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When champions go to sleep, what do they dream of? They sure cant be imagining themselves at the top because they are already there. The challenge at the top is not about winning, its about not getting bored with the process. Its been a decade since the Norwegian Grand Master Magnus Carlsen claimed the title of world number one. However, now that he has achieved every known record in the game, there are clearly some signs that chess doesnt excite the legend anymore.

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Ever since he defeated the Russian Grand Master Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2021 world chess championship, he has been hinting at his retirement. However,Magnus Carlsenalways speaks in riddles. Hence, its quite difficult to predict if hell retire this year or ten years from now. Though the world champion is certainly dropping signs, that its not fun for him anymore.

The most prominent sign is his constant retirement talks. Perhaps he sounded a bit bored from the game, and in a recent interview, he said,Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.

Its not just this Carlsens approach to the game has also been quite different lately. In the Oslo Esports cup, he even played the most frivolousopeningthat cannot have a valid explanation against Grand Master Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Taking the advantage of Carlsens sloppy gameplay, the Polish Grand Master claimed the title of the third tournament in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.

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Online Chess Has a Serious Flaw That Even World Champion Magnus Carlsen CantEscape From

1 day ago

The list doesnt end here. How many times have you seen Carlsen making a blunder? Well, for someone who has only seen him at the Oslo Esports Cup 2022, the answer would be, a lot of times.

While Carlsens journey started with him waiting for the world champion Garry Kasparov, he is showing the same signs himself now. Heres the world champion apologizing for being late to a game.

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Furthermore, the most talked-about moment from the Oslo Esports cup was when the opponent was waiting for Carlsens move and the world chess champion was taking a nap. Though, his one hand was on the mouse, which could mean that perhaps he may be thinking about the moves in deep meditation.

Magnus is that person who has always been excited about chess. However, since last month and so, his approach towards the game has been different. Does that mean he has already made up his mind about retirement? And the bigger question is, will he be defending his world championship title in 2023 or not?

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What are your thoughts about the same?

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Without the Element of Enjoyment- Is a Weary Magnus Carlsen Hinting Retirement From Chess? - EssentiallySports

Things got sketchy for the Atlanta Hawks until Trae Young proved once again that he is a true superstar in this league-leading his team to a 111-110 victory over the Miami Heat. The Hawks were in a back-and-forth affair at halftime but still led 61-54. Miami came out firing in the third quarter, outscoring Atlanta 31-16.

Then came the fourth quarter and, ultimately, Young took over down the stretch.

Before that, though, the Heat stretched their lead to 14 points before the Hawks could mount their comeback.

Young scored 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting getting three more points at the free-throw line. He was accompanied by Bogdan Bogdanovic who scored nine of his 18 points in the final 12 minutes of action.

After struggling to just 10 points in the first half on 28.6% shooting, Young only scored four points in the third quarter hitting 1-of-2 shots and getting the rest at the stripe. He was hounded by a ferocious and varied Heat defense that set out to make things as difficult as possible for a player they knew was fully capable of doing what he did.

The Hawks withstood a 21-0 third-quarter run as well as a 7-3 Heat advantage to begin the fourth.

They outscored Miami 31-16, the same margin of the third quarter, from that point on.

Bogdanovic, Onyeka Okongwu, and Delon Wright took turns digging the Hawks out of the hole they dug themselves into. This was after DeAndre Hunter got tagged with his fourth foul of the evening.

Okongwu had seven points and three boards in the frame, none bigger than this one among three Heat players that he put back up to give the Hawks a two-point lead with just 1:41 to go.

We just didnt give up. We didnt stop fighting They made their run in that third quarter and got going, and it was about our time to make a run, too. via Sarah K. Spencer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wright was all over the place, notching five points and a pair of boards in the stretch while Bogdanovic was hitting three triples for his points and grabbing four rebounds.

That is when Young went to work. He checked in about three minutes into the frame and didnt take his first shot until the 4:17-mark. His first make came shortly thereafter on a tough floater through contact to tie the game up at 101-all.

Miamis Max Strus staked them to a brief 104-101 lead before Young drew them even again on a logo three.

The Hawks played the offense-defense game swapping out Young and Hunter over the final 1:03 but made sure their superstar was on the floor to hit that dagger floater driving against a shuffling P.J. Tucker and an out-of-position Jimmy Butler.

Young had struggled in the first two games, scoring just eight points on 1-of-12 shooting in Game 1 and turning the ball over 10 times in Game 2.

He called this his most fun and challenging series because of the chess match with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to which the coach responded, Hes a great playerHe has our full respect, per Hawks.coms Kevin Chouinard.

On Friday, in front of the home crowd, Young managed a disruptive Miami defense with just three giveaways in Game 3 critical with a3-0 hole proving to be insurmountable historically. This series is far from over.

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Trae Young won his chess match and the game for the Atlanta Hawks - Soaring Down South

The Turning Point (Netflix)

"It takes 5 minutes to figure out your whole life storya sad story," says Jack (Andrea Lattanzi) to Ludovico (Brando Pacitto) in this Italian film by Riccardo Antonaroli. Jack is a thief who is on the run from the mafia after stealing their money. He forces his way into Ludo's apartment and takes refuge there. Ludo, a slacker, has been suffering from depression for a year. He is an economics student, but wants to be a comic book artist. As Jack fixes a lamp in the apartment, he tells Ludo, "If I had time, I would fix you too." An unlikely bond forms between the two, with Jack taking on the role of a mentor. But the mafia is closing in on them.

Also read: India Art Fair 2022 celebrates resilience of the art community

Heropanti 2 (in theatres)

Tiger Shroff is back in this sequel to his 2014 hit, Heropanti. He plays computer genius Babloo, though as always what hes actually playing is Tiger Shroff, an amiable young man who can break heads and dance up a storm. Collecting their paycheques are Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a flamboyant cybercriminal and composer AR Rahman.

