“I don’t think I would have won the Blitz Championship if I haven’t gone skiing in the morning” Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen may withdrew from the World Chess Championship cycle but he made sure to conquer two World Titles before the end of 2022. In an interview with Sagar Shah for Chessbase India, Magnus spoke about the pleasure of winning both titles, explained interesting moments from the games he played in the two tournaments and talked about his plans for 2023.
Some of the words Magnus shared in the interview:
About the Rapid
“I thought I played really well in the rapids. I mean apart from one move against Artemiev, I thought I was truly the best player there so I think overall my gold medal there was very much deserved.”
About the Blitz and going for skiing
“The blitz could have gone many ways! I thought Nakamura didn’t have as good day today [the 2nd day of the blitz] as he had yesterday, so I figured that if I had a good score, +4 would be almost certainly a medal, +5 might be enough, +6 should be enough at least for a playoff! I had a very decent feeling today. [...] I was even happy with a medal today because I was one point behind my biggest competitor and it’s hard to win on demand, but I thought I had a chance and I took it.
Yesterday was very long with skiing and I don’t think I would have won blitz if I haven’t done this because I was just so sick of the hotels and the terrible air everywhere so I needed to shake it up a bit. I don’t think I would have gone to the mountains if I hadn’t won the rapid. I thought that it would be beneficial for me and I already had one [title] in the pocket. So even I break a leg I have one gold to bring home!”
On his game against Rapport on Round 14
“Yeah that was sick! So in the opening I made all the natural moves and I was looking at the clock; I had less than 1.5 minutes and he had 3 so I sort of instinctively felt that even though black cannot do too much I went for 25. Nxd5. Let’s make the guy think!” adding later: “After 30. Qxb4 I thought ok now I’m going to enjoy myself. I might lose the game but this is going to be fun! [...] If I had realised that he has no actual threats I would have found 39.f3 instead of 39.f8=Q. [...] To be honest I’ve never had this feeling after a game! I mean this is what’s all is about”
When he was asked if this is the game he enjoyed the most in the recent times, Magnus said: “Oh yeah for sure. No contest whatsoever!”
On his last 2 rounds
“For the last 2 games I was super super calm. I had some coffee; I don’t usually drink coffee but I felt like I needed aa shot of something. [...] I had the right amount of energy, I was laser focused, I played very accurately not to give any chances and I was not nervous. That’s something I’m very proud of in this tournament; that I didn’t secure the wins by draws.
On Indian players
‘I just realised, which is shocking, that I played zero Indian players in the blitz. I don’t know what happened. [...] Especially Nihal [Sarin] even though he had kind of a bad first day, I was thinking that I’m gonna have to play that guy at some point. I guess sometimes it’s just not your day!
