Magnus Carlsen Edges Out Borki Predojevic in Rapid Chess Match

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

The world’s top rated player Magnus Carlsen faced Grandmaster Borki Predojevic from Bosnia & Herzegovina in a four games rapid match in Lillehammer this Friday and Saturday (28-29th June).

The match was played at the Radisson Blu Lillehammer Hotel, and with the rapid time control 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move.

In the first game Predojevic started cautiously with white and soon run into a passive position, but later he succeeded in trading all the pieces and holding a draw in the Rook endgame.

Magnus Carlsen

In the second game Carlsen was pressing with white, but his opponent obtained sufficient counterplay with the far-advanced d-pawn. Another Rook endgame and another draw.

In the third game Predojevic played Alapin Sicilian with white. The Queens quickly went off and Black even obtained a slight structural plus. After lots of maneuvering and probing, Black finally muscled his opponent into a lost ending.

In the final game another Queen-less opening and yet again the Norwegian was pushing for advantage. Predojevic, however, defended tenaciously and eventually salvaged a draw with moves repetition.

Magnus Carlsen won the match with the final score 2,5-1,5 (one win, three draws).

Borki Predojevic

The match has been initiated by Steinar Bryn, who is both a chess player and Senior adviser at The Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue in Lillehammer, where he mainly works on peace projects in the Balkan region.

The rapid match in Lillehammer coincides with this year’s Norwegian chess championship starting on Saturday 29th. (www.chessdom.com)

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Magnus Carlsen and Borki Predojevic play in Lillehammer

12th Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Latest Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone,

On Friday 28th of June, Magnus Carlsen will meet Bosnian Grandmaster Borki Predojevic for a game of friendly chess in Lillehammer. The event is organised by the NCPD as a part of the Norwegian Chess Championship. The intent is to celebrate the historical ties between Lillehammer and Sarajevo and give these two great players a chance to meet again, seven years after they last played each other in Bosnia.

Two young talents: Magnus Carlsen and Borki Predojevic playing in Sarajevo in 2006.

Both Predojevic and Carlsen showed exceptional talent at a very young age. Magnus Carlsen is today world famous as the highest ranking player in the history of chess and an international celebrity, while Borki Predojevic leads a more humble life in Sarajevo, where he is a member of the chess club Bosna and regularly plays international tournaments as well as planning for his own chess book company. Sarajevo is also the city where the Nansen Dialogue Project started, when Inge Eidsvåg went there during the siege in 1994 to look at the rehabilitation of the ward for war victims at the Kosevo hospital financed by Lillehammer Olympic Aid. The connection between the Sarajevo, Lillehammer and sports is well established and has proven to be historically significant.

Carlsens talent and dedication to chess is of course beyond any doubt, but Predojevic was and is just at as talented, dedicated and hard working. The conditions surrounding these two sportsmen could not have been more different, however. Though they both have had the full support of their families and chess clubs, Predojevic lives the most war torn country in Europe after World War 2, while Carlsen has benefited from the political and economical stability of Norway all through his youth. Who knows where Predojevic might have been today, had the wars in Bosnia never been? As a junior player, he beat Carlsen, and he is one of top 100 chess players in the world today.

The game will take place on June 28th at 14.30 in the Sigrid Undset square in Lillehammer, and be surrounded by entertainment and food from the Balkans. Please contact Aida Zunic - aida@peace.no - for more information.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
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