EXCLUSIVE Magnus Carlsen Interview ft. GothamChess

ladies and gentlemen in this video I interviewed Magnus Carlson the number one rated chess player in the world for more than a decade the multiple time classical rapid and Blitz World Champion and a player considered by many as the greatest of all time we were in Toronto for the Champions chess tour finale which surprise surprise Magnus also happened to win and I know Magnus has been interviewed hundreds of times over the course of his career so this was a special moment for me not just because I actually met him for the first time but because I wanted to provide an interview for him and ultimately for you the viewer that would be an interesting listen an interesting watch and I believe that I have accomplished that goal with a mix of short and fun questions for him to answer but also some longer and thought-provoking ones as well also at the end we played a segment that actually my wife Lucy thought of which is titled chess player or Ikea furniture with that said here's the interview hi I'm Gotham chess and I'm here with um uh sorry can we start again hi I'm Gotham chess and I'm here with Magnus who is famous from uh Levy's YouTube videos how many beers would it take for you to drink for me to beat you in a classical chess game that's a very difficult question uh cuz I'd probably sober up during the game so I'd probably have to keep drinking probably start with 20 and take it from there 20 okay how what's the size of the cup um pints wow okay do you have a dream sponsor um my Puma deal is expiring so um I'm open for um over for new ones in that um sector but I I was recently at the Jordan uh golf club so if Jordan Jordan want to Common sponsor me I'd consider it every other chess player has said any sponsor because we don't get sponsorships I'm sorry for my um you destroyed two decades of chess players back sorry about that if you could be number one in the world or if you could be number basically if you could be the greatest of all time at anything else what would it be soccer for sure soccer okay that's an easy one name your price if you have to chess box $10 million okay what's your drink of choice water past 10 p.m. also water yeah uh I might go for um Diet Coke with ice and lemon I like that as well do you prefer to play chess on a computer over the board or on your phone I rarely play on my phone I I would say I prefer to play on the computer in your entire career have you ever had a day where you went I think this guy might be as good as me no uh well I mean not not not you know since not the last 10 years for sure has it ever been this guy might be kind of close to me if I have a bad day yeah uh I would say Fabia his best was um very close in In classical for sure my other question was going to be who do you think is the second best chess player in the world yeah I think Fabian corana is the is the second second best player do you remember the day you realized oh I might be the best chess player on the planet that's a very good question uh I remember the first time that I was ranked number one in the world unofficially um that was in Bilbo in 2008 late 2008 I didn't particularly think that I was the best player then I would say probably fall 2012 I was absolutely certain that I was the best player um but I did think back in 2010 that I would have beaten either player um topalo or Anan in in a world championship match in retrospect I'm not so sure 2010 would probably be the time that I I thought yeah I'm I'm the best player but I wasn't sure till 2012 hey it's me again I know interrupting an interview is slightly unconventional but I wanted to explain magnus's answer in Greater detail so you understand all the context well the first thing Magnus says is 2008 in bilb that is a chess tournament that he played played in Spain in September of 2008 and in that tournament Magnus actually unofficially became the number one ranked player in the world for a couple of days that's because in 2008 the official rating lists were published every 3 months look July and then October so you could play chess for 3 months and the official rankings would never come out but the players would shuffle all up and down against each other and he said that when he played that tournament in Bilbo against some of those best players in the world like aronian RAB of Anand Ivano just to name a few he didn't quite yet feel like he was number one in the world but he broke through for a second in fact in a New York Times article that was published the day before that tournament started Magnus literally said that he thinks Anand is a much better player than him I found that fascinating now fast forward to 2010 Magnus said that he thought he could have beaten either player in a world championship match Tov or Anand yes he said in retrospect he's not so sure but Magnus actually turned down the candidates tournament in 2010 and 2011 which is Maybe not something that we all