In a rare behindโtheโscenes conversation with Firstpost, World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen revealed the mindset that has kept him at the pinnacle of world chess.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is an intimidating figure in chess whose brilliance knows no bounds. The Norwegian grandmaster engaged in an exclusive conversation with Firstpost on the sidelines of the Global Chess League in Bengaluru, speaking with Rupha Ramani in a rare, behindโtheโscenes interaction.
Carlsen looked calm, content and laid-back throughout the interview, where he opened up about being the best in the world, self-belief, the Indian GM’s rise in the global realm, the infamous table banging against reigning world champion D Gukesh and the influence of parenthood in his game.
The following are the excerpts from the interview:
Q1: Are you loving being in India? Are you loving the kind of attention that you’re getting?
Yeah, being in India is something special, for sure. The first time I came here was in 2013 for the World Championship match in Chennai, and that was pretty massive.
But yeah, every time since, it’s kind of a little bit of both for me. On the one hand, I really enjoy the love that people have for chess and for me as well. But on the other hand, it’s good to get it in kind of smaller doses.
More from ChessQ2: Gets a bit much for you, the kind of attention?
Yeah, I think at certain times, not only here but everywhere else, there’s a certain loss of freedom that comes with being a little bit recognisable. But the enthusiasm people have here for chess is incredible.
Q3: You’re being a bit modest when you say ‘being a little bit recognisable.’ You’re someone who’s changed the way sport is perceived today, the way chess is played today, the way chess is embraced today. Do you believe so yourself? Is there a bit of acknowledgement that the way chess has become or transformed is a lot about the way you are?
No, I just try to win.
The thing about chess is there are players, and then there are creators and visionaries and scientists and so on. And I very much belong in the player category. My chief goal has always been to play and to enjoy the game and to win, and not necessarily try and create a legacy in terms of how my game looked and so on.
That’s kind of not been so much on my mind. So whether things that I’ve done in chess have changed things, that’s more an effect of results, I think, rather than anything else.
Q4: I’m sure a lot of players feel the same way. Is that very subconscious, or is that also a part of gameplay? Because I’ve spoken to so many chess players and greats as well, and that is part of so many players trying to get that sort of energy across. Do you consciously believe so?
No, I think it’s pretty clear, not only in chess but in a lot of other areas as well, that you work hard to gain a reputation and after that, your reputation certainly works for you.
And there are certain players who are not intimidated, but I think as a rule, people are going to be a little bit more careful about what they do against me than they would against others, which is kind of just the way it is.
Q5: What makes you the best in the world?
I don’t know, to be honest.
I feel like I understand the game generally at a bit of a higher level than most. I mean, there are things that others can do better in specific situations and so on. But I don’t think that I have massive flaws, at least compared to other humans, in understanding.
But I don’t know. It’s hard for me to say. It surprises me at times, but I don’t dwell too much on it. I’m just happy that it is this way.
Q6: How much of it is natural and how much of it is honed?
It’s hard for me to say. I think chess didn’t come super easy to me at first when I was being taught it at an early age. So it took a little bit of time, and then I started studying it a lot on my own.
Eventually, it became my thing. But I feel that there are others who are kind of quicker in their calculations. They rely more on that, like, I don’t know, some kind of mathematical talent more than I do.
But at the same time, all that I’ve done over the years has developed a very, very good natural feeling for the game. So, yeah, a bit of both.
Q7: When you watch Indian players, what surprises you most about the way a lot of the top stars here in the country have started playing? What is it that you admire most about them? And what is the area that you probably still see some sort of making up to do?
Obviously, you cannot make generalisations about all the players because people have different styles. But what I think is fairly universal for the current talent that is in India is that all of them have a pretty concrete approach to chess, in some ways more than others, some in clearer ways than others, but they treat chess a little bit like problem-solving.
And so all of them are pretty good at kind of non-standard thinking and deep calculation.
And then I think Gukesh is probably the most extreme example of that. And he’s also very, very good at it when it works. But that also is partly because he’s learned to play that way. He doesn’t necessarily have something to fall back on in the same way others may do.
And then I think currently Praggnanandhaa is maybe the best-balanced player, in the sense that he has tremendous positional and tactical instincts as well as an ability to calculate deeply.
