Magnus Carlsen, the world’s top-ranked chess player for more than a decade, stretched back and yawned as he waited to begin a match at the 2024 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Facing him across the board was Nurassyl Primbetov, a young Kazakh boy who smiled and straightened his black pieces in their squares ahead of what was surely one of his biggest moments as a chess talent. Primbetov was born in 2013, according to the FIDE website.
“Who is this young player? It must be so exciting for him to be facing Magnus Carlsen,” said Irina Krush, an American grandmaster doing commentary for FIDE, the International Chess Federation, on its YouTube channel. Another commentator warned against underestimating very young players, saying they are often “super dangerous” in blitz chess.
It was one of the more unusual encounters in the chess event, which drew many of the world’s best players to the Kazakh capital over the past week. In the rapid chess contest, the Al-Ain ACMG UAE team was the winner, while the Decade China team led by world champion Ding Liren came second. The WR Chess team, which included Carlsen, won the blitz portion of the championship, defeating Indian squad MGD1 in the final on Monday.
“I’ve been struggling a bit here, coming from a big time difference. I haven’t really been able to sleep much. Today I was really running on fumes,” a bleary-eyed Carlsen said after his team’s blitz victory in an interview on the FIDE channel. Carlsen, who is from Norway, said adrenaline had eventually kicked in and he was able to focus better.
“Honestly, I just want to sleep. So, that’s how I’ll celebrate,” he said.
Earlier, there was buzz around the clash between Carlsen, with a rating of 2,888 points in blitz chess, and Primbetov, with a rating of 1,904.
“As a kid, it is not every day that you get to play with the world #1 Magnus Carlsen,” ChessBase India said.
Representing the Baiterekchess team, Primbetov met Carlsen in a pre-knockout qualifying round. The Kazakh player came under early pressure as Carlsen’s white knights pushed hard on the black king side. Blitz games last just a few minutes and 33-year-old Carlsen was up on the clock against his young opponent, who was running out of time. Still, Krush noted that Carlsen, a world champion in multiple years, wasn’t trying to play very fast or unleash any fancy moves that could deliver a quick checkmate against the Kazakh boy.
“He’s not trying to put any psychological pressure on his young opponent,” Krush said, adding that she didn’t think it was “an accident” because Carlsen tends to show a “gentleman-like demeanor towards these younger players.”
Carlsen was once a child prodigy himself. As a 13-year-old in 2004, he drew a game against Garry Kasparov, one of the all-time greats.
As Carlsen’s position strengthened and a win appeared inevitable, Primbetov played for a stalemate instead of resigning. But Carlsen bore down with a rook, a knight and his own king for the checkmate and the pair shook hands. Carlsen’s teammate, grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, had been playing at the next table. But he stayed in his seat to watch and he exchanged smiles with Carlsen after the chess giant defeated the young Kazakh boy.
“That was beautiful to see,” Krush said.
