Microsoft Norway provides “safe training environment” for Chess Grand Champion worried about Russian hackers

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Published onNovember 7, 2016

published onNovember 7, 2016

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Casual chess players may not know it, but playing chess at the top level is a computer intensive activity. For Norwegian World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, testing new strategies and preparing counter attacks with the help of chess computers has become a daily routine.

But as the champion is currently preparing to battle Russian player Sergey Karjakin at the upcomingWorld Chess Championshiplater this month, recent US political hacks linked to Russian hackers have led him to reconsider his training methods. According to a recent report fromThe Telegraph(viaPCMag), a worried Carlsen doesn’t want to give hackers a chance to get their hands on his very valuable training data. To give the champion some peace of mind, Microsoft Norway has offered to help him by providing “a safe training environment and secure communication and collaboration tools.”

While Microsoft Norway did not share more details about how it plans to support Carlsen during its secret training, it’s worth reminding that the company had to deal with Russian hackers several times over the past years. Last week, the technology giantblamed Russian hacking group STRONTIUM for leveraging a critical vulnerability in Windowsthat is expected to be fixed tomorrow on Patch Tuesday. But despite Microsoft’s recent struggles with hackers, Carlsen’s manager told The Telegraph that “Magnus’s preparations are going as planned.”

If you’re a chess fan, the World Chess Championship 2016 will kick off on November 11 in New York and the winner will earn a cool $1.1 million prize fund. Let us know in the comments if you expect data security to become a bigger concern for top level competitors in the future.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

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Microsoft Norway provides “safe training environment” for Chess Grand Champion worried about Russian hackers