Magnus Carlsen teflir fyrir Íslands hönd

Magnus Carlsen hefur ákveðið að gerast íslenskur ríkisborgari og tefla fyrir Íslands hönd. Hans fyrsta verkefni fyrir Íslands hönd verður EM landsliða í haust.

Í frétt Chess.com, sem birti fyrst frétt um málið, segir meðal annars:

In a stunning decision, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsenhas decided to not only relocate permanently to Iceland, but also change federations with FIDE — effective immediately. This was announced today in a press release.

“My parents love Iceland,” said Carlsen during a recent visit to the island between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. “And I do too.”

Two weeks ago Carlsen visited his parents in Reykjavik, where his father participated in the tournament. Magnus stopped by for just three days but as a true champion, he netted two victories in this short period: the pub quiz and the football tournament.

The biggest victory however was scored by the Icelandic Chess Federation. “Negotiations during the Reykjavik Open were quite fruitful,” says ICF President Gunnar Björnsson. “It didn't take much to convince Magnus to move to the city with the highest density of grandmasters in the world.”

Gunnar Björnsson, forseti SÍ, hafði þetta að segja um málið í viðtali við Skák.is.

Gríðarlega ánægður að þetta sé komið í höfn. Snörp vinna sem skilaði árangri fyrr en ég átti von á. Sérstakar þakkir fá Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, forsætisráðherra, og Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, utanríkisráðherra. Þeir sækja fram Framsóknarmennirnir.

Nánar má lesa um málið á Chess.com. Frekari fréttir væntanlegar.