kasparov was 22 years and 7 months when he won in Moscow the title in 1985 by beating Anatoly Karpov.
He is the also the first Westerner to win the championship since Bobby Fischer from the United States of America won the title in 1975.
The young Norwegian chess player will defend his championship against the winner of the next candidates tournament. Carlsen won the 2013 edition of the candidates tournament, in which also Boris Gelfland, Pjotr Svidler, Aleksandr Grisjtsjoek, Vasyl Ivantsjoek, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov competed.
Phenomenal Memory
According to chess experts, Magnus Carlsen has a phenomenal memory, which contributes to its success. The Norwegian estimates that he has more than 2,000 matches in his head, which he can reproduce. He had this memory already since his childhood; when he was five years old, little Magnus Carlsen knew the names of of all 400 municipalities in Norway, the number of inhabitants and the local flag and the size of the area in square kilometers.
(Sources: Susan Polgar Twitter, Times of India)