One small measure of how Magnus Carlsen has made chess cool got here on Thursday afternoon, when the world’s greatest participant walked by a London cafe tailed by college children repeatedly shouting one phrase – “Magnus! Magnus!” – as they tried to seize selfies on the run. But such is the ripple impact of the chess increase, fuelled by the pandemic and the Netflix sequence The Queen’s Gambit, that the sport has been catapulted into way more surprising areas.
England’s Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Anthony Gordon have all spoken about their love of chess. Chelsea’s supervisor, Enzo Maresca, wrote a 7,000-word thesis on the way it may help practice the thoughts of a soccer coach. Final yr Mohamed Salah admitted he was “hooked on chess”, had a score of round 1400 – nicely above common – and namechecked Carlsen. “I’m not Magnus, however I’m good,” he stated. “Nobody has an opportunity with Magnus. However hopefully we’ll play at some point.”
So would Carlsen be up for a sport in opposition to the Liverpool striker? After all he would. “I’m an enormous soccer fan and positively a fan of Salah,” he tells the Observer. “I’ve not met him but however I will surely like to – in addition to different sports activities individuals who I love who play chess.”
In 2018, the Norwegian routed Salah’s teammate Alexander-Arnold in 17 strikes in a sport that lasted 5 minutes. So is there anybody within the Premier League who would possibly fare higher? “Martin Ødegaard performs a bit bit,” says Carlsen. “He was enjoying loads for some time, after which not a lot. He’s not a foul participant, however he’s type of personal about it.
“As for the very best, I don’t know. There are a variety of first rate gamers. However I don’t know if there are any excellent gamers among the many sports activities folks I’ve confronted.”
Such is Carlsen’s love of soccer that in 2020 he even topped the official Fantasy Soccer rankings, forward of seven.3m others, earlier than ending the season in tenth. However this yr, he concedes, isn’t going so nicely. “It’s horrible,” he says, smiling. “I don’t have Erling Haaland. I’m a little bit of an informal nowadays.”
Carlsen is within the UK to play within the second version of the Tech Mahindra World Chess League, the game’s model of cricket’s Indian Premier League, with six franchise-based groups and a $1m prize fund. It’s, he insists, “an superior initiative” that he hopes will get much more folks watching the sport.
“Chess nonetheless has much more gamers than it has followers, versus most different sports activities,” he says. “Nevertheless it’s actually getting higher and the method of GCL’s Sameer Pathak to usher in workforce homeowners and knowledgeable setting is one thing I positively need to be part of.”
In final yr’s match, Carlsen performed a strategic masterpiece in opposition to the legendary Vishy Anand that some thought of one of many best endgames of his profession. Nevertheless, Carlsen insists that he has by no means performed the right sport. “Nooooo,” he replies, with a glance of bemusement. “I all the time make errors, so no.”
However there have been loads of occasions the place computer systems say you have been near 100% accuracy? “Sure, however there may be all the time one thing that I’m not proud of, so I can not level to 1 sport,” he counters. “Both my play was near perfection nevertheless it was too straightforward, or I missed one thing sooner or later that I may have accomplished higher.”
It’s a solution that speaks volumes about Carlsen’s honesty and he’s simply as frank when requested about whether or not he needs to be thought of the best ever, given he has been world No 1 since July 2011 – longer than anybody else. “No,” he replies. “It’s nonetheless Garry.” He’s referring to Kasparov, the world champion from 1985 to 2000.
“However ask me after my profession is finished and I might need a special reply. There are in all probability solely two gamers – or three in the event you embody Bobby Fischer – with reliable claims. And my title is in there. However being considered the best ever doesn’t actually eat a lot of my day-to-day pondering.”
So if perfection or legacy doesn’t maintain him, how does he proceed to remain so hungry as he approaches his mid-30s – particularly with a number of gamers of their late teenagers and early 20s, resembling India’s Gukesh Dommaraju in addition to Alireza Firouzja, charging up the rankings?
Considered one of Carlsen’s predecessors as world champion, the Russian Vladimir Kramnik, places it right down to the Norwegian’s preternatural want to win in addition to his expertise. Carlsen doesn’t demur. “I’m not correctly previous by any means, however it’s a indisputable fact that a lot of the guys I’m competing in opposition to are youthful,” he says. “So if I don’t play for a few months, and I see these younger guys profitable tournaments, I’m all the time pondering: ‘Oh, possibly they’ve improved?’ So after I keep forward of them it provides me a variety of pleasure.”
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He provides: “That is nonetheless my favorite passion, in addition to my work. I really like enjoying. And I really like profitable. I nonetheless have moments the place I’m pondering: ‘I really like this. I don’t need to cease.’” So long as that’s the case, I’m not going to stop.”
It helps, too, that defeat nonetheless hurts. “Truthfully, I hate dropping,” he says. “Each time I lose an necessary sport it nonetheless stings. However I believe that’s a great factor. It exhibits I nonetheless need it. It exhibits that I nonetheless care.”
Carlsen is not the classical world champion, having voluntarily surrendered the title final yr. However he might be watching subsequent month’s match between the reigning champion, Ding Liren, of China, and Gukesh intently.
“I believe Gukesh is bettering loads,” he says. “I used to be very impressed with what he did within the Olympiad, the candidates, and customarily, a lot of the classical tournaments that he performs. He’s a big favorite. However he’s by no means performed in a world championship earlier than and the stress is completely different from all different tournaments, so we’ll see how he handles that.”
Nevertheless, Carlsen is fast to minimize a suggestion that he may be tempted to problem Gukesh for the world title if he beats Ding. “I’m not ruling it out utterly, nevertheless it’s not possible,” he says.
So what would possibly Carlsen do after chess? Two former world champions, Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, have gone into politics – may he do the identical? “That’s a great query,” he responds. “I believe the principle downside with politics for me is that I’m naturally an introvert, so I don’t know if coping with folks on a regular basis is the precise factor for me. I positively need to calm down and have a household. However other than that, I don’t actually know.”
When that occurs Carlsen admits that he’s prone to transfer away from Norway to flee the deal with him as a star. “There are individuals who have it loads worse than I do,” he says. “However I’ve actually misplaced some freedom in my life, each in Norway and in different international locations. Typically it may be annoying, however general, I’m very privileged to do what I do. However I’m not going to reside in Norway full time, as a result of I don’t need my future spouse and children to even have that stress.”
In the meantime there may be one different factor he plans to work on: his golf swing. “I began final yr, and I’m nonetheless not excellent. However other than that, I don’t know. Then once more, I don’t really feel like I want objectives. Life is sweet.”
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