First There Were The Humans, Then 'The Gods'.
Well, OK. We all know this is not true, but rather, first there were gods, then from them came humans.
First there were chess players, then there were great chess players, then there were historically great super grandmasters. Then there was the god of the gods, Magnus Carlsen [1].
[1] Currently. Fischer, Kasparov, of course, in a class by themselves, making this three: demonic will to win as a fearful child trying to defend against the missing father figure, then the violent explosions of the L'enfant terrible stuck on the mother figure.
Then Alekhine, Lasker, Capablanca, Botvinnik. To one degree or another, each of these were also the truly great: whether it be by force and calculation and passion, longevity, natural flair and good looks, or lastly the first professional if not scientific approach to chess for these latter individuals.
For a dose of good measure, add good proletariot correctness, the even intuitive objective approach, why Karpov of course.
Then there was the god of all gods, Magnus [2], [3]. See red text, page ALL THE WAY down:
[2] Last night at ChessBase.com:
Even in another language, THIS is "way cool":
'Bilbao Rd6: Carlsen avenges loss and beats Caruana:
'At 21, Magnus Carlsen has had a career that equals or even surpasses the brilliance of that of Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov at the same age. He has been number one on 19 of the 22 lists published between January 2010 and August 2012. He also won the Masters Final last year, after an electrifying tie-break against Vassily Ivanchuk. He is a genius and by all indications has not yet reached his peak.
'The Oxford Dictionary defines "genius" as "exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability". It is enough just to enjoy Carlsen’s (or Anand’s) matches to see that he lives up to this definition, although he himself gave another definition on January 17, 2008 on the death of the charismatic American, Bobby Fischer, the 1972 World Champion. "What I admired most about him was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him," said Carlsen.
'But there is also no doubt that Carlsen is an overall genius, not just in chess, although he does not want to know his Intelligence Quotient. Just to mention one example, at age five he memorized the capitals, areas and population sizes of almost all the countries in the world, and similar information for all the towns in Norway.
'First and foremost, geniuses are a privilege to their parents, but can also be nightmares if they get bored easily in class and do not adapt to a world organized for people with much smaller mental capacities than theirs. Magnus’ parents made the right decision by taking him and his sisters on a one-year trip around the world when he was thirteen. If it is said travel is always an excellent school of life, it was even more so in a case like his. By then he was already the youngest grandmaster (a title similar to that of a doctor of philosophy) in the world, leading him to attend the 2004 World Chess Olympiad with his national team in Calvía, Mallorca, where the ushers refused to allow him on stage because they could not believe that someone who was just a child could be Norway’s best player.
'Geniuses tend to flee crowds and be very shy. Four years ago, Magnus hardly spoke to anyone that did not belong to his most intimate circle. Now, after covering great distances, playing hundreds of matches all over the world and being interviewed by, albeit reluctantly, numerous journalists, the precocious number one has learned that being interviewed forms part of his duties, although he does it sparingly, and he has even been a spokesmodel for the clothing brand Junior G-Star.
'Despite the fact that the stereotypes may make one think the opposite, most elite chess players are quite sociable. Carlsen is one of the few exceptions, despite already being a national icon, and he flees when he can from being exposed to people who are not part of his closest circle. Games with other chess players where he does not leave the hotel are usually the only way to see him outside of his room or the tournament hall. He lives in his own world, based heavily on the internet. He appears to be reasonably happy, perhaps because he knows that millions of fans have a great appreciation for the beauty and depth of his matches. Although he speaks perfect English, his native language is chess, and into it he has poured his amazing intelligence, which he really couldn’t care less about, just like Anand'.
[3] One friend observe to me, that he wondered if Carlsen is not semi-autistic. I am not talking smack, just consider what a therapist once called my dad, 'A high functioning isolate'. Himm?
It takes a most refined energy to carry this much focus and force and concentration.
First there were chess players, then there were great chess players, then there were historically great super grandmasters. Then there was the god of the gods, Magnus Carlsen [1].
