Magnus Carlsen

2014.01.16 - Churchill Club - World Chess Champ Magnus Carlsen, in conversation w/ Peter Thiel

- This is all about asking Carlsen questions. Thiel asks great, great questions. Carlsen gives some great answers to Thiel's questions, some OK answers to audience questions.
The first few minutes are all 
7:30 - Thiel: I was 7th in the US in the under-13 age category, but someone like Carlsen would be expected to beat me 100 times for every time I beat him (if we were both the same age).
8:50 - Q from Thiel: When did you start playing chess? What year did you start to really improve?
- If the weather was really bad and we were bored we'd play.
- I gained an interest at 8 when my father started to teach my older sister (1.5 years older than me). I gained an interest, and one of my main interests at that time was to beat my sister at everything she did, and so I started training a lot in order to beat her. And of course gradually I realized that chess was a very interesting game in itself.
10:45 - Q from Thiel: At what point did you decide to focus on playing chess for a living?
- Only toward the end of high school. Before that, my parents had brainwashed me into thinking I should pursue higher education.
11:30 - Q from Thiel: Is there something you can tell us about the process by which someone becomes a great chess player?
- I was able to do whatever I wanted to do, and most of the time that was chess.
- I think to become really good at chess, you really need that; to become one of the best, it's not enough to go to the chess club a few times a week, play a tournament now and then. As you would in other sports, you shouldn't just go to practice, you should be--in a sense--living chess, all the time.
13:10 - Q from Thiel: Were there any chess players you particularly looked up to?
- I really liked the games of Kramnik(?) when I was young. I got a book of his games when I was about 11 and I really learned a lot from those games.
- It's never been in my style to idolize players, to try to copy them, I just try to learn and get the best from the great masters.
14:30 - Q from Thiel: How does one go about improving when you're at the level you're at today?
- I really don't know; I still feel like I'm picking up things all the time. I'm learning how to evaluate positions differently than how I used to.
15:30 - Q from Thiel: Do you think you have to learn chess as a kid, or can you learn it at any time in your life?
- I think it depends on what your goals are. [...] I think it's more helpful if you learn it as a kid, and if you want to be a s
16:10 - Q from Thiel: Is chess a sport, an art, or a science?
- Most of all, it's a sport.
17:00 - Q from Thiel: Is there any psychological aspect to chess?
- For me it's more about psychology in preparation, trying to choose opening variations that could be unpleasant to that particular opponent.
18:20 - Q from Thiel: Is there a physical fitness component? Do you find you play better if you're healthy?
- Absolutely.
19:13 - Q from Thiel: How have computers changed chess in the last 30 years?
- Computers are now definitely better than the best humans. I think the reason Kasparov lost to Deep Blue had to do with his own demons.
- I don't really see the computer as an opponent; it's more of an aide, an analysis tool.
21:50 - Q from Thiel: Have computers made chess more tactical?
- It's made chess less dogmatic; computers are challenging a lot of old conventions of what you should and shouldn't do.
- You may see a position and think it's better for white, but the computer evaluates it as a little better for black, and you can go deeper and see what supports the computer's view.
23:50 - Q from Thiel: You generally don't play against computers?
- No, I find playing against computers depressing. And it doesn't help you much in preparing against humans.
24:38 - Q from Thiel: Do you learn the most from games you lose, or games you win?
- Over time I probably learn more from games I lose.
40:20 - Carlsen predicts that in 20 years "India especially and also China" will be the strongest chess countries in the world.
40:50 - Q: Have you thought about giving up your champion's privilege for the next tournament? (not sure what he's referencing)
42:10 - Q from Thiel: How much do you think chess carries over to life?
- Carlsen thinks that spending as much time as he does studying chess you probably won't learn as much about life and about other fields.
- He thinks the skillset can be used in other fields as long as you spend time on those other fields.
44:00 - Q from a young child: Do you ever get nervous before a tournament?
- Carlsen: I do get nervous sometimes, especially if I think I'm not so well prepared. It's a lot like when you're not prepared for a meeting or exam.
- ...but most of the time he doesn't get too nervous because he feels like he knows what he's doing
- when he does get nervous he tries to put on a brave face and not show it so much
45:30 - Q: Do you think the format for the world championship should be changed to 24 games? And do you find computers depressing to play against because they're hard to beat (eg you draw a lot) or because they're very good at winning?
- C: I think the 24 games would be too long, people wouldn't stay interested and the players would get tired.
47:40 - In training I try to do the things I enjoy, and I don't enjoy playing computers so I don't do that.
48:50 - Q from Thiel: Do you find you learn more from studying than from playing? Or is it a combination of both?
- C: I think it's a combination of both, but I really have learned a lot from just playing and reading books.
- C: One of my main forms of training in my earlier years (11-13) is that a few players would get together and we would analyze a game. It wasn't as much an analysis of a game as much as an analysis of chess itself. It was really helpful in improving all of our understandings of chess. It was chess training without thinking of it as chess training.
50:30 - Q from Thiel: Where do you think chess is going to go in 20-30 years? Do you think it'll be fully solved?
- C: There's been talk of draw-death for 80 years, as far as I know it's pretty far off. The draw rate has been going down, in part because draw offers have been banned.
- At some point we'll probably have to play more rapid- and Fischer random chess.
52:50 - Q: If your father had not introduced you to chess, do you think you would have found it on your own? If not, where do you think you would have ended up?
- C: I had a nice chess environment close to my home, if we had stayed in Belgium I wouldn't have had that and I probably wouldn't have stuck with chess.
- C: My parents have always told me I can be anything I want to.
- C: Before chess I was interested in Legos, geography, math, and cars.
55:55 - Q: Did you win when you played against Kasparov at age 13?
- I drew one of the three games, I lost the other two.
56:50 - Q from a young child: Do you do anything else besides chess?
- I went to school for many years, I used to go skiing a lot, I played soccer in a club, I went ski-jumping for a few years. I still enjoy sports a lot.
57:50 - Q: Someone said you refused to sign a particular book? Is there any truth to that?
- A lot of chess players are superstitious, including me. The book was written by a guy who won the world championship at 23 and never won it again.
59:00 - Q: What goes through your mind when you're playing blitz?
- Blitz is mainly about intuition and instincts. Classical chess has your intuition giving you an idea, and then I have time to verify it and calculate different variations.
1:00:00 - Q from Thiel: Is playing too much blitz bad for your full game?
- You shouldn't play only blitz, but playing some blitz is definitely useful. It helped me develop my instincts and tactical eye.
1:01:00 - Q: Have you ever thought about applying what you've learned to other things, like martial arts?
- I had a brief experience learning some martial arts and it didn't really stick with me.
- In chess you have to be merciless to be very successful.
1:03:00 - Q: A lot of top chess players are geography buffs. That's true of you as well, right?
- C: I like all kinds of trivia.