Latest news with #MagnusCarlsen
First Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
Magnus Carlsen's Dark Side: World Champion or Crybaby? First Sports With Rupha Ramani
Magnus Carlsen's Dark Side: World Champion or Crybaby? | First Sports With Rupha Ramani | N18G Magnus Carlsen is undoubtedly one of the greatest chess players ever, dominating classical, rapid, blitz, and esports formats for over a decade. But his recent behaviour at the inaugural Esports Chess World Cup has sparked debate: does he carry himself like a true champion? When the crowd sided with his opponent, Hikaru Nakamura, in the high-stakes semifinal, Carlsen's frustration boiled over, leading to a rare public display of petulance. This wasn't an isolated incident. Carlsen's dismissive remarks about India's rising chess stars reveal a worrying arrogance. Meanwhile, young talents like Divya Deshmukh respond with grace and maturity, signalling a new era. Rupha Ramani breaks down Carlsen's controversial actions, the fiery reactions that followed, and what it means for the legacy of the self-proclaimed King of Chess. Is it time for Carlsen to drop the whiny act? See More
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Magnus Carlsen defends Elon Musk for not having ‘the greatest respect for chess players'
Recently, Magnus Carlsen revealed that Elon Musk 'famously doesn't have the greatest respect for chess players'. The Norwegian said that he has seen the tech billionaire in person, and he understands Musk's opinion on chess as 'it is not a very complicated game'. Magnus Carlsen spoke about Elon Musk's feelings about chess. Carlsen spoke about Musk during an AI chess exhibition tournament, where the world No. 1 was also commentating. Carlsen also wasn't impressed by the chess abilities of some of the best general-purpose large language models like Grok 4, o3, Gemini 2.5 Pro, etc. Magnus Carlsen on why Elon Musk 'doesn't have the greatest respect for chess' 'Elon I've seen in person but I haven't talked to him. You know he famously doesn't have the greatest respect for chess players or the game which, to some extent, I understand because it is not a very complicated game, right? It is very simple in many ways but I think that's also the beauty of the game. Like it's obviously simple since it took computers not that long to master it, right? Compared to some other games. But chess is also rich and very difficult to play as well. Like it's simple enough to play that you can get joy from playing after practice. Like not maybe immediately but after practice practicing a bit but hard enough that you can never actually get particularly good at it as a human which we've found out by seeing engines play,' he said. Carlsen also had an anecdote about Facebook''s Mark Zuckerberg. He said, 'He didn't know much chess, but he was a little bit the same as Sam Altman. I thought he was even better. Was learning very, very quickly, he was forming his own opinions very quickly, which I thought was impressive. It's a useful skill. They were not necessarily right, which you wouldn't expect, but they were always well-reasoned.' Carlsen was recently present at the Esports World Cup chess tournament in Riyadh, where he defeated Alireza Firouzja in the finals.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Viswanathan Anand recalls ‘pretty pathetic defeat in Chennai' vs Magnus Carlsen: 'That's what makes him different'
2013 saw Magnus Carlsen become World Chess Champion for the first time, defeating Viswanathan Anand for the title. The Indian GM then qualified for the next World Championship in 2014, but once again lost to Carlsen, ushering in the beginning of a new chapter in chess. Viswanathan Anand lost to Magnus Carlsen in two World Championships.(Twitter) Speaking on a YouTube podcast recently, Anand took a walk down memory lane and recalled his rivalry with the Norwegian, who is also the current world No. 1. 'I was in a chess crisis from roughly the end of 2010 until, well, after the match in 2013. I was really struggling with my game, and while I was working, I think I was unable to adapt to the new trends and developments. At the same time, I was working harder and harder in my old ways, trying to catch up, and it wasn't working,' he said. 'This frustration climaxed in a pretty pathetic defeat in Chennai. But then I suddenly had this realisation… when I took a lot of pressure off myself and just tried to play for fun and experiment a bit more. I certainly won the Candidates in 2014 and played Magnus. I think I played much better this time… a lot of the games were at least two-way battles that could have gone either direction before they went in his favour. So that's my story.' How was Magnus Carlsen in his early days? Anand also had an interesting revelation about Carlsen's early days. He said, 'As for Magnus, he used to be quite a limited player, very, very good in that specific area. He limited himself to areas where no one else was really focusing, like the endgame and dry technical positions. He saw potential where others basically saw paint drying, and he was able to lure a lot of unsuspecting chess players to their doom over and over again. He was really cashing in those points before people learned the hard way to take those positions seriously and start working on them.' 'Dry positions, where it seems you're just on the way to making a draw… he understood that you still need to be precise. When people relax, they stop being precise; they go through the motions but aren't paying attention anymore. So he (Carlsen) used to increase his effort there, force precision, and then the other players would make a mistake, unravel, panic, and lose these dry positions. He was cashing in during 2013-14, but here's the thing… he bucked two great trends. 'One trend was the broader trend I mentioned… why I think no country will dominate for a long time. Computers were supposed to level the playing field in terms of information, but Magnus showed that his unique ability, to increase his concentration at critical moments, to raise his effort when others were winding down, could be applied to many parts of the game. He was saying, 'In any opening, I can find a little area to work in. I'll apply this pressure, you'll be inexact, and I'll punish you.' He was able to do that for a while. He's been through a lot of trends, but later, he even became the best opening player in the world. For a good five or six years, he was the world's leading opening expert. He may not have advertised it much, but he had caught up in openings with everyone. He was playing positions he earlier used to avoid… he kept expanding his game. 