This is a documentary about the reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen,
from his early years to November 2013, when he became world champion. During
the final credits there are a few scenes from events that took place later.
Magnus was born on 30th November 1990 in Tonsberg, Norway. He has an older
sister and two younger sisters. From his early years his father was concerned
about his physical development. Was he autistic? That isn't stated in the
documentary, but when asked in interviews whether he's autistic he's replied
"Isn't it obvious?"
Because of his skills recognising patterns, his father taught him how to play
chess. He took to the game immediately and soon overtook his father. He became
a chess grandmaster in 2004 at the age of 13. That's when I first began to
follow his career. At that time I had an active interest in chess. I was a
member of a chess club in Birmingham, and I was working for Chessbase as a
translator. I read about Magnus Carlsen's development on
the Chessbase website. (Chessbase's German website has more detailed news reports).
The documentary gives insight into his personal life that was missing from the
Chessbase articles. I never knew that he had sisters, and I didn't know that
he likes to read Donald Duck comics.
Despite barely winning the qualification tournament, Magnus was the clear
favourite to win the world championship match against Viswanathan Anand
in 2013. He'd already been the world's highest ranking player for two years.
The world championship was fought in Anand's home town of Chennai in India,
but this gave him no obvious disadvantage. The documentary shows Magnus in a
daze as he arrives at the airport. He was in a strange world, and he was
overwhelmed by the way people made a fuss of him. Obviously, the Indians
wanted their hometown hero to win, but they graciously respected Magnus
when he was victorious.
Magnus didn't lose a single game. He became world champion after 10 games
(three wins and seven draws).
Back in November 2013 I wrote detailed reviews of all 10 games:
I'm very proud of these reviews. I was an amateur when it came to reviewing
chess games, but I think my reviews are very good. I've read the reviews a few
times over the years, and I have to ask myself,
"Did I really write all that myself?" I remember that I put hours
of effort into the reviews every day, but even so, I don't think I could ever
do something like that again. It was a unique period of inspiration that I'll
never have again. Since then Magnus has defended his world championship three times (2014, 2016
and 2018), but I haven't been able to write any more reviews.
In the after credits scenes we see some of Magnus Carlsen's other activities.
He was a fashion model for G-Star Raw, posing with Liv Tyler and Gemma
Arterton. That would have driven any normal man like me crazy, but not Magnus.
All he thinks about is chess. He claims that he's always thinking about chess,
whatever he's doing.
I greatly enjoyed the documentary. It's not for everyone, but it's ideal for
chess fanatics like me. As far as I know, it's never been released on disc,
but it's available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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