Tendonitis

Magnus Carlsen has risen to achieve the highest ever chess rating. He ascended to 2872 on the rankings, which compares with 2851 for Kasparov, 2785 for Bobby Fischer and 2817 for Viswanathan Anand, the reigning champion. Carlsen commences his multi-million-dollar challenge for the world chess title against Anand in Chennai on 9 November. Carlsen is the firm favourite, with the betting odds clearly in his favour — he is being offered at 1/3 with Anand at 2/1. But for all the impressive statistics, he does have one Achilles heel, namely a certain vulnerability when facing White’s most aggressive first move, 1 e4. On occasion he has even resorted to contortions such as 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Nf6 3 e5 Nh5, which he tried unsuccessfully against England’s Michael Adams in the 2010 Chess Olympiad. The most solid reply to 1 e4 is  1 … e5 but in the past Carlsen has also suffered on the black side of the Ruy Lopez opening — aka the Spanish Torture — which is seen in this week’s game.