American hope Caruana to challenge Carlsen greatness
LONDON: Norway’s Magnus Carlsen will seek to cement his reputation as history’s greatest chess player on Friday when he launches a defence of his crown against the first US title contender since Bobby Fischer in 1972.
Both Carlsen — a 27-year-old superstar at home who is also a part-time model — and 26-yearold Fabiano Caruana are prodigies returning mass appeal to their highbrow game.
The world title will go up for grabs in a former London school of art and design whose sweeping glass dome and imposing columns have featured in a recent series of fashion shows.
It is a fitting venue for Carlsen. The champion since 2013 has also been one of the faces of a street-smart Dutch apparel brand since 2010.
But the chess world is more enthralled with Carlsen’s intuition and prodigious memory than his rugged looks.
“There is no doubt that Carlsen is one of the best chess players ever,” British Chess Magazine editor Milan Dinic told AFP.
‘NOT NERDY LOOKING’
The Norwegian won his third world title in a series of rapid play tiebreakers against Russia’s Sergey Karjakin in 2016 in New York.
His first came when he toppled Viswanathan Anand on the former champion’s home turf in India. Carlsen defended his crown in a rematch played the subsequent year in Russia.
But he really began making a name for himself when he managed to draw Garry Kasparov -the Soviet and Russian legend whose record ranking Carlsen eventually broke -- at the tender age of 13.
Carlsen actually beat Kasparov’s compatriot and nemesis Anatoly Karpov at the same event.
He has spent a good part of his time since then making chess fun again.
Carlsen took time off preparations for the London series to play an exhibition game against the Liverpool football team’s chess-loving right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.