World champion Magnus Carlsen brings glamour to world of chess
By Martin Sandbu in London
Watching Magnus Carlsen stroll between chessboards to defeat one London financier after another, it is not obvious why the world’s best chess player is so good at making the game sexy to businesses.
Sullen, with protruding jaw and thick tussled hair, the 23-year-old world champion looks more like a back-street bruiser than “the greatest natural chess talent to come along in several decades”, in the words of Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard economics professor and a grandmaster.
Carlsen, a cerebral Norwegian, holds the highest score ever achieved in the rating system used for chess. But he is generous towards those he defeats, at all levels of ability.
On Tuesday, after winning all 19 games at London’s Four Seasons hotel, Carlsen politely remarks that some were “interesting” – before adding that “some were more long than interesting”.
At the world championship in Madras, in November, Carlsen showed the same courtesy towards the previous title holder, India’s Viswanathan Anand, as he beat him 6.5 to 3.5, with three wins and no losses.
“Everything is easier when you have the wind in your sails”, he tells the Financial Times.
Carlsen tolerates, rather than relishes, the media and sponsorship appearances that come with being the world’s best player. Even so, he has managed to break down stereotypes of chess as a pastime for nerds and won a claim to celebrity, glamour, and money – for himself and the game.
The world championship match reached record live audiences on television and online.
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Magnus will have a problem against Nakamura this year.
It will be great to chess and fans .
A monopole at chess top will be really bored.
Magnus have never had any problem with Nakamura, nor will he ever have.