Magnus Carlsen: Am I tired? What a stupid question!

Magnus Carlsen: Am I tired? What a stupid question!
colin.mcgourty
June 24, 2012 9:21 am

Magnus accepted the winner’s trophy and gently hugged it. It seemed, at that moment, that he was absolutely happy. A touching picture that in no way fits the story of a 21-year-old genius who’s tired of winning.

But is it possible to get tired of winning? To get tired of being the top chess player not simply “in terms of rating”, as was said with mild contempt in the Tretyakov, but in actual fact. Carlen still manages to find chances where it seems there shouldn’t be any. If you judge in terms of dedication then no-one in the chess world comes close to him. But the Norwegian has not only great desire, but also ability, which he continues to demonstrate with a rare consistency: the 7th Tal Memorial is already the 14th major international tournament Magnus has won in the last five years. And people talk about his being “tired”!

Such results have been posted only by Karpov and Kasparov in their best years, but they were already fully-formed players and World Champions. Carlsen, meanwhile, is just 21. His “era” is only beginning, and it’ll be up to Magnus alone to decide how long it lasts.

Evgeny Atarov: First of all, my congratulations on another success. How do you feel after winning your second Tal Memorial in a row?

Magnus Carlsen: Thank you! I feel wonderful. I like situations when everything’s in my hands. During the tournament the situation frequently got out of control, but… before the last round for the first time everything was extremely clear for me: if I won then I’d most likely share first place.

Things actually worked out even better than I thought.

During the game it seemed as though McShane didn’t have the slightest chance, despite the fact he had the white pieces and also had chances of staking a claim!

– It was clear that Luke got very nervous. In such situations you always have to keep a cool head. I managed, and as a result I took first place here.

…

It seemed to Vlad Tkachiev and me that after the Anand – Gelfand match for the crown was pretty nondescript the “pretenders” for the future throne had already started a race for the vacant spot. Did it seem like that to you?

– Perhaps it’s clearer to those on the outside. I didn’t feel any additional pressure after the Anand – Gelfand match. Personally I think Anand remains one of the world’s best players. Perhaps he doesn’t want to play as much as before, but his class remains. I consider him a “real” World Champion, regardless of the fact that the win against Gelfand in the match wasn’t convincing at all.

But that’s a peculiarity of chess: your play can be not particularly convincing in tournaments and then once a year (or in actual fact once every two years – E.A.) you defend the title of World Champion and the chess world continues to consider you the king.

Do you think that’s enough?

– I’m not going to say what I think about it… But of course the win against Gelfand made little impact on the chess community.

Boris is of course a tremendous chess player, but… the current Gelfand isn’t a player of the class to have claims on the title!

Full article here.