The second most active player in the group (and on the top 100 list for that matter), young Carlsen seems to be like a space rocket out of control. If last year I compared his rating progress graph to that of Google’s, then this year after another huge rise of 73 more points I can only ask how much further can he climb. In the 2006 edition, Norway’s top player continued his Corus successes: after ransacking the C group in 2004 to make the B group (where he finished with a respectable 7/13 in 2005), he convincingly co-won it (with Motylev) with a remarkable +5 score.

Naming a few of his many other successes of 2006, one would point his superb Olympiad result of undefeated 6/8, co-winning the strong GM event in Sarajevo, co-winning (with Beliavsky) the NH generations tournament in Amsterdam, and tying for second in Biel. Not even the minus 2 result at the Tal Memorial that just finished can spoil the year. Magnus is currently the youngest ever player to make it to the candidates stage of the world championships, and with FIDE’s recent announcement that these will happen after all, fans are excited to see how far he can go there.

Life’s a charm for the Scandinavian teen – and how not when even Kasparov had very optimistic predictions to say about his chess future!