Twenty-five Twenty-one (Netflix)

It is 1998a world of cassettes, pagers, phonebooths and mobile phones without caller IDsNa Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri) and Ko Yu-rim (Bona of the band WJSN) are high school fencers, both on the national team. They are a group of five friends: Ji Seung-wan, Moon Ji-woong and Baek Yi-jin (Nam Joo-Hyuk) being the other three. Yi-jin, at 22, is four years senior to them. The series follows their ups and downs through a decade, but is essentially a love story between Hee-do and Yi-jin and how they grow apart. Both are a joy to watchone outspoken, the other restrained. But this K-drama tries to pack in too many things, including world events like 9/11, and that is its undoing.

Chess of the Wind (MUBI)

A lost and found masterpiece from Iran is now streaming on MUBI. We wrote in our review: Everything teeters on the edge of perversity. Hadji is rumoured to have a preference for young boys. After hes felled by a blow of a flail, Aghdashloos heavy breathing as she helps carry the body out of the room seems to suggest other exertions. Later in the film, what starts out as a playful love scene between the maid and her lover morphs into one of violence. The music, though played on Iranian instruments, sounds like avant-garde jazz. Even the elements acquire an unstable feverishness as the film progresses, with the Greek chorus of women washing clothes finding themselves in the midst of a sudden storm.

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (in theatres)

This Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara and Samantha-starrer is a little too diffident for what it promises. We wrote in our review: Polyamory? What is that! The film is timid to a fault to even discuss sex. A painful scene glosses over sex and marriage using pista and badam as euphemistic semaphores.

Also read: A book that celebrates 100 years of artist Amar Nath Sehgal

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Chess of the Wind, The Turning Point and other titles to watch this weekend - Mint Lounge

Were off to an energetic start for the National Middle School (K-8) Championship this weekend in Grapevine, Texas. With nearly 900 competitors from 38 states convening in the Lone Star State, US Chess staff and volunteers have been busy getting the boards and clocks set for Round 1 today at 1 p.m. CT.

The K-8 kicked off Thursday with the exciting preliminary Bughouse and Blitz tournaments.

Like the High School Championship earlier this month, we crowned co-champs in the Bughouse tournament. From a field of 14 teams, top prizes went to the teams of Advait Nair & Akshat Suresh from Florida, and Alexander Bianchi & Logan Shafer from Texas, with scores of 8.0/10.0.

The evenings Blitz tournament was not without its own drama. With a field of 135 players that included 8th-grader Brian Tay, 2021 Virginia State Scholastic Champion and 2019 National K-12 second place finisher, as well as 5th-grader Ethan Guo who placed second in the 2022 California K-5 Championship last month, the competition was sure to be fierce and it was!

For the top 22 players in the field, no one took a loss until round 3 and only two draws appeared prior to that. Blitz co-champion Vaseegaran Nandhakumar, a 7th grader from Kansas, looked to make a perfect run until drawing third-place finisher Eric Liu in the final round, finishing with 11/12. This last round draw allowed Ethan Guo, who drew Akshat Suresh in round 4, to climb back to a first-place tie with Nandhakumar, following two straight wins. Brian Tay finished with 9.5/12, though having taken a loss against Nandhakumar in round 5, gave a strong performance with wins on the rest of his pairings.

Round 1 of the National Middle School (K-8) Championship begins today with opening ceremonies at 12:45 p.m. and first moves at 1 p.m. sharp. From the field, some other players to keep an eye on include:

Extra-Curriculars at the K-8

In addition to the competition in the main playing hall, this National Event will feature appearances from GM Julio Sadorra, head coach for the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) chess program and three-time Texas state champion, who hosted a simul this morning, will take on all comers for some fun, casual blitz, and give two special lectures with Q&A for those in attendance.

The US Chess Girls Club will be in full effect with events throughout the weekend with WGM Sabina Foisor, WIM Emily Nguyen, and WIM Dr. Alexey Root. Theyll be on hand for lectures, game reviews, and more. All female players with their coaches and families are welcome to join.

Watch Rounds 5, 6, and 7 Live on Twitch

US Chess will be broadcasting live commentary and analysis from our Twitch channel for rounds 5 through 7. First broadcasts begin at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT on Saturday with special guest commentators WGM Sabina Foisor and WIM Emily Nguyen, who will provide insights and connect all the critical moves for the top boards. Give us a follow, subscribe, and watch live atwww.twitch.tv/USChess.

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Big Blitz and Bughouse Performances at the 2022 National K-8 Championship - uschess.org

Every chess player hopes for the opportunity to play a grandmaster some day, and some even dream of defeating one.

The odds on both counts are not especially good. While hundreds of millions of people play chess in person or online, the world chess federation has bestowed the official grandmaster title on fewer than 2,000 players. Canada has just eight active grandmasters.

In pre-pandemic times, the best chance to play a grandmaster might have come in the opening round of a Swiss-system open. Today, its possible to find a game in an online blitz tournament or to challenge a grandmaster during a streaming display.

The other path to playing an elite player is during a simultaneous exhibition, where the grandmaster takes on multiple players at once. Even then, its hard for the average player to make much headway.

My moment in the limelight came in 1997, when I played veteran Israeli grandmaster Leonid Gofshtein in a simultaneous exhibition. He only had eight challengers that day, a small number as some exhibits can include dozens of players.

Somehow I managed to win the game, in just 29 moves. It was a fun moment, but I resisted the urge to turn professional after that.

29. h5, and Black will win material on e4..

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Defeating a grandmaster is every chess player's dream - The Globe and Mail