Carlsen and Kasparov join forces!

[Ender]

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5742

So originally I was too excited to post anything lucid on this matter. However, I will explain the brewing excitement!

Kasparov is quite simply the best chess player in the history of chess. Fischer is likely second or third best, but Kasparov is generally considered #1.

Magnus Carlsen is widely considered to be the future world champion. He is an 18-year-old Norwegian who is currently ranked #4 in the world. He is  far and away the #1 junior in the world. He was an incredible chess prodigy and in the past few years has catapulted himself to the top.

The two have joined forces with the goal of launching Magnus to #1 on the world rankings in a year's time. Magnus being my favorite current chess player, and Kasparov being the greatest all-time player, their alliance really blows me away. They truly are the Dream Team.

And what's also so great about this, in addition to matching genius with genius, is that the two players have totally different styles. They can both play any kind of position (any players of their caliber can), however Kasparov most often wins his game on sharp variations from his encyclopedic opening knowledge, while Magnus is more of a positional player who wins many of his games in the endgame. This pairing will be great for Magnus as it will diversify his style and bring a new element to his game.