Norway's Magnus Carlsen competes during the fifth round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Amsterdam on Jan. 19, 2023.KOEN VAN WEEL/AFP/Getty Images
How does the world’s best chess player spend his nights between rounds during a week-long tournament with US$500,000 in prize money at stake?
If you’re Magnus Carlsen, the 33-year-old Norwegian superstar who has dominated world chess for more than a decade, you take in some Leafs games and go partying into the wee hours.
Carlsen was in Toronto Dec. 9-16 to compete in the final leg of the Champions Chess Tour, which featured eight of the world’s top players. With five world championship titles and a reputation for being the greatest player in the history of the game, Carlsen breezed to victory and the US$200,000 first prize.
While some players might have hunkered down in their hotel rooms to prepare for their next opponent, Carlsen went with friends to hockey games and visited the Madison Avenue Pub one evening to shoot pool, play speed chess and party for hours.
“I left the pub at one in the morning, and Carlsen was still there,” said Toronto chess fan Simeon Wong. Later that day the grandmaster was at the tournament hall in the 1 Hotel, where he defeated the world’s second-highest-ranked player, American Fabiano Caruana.
Carlsen’s final opponent in the tournament was Filipino-American grandmaster Wesley So, who took to social media to say: “Take it easy on me today Magnus. Make the match fun and interesting. Peace.” Carlsen sent him packing.
Carlsen likes sports in general, but especially football, basketball and golf. “At home, I think I’m a fairly regular guy spending time with friends and on hobbies when I’m not playing chess or working on chess,” he said. Opponents who think his other passions detract from his chess do so at their peril.
It was Carlsen’s second triumphant visit to Canada in less than a year, and it’s no wonder he likes coming back.
“The frequency with which I’m recognized on the streets indicates that there is considerable chess interest, and I’m quite optimistic about the prospects for Canadian chess in the years ahead,” Carlsen said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
The prospects for chess both in Canada and worldwide have ballooned in recent years. The Toronto tournament was organized by the playing platform chess.com, which has tripled its registered users in the past three years to more than 150 million.
“We have seen a chess boom in connection with The Queen’s Gambit, an online chess boom during [the pandemic] years, and the fact that the chess.com app was the most downloaded free app in the world back in February says a lot about chess interest,” Carlsen said.
Even so, he decided earlier this year to give up the world championship title he had held for the previous 10 years, citing a lack of motivation to prepare for matches against people he has repeatedly defeated. But his love for the game hasn’t waned, and he continues to trek around the world entering tournaments.
He hasn’t second-guessed his decision.
“So far, I have really enjoyed the feeling of freedom coming from not having to defend the title,” he said. “Being able to play the tournaments I want and not having to prepare for and plan around upcoming matches is great. No regrets so far!”
Carlsen’s evaluation of chess prospects in Canada is echoed by Levy Rozman, the popular American chess streamer who has millions of followers for his online game analysis. The New York YouTube star flew to Toronto to provide colour commentary at the tournament and says the interest in Canada is huge.
Rozman’s newly published instructional primer on chess has already sold almost half its 100,000-print run, and 400 Torontonians have signed up to attend his book launch.
Another recent driver of interest has been the cheating scandal that rocked the chess world last year and continues to loom over tournaments.
It began when Carlsen lost a tournament game to U.S. grandmaster Hans Niemann, then implied his opponent had cheated. Niemann, who admitted to isolated incidents of online cheating when he was a teenager, adamantly denied he had ever done so at an in-person, over-the-board tournament.
Niemann filed a US$100-million lawsuit, which was ultimately settled out of court. But the issue hasn’t gone away, and chess.com routinely bans players from its platform for cheating, while organizers have ramped up security measures at events.
Some players have been caught over the years using various methods to consult computers or receive clandestine signals during games.
At the Toronto tournament, players were checked head-to-toe before each round by a security guard using a non-linear junction detector, which can spot electronics even if they are turned off. Cellphones, watches and any other devices that could receive a signal were banned from the playing hall and the lounge where players took their breaks.
“I believe cheating in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game,” Carlsen said. “Organizers in general should take it very seriously. I’ve noticed that my elite colleagues have differing views on the prevalence of cheating online, but to me the uncertainty itself is as important. If you believe your opponent is cheating or might be cheating, it obviously affects your game.”
There were no allegations of cheating at the Toronto tournament, but that’s not surprising considering the security measures and the army of people devoted to the production and organization of the event – running a television control room, co-ordinating 18 cameras and providing feeds and interviews to online fans around the world. A second anchor desk in Oslo supplied the main commentary and analysis.
What was missing was a live audience for the matches. Everything was geared toward ensuring online viewers were watching the games as they unfolded.
Danny Rensch, the chief chess officer for chess.com and one of the tournament’s commentators, hopes live audiences will be part of future tournaments. It will mean more complicated security measures to ensure spectators can’t communicate with or disturb the players, but he feels it can be done.
Toronto will get its chance in April, when the city plays host to one of the most prestigious international chess events in Canadian history. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, has awarded the city the Candidates tournament, which will determine the next men’s and women’s challengers for their respective world championships.
Carlsen won’t be playing, but just about every other top-ranked grandmaster in the world will be there. It may offer a glimpse into who may one day dislodge Carlsen’s stranglehold on the world of chess.