Pontus Carlsson
Encyclopedia
Pontus Carlsson is a Swedish
chess
player and became the country's 16th grandmaster.
He studied Spanish
during the time he was based in Spain, playing in the chess league. Now he is fluent in Spanish (having earned a certificate) as well as Swedish
, English
, German
and French
. Carlsson also plans to learn Russian, since there is good chess literature that is only published in that language.
He is a dual citizen of Sweden and Colombia, and is a hip-hop fan.
His first international tournament of record was the under-10 European Championships in Rimavská Sobota
. Carlsson has spent most of his chess career traveling throughout Europe. Having a propensity for rapid chess, he has won the Swedish Tusenmannaschacket Rapid tournament three times, becoming the only player in its history to do so.
Carlsson also won a number of youth championships at the national and regional level. He played in his first national championship
in 2001 at age 18 in his hometown of Linköping.
His performance stagnated from mid-2001 to mid-2005 due to losing small amounts of rating points in successive tournaments during that period. He attributed this delay to not playing enough tournaments and activating himself.
In 2007, Carlsson played for the Swedish national team in the 16th European Team Chess Championship and scored 6.0/9 without a loss. His performance rating was 2686, having faced strong opposition, including Dmitry Jakovenko
and Mark Hebden
. He was also a member of the national team at the 2006 37th Chess Olympiad
in Turin (+3 =1 —2).
He plays for the Sollentuna SK chess club
, with which he took part in the European club cups in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Beyond the Swedish league he has also played in the Spanish league and other tournaments in Spain.
Carlsson became an International Master and Grandmaster in three years. He achieved the IM title in August 2005, and the grandmaster title in October 2007 after earning four GM norms
. This made him the 16th Swede to become a GM. He earned his first GM norm at the 2005 European Team Championship, his second at the Open de Tarragona (Spain), the third at the Torneig Internacional Ciutat de Sóller, and the fourth in the 3rd round at the European Club Cup.
Having received the Grandmaster title, he is to be elected into the Swedish Chess Academy. The Chess Academy is an organization of dignitaries and sponsors of chess, and all Swedish Grandmasters are members.
His long-term goal is reach the 2600 rating mark. He says that he is undergoing a serious training program include both Mark Dvoretsky
's Endgame Manual and New in Chess
magazine as part of it.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player and became the country's 16th grandmaster.
Early life
When Carlsson was one year old, his entire family died in tragic circumstances. He was subsequently adopted by a Swedish couple and it was his stepfather, Ingvar Carlsson (former president of Swedish chess federation), who taught the game of chess to him when he was 4.He studied Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
during the time he was based in Spain, playing in the chess league. Now he is fluent in Spanish (having earned a certificate) as well as Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Carlsson also plans to learn Russian, since there is good chess literature that is only published in that language.
He is a dual citizen of Sweden and Colombia, and is a hip-hop fan.
Chess career
Carlsson has represented his country since his school years and is now a member of the senior national team. He has spent most of his chess career traveling throughout Europe.His first international tournament of record was the under-10 European Championships in Rimavská Sobota
Rimavská Sobota
Rimavská Sobota is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has 24,374 inhabitants . The town is a historical capital of the Gömör-Kishont county .-Geography:...
. Carlsson has spent most of his chess career traveling throughout Europe. Having a propensity for rapid chess, he has won the Swedish Tusenmannaschacket Rapid tournament three times, becoming the only player in its history to do so.
Carlsson also won a number of youth championships at the national and regional level. He played in his first national championship
Swedish Chess Championship
The first Swedish Champion was Gustaf Nyholm who won two matches against winners of national tournaments: Berndtsson in Göteborg and Löwenborg in Stockholm in 1917. Until 1931 Swedish Chess Championships decided by match play. In the 1930s, Gideon Ståhlberg held the title in spite of results of the...
in 2001 at age 18 in his hometown of Linköping.
His performance stagnated from mid-2001 to mid-2005 due to losing small amounts of rating points in successive tournaments during that period. He attributed this delay to not playing enough tournaments and activating himself.
In 2007, Carlsson played for the Swedish national team in the 16th European Team Chess Championship and scored 6.0/9 without a loss. His performance rating was 2686, having faced strong opposition, including Dmitry Jakovenko
Dmitry Jakovenko
Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko is a Russian chess grandmaster. On the March 2010 FIDE Elo rating list, Jakovenko has a rating of 2725, making him the 20th highest ranked player in the world....
and Mark Hebden
Mark Hebden
Mark Hebden is an English chess player who holds the title Grandmaster.Hebden was British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 1990, 1994, 2001, 2005 and 2009....
. He was also a member of the national team at the 2006 37th Chess Olympiad
37th Chess Olympiad
The 37th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open and women's tournament and the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs , took place between 20 May and 6 June 2006, in Turin, Italy.-Open tournament:...
in Turin (+3 =1 —2).
He plays for the Sollentuna SK chess club
Chess club
A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs provide for both informal games and timed games, often as part of an internal competition or in a league.-Organisation:...
, with which he took part in the European club cups in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Beyond the Swedish league he has also played in the Spanish league and other tournaments in Spain.
Carlsson became an International Master and Grandmaster in three years. He achieved the IM title in August 2005, and the grandmaster title in October 2007 after earning four GM norms
Grandmaster norm
A norm in chess is one of the requirements to receive a title such as Grandmaster from FIDE.- Grandmaster norm :In order to qualify for the title of Grandmaster of chess, a title awarded by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, a player must achieve three or more grandmaster norms in events covering a...
. This made him the 16th Swede to become a GM. He earned his first GM norm at the 2005 European Team Championship, his second at the Open de Tarragona (Spain), the third at the Torneig Internacional Ciutat de Sóller, and the fourth in the 3rd round at the European Club Cup.
Having received the Grandmaster title, he is to be elected into the Swedish Chess Academy. The Chess Academy is an organization of dignitaries and sponsors of chess, and all Swedish Grandmasters are members.
His long-term goal is reach the 2600 rating mark. He says that he is undergoing a serious training program include both Mark Dvoretsky
Mark Dvoretsky
Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky is a world-renowned Russian chess trainer, writer and International Master.He was awarded the International Master title in 1975 and for a while, was widely regarded as the strongest IM in the world...
's Endgame Manual and New in Chess
New In Chess
New In Chess is a chess magazine that appears eight times a year with chief editors International Grandmaster Jan Timman and Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam. It contains notes by top players and chess prodigies on their own games...
magazine as part of it.
Quotes
- "The training that I have done this far have taken me to 2500, but in order to reach 2600 I need to work hard on my weaknesses."
- "Before that I only played two or max three ELO tournaments per year. Between 2001 and 2004 I had problems to reach my normal playing strength during the tournaments since I was to rusty all the time. I always started the tournaments bad and then when I got warm and recovered, the tournament was over and it was a half year left to the next one. I had 2400 in 2001 and in 2004 I had 2360 after losing five ELO points in almost every tournament that I played during this period. Therefore I decided to activate myself and start to play more and a bit more serious."
- "No I don't think so. I mean there are only two black GMs in the world and I'm the only one that plays in Europe so everyone knows who I am. It's not possible for me to hide!" ~when asked if international opponents are surprised when placing his name and country with his face.