Chess: newly-married Carlsen signs up with Bundesliga, Freestyle and Saudis
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The World No 1, who wed Ella Victoria Malone last Saturday, will play for St Pauli in the Bundesliga, where he may meet the new classical champion, Gukesh Dommaraju. Magnus Carlsen, the 34-year-old world No 1 and candidate for the greatest of all time, married Ella Victoria Mallone last Saturday in Oslo, where the congregation included a film crew from Netflix. The new Mrs Carlsen, 26, was born in Hong Kong to a Norwegian mother and an American father, was educated in the US, the UK and Canada, and has spent several years in Singapore.
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Carlsen’s stellar chess career, boosted by his controversial shared World Blitz title, is set to resume as early as this weekend, when the Norwegian will lead the newly promoted St Pauli team in the German Bundesliga, the strongest chess league in Europe.
St Pauli’s team, which has scored only a single point out of eight from its four matches so far, is preparing a welcome for the No 1, who is scheduled to compete against Düsseldorf and Solingen in matches to be played in Hamburg on Saturday and Sunday. Carlsen’s games will be live streamed, with play due to start at 5.15 pm GMT on Saturday, and 9.15am GMT on Sunday. The games can also be followed live on lichess.
Solingen’s probable top board is the Netherlands GM Max Warmendam, but the real interest will be in St Pauli v Düsseldorf, whose No 1 is India’s classical world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju. It would be the first Carlsen v Gukesh encounter since the 18-year-old defeated Ding Liren for the crown last month.
