Now firmly established among the world’s elite, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has been setting records ever since he embarked on his chess career. He became a grandmaster at the age of just 13, and in 2010 he became the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in the world.

According to his mentor, Garry Kasparov, Carlsen has a positional style similar to previous world champions such as José Raúl Capablanca, Vasily Smyslov and Anatoly Karpov.

The comparison with the Cuban genius Capablanca seems especially apt, as Carlsen also comes from a small country with no particularly strong chess traditions.

This book presents detailed annotations to 64 of Carlsen’s best games, together with a description of his career. Also examined are the deficiencies from which he suffered as a young player, and how he overcame these on his way to the top.

The authors are both well known to the chess world, with numerous previous books to their credit. Adrian Mikhalchishin is a Ukrainian grandmaster with extensive training experience, while Oleg Stetsko is a national master and a former senior trainer of the USSR team.

Translated and edited by Ken Neat.