The Thinklings

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- Rick Warren

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I'll Bet You Don't Know Who This Kid Is

Posted by Bird @ 6:19 pm CDT
Filed under: Chess

magnus

His name is Magnus Carlsen, and this 17-year-old Norwegian kid with a bushy haircut is, right now, the number one rated chess player in the world. (The linked article is a few days old, and it has him rated sixth in the world.)

For the one or two of you out there who are even semi-interested in professional chess, you'll want to keep an eye on Magnus Carlsen. This kid is a freak of nature. I don't think the world of chess has seen anything like him since Bobby Fischer.

Unfortunately, since he's not an American, I'm sure he won't become a household name in the USA. I mean, I'll bet no one out there has heard of Vishy Anand (the current World Champion who hails from India). Oh well. It's a solitary world when you're a chess fan.

:gwah:

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Comments on "I'll Bet You Don't Know Who This Kid Is":

1. Brandi - 09/06/2008 6:22 pm CDT

His hair is not bushy!! You were seriously scarred in childhood by your own bushy 'do!

2. stroke - 09/06/2008 6:45 pm CDT

he's the name of a world's strongest man... where did his parents go wrong?

3. David Marcoe - 09/06/2008 6:56 pm CDT

We may not always have the world's best chess player, but we do design the computers that beat the world's best chess players.

4. Bill - 09/06/2008 7:10 pm CDT

Yeah!

USA! USA! USA! USA!

(sorry, after-effects of the RNC)

5. Debbie - 09/06/2008 9:37 pm CDT

You were seriously scarred in childhood by your own bushy 'do!

Wait! Birdo had bushy hair as a kid??? I remember the bowl cut, but not the bushiness. If I recall correctly, Sha & Blo were the bushy-haired one...

6. Daniel Ross - 09/06/2008 10:18 pm CDT

Unfortunately, since he's not an American, I'm sure he won't become a household name in the USA.

No offense, but the best chess player in the world could be as American as apple pie and he STILL wouldn't be a household name.

;-)

7. Bird - 09/07/2008 12:05 am CDT

I beg to differ. The last, and only, time the USA had a World Champion was Fischer, and everyone knew who he was.

:gbird:

8. Shrode - 09/07/2008 5:55 am CDT

...Only because his name was in a hollywood movie title. :)

That's how Americans learn their history and their present. If it ain't in movie, it ain't real.

(Confession: the hollywood movie title thing - that's the only way I'd heard of him before Bird started doing chess posts. Sorry, Bird.)

9. Bird - 09/07/2008 7:30 am CDT

By the way, Shrode, that's a good movie! I'd recommend it. It's a family friendly flick, too.

10. Lars Walker - 09/07/2008 7:48 am CDT

It's also a solitary world when you're Norwegian.

11. Brandi - 09/07/2008 2:37 pm CDT

You're right, Boo. Because of Bird's childhood emotional scarring hair-wise, if his hair is longer than an inch, he calls it "bushy." That bowl-cut was way-longer than an inch. :-)

12. The Ancient Mariner - 09/08/2008 10:04 am CDT

People knew Fischer before the movie . . . but that was because he was, to put it delicately, "colorful." Here's hoping this kid comes out sane and well-adjusted. And why shouldn't he? Capablanca did, after all.

13. damien - 09/09/2008 8:04 am CDT

i never get tired of the movie searching for bobby fischer. it's one of my all-time top ten favorites. you don't have to care a lick about chess to become engrossed in this little gem of a flick.

14. Les - 09/10/2008 3:25 pm CDT

I guess we can still root for Kamsky.

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