Meanwhile Carlsen’s world title challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi has enlisted the help of a supercomputer to aid his preparations
Magnus Carlsen’s relief was evident last weekend after the world champion finally won his first tournament since his 30th birthday in November, the New In Chess Classic. The Norwegian had finished a disappointing sixth over the board at Wijk aan Zee and had been eliminated in the knockout stages of four previous online tournaments on the Meltwater Champions Tour.
Carlsen won the round by round stages of all five online events, so is already in pole position for the 10-player all-play-all tour final in September, which will be played over the board in San Francisco. Self-critical as always, he commented that in the final against his old rival Hikaru Nakamura “neither of us played a particularly good match”.