Leonard Barden on Chess

The Norwegian’s second place at the Sinquefield Cup, combined with failures from Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So, was enough to keep him clear at the topMagnus Carlsen fought off two challenges to his world No1 ranking at last week’s Sinquefield Cup but gone are the halcyon years when the Norwegian, now 26, outclassed his rivals with rating leads of 50 points or more.At one stage in the elite tournament in St Louis Carlsen’s edge had diminished to under 10 points, a slim margin w