Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
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Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#2Try chessboxing maybe :-P
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#3Blitz chess is still fun.
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#4The grind at the top is still a grind--in fact, it is the worst grind. To top that off, Magnus is in his mid-30s now.
Anyone doing anything at the level of "Elite in the World" is putting in an amount of effort that borders on mania that would be classified as mental illness.
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#5It's hard for some of the very best when they're no longer at their peak.
Don't get me wrong, Magnus is still world #1 for a reason, but he used to be at a level where no-one could even scratch him. Now he has to fight much harder for victories, and he's not enjoying that.
It's hard to determine how much is down to that factor, how much is how he feels over not being world champion anymore, and how much is a financial incentive in attempted break aways from FIDE to promote "freestyle chess" ( random chess ).
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#6[flagged]
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#7As a casual spectator of chess tournament streams, I find speed chess to be much more enjoyable to watch. It isn't fun when the players aren't making mistakes. Classical chess feels like F1 racing where the work is done before the match with very little passing and timed chess feels like a derby rally with a lot of bumping and grinding. Just way more fun to watch.
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#8Forget Chess960, abandon castling, abandon symmetry, embrace Transcendental Chess! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_chess
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#9It's hard for some of the very best when they're no longer at their peak. Don't get me wrong, Magnus is still world #1 for a reason, but he used to be at a level where no-one could even scratch him. Now he has to fight much harder for victories, and he's not enjoying that. It's hard to determine how much is down to that factor, how much is how he feels over not being world champion anymore, and how much is a financia…
Lebron has a saying- "Father Time is undefeated."
https://www.chess.com/blog/LionChessLtd/age-vs-elo---your-ba...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277316182...
Magnus is 34, he's just going to have to deal with it like every exceptional person has.
Re: Magnus Carlsen might walk away from classical chess
#10Can't blame him. Getting older, the search space being so much clearer than before, razor thin margins, the concentration, the time spent before and during.
I think he plays a bit of poker too, maybe he can shine in that space too.