Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, generally considered the greatest player of all time, is currently in Norway. His task: to work with Magnus Carlsen. The goal: To make Magnus Carlsen the undisputed world number one.

Carlsen and Kasparov analysing in an Oslo café  

Kasparov arrived in Oslo on Tuesday, and will stay in Norway for a week. Yesterday, the charismatic Russian and Magnus Carlsen met the press at a café in Oslo. 

Kasparov and Carlsen told the press that their differences in playing style is a very good thing. According to Kasparov, Carlsen has a style similar to Karpov’s. The difference in playing style means that Carlsen can improve a lot by studying the areas where Kasparov is the strongest – opening preparation and aggressive, tactical play.

Mr Kasparov, the world’s strongest player from 1985 until he quit top level chess in 2005, said that he sees the training job as part of his project of making chess a major international sport. To achieve this, Kasparov said that it is necessary to make chess a big sport in the western world. This will attract sponsorships from big corporations, making it possible for chess to become a major sport worldwide. An essential part of this plan is that a player from the western world has to be the undisputed world number one. This is the goal of the Kasparov-Carlsen training project: To make Carlsen the world number one within a year, and to make Carlsen the undisputed wolrd number one – the position Kasparov himself had from 1985 to 2000.    

 Kasparov (right) chatting with the President of the Norwegian Chess Federation, Joran
Aulin-Jansson (left) and Mr Espen Agdestein (center), who is working for Magnus Carlsen

Hopefully, the Kasparov-Carlsen training sessions will enable the young Norwegian to create tactical masterpieces such as the following.

Kasparov,Garry (2690) - Portisch,Lajos (2600)
Niksic 1983
1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 e6 3.Sf3 b6 4.Sc3 Lb7 5.a3 d5 6.cxd5 Sxd5 7.e3 Sxc3 8.bxc3 Le7 9.Lb5+ c6 10.Ld3 c5 11.0–0 Sc6 12.Lb2 Tc8 13.De2 0–0 14.Tad1 Dc7 15.c4 cxd4 16.exd4 Sa5 17.d5 exd5 18.cxd5 Lxd5 19.Lxh7+ Kxh7 20.Txd5 Kg8

 

21.Lxg7!! Kxg7 22.Se5! Tfd8 23.Dg4+ Kf8 24.Df5 f6 25.Sd7+ Txd7 26.Txd7 Dc5 27.Dh7 Tc7 28.Dh8+ Kf7 29.Td3 Sc4 30.Tfd1 Se5 31.Dh7+ Ke6 32.Dg8+ Kf5

 

33.g4+! Kf4 34.Td4+ Kf3 35.Db3+ 1–0