When Covid-19 caused an explosion of online chess, the World Champion Magnus Carlsen stood at the forefront of the revolution. This extra dose of chess, however, came at a cost. For the major part of 2020 he was his usual consistent self, winning pretty much everything on offer. But ever since turning thirty last November, Carlsen’s form has been truly erratic. Self doubt crept in as the champion himself admitted that he is “in a deep funk”. Recently, however, he managed to break the hoodoo by winning a couple of tournaments. Still the hiccups were there, reminding us that the man is human after all. What follows is a compilation of some of those blunders and missed opportunities. In a way, this will allow you to test yourself against the World Champion. Admittedly, we are cheating a bit because we do know something is up. So if you want to play fair, make your decisions in less than 60 seconds. Back to basics After losing back-to-back finals against Wesley So, Carlsen finally overcame his nemesis in the finals of the FTX Crypto Cup which was held last week. Despite the win, It was far from smooth sailing. The World Champion was absolutely furious after leaving himself a mountain to climb by losing the first blitz tie-break game with the white pieces. [caption id="attachment_140858" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Carlsen - So: Black to play [/caption] Wesley played 25...c5 here and Magnus responded almost immediately with 25.Nxc5 Nxc5 26.Qxc5. Did Magnus miss something in his calculations? To be fair to him, David Howell and Daniel Naroditsky, two renowned Grandmasters who were commentating on two different platforms, had no clue either. A different kind of a windmill Last November, Magnus lost the Skilling Open final to the same opponent. The following mishap contributed greatly. [caption id="attachment_140859" align="aligncenter" width="300"] So - Carlsen: White played 89.Qe3+ here[/caption] It came at the very end of a long game which swung wildly. Now with a draw looking inevitable, Wesley decided to give one more check with 89.Qe3+. Almost any reply would have secured the draw, except the one Magnus chose. My favourite rook ending Last December, Airthings Masters online rapid event saw Magnus trying to win a pawn up, double rook endgame against Levon Aronian. [caption id="attachment_140860" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Carlsen - Aronian: Black to play [/caption] The game continued with 40...Rf4 41.Kc2 Ke5 42.Rb5 Rd4 43.Rxd4 Kxd4 44.Rb3 Rh2+ 45.Kb1 Rh3 46.Ka2 and eventually ended up drawn. Did you notice anything interesting in that move sequence? Toxic water In the Banter blitz finals, Carlsen was doing his trademark “squeezing water from a stone” routine against Aronian. [caption id="attachment_140861" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Aronian - Carlsen: Black to play [/caption] Carlsen wanted to bring his king to e4 and ‘succeeded’ after 54...Nc3+ 55.Kf2 Nd1+ 56.Kg1 Ne3 57.Rd2+ Ke4. Find the flaw. A pre-moving disaster class Thanks to the pre-moving option, Magnus only spent one second for his first six moves in the following bullet game. GM Drop_stone (David Paravyan) - GM DrGrekenstein (Magnus Carlsen) Lichess titled arena (April 2021) 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.Bd3 Bd6 [caption id="attachment_140862" align="aligncenter" width="300"] After 6...Bd6[/caption] As Magnus was playing 6...Bd6, he pre-moved 7...0-0 and was even on his way to play 8...Re8 (7.c3 0-0 8.Qc2 Re8+ 9.Ne2 h5 brings us to a theoretical position). His clever opponent realized what the champion was doing and made him pay. How?  The cheat sheet

1. ..Rc6! and white loses a rook because of his backrank weakness. (27.Qxc6 Qxc6 28.Rxc6 Ra1+)
2. Magnus played the inexplicable .. Kf8?? and got checkmated after 90.Qe8+ Kg7 91.Qf7+ Kh6 92.Qh7+ Kg5 93.Qh5+ Kf4 94.Qf5#
3. As a famous Grandmaster once said “my favourite rook endings are the ones where I’m up a rook”. Magnus missed the simple f4+ Kxf4 44.Rxh3.
4. Rd4# (Whoops!)
5. White went off-theory with Qh5 and was rewarded with 7...0-0 8.Qh7#