Chess: Carlsen loses to a Pole in Poland with Polish Defence before winning run

Magnus Carlsen lost to a Pole in Poland with the Polish Defence last weekend, as the world No 1 returned to action after a poker break following his abdication of the world title. Carlsen paid the price for a provocative choice of the risky 1 d4 b5 as Black against Radoslaw Wojtaszek. However, the Warsaw Rapid/Blitz took place over five days, and on Thursday Carlsen stormed through the field with seven straight wins to take first prize, surviving a final round 124-move marathon against Poland’s No 1, Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Carlsen was in trouble early against Wojtaszek, whose strong pawn sacrifice 10 d5! trapped the Norwegian king in the centre. Later he missed fleeting chances to recover and resigned when his king was about to be chased into the open board with disastrous loss of material.

Wojtaszek, Poland’s No 2, said: “When he chose 1…b5, I thought let’s play, let’s make some normal moves. My approach was to play active chess, and that’s what I thought gave me victory.” Carlsen, who said: “I haven’t played or studied much chess recently, so it was showing,” went on to draw his next five games, where rapid points counted double.

Garry Kasparov was present on the second day, made a ceremonial first move for Carlsen, and said: “[Bobby] Fischer was at the top for three years. He reached it, but never defended the title. Magnus held it for 10 years, I was the best for 15. Looking at the length of dominance and the quality of opponents he faced, I can say that Carlsen achieved everything outstanding in this decade. However, the title of the best in history is subjective, and everyone can make their own decisions.”

By the third and final day’s rapid (25 minutes per game plus a 10 seconds per move increment) on Tuesday, Carlsen