Carlsen prepares to move that horsie thingy.

The tremendous kottke.org pointed me in the direction of a great Der Spiegel interview with chess champ Magnus Carlsen. While I’m not very interested in chess as a game, I find great chess players to be fascinating psychologically. You would assume their monomania for the game might make them similar personality types, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The Norwegian teen Carlsen, currently ranked number one in the world, is as interesting and aware of himself as he is talented. A few quick excerpts from the interview.

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Spiegel: Mr Carlsen, what is your IQ?

Carlsen: I have no idea. I wouldn’t want to know it anyway. It might turn out to be a nasty surprise.

Spiegel: Why? You are 19 years old and ranked the number one chess player in the world. You must be incredibly clever.

Carlsen: And that’s precisely what would be terrible. Of course it is important for a chess player to be able to concentrate well, but being too intelligent can also be a burden. It can get in your way. I am convinced that the reason the Englishman John Nunn never became world champion is that he is too clever for that.

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Spiegel: You are a sloppy genius?

Magnus Carlsen: I’m not a genius. Sloppy? Perhaps. It’s like this: When I am feeling good, I train a lot. When I feel bad, I don’t bother. I don’t enjoy working to a timetable. Systematic learning would kill me.

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Spiegel: Do you win [at online poker]?

Magnum Carlsen: If I take a game seriously, I do. If not, I sometimes lose. But that doesn’t matter. What is important is that I have a life beyond chess.

Spiegel: Why?

Magnum Carlsen: Chess should not become an obsession. Otherwise there’s a danger that you will slide off into a parallel world, that you lose your sense of reality, get lost in the infinite cosmos of the game. You become crazy. I make sure that I have enough time between tournaments to go home in order to do other things. I like hiking and skiing, and I play football in a club.