Hypnosis?

Various champions have been accused of hypnotising their opponents, including Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal and, not least, the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen. The respective accusers were the grandmasters and world-title candidates, Efim Bogolyubov, Pal Benko and the relatively recently deceased, Viktor Korchnoi.
 
The latter was an adept in the dark arts of presumed parapsychology; indeed Korchnoi’s 1978 challenge for the chess crown was dominated by suspicions of paranormal activity. It was evident that Korchnoi simply could not comprehend the magnitude of Carlsen’s successes, finding the quality of his play incompatible with his superlative results.
 
The most likely explanation for Carlsen’s victories from unpromising situations is undoubtedly not supernatural intervention. Instead the source emanates from his fierce and intimidating will to win, combined with astoundingly accurate endgame technique, which can extract a win from even the most barren and unpromising of scenarios.
 
This week, we track Carlsen’s wins from his victory last week at Wijk Aan Zee.