Magnus Carlsen showed up in sweatpants – big player and shares the lead

(Magnus Carlsen, 8/10 points in the blitz World Championship) Magnus Carlsen surprised by arriving late for the blitz chess opening. With 30 seconds left on the clock, he made the first move – wearing a pair of springy sweatpants. Since then, he has played big and shares the lead.

– It’s my fault, of course, but I got stuck in traffic, so it took forever. It was quite frustrating, but it worked out just fine. It was a shock to get to the board and see that there were 30 seconds left, says Carlsen to NRK – and promises that he will go and change!

The world champion from Lommedalen made the whole hall wait when he did not appear, even though it was well past 10 o’clock, when the first game of the Blitz Chess Championship was to be started.

– I can only apologize to everyone who has been waiting. Suddenly we sat there for a quarter of an hour, and then it was over. I’m not the kind of person who likes to wait here in the hall, but … it was a complete scandal. It ended well for me, says Carlsen to NRK before the second party – now wearing a suit.

According to tournament manager Pavel Tregubov, both Carlsen and Jan Nepomnjashchij receive a warning from the organiser, with a clear expectation that they will dress according to the regulations on Friday.

It became dramatic before the opening party.

Even five minutes after when the party was supposed to start, he was not present. And the clock was ticking. On NRK’s ​​live broadcast, there was complete confusion about where Carlsen actually was.

– What is happening with Magnus Carlsen now? What kind of start is this for our man? asked NRK’s ​​chess expert Torstein Bae.

Suddenly he came running in wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. With 30 seconds left on the clock, he finally made his first move against Kovalev.

Despite the delay: Carlsen won the first game in the Blitz World Championship – and was grinning brightly as he left the hall. The outfit was still not completely within the regulations.

– It appears as a fairly clear violation of the rules by Magnus Carlsen, who appears in training clothes and not in the nice clothes that you should wear according to the rules, says Bae.

The reason he was late? He was on a ski trip, organized by the organizers.

Great start to the game

IN others game he won convincingly with white pieces against Zhamsaran Tsydypov, and in third he played Ivan Cheparinov with black pieces. He then won against Evgeny Tomashevsky with white pieces.

IN fifth game he painted the strong Pole Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the sink and won with black pieces.

Carlsen thus got off to a perfect start to the Blitz World Championship – purely sportingly – with five out of five possible victories. He then shared the leadership with, among others, Yu Yangyi, whom he met in the party six.

It ended in a draw after a dramatic finish.

– I’m starting to get a little boiled at the top. This game was a bit rough, but a draw is fine, says Carlsen to NRK after a half-played first day.

IN seventh party, he met the Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri, who had the Norwegian on the fork for a long time. However, Carlsen’s defense was good and Giri eventually ran out of time.

Eighth game ended with a relatively controlled draw against title rival Hikaru Nakamura.

Both Nakamura and Carlsen played to a draw in the game ninethe Norwegian against Vladimir Fedosejev.

– It’s slowly getting to the top now, that is. Any break I can get now is good, says the Norwegian to NRK.

Lot 10: Draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and 8 out of 10 points in total.

Reigning champion

Magnus Carlsen is looking for another WC title after becoming world rapid chess champion on Wednesday.

Should he manage the “double”, it will be the third time for Carlsen. Also in 2014 and 2019, he won both the rapid and blitz titles, but last year things went wrong in the blitz. Then he only finished in 12th place.

The Blitz Chess Championship takes place over two days, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 December, with a total of 21 games. Twelve of them are scheduled to be played on Thursday.