 "Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen jokes about his retirement. Image: Freestyle Chess")
Magnus Carlsen , one of the greatest chess players in the world right now, had a fun moment during a post-match interview after winning the 2025 Chess.com Classic. Carlsen had a smooth journey in the tournament, beating France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Grand Finals on Friday to win the second leg of the Champions Chess Tour.
With this win, Carlsen earned a prize money of $150,000 and once again showed why he is considered one of the best ever in the sport. After the match, Carlsen was asked if he sees himself playing chess into his 50s or wants to retire and buy an island to live a peaceful life off the grid, without the noise and commotion of city life.
“Can’t I just buy an island and then get WiFi and play chess from there?” Magnus Carlsen said and asked the question by commentator David Howell.
Carlsen admits it was not the best practice for Norway Chess
Interestingly, Carlsen didn’t even have to play too many games to win the 2025 Chess.com Classic and he won the whole event without losing a single game. Talking about this, Carlsen admitted it wasn’t the best practice before his next big challenge, the Norway Chess tournament, starting Monday (26 May) in Stavanger.
Carlsen also added that he hasn’t done a lot of preparation for Norway Chess and is curious to see how he performs against some of the best classical players there.
“I was really hoping this event would be good practice for Norway Chess, but it probably wasn’t — I played the minimum amount of games to win. I’ve done some prep, but not a whole lot, so we’ll see how I stack up against some of the more serious players," he said.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, on the other hand, had an incredible run too. Even though he lost in the final, he made it there by fighting through the losers’ bracket. He defeated top names like Arjun Erigaisi, Levon Aronian, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Hikaru Nakamura to reach the title clash. His strong performance also earned him a spot in the upcoming Esports World Cup.