No Longer World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen Sets Sights On Poker
May 03, 2024 Connor
Richards Editor & Live Reporter U.S.
Five-time ❤️ World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen
shocked the public in July 2024 when he announced that he wouldn't be defending the
❤️ title he had held for a decade. And while Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren were at St.
Regis Hotel in ❤️ Kazakhstan last month battling to take his place as supreme leader of
the chess world, Carlsen was getting ready for ❤️ a trip to the sunny Mediterranean
coast.
Carlsen is one of less than a hundred players remaining out of a field ❤️ over
1,098 entries in the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event as part of 2024 PokerStars
European Poker Tour (EPT) ❤️ presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®, proving that his analytical
genius is far from limited to a 64-square grid.
In his first interview ❤️ since giving up
his World Chess Champion Title, Carlsen sat down with PokerNews and PokerStars for an
exclusive look at ❤️ what the future holds for the 32-year-old Norwegian chess
prodigy.
Returning to Monte Carlo
As it turns out, the trip to Monte ❤️ Carlo was not
Carlsen's first. He came to Monaco 15 years ago, but it was to play a different kind ❤️ of
tournament.
"I came here to this exact location in Monaco in 2007," Carlsen said,
"because I was playing a (chess) ❤️ tournament here. And I came to watch the European
Poker Tour because (Russian chess grandmaster) Alexander Grischuk, who was like ❤️ back
then a top ten (chess) player — (and) is still like a very, very good chess player — he
❤️ was playing here in the Main Event. So I went to watch him play."
A decade and a half
later, there's ❤️ a new grandmaster on the felt.
Magnus Carlsen sits down with PokerNews
and PokerStars for his first interview since giving up ❤️ his World Chess Champion
title
Carlsen isn't the only contemporary chess star who has taken a liking to poker.
Popular chess ❤️ streamer Alexandra Botez is also here at EPT Monte Carlo, as is two-time
United States Women's Champion and PokerStars Pro ❤️ Jen Shahade.
Are there any other
chess players who Carlsen thinks would excel at poker?
"I think the current World
Champion Ding ❤️ (Liren) here should be really strong," he said. "I know from talking to
him, he calculates really quickly in chess ❤️ is really, really good at math. So I'm sure
he could do well."
"An Interesting Challenge"
Widely considered one of the best ❤️ chess
players of all time, it is tempting to draw parallels between Carlsen's pivot to poker
and Michael Jordan's infamous ❤️ (and short-lived) early retirement from the National
Basketball Association to play professional baseball.
But Carlsen, who cited Rafael
Nadal, not Jordan, ❤️ as his greatest sports influence, said such a comparison would be a
mistake.
"I have no ambitions in poker," Carlsen said. ❤️ "I like playing, it's an
interesting challenge, but I have no ambitions."
Magnus Carlsen
Without ambitions to be
one of the poker ❤️ greats, it doesn't bother Carlsen to play under the spotlight with
cameras overhead and viewers at home scrutinizing his play.
"I ❤️ have no ambitions in
poker. I like playing, it's an interesting challenge, but I have no ambitions."
"I
don't like to ❤️ take a lot of pride and my poker," he said. "So I'm trying to, you know,
learn a little bit, ❤️ so it doesn't bother me that much. But if I do something really
stupid, then that's to be expected. So ❤️ that's fine."
A Natural On the Felt
Despite his
lack of ambition to master the game, Carlsen has demonstrated an impressive aptitude
❤️ and understanding of poker. During his appearance on Hustler Casino Live last month,
Carlsen made a heroic call with just ❤️ bottom pair against content creator Nick Austin to
win a pot ofR$13,775.
Like a seasoned pro, Carlsen assessed, both in the ❤️ moment and
after the fact, that his opponent would be unlikely to triple barrel with many of his
value hands ❤️ given how the hand played out.
"I sort of thought he was the kind of player
who showed who would probably ❤️ show down some weak one pair of hands you had," he told
PokerNews. "So I thought there was a reasonable ❤️ chance he was bluffing. And, you know,
sometimes ... you just feel it. And then sometimes you're right."
Magnus Carlsen
Even
more ❤️ impressively, Carlsen made these assessments naturally as he admitted that he
"(doesn't) really study."
"I probably should, but I enjoy, like ❤️ learning, talking to
people about the hand(s) we're playing."
Different Games, Similar Strategies
Perhaps
Carlsen's innate abilities at the poker table have ❤️ to do with the similarities between
poker and the game that earned him five World Champion titles.
"I think the
similarities ❤️ between poker and chess are more than people would think," he said. "Of
course, there is perfect information in chess, ❤️ but still, you make a lot of decisions
based on, like, imperfect calculation. So in that sense, it's a little ❤️ bit of the
same."
One similarity between tournament poker and some chess formats is the use of
shot clocks. As an ❤️ accomplished blitz player, Carlson has experience making difficult
decisions on the fly.
"I played like a little bit (of blitz) with ❤️ my friends ... like
during the pandemic," he said. "And I found it really stressful, really
intense."
Carlsen said he deals ❤️ with that stress the same way many poker players do: by
listening to music.
"I think the similarities between poker and ❤️ chess are more than
people would think. Of course there is perfect information in chess, but still, you
make a ❤️ lot of decisions based on, like, imperfect calculation. So in that sense, it's
it's a little bit of the same."
"Usually ❤️ when I play ... blitz chess online or even
rapid chess, I like to listen ... to music," said Carlsen. ❤️ "It sort of helps me calm
down and sort of just use my instinct. But here, I'm not sure of ❤️ that. I feel that I
have to think more because I have less knowledge. So I feel that like having ❤️ some of
that noise may just distract me. So I just try to, you know, sit there, follow what's
happening, ❤️ try and pick up as much as I can."
Playing on the televised feature table
with high-stakes pro Mike Watson to ❤️ his immediate left and other accomplished players
like Mark Teltscher and Oleg Vasylchenko just a few seats over, Carlsen certainly ❤️ has
an uphill battle ahead of him. But if there's anyone up for the monumental challenge,
it may just be ❤️ the five-time World Chess Champion.
Magnus Carlsen at the feature table
