If Magnus is known more for endgames than openings and then vice-versa with Wesley, then how come Wesley beat Magnus 4-0 (actually 13.5-2.5) in 9LX?

Duplicate of my reddit posts 1st posted on 2022Aug16

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess960/comments/wpvvlk/if_magnus_is_known_more_for_endgames_than/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/wpvusw/if_magnus_is_known_more_for_endgames_than/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/Endgames/comments/xmehid/if_magnus_is_known_more_for_endgames_than/

[begin duplication]

  1. My understanding is 9LX aka chess960 aka Fischer random chess is basically chess but without openings.
  2. Recently, I’ve been told a lot about how the best opening players currently are Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri or something and then apparently Magnus Carlsen isn’t as good in openings as them and is better in endgames.

So, this makes me think all the more Magnus should’ve beaten Wesley

  • or at least should’ve lost by a smaller margin
  • or at least should’ve beaten Wesley even once
  • instead of being, as agadmator said, ‘completely obliterated‘.

Question:

If Magnus is known more for endgames than openings and then vice-versa with Wesley, then how come Wesley beat Magnus 4-0 (actually 13.5-2.5) in 9LX?

I think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone not so familiar with chess to conjecture something like what overthinkerjan said here in r/Philippines : (emphasis added)

Touché! Fischer random chess doesn’t rely on any opening preparation as the starting position of your chess pieces (except the pawns) are random. This is where Wesley excels the most, being strategic and creative with his pieces, according to numerous Chess commentators.

Magnus on the other hand, who is the reigning world champion in blitz, rapid and standard time controls, relies heavily on his opening preparation and theories. Thanks to his near-perfect photographic memory.

Notes:

  1. On time controls: You might say ‘because rapid not classical‘ for Wesley ranked higher than Fabi or Nepo, but afaik Magnus is a lot stronger in rapid than in classical both then and now.
  2. On middlegames: For this post, I guess I kind of assume middlegames don’t exist. Lol.
  3. Previous discussion I’ve found: Dos being the Chess960 world champion imply a higher understanding of the board dynamics than being the usual world champion?
  4. Ian Nepomniachtchi is arguably more talented than Magnus. See here.
  5. Speaking of the Philippines: Check out the re-election of the corrupt Phililppine chess president Pichay.

[end duplication]

And anyhoo so yeah it’s indeed about middlegames as Larry Kaufman explains:

More in: Classical Fischer Random – we already had it in 2019? Why does FIDE call a 60min game ‘slow rapid’ ?

Shortlink https://wp.me/p1w4Rr-9Q

post ID is p1w4Rr-9Q

2 thoughts on “If Magnus is known more for endgames than openings and then vice-versa with Wesley, then how come Wesley beat Magnus 4-0 (actually 13.5-2.5) in 9LX?”

  1. Pingback: Larry Kaufman explains why Magnus sucks at 9LX | Mathematiciowned

  2. Pingback: (the rest of it) 9LX memorisation – opening vs endgame – declarative vs procedural | Mathematiciowned

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