need to add title here

Why Magnus Carlsen is extraordinary

July 8, 2012 1:06 PM

Frederic Friedel -- whose company, Chess Base, publishes the world's most popular chess program -- explains why Magnus Carlsen is "the most extraordinary chess player . . . in a long, long time."

Mozart of Chess: Magnus Carlsen
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by frwally8140 March 2, 2012 12:09 AM EST
Thank you for promoting the finest game in the world!! It is too bad that your anchor man didn't know very much about chess. Some points:
1. Carlsen is not the current World Champion. That title is held by Vishy Anad, who ironically hales from an area of the world where chess was invented (India).
2. Child prodigies are not unusual in chess. Samuel Reshevski, the leading U.S. player before Bobby Fischer was "wowing them" with simuls when he was 3 years old. Another American child prodgy was Paul Morphy, who was the best player in the world in the mid 19th century.
3. There are more books written on chess than all the rest of the games in the world put together.
4. In the early 20th Century, Jose Raol Capablanca (Cuba), stated that chess was "played out". He was great a player(champion from 1921 to 1927) and at one point played for 7 years with out losing a master game! But on this, he was in error.
5. Why do chess players go "mad"? A very small percentage do. Most experts believe they develop a persecution complex - - everyone is out to "get" them.
6. George Koltonowski holds the record for a blind simultaneous. In addition about halfway through the exhibition he would tell spectators telephone and Social Security numbers which they had placed on squares of the board. Or he would demonstrate "the knight's tour" (touching every square on the board with the knight without repeting a square and winding up where he started.
An average United States Chess Federation player would know these things and not be dazzeled by Carlsen's demonstration. This is not to say that Carlsen isn't a great chess player. HE IS!!! And many look forward to a future match between he and Anad. It doesn't hurt Carlsen that he is very photogenic! I'll bet all the Norwegan girls swoon over him!
By the way, I am a below average member of U.S.C.F. but I LOVE the game!!!
Finally, the comment by the anchor woman compairing chess and checkers was the apitomy of ignorance. It is like compairing a liquid fuel rocket that sent men to the moon with a bow and arrow. The only similarity is they are both played on a checkered board. In chess ALL 64 squares are used, in checkers only 32. W. Griesmeyer, Crete IL
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