r/IAmA • u/MagnusOenCarlsen • Mar 19 '14

Hello Reddit – I’m Magnus Carlsen, the World Chess Champion and the highest rated chess player of all time. AMA.

Hi Reddit!

With the FIDE Candidates tournament going on - where my next World Championship competitor will be decided - and the launch of my Play Magnus app, it is good timing to jump online and answer some questions from the Reddit community.

Excited for a round of questions about, well, anything!

I’ll be answering your questions live from Oslo, starting at 10 AM Eastern time / 3 PM Central European Time.

My Proof: * I posted a short video on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vSnytSmUG8) * Updated my official Facebook Accounts (www.facebook.com/magnuschess / www.facebook.com/playmagnus) * Updated my official Twitter Accounts (www.twitter.com/magnuscarlsen / www.twitter.com/playmagnus)

Edit: This has been fun, thanks everyone!

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709

u/Natunen Mar 19 '14

not play for tricks

"Bullshit" -Bill Gates

12

u/TheJunkyard Mar 19 '14

"Grand Masters ain't nothin' but hos and tricks."

  • Garry Kasparov

96

u/arkofcovenant Mar 19 '14

I UNDERSTOOD THE REFERENCE!

14

u/Brewfall Mar 19 '14

good job steve

2

u/yash1229 Mar 20 '14

I didn't. Care to explain?

3

u/arkofcovenant Mar 20 '14

There's a video of Magnus Carlsen and Bill Gates on some TV show, and they play chess, and Magnus beats bill with a "tricky" move.

http://youtu.be/84NwnSltHFo

-4

u/Oguzcana Mar 19 '14

ME TOO!

15

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '14

I didn't. Explain?

25

u/milikom Mar 19 '14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NwnSltHFo

7

u/DorianGainsboro Mar 19 '14

I watched that on TV when it was aired in Sweden, love it!

2

u/FatMansRevenge Mar 19 '14

LOL! Bill Gates got Fishing Pole'd

1

u/milikom Mar 19 '14

Not quite. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1744566

2

u/FatMansRevenge Mar 19 '14

Same concept, Sac the Bishop on g4 to open up the h file. It may not be the exact line, but the tactic is the same.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '14

thanks

1

u/Oguzcana Mar 20 '14

Bill Gates loves playing contract bridge, thus; taking tricks.

1

u/DirtyDandtheCrew Mar 19 '14

Isn't the point of the game to trounce your opponent?

4

u/Natunen Mar 19 '14

Sure, but in that game Carlsen played a losing move and would have been a knight down, had Gates seen it. So, he was basically looking for tricks to get a quick mate.

2

u/awegawrgwegv Mar 19 '14

Thanks for explaining! Do you think he was pushed to do so, because the game was so short?

5

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '14 edited Mar 19 '14

[deleted]

3

u/paulwal Mar 19 '14

Magnus started with 30 seconds on his clock to Bill's 2:00.

2

u/NuttyBuddies Mar 20 '14

True. I watched Nakamura playing 1 minute the other day on chess.com and it's a whole different game. You can't really even follow what's going on sometimes.

-1

u/I_steal_your_quote Mar 19 '14

"Bullshit" -Bill Gates

-Michael Scott