Answers.Body: <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Zong-Yuan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Zhao Zong-Yuan</a> played Carlsen in the first round of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_World_Cup_2007" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2007 World Cup</a>, losing <a href="https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1479855" rel="nofollow noreferrer">both</a> <a href="https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1480099" rel="nofollow noreferrer">games</a>.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-03-27T10:26:25.663Z
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Body: <p>There was <a href="https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1831469" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Smerdon vs. Carlsen (2016)</a> 1/2-1/2, and now there is <a href="https://www.chess.com/events/2022-fide-chess-olympiad/06/Smirnov_Anton-Carlsen_Magnus" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Smirnov vs. Carlsen (2022)</a> 0-1.  I'm not aware of any other games between Australian players and Carlsen.</p>
  <p><strong>Question</strong>: Have any Australians played Carlsen OTB, other than Smerdon and Smirnov?</p>
  <p>ABC News suggests there have been other games:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Queensland Grandmaster David Smerdon is <strong>one of the few Australians to have faced Carlsen over the board</strong>, holding him to a draw at the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan.<br />
  <sub><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-26/kings-gambit-magnus-carlsen-cement-legacy-greatest-chess-player/100646162" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ABC News</a>, 2021.</sub></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>I'm guessing people might be downvoting because it's basically impossible to eliminate the possibility that there were Carlsen vs. Australian-player undocumented games played e.g. in a bar.  I'm mostly just interested in what's available in databases.  I personally don't own a database, and I'm not sure of an efficient method to check online databases for &quot;Australian player&quot;.  The answer might very well  be &quot;there are no others recorded&quot; (<a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/40314/have-any-australians-played-carlsen-otb-other-than-smerdon-and-smirnov#comment65360_40314">cmgchess's comment</a> seems to suggest this), but I don't know.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-08-03T12:11:24.680Z
Comments.Text: fide profile only shows smerdon. im not sure if fide profile publicly shows records only after 2003. so only smerdon and smirnov in fide rated games?
Comments.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-08-03T12:24:09.757Z
Comments.Text: https://ratings.fide.com/a_data_opponents.php?pl=1503014
Comments.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-08-04T03:07:55.470Z
Comments.Text: I cannot fathom why a perfectly good on-topic question like this one is downvoted so much.
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2022-08-04T10:44:41.150Z
Comments.Text: "one of the few" seems like some good weasel-wording for "we couldn't find any others but didn't really want to commit to saying 'only'"
Comments.UserDisplayName: Cleveland
Tags: <history><master-games><carlsen><otb-chess>
Title: Have any Australians played Carlsen OTB, other than Smerdon and Smirnov?
ThreadText: # Have any Australians played Carlsen OTB, other than Smerdon and Smirnov?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-03)
  
  There was [Smerdon vs. Carlsen (2016)](https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1831469) 1/2-1/2, and now there is [Smirnov vs. Carlsen (2022)](https://www.chess.com/events/2022-fide-chess-olympiad/06/Smirnov_Anton-Carlsen_Magnus) 0-1. I'm not aware of any other games between Australian players and Carlsen.
  
  **Question**: Have any Australians played Carlsen OTB, other than Smerdon and Smirnov?
  
  ABC News suggests there have been other games:
  
  > Queensland Grandmaster David Smerdon is **one of the few Australians to have faced Carlsen over the board**, holding him to a draw at the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan.  
  > [ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-26/kings-gambit-magnus-carlsen-cement-legacy-greatest-chess-player/100646162), 2021.
  
  I'm guessing people might be downvoting because it's basically impossible to eliminate the possibility that there were Carlsen vs. Australian-player undocumented games played e.g. in a bar. I'm mostly just interested in what's available in databases. I personally don't own a database, and I'm not sure of an efficient method to check online databases for "Australian player". The answer might very well be "there are no others recorded" ([username_1's comment](https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/40314/have-any-australians-played-carlsen-otb-other-than-smerdon-and-smirnov#comment65360_40314) seems to suggest this), but I don't know.
  
  **Tags:** history, master-games, carlsen, otb-chess
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: fide profile only shows smerdon. im not sure if fide profile publicly shows records only after 2003. so only smerdon and smirnov in fide rated games?  
  > **username_1**: https://ratings.fide.com/a_data_opponents.php?pl=1503014  
  > **username_2**: I cannot fathom why a perfectly good on-topic question like this one is downvoted so much.  
  > **username_3**: "one of the few" seems like some good weasel-wording for "we couldn't find any others but didn't really want to commit to saying 'only'"  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2023-03-27. Score: 3
  
  [Zhao Zong-Yuan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Zong-Yuan) played Carlsen in the first round of the [2007 World Cup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_World_Cup_2007), losing [both](https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1479855) [games](https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1480099).
  
  
  ---
  
  