 "Norwegian chess icon Magnus Carlsen competes on the final day of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Weissenhaus, Germany. Image credit: Freestyle Chess")
Magnus Carlsen has been dominating chess for more than a decade now, to the point where he is already considered one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest, at 34 years of age. The Norwegian Grandmaster is a five-time Classical world champion and has also won the title in the Rapid and Blitz forms of the game.
Carlsen has also occupied the No 1 spot in the ratings continuously since 2011, and dislodging him from that spot certainly is quite the Herculean task for his opponents, from the experienced Hikaru Nakamura to rising stars such as reigning world champion D Gukesh.
For several months now, Carlsen has revealed a declining interest in the Classical form of the game. Does that, therefore, indicate a dip in interest in the sport as a player as well and hint at the Norwegian riding into the sunset sooner rather than later?
Carlsen doesn’t rule out mentoring in future, but intends to continue playing
Though he doesn’t rule out the prospect of mentoring young talents in the future and shaping the next chess superstar, Carlsen insists he isn’t done with the sport just yet and wants to highlight that he is “still better than the kids”.
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“I mainly enjoy playing, but I don’t rule that (mentoring) out for the future. I already enjoy it when younger players ask me for advice… But I feel like for the moment, I really enjoy playing and I’m really good at it still. So that may be something for the future,” Carlsen told Reuters recently.
“I’m trying to certainly prove that I’m still better than the kids,” he added, possibly hinting at a growing rivalry with the likes of Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi, who are ranked third and fifth respectively in the FIDE Classical ratings.
Though he hardly plays the Classical format these days, Carlsen – mentored by the legendary Garry Kasparov himself at an early age – has thrown his weight behind Freestyle Chess that is based on the Fischer Random or Chess960 format.