Unbeatable in blitz chess: Carlsen wins World Championship despite jogging pants dropouts

In chess, Magnus Carlsen remains the measure of all things. After winning rapid chess, the Norwegian also wins the world championship in blitz chess. The 32-year-old almost missed his opening game and had to change between games.

Magnus Carlsen made the title triple perfect. Two days after winning the World Rapid Chess Championship, the Norwegian also won the title of World Blitz Chess Champion. The 32-year-old, who also holds the title in classical chess, won the two-day tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with 16 points from 21 games. According to the rule book of the world association FIDE, the players at the World Blitz Chess Championship have a total of three minutes to think about it plus two seconds for each move.

Second was Hikarus Nakamura of the USA ahead of Haik Mikaeli Martirosyan of Armenia, who each had 15 points. The German young professional Vincent Keymer, who came second in the rapid chess tournament, finished 13th with 13.5 points. He lost among others again against Carlsen.

On the first day of the blitz chess title fights, Carlsen almost missed his opening game. In sweatpants and a hoodie, the Norwegian only rushed to the encounter against Belarusian Vladislav Kovalyov when it had already started, as media footage from his homeland showed. With only about 30 seconds left on the clock, he made his first move – and still won the game.

“That was my mistake,” Carlsen then told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “I was stuck in traffic.” According to the broadcaster, the 32-year-old had previously been on a ski tour organized by the organizer in the mountains. The newspaper “Verdens Gang” has already described the incident as a “jogging pants drama”. In his next game, Carlsen sat at the board again in his jacket.

The title win in blitz chess is the sixth for Carlsen (2009, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022) in this discipline, in rapid chess it was the fourth (2014, 2015, 2019 and 2022) – in classical chess Carlsen defended the title successful four times since 2013. This year, however, he announced that he would not be competing again in 2023.