Magnus Carlsen – His Olympic Debut
Profiles of world champions from the perspective of Chess Olympiads
Magnus Carlsen – Calvia 2004
Carlsen made his debut at the XXXVI Chess Olympiad in Calvia in 2004.
He was only 14 years old, but even then the strong grandmaster Simen Agdestein, who at the time had a higher rating, gave up first board to the young Norwegian. The Norwegian prodigy arrived in Spain only for the tenth round and had a mixed performance. He defeated Ibrayev (Kazakhstan), then drew with the Greek Kotronias, beat Hamdanov from Tajikistan, followed by a draw with Kulaots (Estonia), and finished the event with a loss to Onischuk (USA).
Nimzowitsch Defense [E38]
XXXVI Chess Olympiad, Calvia 2004
GM Carlsen (Norway) 2581 – IM Ibrayev (Kazakhstan) 2476
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Nf3 Qb6 7.e3 Qc7 8.b3 b6 9.Bb2 Bb7 10.Nb5 Qd8 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.Ng5 Re8 13.h4 e5 14.Nd6 Bxd6 15.Rxd6 h6 16.Qf5 Nc6 17.Rxf6 and Black resigned.
2. Barcza Opening [A07]
XXXVI Chess Olympiad, Calvia 2004
IM Hamdamov (Tajikistan) 2150 – GM Carlsen (Norway) 2581
1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 e5 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.e4 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bg4 9.Re1 0-0-0 10.h3 Be6 11.c3 Nd7 12.Ng5 Bc4 13.b4 f6 14.Nd2 Bg8 15.Ngf3 Nb6 16.a4 a5 17.b5 Nb8 18.Bf1 N8d7 19.c4 Bb4 20.Ba3 Bxa3 21.Rxa3 Nc5 22.Rc1 Be6 23.Nb3 Nxb3 24.Rxb3 Nd7 25.Rb2 Nc5 26.Nd2 Rd4 27.Nb3 Nxb3 28.Rxb3 Re4 29.b6 c6 30.Rd3 Rd8 31.Rxd8+ Kxd8 32.Rd1+ Rd4 33.Rxd4+ exd4 34.f4 c5 35.Bd3 h6 36.h4 Kd7 37.Be4 Bc4 38.Bb7 d3 39.Kf2 d2 40.Bf3 Bb3 and White resigned.
3. Nimzowitsch Defense [E55]
XXXVI Chess Olympiad, Calvia 2004
GM Onischuk (USA) 2653 – GM Carlsen (Norway) 2581
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nbd7 9.Qe2 b6 10.Rd1 cxd4 11.exd4 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qc7 13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Bd3 Rfe8 15.Re1 Rad8 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.Qxe5 Qxe5 18.Rxe5 Rc8 19.Rc1 Red8 20.Ree1 Rd5 21.a4 Ne8 22.Rb1 Bc6 23.Rb4 Nd6 24.Ra1 Bd7 25.f3 h6 26.Be1 e5 27.Ba6 Re8 28.Bg3 exd4 29.Rxd4 Rxd4 30.cxd4 Nf5 31.Bf2 Ne3 32.a5 Nc2 33.Rc1 Nb4 34.Rc7 Nxa6 35.Rxd7 Rc8 36.g4 bxa5 37.Ra7 Nb4 38.Rxa5 Rc1+ 39.Kg2 Rd1 40.Rb5 Nd3 41.Bg3 Nc1 42.d5 Ne2 43.Kf2 Nxg3 44.Kxg3 Kf8 45.h4 g6 46.Kf4 f6 47.h5 Kf7 48.Rb7+ Kg8 49.Ke4 gxh5 50.gxh5 Kf8 51.Rxh7 Re1+ 52.Kf5 Kg8 53.Rd7 Rf1 54.f4 Kf8 55.d6 Ke8 56.Rxh7 Rd1 57.Ke6 and Black resigned.