Carlsen in a crisis?

He did by his standards have a bad Olympiad.
Take you pick from all the speculation.

1)Did not want to play in the event.

2)Did not want to give away his openings for the up and coming big money contests.

3)Believed his grade gave him the God given right to play any old trash
and win. (he was 200 points higher than Sanan and lost badly).

4)Heart not in the job because his team were weak compared to the rest
so no chance of winning a medal. (Norway finished 51st)

5)Or just simply he just fell out of form.

I'll go for No.5 with a bit of all the others thrown in as well.
Certainly no crisis.

Originally posted by Great Big Stees
www.phsychelp.com

Wow you are rated 966 on this site? You are such a strong player that you can't comment on the chess itself, you have to show us one of the wires in your brain is lose. I'm disappointed.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
He did by his standards have a bad Olympiad.
Take you pick from all the speculation.

1)Did not want to play in the event.

2)Did not want to give away his openings for the up and coming big money contests.

3)Believed his grade gave him the God given right to play any old trash
and win. (he was 200 points higher than Sanan and lost badly).

4) ...[text shortened]... orm.

I'll go for No.5 with a bit of all the others thrown in as well.
Certainly no crisis.

He could be coming out of the crisis. Bad performance in the Olympiad, two consecutive losses to Kramnik, some people didn't call it a crisis they said he is doing too much work outside chess e.g. modelling and so on.

Originally posted by snjortp
As the most of you already know: Magnus is back on the top!
Latest update oct 29-10: Magnus rated 2813,0
Anand : 2804.4
Aronian : 2801.4

I think my fellow norwegian is still doing a good job!

Yes he is doing great job, very. Maybe his modelling work distracted him from winning every tournament he plays in or beating ordinary grandmasters at the Olympiad. Vot you think? 🙂

Originally posted by enrico20
Yes he is doing great job, very. Maybe his modelling work distracted him from winning every tournament he plays in or beating ordinary grandmasters at the Olympiad. Vot you think? 🙂

I think you're jealous...

Originally posted by greenpawn34
He did by his standards have a bad Olympiad.
Take you pick from all the speculation.

1)Did not want to play in the event.

2)Did not want to give away his openings for the up and coming big money contests.

3)Believed his grade gave him the God given right to play any old trash
and win. (he was 200 points higher than Sanan and lost badly).

4) ...[text shortened]... orm.

I'll go for No.5 with a bit of all the others thrown in as well.
Certainly no crisis.

It occurred to me that perhaps he hasn't learned to "play down" well. In OTB chess especially, I have a local reputation for really stepping up against higher rated players, and also a rep for choking against lower-rated opposition. I think this is one of the many "defects of character" that Botvinnik says keeps people from getting better or being the best they can be. Carlsen may have the same problem, especially after fighting his way up.

The effect for me is that I am an "ELO Robin Hood"- taking points from higher players and giving them to lower players.

I wonder if Carlsen had a hard time getting motivated playing down so many times.

For me at least, I also have the curious ability to play much better in team events, and I think it's because I know others are depending on me and I don't want to let them down. Perhaps he does not have that kind of motivation.

Hi Paul.

I don't think you can class playing 2600 GM's as playing down. 😉

There is a slight difference in playing off the cuff moves v a 1400
player and doing the same thing against the good guys.

He lost to some very good chess players. He was off form. No Crisis.

I know what you mean about being in a team though.
I always tell them I am me. I'll give you some brilliant wins but
I'm very capable of letting you down when you think I should win.
Don't depend on me.

the tiger woods of chess, perhaps?

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
It occurred to me that perhaps he hasn't learned to "play down" well. In OTB chess especially, I have a local reputation for really stepping up against higher rated players, and also a rep for choking against lower-rated opposition. I think this is one of the many "defects of character" that Botvinnik says keeps people from getting better or being the ...[text shortened]... and I don't want to let them down. Perhaps he does not have that kind of motivation..

I think it's a simple case of coming to terms with being the guy to beat. You spend your whole career striving to stand on top of the rating list, then you find yourself the second highest rated player in history!

I've looked through a LOT of Carlsens games and i think that the Olympiad was probably the first time he has ever started playing dubious openings. The signs were there (playing the kings gambit against Wang Yue just before the Olympiad in the Kings tournamenr...not to say the kings gambit is unsound...just observing the potential to underestimate/overestimate his own/his opponents strength. Carlsen had never played that opening before and even though he won has never since!)

It has also been suggested he's holding back opening ideas for stronger opponents/tournaments.

Undoubtedly! That goes without saying, but it is not his opening play that has been at fault lately, it's his confidence. I'm one of those wierdos who actually watch the players playing live and his body language has changed significantly since he's become World no.1.

If you can find any videos of Carlsen playing Classic chess prior to attaining the no1 spot you'll see that he had a habit of slumping in his chair, spending more time looking at the ceiling than at his opponent or even the board. In between moves he'd be up and about, watching other games, looking almost bored as if it was tiresome waiting for his opponent to resign...almost straight out of the opening.

Since the Olympiad (though like i mentioned earlier, the seeds were sown in the previous Kings tournament) his body language is totally different. Watching him play Kramnik in Bilbao he was tense (against everyone he was tense, because he was struggling for form, but particularly against Kramnik). The old "i wonder what's on TV" body language was totally missing and has been for 2 months now.

Personally, i think his 'aloof' body language was one of his strengths. Having played quite a bit of club chess, i'm not averse to using the 'i'm a lot younger than you and i'm bored waiting for you to realise you're losing' ploy...Carlsen has always been brilliant at unsettling an opponent with this... i hope he remembers it before he's too old. 😉

Some news just in on Carlsen ;-

- FIDE ratings: Anand now number one http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6784

- Magnus Carlsen drops out of World Championship cycle http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6789

Originally posted by enrico20
Some news just in on Carlsen ;-

- FIDE ratings: Anand now number one http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6784

- Magnus Carlsen drops out of World Championship cycle http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6789

1) Carlsen is no 1 in Live ELO rating list again
2) you do not become a legend with Kramnik way of thinking, you become a legend with Fischer way of thinking...

Originally posted by vipiu
1) Carlsen is no 1 in Live ELO rating list again
2) you do not become a legend with Kramnik way of thinking, you become a legend with Fischer way of thinking...

For some value of legend... being the wonder boy is a good story, but having been the wonder boy for two years and being a complete nutcase of the most unpalatable, useless kind for the last fortyish years of your life is less advisable.

Richard