Who is Magnus Carlsen's inspiration at the Isle of Man?
Off late Magnus Carlsen has had a string of bad performances. His rating came down to a low of 2822 and he was knocked out of the World Cup by Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in just the third round. When things are not working your way, you need to change the way they are done. And Magnus did exactly that. Instead of travelling with his usual team of father, second and Manager, he decided to go to Isle of Man with someone special. And after seven rounds, he is in the sole lead with 6.0/7. Who is Magnus Carlsen's inspiration? Read the article to find out!
On July 23rd Magnus Carlsen posted the following photo on his Facebook profile page:
This was the first time that Magnus Carlsen had made a public announcement about his girlfriend. Prior to that around March 2017 he had changed his Facebook personal profile relationship status. However, it was not so clear to the chess world who is his girlfriend.
After his debacle at the World Cup 2017, where he was knocked out in the third round by Bu Xiangzhi, Magnus decided to play in the Isle of Man International 2017. But this time he made some changes. Instead of his usual team, he took along with him his girlfriend Synne Christin Larsen.
It is a general notion in the chess world that your play tends to suffer when you have a girlfriend. The general idea being that you are distracted and being distracted is not good for your chess! However, we have seen innumerable cases where having a girlfriend with you at an event has worked well for the player. And Magnus Carlsen proves that with his fantastic performance of 6.0/7 at the Isle of Man International.
With 5.5/7, India's Vidit Gujrathi does have a chance of finishing first, but if there is someone after him whom we are rooting for....
Rank after Round 7
| Rk. | SNo | Name | sex | FED | Rtg | Club/City | TB1 | Rp | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Carlsen Magnus | NOR | 2827 | 6,0 | 2893 | 7 | 6 | 5,26 | 0,74 | 10 | 7,4 | |||
| 2 | 3 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | USA | 2799 | 5,5 | 2873 | 7 | 5,5 | 4,90 | 0,60 | 10 | 6,0 | |||
| 5 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2781 | 5,5 | 2800 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,36 | 0,14 | 10 | 1,4 | ||||
| 8 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2734 | 5,5 | 2803 | 7 | 5,5 | 4,87 | 0,63 | 10 | 6,3 | ||||
| 12 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2702 | 5,5 | 2797 | 7 | 5,5 | 4,68 | 0,82 | 10 | 8,2 | ||||
| 16 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2683 | 5,5 | 2728 | 7 | 5,5 | 5,01 | 0,49 | 10 | 4,9 |
