"They are entitled to their stupid opinions" - Magnus Carlsen


....no he is definitely not haughty ....he literally meant what he said!




If you take cognisance of what others say.....then you will never become what you can become. After all, that is the definition of being at the top....staying at the top - no place for the other and others viewpoints!

It is said that Groucho Marx will say boldly and quickly, what the rest of us might think but are too timid to say!  He once wrote to the President of a Hollywood club....."Please accept my resignation. I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member".

What Carlsen said quickly and boldly is what everybody....even a ELO 2000.... would "like to say" when someone says something contrary to what they think!

American writer Simone Elkeles wrote...."Opinions are like assholes (no it is not a bad word), everybody has one...."
......so has Kasparov and Kramnik and million others who voiced in private.....all of us have one.

Meanwhile, the "Old Champion" retained his "World Championship" title yet again.....for the third time!

But.......

......the match itself was quite boring....barring a few flashes here and there.  Perhaps, Kramnik might write comments as he did for that book on Carlsen vs Karjakin and try to salvage some viewpoints and extract some juice.....yet, that will not make the games any livelier .....or redeem our wasted time and lost sleep in the past few weeks.....in the vain hope of......!

.....and ...

Carlsen was not haughty either....when he said...."my favourite player from the past is probably myself three years ago"

......shall we examine why he said so....!?


I have given below a selection of positions which he played three years back...

2015
Carlsen - MVL, London Classic 2015






Shakhriyar - Carlsen, Qatar Masters, 2015






Carlsen - Nakamura, London Classic, 2015






Carlsen - So, Sinquefield Cup, 2015






Carlsen - MVL, Sinquefield cup, 2015






Caruana - Carlsen, Sinquefield Cup, 2015






Carlsen - Aronian, Norway Chess, 2015






Caruana - Carlsen, Tata Steel, 2015




......he won all the above positions.......


London 2018




and......can we say.....that he failed to win these positions.....
......the first one looks close to winning and the second one is the type which he normally won!



I am not interested in the moves.....in the above positions.....
.......neither moves in a Chess game, nor words in literature....carry any meaning!

You may watch the following brilliant interview of Vishy, conducted by Sagar, where the legend throws light on what transpired in the match....in his own inimitable way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFayPiRppkM


The point I am trying to make is that, Carlsen was able to keep playing and get the type of positions.....shown above..... which were absolutely normal and continue playing .....moving pieces here and there.... and ....eventually.....Win.....

....but most importantly......he was prepared to lose some of those positions.....!


Yes! If one has to win, they should also be prepared to lose.....you give something and take something....and just that you take a little bit more than what you give!


Alex Honnold - the great free soloist - is prepared to give his life - every time - for his passion......

The huge rocks which stand thousands of meters high.....are inviting him....always.... to conquer them and carry on his shoulder the shadow of imminent death.....as he conquers them!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM


"Anybody could conceivably die on any given day and we're all gonna die eventually. So it makes it far more immediate (the pursuit of the rock), you accept the fact that if anything goes wrong.... you're going to die.....and that's that"

If you wanna win the World title.....why even a solitary Chess game.....you should be prepared to lose!

.....after all losing a game of Chess is not the same as dying......!


This, possibly, is the reason why neither managed to win the World Championship match ......in London 2018 .......and in the end.....Carlsen retain his title......or.....shall we say became a World Rapid Champion!?


The curtain raiser I wrote was all about Fabi...the Challenger.....but....he probably just proved equal and not better....

......well the Video leak mystery will remain unresolved.....and it even failed to evoke the unintentional humour.....


I Remain




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Patterns in the art of Chess

Image
Nature uses only longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organisation of the entire tapestry - Richard Feynman This article springs from the passion exuded by a young kid - Sai Akhil Anand - and his quest for discovering patterns (and express them as wonderful paintings) in almost everything that he sees and comes across even in his tender age! His world revolves around Hemchand sequence (otherwise known as Fibonacci sequence ), Sierpenski triangle, Golden ratio, Fractals .... so on and so forth and his canvas encompasses a vast arena ......from the trail of snail on the floor to the trail a rocket leaves on the stratosphere! Patterns are wonderful and enhances creativity, as long as it is used like we use salt in our food - nothing more nothing less! Patterns act as catalyst in the process of understanding the art and showcasing it by enhancing the creativity of the artist in his or her own unique way!  " Our humanity rests upo
Read more

"Don't play with your mind....." - Keres - Euwe vs Raonic - Federer!

Image
" Men and women were out in the woods To celebrate spring To celebrate the festival of flowers The moonlight was smiling down on an empty city... A lone traveller Was on the road, ....in the moonlight, With the birds singing overhead, He walked on.... Alone.. .. "                                                               - Tagore " Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it take the archer himself by surprise !" said Eugen Herrigel in his great book..."Zen in the art of archery" Some of the strokes by Roger Federer must have taken him by surprise.....when the master is in such flow state as he is in....now.....and most of his strokes takes us.....the lesser mortals....by great surprise! And so does a move like..... ......Nb8!! in the above position! This passing shot.....came after..... 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5; 3.e5 c5 4.Nf3 cd4; 5.Qd4 Nc6; 6.Qf4 f5; 7.Bd3 N
Read more

Poetry in motion!

Image
" Cricket is a simple game. Once you cover the stumps and the ball is outside your body, there is no way it can hit the woodwork. The only way you can be out is by making a mistake ." - Garry Sobers No need to introduce the great man.....and explain what he said.....simply!  Yet..... take my word.....being simple and doing simple things is the most profoundest and difficult thing in life! You can never eliminate mistakes.....but embrace them and by embracing them,, you evolve and understand what IT means.....and thereby get better and better and commit lesser and lesser! Take for eg., if you are afraid of darkness, the only way you can overcome that fear of darkness is by going through dark areas and not circumventing it or avoiding it!  To dispel ignorance you have to experience and go through ignorance.....and this very process lights a flame of awareness and dispels ignorance! So, to overcome or limit the amount of mistakes that one commit, you need to understa
Read more