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New In Chess recently reprinted its 2004 publication Wonderboyunderthe new titleHow Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest ChessGrandmaster, the former subtitle for Wonderboy. The new edition offersa new preface and some corrections, but otherwise appears to be astraightforward reprint of the earlier edition. We therefore presentTaylor Kingston's review of Wonderboy, with the appropriate namechange to the title.

The Kid's Not Bad

by Taylor Kingston

How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmaster, by SimenAgdestein, 2013 New in Chess, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Softcover,192pp. $19.95

Chess has a long history of child prodigies, going back at least to Morphy, andincluding such all-time greats as Capablanca, Reshevsky, and Fischer, strongmasters with long careers such as Spielmann and Pomar, some with shortcareers such as Carlos Torre, some of recent fame such as Josh Waitzkin (ofSearching for Bobby Fischer), and some now little remembered such as J.Rodney Phillips (1942-1969) and J.D. Roberts (1864-1931), who for variousreasons did not play much into adulthood.

Once rare, prodigies have sprouted like mushrooms in the last few decades. Toname only a few, world champions Kasparov and Kramnik, and topgrandmasters Anand, J. Polgar, Leko, Adams, Short, Ponomariov and othersall showed remarkable skill in their teens or even earlier. In fact the record foryoungest ever FIDE grandmaster now stands at twelve years and sevenmonths, attained by Sergey Karjakin of the Ukraine in 2002. To put this inhistorical perspective, consider that among nineteenth-century greats,Chigorin did not even start to play chess until age sixteen, Blackburne abouteighteen, and Staunton not until twenty-five or twenty-six.

The latestpuer mirabilisis Norway's Magnus Carlsen (born November 30,1990), who on April 26 2004 gained the GM title at the age of thirteen years,four months and twenty-six days. Blessed with great natural talent and trainedby Simen Agdestein (his country's top player), young Carlsen currently has a

FIDE rating of 2553, placing him in the world's top 300. He has recentlyreached the level where he plays top GMs, and has to his credit a win overKarpov and a draw with Kasparov.

How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmasteris anuncomplicated story, describing Carlsen's rise as a chess player, beginning inhis early childhood and ending in late 2004. It is a straightforwardchronological narrative, with about 110 games interspersed, many of themquite interesting. As with mostNew In Chessefforts, it is physically wellproduced: clearly printed, attractively bound, nicely illustrated. The writingand translation are quite competent.

We learn first about young Magnus' phenomenal ability to solve problems andabsorb information. He could do fifty-piece jigsaw puzzles at age two, at four

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he could build Lego models intended for teenagers, and at five he hadmemorized the area, population, capital and flag of every nation in the world.Soon thereafter he did the same with Norway's 430 municipalities. Early on hecould do difficult arithmetical calculations in his head.

Not surprising then that when Magnus became interested in chess, he maderapid progress, using the same mental tools. For example he could read chessbooks, even those in foreign languages, and absorb their information withoutsetting up a board to play over the games. Here is an early example of hisplay, at age nine, against a player rated about 1600:

[FEN "r1bqkb1r/pp3ppp/2np1n2/4p3/2P1P3/

5P2/PPN3PP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 7"]

7...Nxe4!? Strictly speaking, not sound, but it is interesting to see a

youngster so willing to make a speculative sacrifice, perhaps even playing itfor psychological impact. 8.fxe4 Qh4+ 9.Kd2 Qxe4 10.Qf3? One of severalpoor moves by White. Better 10.Nc3. 10...Qh4 11.Be2 Be6 12.Nba3?

[FEN "r3kb1r/pp3ppp/2npb3/4p3/2P4q/

N4Q2/PPNKB1PP/R1B4R b kq - 0 12"]

Black now has ample compensation for the piece, and could already play12...d5, since if 13.cxd5 Bxd5 14.Qxd5 Rd8. 12...0-0-0 13.g3 Qe7 14.b4 d5!15.c5 e4 16.Qf1 d4 17.Bc4

[FEN "2kr1b1r/pp2qppp/2n1b3/2P5/1PBpp3/

N5P1/P1NK3P/R1B2Q1R b - - 0 17"]

17...d3?! Not bad, but much better was 17...e3+ 18.Ke1 Bxc4 19.Qxc4 Qe410.Rf1 Ne5 with a decisive bind. 18.Ne3 Nd4 19.Bxe6+ Qxe6 20.Nac4 Nf3+21.Kd1 Be7! "All pieces must join in!" (Agdestein).


