Norway’s teenage sensation, 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen, is excelling on the world chess stage. At the strong Corus tournament which was played last month, Carlsen finished ahead of world champion Viswanathan Anand, and defeated former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in their single encounter. Carlsen played well to claim joint first place at the Corus tournament with world championship candidate Levon Aronian.

Ranked 17th in the world at a rating of 2714 (Anand is the world’s number one at 2801), Carlsen is playing in the Category 21 Morelia/Linares invitational tournament which began a week last Friday in Mexico. The second half of the tournament will be played in Spain. In the line-up of participants for this tournament, Carlsen is the lowest ranked player.

In local chess, the Interim Steering Committee for the Development of Chess is moving ahead to establish a new Guyana Chess Federation. The election of office bearers took place on Monday at the Ocean Spray Hotel. A chess tournament is being held today and all chessplayers are invited to participate.