Originally posted by Richard LauraKen Rogoff's getting some coverage for his work in economics.
There is a short article about Magnus Carlsen, titled "The Prince's Gambit", in the March 21st issue of The New Yorker magazine. One doesn't often see articles about chess players in general circulation American magazines.
Read the Carlsen profile last night. The angles are a) he's not a computer chess clone, b) he learned a lot from Kasparov but quit him because he's not as intense as K, lacking K's fire and discipline, c) he's well supported by his loving family, d) he's an otherwise normal young man with a big talent for and love of chess.
The other insight is that's he's growing bored with chess. Some expert speculated that he plays weakly in the first rounds of tournaments so that he must play later games to win rather than to draw to win the tournament.