Carlsen - Chess Career - 2008

2008

Competing for the second time in the top group A of the Corus chess tournament, Carlsen showed a big improvement over his 2007 performance. His final score was 8/13, and he achieved an Elo performance of 2830. Carlsen scored five wins (including as Black against former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik), two losses and six draws, sharing first place with Levon Aronian. At the Linares chess tournament, Carlsen had another 2800+ Elo performance, scoring 8/14. He finished in sole second place, ½ point behind the winner World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

In March, Carlsen played for the second time in the Melody Amber blind and rapid chess tournament, which was held in Nice for the first time. In the 11 rounds he achieved four wins, four draws and two losses in the blindfold, and three wins, two losses, and six draws in the rapid part. This resulted in a shared fifth place in the blindfold, shared third place in the rapid and a shared second place in the overall tournament.

Carlsen was one of 21 players in the six-tournament FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2009, a qualifier for the World Chess Championship 2012. In the first tournament, in Baku, Azerbaijan, he finished in a three-way tie for first place, with another 2800 Elo performance. Carlsen later withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle despite his initial success, citing "dramatic change to ... regulations".

Carlsen won a rapid match against Peter Leko held in Miskolc, Hungary, scoring 5–3. In June, Carlsen won an annual Aerosvit event. In his strongest tournament performance at that point in his career, he finished undefeated with 8/11 in a category 19 field. His Elo performance was 2877. Playing in the category 18 Biel Grandmaster Tournament, Carlsen finished third with 6/10, with an Elo performance of 2740.

In the Mainz World Rapid Chess Championship, Carlsen finished in second place after losing the final to defending champion Anand 3–1. To reach the final Carlsen played against Judit Polgár scoring 1½/2, against Anand scoring 1/2 and against Morozevich scoring 1/2. In the category 22 Bilbao Masters, Carlsen tied for second with a 2768 performance rating.