The world No 1 dominated his rivals in 2019, winning 10 elite tournaments, but is expected play less in his title defence year
Magnus Carlsen ended his vintage year of 2019 as he began it, as a superb all-round player who outclasses his rivals. Carlsen won at Wijk in January last year and at
Moscow in December where he took both the world 30-minute rapid and the five-minute blitz crowns, losing only one game out of 38.
Overall the Norwegian, 29, won 10 elite tournaments over the year, with just two odd failures at speed in St Louis and at Fischer Random in Oslo. The standout difference between today’s champion and Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov is that Carlsen has been far more active than the other legends in their peak years, taking on new challenges with hardly a break. And in his spare time he briefly became world No 1 in Fantasy Premier League. True, Kasparov was No 1 for some 21 years while Carlsen is eight years and counting.