And also, something that all of them have in common is that they’re all huge fighters.
Q8: How do you find yourself as a bit of a leader of fellow chess players when you’re on EWC, obviously, when you go out competing against each other in a team’s dynamics? What’s your nature like? Do you hold meetings? Do you talk a lot? Do you listen a lot? What are you like? What’s Magnus the leader in this kind of situation?
I find it a little bit difficult because I understand that my words might hold more weight than others. And I also don’t want to give bad โ not even advice, but bad suggestions and so on.
I try to keep a good spirit. And if I see someone is doing something that I just kind of know is not the best way, and I kind of know why and I feel confident about it, then I will try and help.
Q9: Intuitive?
Yeah, it’s intuitive, but it’s so much about confidence and self-belief. So if people kind of hear what I say, but then they start doubting other parts of their game and so on, it’s not easy.
So it’s a fine balance, for sure.
But it has been difficult. I played in the national team for Norway for many, many years, and it’s been a struggle at times because my teammates have said that they’re worried playing next to me, that I’m secretly judging their moves.
And to some extent, of course, I am โ in the sense that if they make something that I consider to be an obvious mistake, I will not necessarily let them know, but I will think it because I’m competitive. I want our team to win.
But yeah, I understand it’s not easy, for sure. And at least in this tournament so far, I’ve scored a lot of points, so that I can at least justify that.
Q10: I want to ask you: do you truly think, or do you truly feel, you’re sometimes misunderstood?
Sure. I think everybody feels that way at times.
But, you know, the people around me, they understand me. Like today, I was having lunch with my coach Peter and my father, obviously. Peter Agnone has been around for 20, 23 years or so.
And they were having a kind of serious discussion, and I was eating, and then I started smiling. And then Peter said, “Please, Henry, can you let Magnus speak because he is going to make a silly comment that has nothing to do with the situation.”
And that was heartwarming because โ they know me. And I felt very heard and understood.
Q11: A cue to all the teammates: Magnus is smiling. Give him the room.
No, no, no. It’s kind of… I don’t know. That’s always been like a thing with them, and even with my wife sometimes; it’s that if I think of a joke, I can’t help but make it a lot of times.
Q12: Has she enjoyed watching you play?
Oh yeah, for sure. She’s my biggest fan.
Q13: Do you want your child to take up the sport as well, or do you think that’s a decision for later and for them to take?
Yeah, I think that’s for later.
I mean, whatever my kids want to do, I want to support them. Making it as a chess player is not easy. There’s a very limited number of players who can make a good living from chess.
And also, imagine spending that much time on something and being that good. And you could have spent that time on something else and built a better career and so on.
So I don’t think it’s an accident that there have been no world-class players who’ve had kids who’ve been world-class players themselves.
I think partly because they do not necessarily want their kids to follow the path because it’s not an easy path whatsoever.
I think for me, it was in the sense that by the time I finished school, I was already making a good living from chess and I didn’t feel like I had to sacrifice all that much. But that’s a very rare case.
I will certainly teach my kids the moves because I think it would be very unfair to them if they were not taught by their dad. But apart from that, I will not push them at all.
Because I felt great support from my family growing up, but never any pressure. And I want my kids to feel the same.
Q14: I’ve spoken to a lot of athletes about parenthood and how that sort of transforms the way they play or approach the sport. Has that happened with you?
It meant that in the first few months, I was sleeping a lot less. And maybe that affected me at tournaments sometimes.
But honestly, after that, I still have to play, I have to travel, I have kind of my work to do. But it makes it a little bit easier to kind of accept losses and so on.
Because there’s always someone smiling at you at home.
Q15: How much do you hate losing? And when do you hate it the most?
I always kind of dislike losing.
But I guess it’s the easiest to accept if I feel that I’ve played decent, or I made mistakes, but I kind of feel that those mistakes were forced errors rather than unforced errors, to use that language.
And that my opponent played really well.
But, you know, chess is very lonely. And your ego is always going to be hurt if you lose, no matter how you lose.
So yeah, it’s always tough. And it’s kind of a sad part of chess that the pain of losing for most top players is always going to be bigger than the joy of winning.
