Chess: Magnus Carlsen in Olympiad action as world No 1 targets record rating

Magnus Carlsen, newly retired from world title matches, is in Chennai this weekend for Friday’s opening round of the 186-nation Olympiad, where, due to Carlsen’s elevated rating, Norway are the No 3 seeds behind the US and India.

Round one Olympiad pairings (selected): Angola v USA, India v Zimbabwe, Lebanon v Norway, Spain v Wales, England v Cyprus. Women: Tajikistan v India, Ukraine v South Africa, Iraq v Georgia, Libya v England. For full pairings, view chess-results.com.

The five-times champion has underperformed in previous Olympiads, and India, with four fast rising teenage grandmasters, seem more likely bronze medallists. Games are live and free to watch online from 10.30am daily. Carlsen will aim for the individual top board gold and a boost to his new ambition of a world record 2900 rating.

Earlier, Carlsen won six blitz games in a row at the Zagreb leg of the US-backed Grand Tour, his first event since his announcement that he would not defend his crown in 2023. His surge was checked on the final day when he lost his last two, including one to Alireza Firouzja, the 19-year-old who he has identified as a future rival. After going clear, Carlsen ended up with a 22.5/36 total and edged first prize by half a point.

As ever, his comments were objective and self-critical: “I felt my play was pretty shaky throughout most of the day, but I won a bunch of these very nervy time-trouble duels where nobody really knew what was going on”. The Norwegian, 31, holds the Tour record of 27/36 points, achieved at Kolkata 2019, along with several other high totals.

Carlsen’s chess future is still unclear. His plan after giving up his crown is to aim for a record 2900 rating, a stratospheric level which he has twice missed by