Magnus Carlsen Wins the Triple Crown!

Who/What/When/Where & Why?

The city of Almaty held the world championship for both the blitz and rapid chess championships from the 25^th-30^th of December 2022. Magnus Carlsen bested all other challengers to accomplish the unimaginable yet again, holding all three world chess championship titles at once! Magnus once again wins the triple crown of chess!

Blitz Chess Championship

Carlsen separated himself from the other 175 entrants in Kazakhstan to claim the world champion title in both the blitz and rapid chess championships. The blitz format, a 3+2 time increment that requires steel nerves and quick thought, is a highly entertaining form of chess. Carlsen’s 14^th match was perhaps the most sensational game of the entire blitz tournament. Carlsen bested GM Richard Rapport’s French defense with an intuitive sacrifice. Carlsen finished the 21-match marathon in 1^st place with 16 points, edging out his close rival GM Nakamura Hikaru, the top world-ranked blitz player, who had 15 points.

Rapid Chess Championship

The rapid championship utilizes a time control of 15+10. While a blitz game can be compared to a 100-meter dash, the rapid more closely resembles a mile run. Carlsen finished the tournament with a stout 10 points out of 13 matches. Carlsen utilized an impressive finishing kick by dismantling his opponent GM Parham Maghsoodloo in the 13^th match to lock up the crown.

Funny Anecdote

While deliberately counting out his 15 world titles on his fingers, Carlsen joked on Twitter that he was “gonna need more hands soon.”

What does this mean?

Magnus has won the legendary triple crown title for an unprecedented 3^rd time in his career. No other player has accomplished this feat once. Carlsen is at the top of his game and his fame only grows. But Magnus claims he will not be participating in the classical world chess championship, which is approaching in the summer of 2023. This leads to many questions. The main one, “What will chess look like without it’s biggest star?

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