know he declined to participate in the candidate cycle for the world championship actually multiple times in his career until 2012 because the very next year Magnus played in the candidates ultimately won it and then went on to defeat Vish Anand in 2013 so it's interesting that by 2012 Magnus was certain that he was the best player in the world in 2010 he figured he could probably beat either player playing for the throne but in 2008 was Technically when he first broke through and he was only 17 years old anyway let's get back to the interview I remember where I was the day that you played the final round in the candidates I don't remember much from 10 years ago okay 2012 right 13 2013 was the candidates um I don't remember much from 10 years ago I remember I traveled that day on the New York City subway to meet my friend to go to the park and play handball and I we were watching your game uh how stressful was that day I would say I was almost was too exhausted to be be stressed the day after uh my game with rajabov was the first day in several days that I actually like slept fine but I was I I just woke up and had no nervous or any kind of energy so in retrospect I probably should have um probably should have forced the draw in in that game but um yeah I also also almost didn't have time to be stressed about the the out come or or anything um cuz you know I thought after I lost I thought it was over and then I briefly checked the position from yanuk Kik and uh yanuk was winning so it only lasted like a minute or or so that I was um that I was down about the the results so no uh complete exhaustion yes stressed not necessarily at those high stakes events like World Championship or that candidates how many how many hours on average do you get to sleep at night normally I sleep well um especially if things are going well of course but normally I I do sleep sleep quite well in the world championship I'll get solid 7even eight hours every night with no melatonin no chamomile just hit the yeah I don't know I that's that seems pretty impressive I mean we hear LeBron James spends Millions a year on his body do you feel like you need to do the same in chess diet Chef there's some rumors or I don't know if you confirmed it in in some interviews like you bring a nutritionist or chef with you you have like homecooked meals at tournaments I I have brought uh a chef to a few World Championships and a few other tournaments um specifically in places where we didn't think that the local food would uh be necessarily at the standard I i' I'd like but um yeah normally I'd try and eat relatively healthy U not too much um not too much sugar apart from that that I I was probably fitter before now I don't um take care as much which I I kind of should now cuz I'm a little bit older and I I have less energy so I actually need to be really fit to have a lot of energy so yeah it's definitely one room for improvement these days I'm going to offer you a deal for every Magnus thumbnail I make I have to donate 20 bucks to a Norwegian charity or any charity of you're choosing no no no no no that's that's okay I um I'm a bit of a u narcissist anyway so I enjoy it okay when are you overtaking when are you focusing on content and overtaking as the number one chess Channel you have a dormant Channel with a million subscribers uh no um I know no wish for for that but uh I um I do want to stream a bit more so that I can get uh more more content out on on these channels but um just you know for people to have have something to to to enjoy I'm going to name a sport you have to tell me the greatest of all time basketball LeBron James soccer Messi I agree with both baseball Barry Bonds okay football like American football Tom Brady I guess okay yeah good one uh tennis jokovic was it always jokovic for you what you thought maybe no it was after the um Australian Open thing that he became the greatest for me was it Nadal before feder probably Federer but I always identified more with the way the Nal plays Golf Tiger poker dog Brunson that's a unique one chess gar Kasparov are you allowed to say yourself I don't know if I'm allowed but I think Gary is the best of all time still chess boxing am on Hamilton we know the answer to this one I think if you could be the greatest of all time in a sport other than chess what would it be yeah soccer soccer what team would you play for Madrid yeah for sure Saudi League can't no I mean if they had money I would play in Saudi for sure okay can I answer the question about uh dream sponsor again uh sure yeah uh what is your dream sponsor uh Sovereign wealth fund of uh Saudi Arabia okay we're going to play this or that fiction or non-fiction non-fiction window or aisle seat or you fly business class there's no such thing um yeah I used to be big window guy yeah I'm still a window go a window guy would you rather go on a cruise or a road trip road trip comedy or thriller comedy coffee or tea tea but only