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[FEN "2kr3r/pp2bppp/4q3/2P5/1PN1p3/

3pNnP1/P6P/R1BK1Q1R w - - 0 22"]

22.Nd2?? 22.Bb2 was White's last hope. 22...Bf6 23.Rb1 Qxa2 24.Nec4Qc2#

Far from perfect chess, but impressive for a nine-year-old. Recognizing hispotential, Magnus' family arranged for him to receive professional training,first from a 2100 player, then from Agdestein, six-time Norwegian championand one of the top 200 in the world.

The bulk of the book is taken up by games, presented chronologically toillustrate young Carlsen's progress. Here are a few samples, beginning withOslo 2001, where his opponent, Glenn Gaasland (White) was rated 1966:

[FEN "2r1qrk1/pbpn1pp1/4pn1p/2Pp4/8/

P1QBPPB1/1P4PP/R3K1NR b KQ - 0 14"]

14...d4!? Agdestein writes "Magnus is, as usual, more concerned with activepieces than material. 14...Bc6 was playable, but why not seize the initiative atonce?" 15.Qxd4 e5 16.Qc3 e4 17.c6 exd3 18.Bf2 Nd5 19.cxd7 Qxd720.Qxd3 Qe6! 21.0-0-0 c5! 22.Qc4 Rfd8 "Magnus sets a little trap thatWhite steps right into." 23.e4

[FEN "2rr2k1/pb3pp1/4q2p/2pn4/2Q1P3/

P4P2/1P3BPP/2KR2NR b - - 0 23"]

23...Ne3! 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Qe2 Qc4+! 0-1

From Carlsen Johansson(2041), Gausdal 2002:


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[FEN "3r3k/ppq3bp/4Q1p1/5p2/3R4/

2B1P2P/PP3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 25"]

25.Qf7! Qxf7 26.Rxd8+ Qg8 27.Bxg7+ Kxg7 28.Rxg8+ Kxg8and with hispawn plus Carlsen won the endgame: 1-0, 48.

Ekeberg (2227) Carlsen, Oslo 2003:

[FEN "5rk1/pp4b1/3p2p1/3R4/1PP1Q3/

5rPq/P4P2/3NR1K1 b - - 0 32"]

32...Rxg3+! 33.fxg3 Qxg3+ 34.Kh1 Rf4! 35.Qxf4 Qxf4 36.Re8+ Kf7 37.Rc8Be5+and 0-1, 42.

Carlsen Harestad (2249), Oslo 2003:

[FEN "r7/3bb1kp/q2p1ppN/1pnP2n1/2p1P2Q/

2P3N1/1PB3P1/2B2RK1 w - - 0 34"]

34.e5! dxe5 35.Nh5+! gxh5 36.Qxg5+!! fxg5 37.Rf7+ Kxh6 38.Rxh7#Adelightful combination.

Carlsen Sipke Ernst (2474), Wijk aan Zee 2004:


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[FEN "3r1rk1/pp2bpp1/4pn1p/q1p1N2P/

3P1B2/8/PPP1QPP1/1K1R3R w - - 0 18"]

18.Ng6! fxg6? Necessary was 18...Rfe8, but over the board it's far fromobvious how strong an attack accepting the sacrifice gives White. 19.Qxe6+Kh8 20.hxg6! "Black escapes after 20.Qxe7 Nd5 21.Bd2 Nxe7 22.Bxa5Rxd4" (Agdestein). 20...Ng8 21.Bxh6! gxh6 22.Rxh6! Nxh6 23.Qxe7 Nf7

[FEN "3r1r1k/pp2Qn2/6P1/q1p5/3P4/

8/PPP2PP1/1K1R4 w - - 0 24"]

24.gxf7! 24.Rd3 and 27.Qf6+ Kg8 28.Rh1 also win, but the text is best.24...Kg7 25.Rd3 Rd6 26.Rg3+ Rg6 27.Qe5+! Kxf7 28.Qf5 Rf6 29.Qd7#Itwas this sacrificial orgy, worthy of Tal, that really put Magnus "on the map,"drawing serious attention from the chess media.

In our final sample Carlsen demolishes a former World ChampionshipCandidate. Carlsen Dolmatov (2591), Moscow 2004:

[FEN "r2k3r/p2qb1pp/2pp1n2/1p3bB1/

3Q4/1BN5/PPP2PPP/2KRR3 w - - 0 14"]

14.Rxe7! Qxe7 15.Qf4 Bd7 16.Ne4! d5 17.Nxf6 h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.Qd4! 1-0

Our examples have emphasized Carlsen's more sensational, combinationalgames, but he also shows surprisingly mature positional judgment. Hisendgame skills are perhaps not yet at world-class level, but are still very goodand getting better. Overall the games are quite impressive. Agdestein'sannotations are not deep, but he does a good job indicating how variousmoves and ideas show Carlsen's growth as a player.

