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Associated Press

Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen’s celebrity status.
A grandmaster at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming have all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.
Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.
Only legends like Russia’s Gary Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his fame, and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.
“I am in a different stage in my career,” he says. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”
On October 25, offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen launched his app, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch.
“It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.
Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He will not be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.
Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modelled on his own gameplay.

The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around US$80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.
Carlsen and Mats André Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, with filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up casual viewers put off by the complexity of chess.
The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetise it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis”, says Kristiansen.
While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation.
World Chess was worth around US$54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.
My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience
Magnus Carlsen, chess grandmaster
The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to short cut thousands of hours of research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.
“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper, and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.
At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grandmaster, his mind does not quite compute at the tornado speed it once did.
“Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”
Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he says.
Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.
He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Chess influencers, including the world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streaming platform’s biggest hits in 2020.
And in 2022, Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grandmaster, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess.
There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games, but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into the public consciousness.


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Fame and celebrity

Magnus Carlsen, at the top of the chess game, makes a chess app his next move

Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen ha released a new chess app Take Take Take, that helps fans better follow and understand games. Photo: AP

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen considers his next move as he plays against India’s Viswanathan Anand on the first day of the Global Chess League competition in London on October 3, 2024. Photo: AFP

The chess app Take Take Take was launched by Carlsen in October 2024. Photo: Fancy Chess

Carlsen during a game against Fabiano Caruana of the US, during the Norway Chess Open 2024, in Stavanger, Norway, on June 7, 2024. Photo: AP

Carlsen sits down to play against Viswanathan Anand in the first round of Global Chess League Season 2, in London. Photo: EPA-EFE

Universal Epic Universe to bring more Harry Potter magic, Super Nintendo World to Florida

An artist’s rendering of the Isle of Berk at Universal Epic Universe. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of Universal Epic Universe’s entrance. The theme park, opening in Orlando, Florida, in May 2025, will contain more than 50 themed attractions, from film franchises such as Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the Battle at the Ministry motion simulator ride in Epic Universe’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Ministry of Magic. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the entrance to Le Cirque Arcanus live show in Epic Universe’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the Isle of Berk, the world’s first How to Train Your Dragon-themed land, at Epic Universe. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the Hiccup’s Wing Gliders roller coaster in Epic Universe’s Isle of Berk. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of The Untrainable Dragon live show in Isle of Berk at Epic Universe. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of Epic Universe’s Dark Universe, which will celebrate classic Universal Monsters from the early-mid 20th century. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

Dark Universe will be set in the fictitious Darkmoor village. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the Celestial Park entrance. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

An artist’s rendering of the Universal Helios Grand Hotel in the Celestial Park. Photo: Universal Orlando/TNS

NES to Game Boy to Nintendo Switch, get hands-on at the new Nintendo Museum in Japan

The entrance to the first of three buildings of the new Nintendo Museum. Photo: AFP

The world’s only Nintendo Museum, which has opened in Japan, tells the story of the entertainment company’s rise to global video game brand from its card game origins. Photo: AFP

Visitors are seen at the Nintendo Museum in Uji, near Kyoto in Japan. Photo: Reuters

A visitor looking at a display of controllers at the Nintendo Museum. Photo: AFP

A digital version of the traditional hanafuda card game. Photo: AFP

A visitor playing Zapper & Scope SP at the Nintendo Museum. Photo: AFP

India’s teen chess champion who beat Magnus Carlsen is riding the wave of a revival nurtured in Chennai

Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, pictured in 2018. Photo: AFP

Viswanathan Anand’s trailblazing achievements transformed the game of chess for India. Photo: EPA

Tourist hotspot Chennai has been dubbed ‘the chess capital of India’. Photo: Getty

People play chess on a street in the afternoon sun in India. Photo: AP 

Winning mahjong strategies, from keeping an eye on the other players to playing mind games with your own hidden tiles

What are the simplest ways to win mahjong? We take a look at how to figure out the strategies of the other players and how to psyche your opponents out. Photo: Antony Dickson

With hand A, you can win with dot tiles one, four or seven. Photo: Antony Dickson

You can win with dot tiles two, five or eight in hand B. Photo: Antony Dickson

Hand C is an example of a special hand in which the player has 13 chances to win as only a pair is missing. Photo: Antony Dickson

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Carlsen, the world’s top player, talks about getting older and his new app Take Take Take, which makes following chess games easier


Carlsen, the world’s top player, talks about getting older and his new app Take Take Take, which makes following chess games easier.


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