Q16: That table-banging โ did you even imagine it would turn into a bit of a meme that it ended up being? Because it’s natural. It’s an expression. And you moved on after a second. But did you imagine it to sort of transform into what it actually became, a bit of a meme, a funny viral moment?
No, I guess I wasn’t thinking of any of that at the moment. It was just pure despair in the moment.
That was also a tournament that had gone so perfectly until then. And I think it was kind of my worldview, like, a little bit falling apart at that point, because I dominated that tournament that far.
I’d won a couple of games without being close to losing, particularly. And if I won that game, I would have beaten Gukesh twice, the World Champion. Well, I guess he was already that point.
And just kind of showing that, yeah, I’m the man to beat. You guys are still not close.
And after that, I just felt, yeah, I lost control in time. Everything kind of came together at the same time.
The meme itself, whatever, it’s not my proudest moment. But at the same time, over the course of my career, it just speaks to a competitive nature.
And probably, honestly, low blood sugar at the time as well.
Q17: The kind of exposure that’s there, how close fans now feel to you and getting to know you. Is that a good thing for the sport, or is that something you’re still getting used to?
No, it is certainly excellent for chess that players are becoming more part of pop culture, that we’re more recognisable.
And I understand that a lot of it is landing on me. But as long as I keep playing well, that’s probably going to be the case.
And yeah, there are good and bad things about that. But at the very least, it comes from good results. And things have certainly changed.
A moment like that wouldn’t have been nearly as big, exactly, let’s say, eight, nine years ago. But now kind of, yeah, every move is scrutinised. And that’s kind of how it is, for good and bad.
Q18: If there’s one myth about chess players that you still think persists and you want to break, what would that be?
I think the biggest myth still about the way that we think is that we’re kind of these deep thinkers, in a way, while in reality we’re more like gamers who are making quick, quick, quick decisions all the time.
But apart from that, I think maybe the one thing is that the better at chess you are, the crazier you get, which I think is not necessarily true.
I feel like I see more kind of weird behaviour in lower-ranked tournaments than the top tournaments.
Q19: Speaking of certain tournaments, esports โ we know you love it. You love that sort of atmosphere. Good for the sport, Magnus, that kind of tournament? We see a lot of excitement out there. You enjoyed it?
Yeah, I think there are a lot of parallels between what the Esports World Cup is trying to do and also what the Global Chess League is trying to do.
It’s bringing chess to a live audience, bringing a better fan experience, eliminating increments, staggering games. I think it’s a lot of good things that are happening.
And one of the things that I really appreciate about this tournament in particular is that it’s a very good, innovative format that has been really, really well thought out and kind of guarantees a lot of high-leverage moments, a lot of high-leverage matches.
So I would just like to see more of both what the EWC and what the GCL is doing in other tournaments as well, because, yeah, we are in a little bit of a different moment in chess now.
And I think the more we embrace the entertainment aspect, the better, because the game is still going to be the game. It doesn’t lose its essence.
Q20: A few rapid questions, and we’re going to be done. The one player you love playing and beating? Are they the same player?
I mean, there certainly are a few, but yeah, I love beating Alireza. So I hope I can do that today.
Q21: Who’s the most exciting player you’ve gone up against, or you love playing against? Is it Alireza?
Alireza, but honestly, all of the young guys โ Prag, Gukesh, Arjun as well, Sindarov, Abdusattorov as well.
Like, the younger generation, they’re all such big fighters.
And I didn’t understand the generational aspect of it necessarily when I was growing up, why you heard all these stories about the older players even trying to sabotage the kids and so on.
But now I kind of get it. It just gives me a different joy to beat the next generation, to show that I’m still there.
Q22: Sindarov, Gukesh โ you knew this was coming. Where’s the needle tilting?
I think the chances are much higher that Sindarov is going to run away with it, but I predict that it’s going to be a close match.
Q23: Olympiad โ is India going to defend, be able to defend their double?
I think India is in a little bit of a weaker position than two years ago since Gukesh’s form is worse.
But honestly, even with a couple of players not in top form, India is the team to beat.
Q24: Any regrets in life so far?
No.