It is fortunate that the bulk of the book is devoted to such exciting games,because its narrative is rather less dramatic. After a discussion of Carlsen'searly training in the first few pages, it becomes basically a travel diary,describing trips to various tournaments. A typical passage:


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"Magnus and his father also found time to take some hikes in themountains when they were in northern Italy. Especially the Matterhorn,which stretches like a sharp pyramid from 3,000- 4,500 meters height,was an experience, even if they had to content themselves with justseeing it from a distance this time. Besides, they found two goodrestaurants, so Magnus was content."

When not dealing with travel, the narrative consists mainly of "In round XMagnus had a tough game against grandmaster Y of country Z" and such.What little drama it has comes from small matters, like Magnus getting afever, or playing so much late-night blitz chess that he falls asleep at the

board.

Still, if the narrative lacks the suspense of a Hitchcock movie, it is competentlywritten and not without charm. Author Agdestein has obvious affection for hisyoung protg ("Magnus is small and intelligent, like a microchip.") but henever drifts into kitschy sentimentality or pretentious hyperbole. The Carlsenfamily is depicted sympathetically but modestly, and one gets a fair idea of therewards and problems created by having such a prodigy in the family.

It is interesting to compareHow Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest ChessGrandmasterto another recent biography of a prodigy,How I BecameGrandmaster at Age 14by Alexandra Kosteniuk (see the ChessCafe.comArchivesfor our review). Though similar in some ways, the two books leavequite different impressions. Carlsen's benefits from having a single author,whereas Kosteniuk's had three or four too many, who took the book in too

many directions; for example trying to make it a comprehensive instructionmanual and failing badly. In its attempt to portray her family as sitcom-perfect, Kosteniuk's book fell into saccharinity, and she herself filled too manypages with adolescent fluff.

More importantly, the Carlsen book has none of the exploitative feel thatpervaded Kosteniuk's. In both the book and its companion web-site, the younggirl, still in her early teens, was practically hyped as a sex object, a sort ofchess Lolita. One almost got the impression that her handlers were hoping toland her a Playboy-style modeling gig, and would agree to any deal that mightbring in a few bucks whether it was appropriate for her or not. In contrast, wehave this passage from the Carlsen book:

"[N]one other than 60 Minutes', perhaps the best known television newsprogram in the world, rang from CBS in the USA, wanting to speak toMagnus ... [His father] Henrik fielded the call from CBS and just toldthem to call back later because they were eating dinner."

Way to go, Dad!

Kosteniuk's book is better in one way: in describing some of the trainingprogram that helped her become a top female GM. In contrast, Agdesteingives few details, so chess teachers will not learn a lot of specific educationaltechniques fromHow Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest ChessGrandmaster. It also lacks any index of opponents or openings, or any recordof Carlsen's tournament results.

What it does have, though, in much greater measure than Kosteniuk's book (ormost others for that matter), is some fine, exciting chess. No doubt about it,

the kid is good. We will not venture to predict his future, but in the past whenthis kind of chess talent has been combined with the keen level of interest anddedication Magnus has so far shown, and that dedication is sustained, it hasproduced such players as Fischer and Kasparov.

We will predict that prodigies like Magnus Carlsen will become increasinglycommon, and will be seen at increasingly younger ages. As Agdestein writes:"[W]hat has happened in the last 150 years develops like Darwinist [Darwinisthas been changed to Darwinian in the new edition-ed.] evolution, whereemerging players constantly learn from their forebears." This describes notDarwinian evolution, but Lamarckian. While Lamarck was wrong to think thatorganisms genetically inherit acquired characteristics, chess players do, by"learning from their forebears," and computer technology and masscommunication are accelerating the process all the time.
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Whatever his future holds, Magnus Carlsen has already played someoutstanding chess, and Agdestein has presented it in attractive and readablefashion.How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmasteris anenjoyable, interesting book, and, one hopes, just the first installment in thechronicles of an important chess career.

My assessment of this product:

How Magnus Carlsen Became the Youngest Chess Grandmasterby Simen Agdestein

A PDF file of this week's review, along with all previous product reviews, isavailable in the ChessCafe.com Archives.

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