[1] Currently. Fischer, Kasparov, of course, in a class by themselves, making this three: demonic will to win as a fearful child trying to defend against the missing father figure, then the violent explosions of the L'enfant terrible stuck on the mother figure.
Then Alekhine, Lasker, Capablanca, Botvinnik. To one degree or another, each of these were also the truly great: whether it be by force and calculation and passion, longevity, natural flair and good looks, or lastly the first professional if not scientific approach to chess for these latter individuals.
For a dose of good measure, add good proletariot correctness, the even intuitive objective approach, why Karpov of course.
Then there was the god of all gods, Magnus [2], [3]. See red text, page ALL THE WAY down:
[2] Last night at ChessBase.com:
Even in another language, THIS is "way cool":
'Bilbao Rd6: Carlsen avenges loss and beats Caruana:
'At 21, Magnus Carlsen has had a career that equals or even surpasses the brilliance of that of Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov at the same age. He has been number one on 19 of the 22 lists published between January 2010 and August 2012. He also won the Masters Final last year, after an electrifying tie-break against Vassily Ivanchuk. He is a genius and by all indications has not yet reached his peak.
'The Oxford Dictionary defines "genius" as "exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability". It is enough just to enjoy Carlsen’s (or Anand’s) matches to see that he lives up to this definition, although he himself gave another definition on January 17, 2008 on the death of the charismatic American, Bobby Fischer, the 1972 World Champion. "What I admired most about him was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him," said Carlsen.
'But there is also no doubt that Carlsen is an overall genius, not just in chess, although he does not want to know his Intelligence Quotient. Just to mention one example, at age five he memorized the capitals, areas and population sizes of almost all the countries in the world, and similar information for all the towns in Norway.
'First and foremost, geniuses are a privilege to their parents, but can also be nightmares if they get bored easily in class and do not adapt to a world organized for people with much smaller mental capacities than theirs. Magnus’ parents made the right decision by taking him and his sisters on a one-year trip around the world when he was thirteen. If it is said travel is always an excellent school of life, it was even more so in a case like his. By then he was already the youngest grandmaster (a title similar to that of a doctor of philosophy) in the world, leading him to attend the 2004 World Chess Olympiad with his national team in Calvía, Mallorca, where the ushers refused to allow him on stage because they could not believe that someone who was just a child could be Norway’s best player.
'Geniuses tend to flee crowds and be very shy. Four years ago, Magnus hardly spoke to anyone that did not belong to his most intimate circle. Now, after covering great distances, playing hundreds of matches all over the world and being interviewed by, albeit reluctantly, numerous journalists, the precocious number one has learned that being interviewed forms part of his duties, although he does it sparingly, and he has even been a spokesmodel for the clothing brand Junior G-Star.
'Despite the fact that the stereotypes may make one think the opposite, most elite chess players are quite sociable. Carlsen is one of the few exceptions, despite already being a national icon, and he flees when he can from being exposed to people who are not part of his closest circle. Games with other chess players where he does not leave the hotel are usually the only way to see him outside of his room or the tournament hall. He lives in his own world, based heavily on the internet. He appears to be reasonably happy, perhaps because he knows that millions of fans have a great appreciation for the beauty and depth of his matches. Although he speaks perfect English, his native language is chess, and into it he has poured his amazing intelligence, which he really couldn’t care less about, just like Anand'.
[3] One friend observe to me, that he wondered if Carlsen is not semi-autistic. I am not talking smack, just consider what a therapist once called my dad, 'A high functioning isolate'. Himm?
It takes a most refined energy to carry this much focus and force and concentration.
posted by transformation at 3:50 PM
1 Comments:
There's a big difference between being a private and highly focused individual, and being a "high-functioning autistic" person. Carlsen is in fact one of the best of today's top-ranked professionals at tapping into society outside of chess - turning up on 60 Minutes, doing fashion shoots, public events related to chess (see below) etc. There are others in the chess world, past and present, who much better fit the high-functioning autistic description.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/magnus-carlsen-in-new-york-%E2%80%93-a-big-pictorial-report
Post a Comment
<< Home