slightly preferably neither how do you get energized Sun love it cats or dogs cats but I like dogs too it's like a this or that is a little bit tough with you you like everything shower or bath oh shower for sure okay I don't have the patience to take baths I think adults taking baths is a weird thing but they it's on here so uh are you a morning person or a night owl Night Owl for sure would you rather get on a phone call or text message text probably I feel like the answer for you is neither feel like it's just usually yes just go uh sunrise or sunset sunrise winter or summer summer okay I don't know maybe you know you're uh from Norway uh I'm going to I'm going to throw one in here um sauna or ice bath both okay that's what you do in in Norway that you go in the sauna and then you take an ice bath and then you go back in the sauna and you do that a few times it's really nice uh best city in Norway Oslo Oslo we're going to play title chess player or Ikea furniture I asked you how you think you're going to do you seem confident I was at first but now I'm a little less sure I'll start with the first one profumo you see now I'm already I'm already unsure perfumo doesn't sound I mean most of the Ikea names are Scandinavian per perfumo but I haven't heard about perfumo chess player going say Ikea furniture but I'm not sure chess player oh boy go with your gut keep in mind I found some pretty obscure chess players because I had to make sure you didn't know them he's a Italian 2270 I'm going to give you the tricky one first srom uh srom uh I I mean definitely heard heard I'm going to say that's a player yes Swedish which is yeah I mean it's obviously Swedish you can hear from the name that it's Swedish but uh really s means like south ah so and uh it's written a bit differently in Danish and Norwegian um ostano I think that's Furniture you are correct you are I think the first one to Guess that fast Fabby needed to know if there were dots on the o which kind of gave it away like the the Swedish uh o and two dots yes two out of three uh vesin vesin how do you spell it v s k n VES skin I mean that's like vque is purse in Norwegian so I'm going to say furniture yes correct three out of four zbi z a i b i is that zet or z z z n like zebra that's got to be a chess player yes do you know who it is it's a Grandmaster Z is a Grandmaster what's the first name uh Amir Amir Z from tunisha or something yes yes yes how does that ring a bell you just know the name from somewhere yeah I probably have seen it somewhere I I usually I thought I would know the name of most Grandmasters in the world but maybe not I don't know uh well I think he was in IM until maybe five years ago Fabiano actually played him in the World Cup which is which is actually so yeah I I mean it brings some kind of bell um toal tal Ah that's Furniture yeah that is Furniture tal uh last two panelo p a n e l o and there's there's no like uh dots at the end of the no P that's not really a word I'm going to guess chess player then you're correct Marcelo panelo 2370 Argentina okay last one furniture or chess player callx and it's an a there's no no there's no yeah no no I I try to avoid those that would be too okay then I'm going to say chess player Furniture yeah sorry col can I can I see how you write it yeah colx K I hope I didn't mess that up oh for some reason I thought it was KS at the end that was not easy yeah I mean this is why the game exists I mean six out of eight is still pretty good yeah but I'm I have an advantage since I sort of speak one one scan languages okay well next big tournament we'll do uh we'll we'll do the next one so folks I hope you enjoyed this conversation and I hope that I was able to ask some questions that I think were slightly non-traditional not something that you hear year uh when chess players are interviewed all the time uh this was a very special one for me because really only since 2020 have I become any form of Personality out there on the internet I've always been a fan and spectator of Chess as well as a chess player and teacher but being able to meet Magnus and many other top players over the last few years has been super special uh and I look forward to creating more media with them in the future because I think that it's helpful for you the viewers at home uh to get a lens into some of the greatest chess players in the world beyond the 64 squares that's all I have for you today until next time and before I go also a massive thank you to Magnus uh he was in a great spirits and that was probably because he won some chess match earlier in the day so that definitely made it easier uh but I look forward to uh to having a conversation in the future now you know the drill get out of here

Channel: GothamChess

Views: 1,407,640

Keywords: gothamchess, gothamchess london, gothamchess caro kann, gothamchess openings, gothamchess vienna

Id: Fc1qPumIyXM

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 18 2023