Magnus Carlsen recently chose to turn down a new World Cup match against Jan Nepomnjashchij, who were originally supposed to meet each other in the World Chess Championship early in 2023. Now he has new goals instead, and one of them is the Chess Olympics. It has just started in Chennai, India. Carlsen says he has faith in the Norwegian team. – I think this is super exciting. We have the best team on paper ever, and it is of course a shame that a couple of the best teams cannot participate for various reasons. It is clear to us that there is actually only one team that is on paper stronger than us, and that is the USA, says Carlsen to news. He believes it is important for them to have good team spirit, keep their heads up and be positive if they are to win. – It’s a long tournament, so there will certainly be ups and downs, both for the team and individually for people. You are a team and you need everyone to join in and feel that they are part of it and contribute. It will be very exciting, says the world owner. LAST WC: The meeting with Jan Nepomnjashchij in the 2021 Chess WC is tentatively his last championships. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP – Extremely difficult But in addition to participating in the Chess Olympics, he also has another goal. But that is exactly what Carlsen realizes will be difficult, even for him. The Norwegian chess star wants to reach 2,900 rating points. – 2900 I know is extremely difficult. It is clearly more likely that I will not be able to do it than that I will actually be able to do it. It’s more of a goal I have to motivate myself to do the right things when I play tournaments, quite simply, says the 31-year-old. He admits that if he is to make it, he must be at his best every time he plays a game of chess. – In a way, I don’t want to expect that I will have two or three tournaments in a short time, where I performed close to 3,000 like I did in 2019. The more realistic thing is to be completely at the top over time. Then I think I can play at a level that is at least close. Whether I reach that goal or not, for me it’s not that dangerous. It’s mostly about motivating myself to play chess, Carlsen admits. Carlsen’s rating is provisionally 2864. Expert skeptical of the goal news’s chess expert Atle Grønn believes it is a good goal, but he is unsure whether even Carlsen will be able to achieve it. – After he announced that goal, he may have taken three points. So there are miles to go. His ranking is the average of the achievements he has made. In order to reach 2900, he cannot afford 2850 achievements, Grønn believes. SKEPTICAL: news’s chess expert Atle Grønn. Photo: Jørund Wessel Carlsen / news He says that in a recent tournament in Zagreb, where Carlsen won, he did not go up in rating, but he went down. – It is not possible to win these tournaments, but you have to win superiorly, says Grønn. – It’s nice that he has a goal, that is. But it doesn’t seem very realistic, he says. His colleague in news’s chess studio, Torstein Bae, also believes that it will be tough for Carlsen to reach his goal. – I think new phase is a good expression. Now he is relinquishing the long chess throne, and instead he is aiming to become the decided number one in the rankings. Then we’ll see if he can do it. In the Olympics, he will play against lower-ranked opponents, says Bae and continues: – In some contexts, he can play with black against people who are clearly lower-ranked, but who are nevertheless seasoned grandmasters and are content to play to a draw against Magnus . Then he has to play very smart to manage to win without taking too many risks, says Bae. EXCITED: Torstein Bae is looking forward to following the new phase in Carlsen’s chess career. Photo: Erik Johansen / NTB The Chess Olympics is the major championship for team chess. There will be around 180 countries participating, but countries such as France, Russia, China and Ukraine will not be seen in the championship for various reasons. Much has naturally had enough with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chess Olympics will take place from 28 July to 10 August. In the open class category, the following chess profiles are competing: Magnus Carlsen, Aryan Tari, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen and Frode Urkedal. These are standing in the women’s class: Monika Machlik, Sheila Barth Stanford, Edit Machlik, Alena Ayzenberg and Maud Rødsmoen. Norway’s strongest performance in the championship was 5th place in 2016. The Norwegian team is ranked third out of all countries.
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Carlsen with a new goal after the World Cup no – expert is skeptical – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
