Chennai: Chess has got its first world champion with washboard abs. And, he's not a Russian. The ancient game has got its newest champion from a virgin territory , Norway . Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian prince-inwaiting and World no.1, dethroned the Indian king Viswanathan Anand, in a bloodless coup. Garry Kasparov, the champion's one-time mentor, had predicted that Carlsen's rule was imminent. The chess world may just have logged on to the Carlsen era, if it hadn't already .
Carlsen becomes the first world champion from the Western world since the irrepressible American Bobby Fischer outwitted Boris Spassky of the USSR in an epic duel in 1972. The 23-year-old Norwegian, the second youngest to claim the biggest prize in chess after Kasparov, is the first world champion from Western Europe since the Netherlands' Max Euwe in 1935.
It's difficult to measure the significance of the world title in chess with the aid of numbers. At the same time statistics don't lie. Carlsen is only the 20th champion in the mind game and only 43 matches have been played for the ultimate prize in chess since 1886.
Why is Carlsen special?
Frederic Friedel, founder of ChessBase, said the Norwegian is a complete package. “He is smart, speaks impeccable English and has interests in vari ous subjects. Magnus is a product of the technology age and young people, especially in Western Europe, can relate to him better. Above all, he can play chess like no one else at the moment. That matters most. Other things are incidental,“ he added.
Carlsen may have been a product of the computer age -he was only three months old when Anand last played a match at Chennai in 1991 but his greatest strength in chess is his intuition. Experts say he finds solutions at the board and he's not obsessive about computer-aided opening preparations.
Ironically, over-reliance on computer engines in preparations may have led to the 44-year-old Anand's defeat.
At a time when processors are taking the charm away from the simple board game, Carlsen has emerged as a figurehead of the movement to humanise chess.
The new world champion is the leader of a counter revolution in the game.
Chess is lucky because a dynamic, young man is stepping into the shoes of a loveable, squeaky-clean champion.
His fans call Carslen the Mozart of Chess but the champion sees himself differently . “I'm fortunate to do something I love, but I'm not a genius,“ he had told in an interview before the big match.
Carlsen doesn't lie. Geniuses don't know the importance of what they do. Godt gjort! mester. Gratuelerer. Stands for well done champ, in Norwegian!