'Second, he kept expanding his comfort range. He started playing faster and faster time controls. He always liked blitz, but he began playing all this online internet chess, seemingly curious to see what he couldn't get good at. I think that's one reason he's dominating now… because a lot of these faster formats are becoming more common. He continues to do extremely well in them to the point where, now that he seems slightly bored of classical chess, he focuses exclusively on faster play. But that's a transition he worked on for a long time So he's the big exception to the trend that says, 'We all have the same information; it's not easy to show an advantage.' Magnus proved otherwise. And while others try to catch up, it turns out it's not that easy to reduce his edge to a few simple steps. You have to change your whole attitude… concentrate for long periods without expecting immediate payoff, put in effort where others still don't think it's necessary. That's what makes him different,' he further added. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, but never got the title again after his 2013 defeat to Carlsen. Carlsen is also a five-time World Chess Champion, but didn't defend his title in 2023, citing a lack of motivation.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
What makes Magnus Carlsen ‘universally' great? R Praggnanandhaa claims ‘He has this…. which is just amazing'
Magnus Carlsen is considered by many to be the greatest-ever chess player in history, and it is well-deserved. The Norwegian has dominated world chess for years and has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE rankings since July 1, 2011, a streak that is also the longest consecutive one. He trails only Garry Kasparov in the time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. R Praggnanandhaa in action against Magnus Carlsen in Las Vegas.(ChessBase) Carlsen has a peak rating of 2882, the highest in history. Recently, R Praggnanandhaa gave some insight into what makes Carlsen great. The Indian GM also made comparisons between him and Carlsen. R Praggnanandhaa on Magnus Carlsen's greatness Speaking on a YouTube podcast show, he said, 'He has this intuition in every position which is just amazing. Like when you actually see his game — even in shorter formats — he usually plays the top three choices of the computer every single time. That intuition is something that he developed over a period of time. He's one of the players who knows a lot of classics from the past. He has read a lot and I think that's one thing he has that helps him. Also mentally he's really strong. You can never see him collapse in a tournament completely. Even when you actually make a mistake when he's lost he's there fighting every chance he's getting and he pushes till the end like he tries every resource that's possible.' 'He exhausts them and I think that's one of the reasons he's he's at the top and when he was coming up. He was playing these end games which people in earlier days thought it was completely fine. They will just make draws because of mutual respect for the players. They'll think it's okay no one is going to win this. Let's make an early draw. But Magnus started playing all those positions. He started grinding and then started winning also. So he's just universally strong and he's mentally also strong which is really…' On what makes him and Carlsen different, he said, 'I have never thought about this actually. If I have to speak about the style, he's more of an intuitive player. His intuition is so good. Even though my intuition suggests a move, I usually try to go in details. It's possible that I can catch him there because he hasn't gone into the details. Sometimes intuition can also be wrong and I can catch him. Our games are always exciting.' Carlsen is also a five-time World Chess Champion and five-time Rapid World Chess Champion. He didn't defend his world title in 2023, citing a lack of motivation and is not expected in the upcoming Candidates either.
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First Post
3 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
'Top players are not invisible': Praggnanandhaa on what went through his mind while beating Carlsen for the first time
Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa has shared how he felt after beating Magnus Carlsen for the first time. The 20-year-old won his first game against the World No. 1 in an online battle in 2022. read more Indian chess star Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has shared the story of how he beat Magnus Carlsen for the first time, and how the win gave him a big boost in confidence. Speaking on YouTuber Raj Shamani's podcast, the 20-year-old said he was not expecting the win and that the moment came suddenly during an online rapid game in 2022. R Praggnanandhaa first defeated Magnus Carlsen as a 16-year-old in a rapid game at the Champions Chess Tour in 2022. His maiden classical victory against the World No. 1 came at Norway Chess 2024. He recently beat the five-time world champion twice in three days at the Las Vegas Freestyle Chess event in July. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I wasn't thinking anything. I was just playing and I got my chance out of nowhere and everything happened in like few minutes. It was a rapid game. So everything happened in few minutes then I realised… I was quite happy and it was online game,' the Indian GM said. 'At that time my parents were asleep. It was like 2:00 a.m. in the morning. I went and woke my dad up. I said, 'I won.' But then he went back to sleep because he had to go to the office tomorrow. He didn't care at all. Yeah. He said good and went back to sleep,' he added. 'I was just excited… I wasn't expecting it and then suddenly the game was also going in a trend that he was putting pressure on me and then suddenly I got my chance. I had to play some accurate moves which I did and I won. I also didn't expect so much reaction from outside after that. I was more excited about the fact that I just beat Magnus than the actual game,' he said. Praggnanandhaa says the victory showed him that top players aren't invincible Praggnanandhaa admitted the quality of the game wasn't very high but said that it gave him a lot of confidence. He added that once you beat a top player, you realise they are not unbeatable. 'I didn't think the game was particularly great or anything like that. I realised I didn't really play well. It was like fifth game of the day or something and we were already tired and it was obvious that we were not playing our best,' he said. 'It gave me a lot of confidence and I realised that the top players are not invincible… you can beat them. Until you actually get that first win, you always feel like they are in a different world. But once you beat them, you know it's possible,' he added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
