whats causing carlsen to lose to these much weaker players

at the tromso olympiad

he loss to i think 2 2600 players... 1 today, and one a few days ago..

i dont get it..is he risking it more against these players, is he not going all out.

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Carlsen's occasional losses only prove that he's human, rather than some sort of chess god.

As far as "losing to lower-rated players" goes... what are the options? There AREN'T any higher rated players.

Probably getting overconfident.  Kotov even called it diziness due to success.  Also he's getting into positions that 2600's can solve so things aren't complicated enough probably.  He's the greatest player of all time (well, he's that overall, but specifically...) as far as strategic endgames are concerned, so maybe exchange off pieces but create enough imbalances where the best plans are obvious to him but not the 2600.  He doesn't have any weaknesses however, and is amazing at wait and see tactics (so perhaps he needs more Hedgehogs?  Grischuk is great at them I know) Far easier said than done however and the opponents are looking for their best moves too. 

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My impression is that he just isn't patient enough when he feels the need to win every game to keep the team in contention and plays every round. Here he just played too wild stuff and hoped things would get out of prep and that he then would outplay his opponents. It works now and then, but also fails now and then. Still he was in the lead to get the first board gold before the penultimate round, so his results weren't that bad before the very weak game against Saric. The Ruy Lopez Bird is hardly playable at this level, especially not as Carlsen played it. First board gold should go to Topalov or Adams now, two veterans who both would be well deserving of it.

Kinda difficult to read the mind of the world champion of chess in all 3 time formats...

but... if I'd have to take a guess, I'd say it's coming down to motivation.

Maybe today the match was already decided in Croatia's favor prior to the result of his game, so that his result may not make a difference. Besides Norway is not a medal contender anymore, so he may think "What's the point? I cannot save Norway by myself." and take the foot off the pedal. I would not agree to this view, but hey, we are all only human.

I would not read too much into MC's performance at the Olympiad. Come November it will be a whole different ballgame again, defending his title.

We the public would like the best of the best to be continually the best each and every time. But it is probably just not possible to be at your best each and every time, despite your best efforts. If we think of other dominating sports legends in other fields like Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, they are the same. When did Federer have by far his best result of late? In Wimbledon this summer, the greatest event. In other "minor events" he is just not so motivated anymore.

when u experiment with unusual and dubious positions sometimes u get burned. 2680 players are pretty good too.

so carlsen can't win first board gold?

Another day another defeat for Magnus...is he in decline at 23?!; maybe he can't handle the pressure of being the world champion . He certainly can't afford to play as arrogantly against Anand as he did today against Saric , I mean to say what was Nd4 all about ?. Too weak today Magnus I'm afraid.

If you disrespect the game  the game will bite you on the bum.

Maybe he's in love.

I don't see what the problem is, he bounces back with a win afterwards. He's keeping it loose before the match-up with anand

Are both his hands tied behind his back?

He is human, he will lose games.  No surpise here.

Also, a bit of nonsense now might make him feel fresher when the dry, technical stuff starts this fall.

He didn't like he was having much fun for the last hour of today's game..he looked very grumpy indeed.

I feel it is hard for anyone to keep on playing at their best especially when you are the highest rated. Preparing for a match is totally different then facing many different players. It will be interesting to see how he does in St; Louis in less than 3 weeks.  Now that will be really tough competition.  

"maybe he can't handle the pressure of being the world champion"

You have been writing that during every tournament Carlsen has won since winning the title, as well as the one where he finished second :-)

Well it takes a while for the pressure to build up to intolerable levels ... maybe he will completely crack up and collapse against Vishy.. but maybe he won't crack this year ..time will tell us more.

What we do know is that Magnus had a shockingly bad game and result against a player rated over 200 pts below Magnus ! He had better sharpen up his act pronto.:-)