Magnus' Marvelous Moves

Magnus Carlsen is the number one player in the world right now. Many people believe he will become the best chess player ever.

He was a "child prodigy". This means that he was incredibly good at chess even when he was just a kid. He became a grandmaster when he was only thirteen years old! Could you be a child prodigy too? Maybe!

Today we will see some of his most amazing moves from tournaments. In some of them I will give you a chance to guess the move. If you don't get it, don't worry. After all, they were the moves of one of the best players ever...

Let's start off with a fairly easy one. Chess masters usually resign before checkmate. But occasionally even very good players are surprised by a sudden checkmate - especially if it is a wierd one! See if you can find it.

In our next one, Carlsen was playing against one of the best players in the world, Boris Gelfand. The white queen is under attack, but it is guarded by the bishop on e2. Carlsen used this to find a way to win the queen. See if you can find what he saw!

The next one is a little tougher. The Black king is under fire, but it seems hard to get to it. Carlsen showed the way! Checkmate in two.

Black resigned after the beautiful move. If he takes the bishop with the king, then 33.Qh5 mate. But if he takes it with the rook, then 33.Qe7 mate. This checkmate pattern is called "epaulette's mate".

Our final position would be hard to solve even for a grandmaster. But it was child's play for the twelve-year-old Magnus!

Wow! I think this is one of the best combinations ever! And Carlsen was only twelve years old when he played it.