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 World chess champion Magnus Carlsen: 'Thecomputer never has been an opponent'

 World chess champion Magnus Carlsen will be defending his title this fall against his

Russian challenger, Sergey Karjakin. The 25-year-old Norwegian tells DW how he wants to

make chess more accessible to everyone.

 DW: Since the end of March, you've known that you will be competing against the Russian Sergey

 Karjakin at the World Chess Championship in November. Have you already started preparing? 

Magnus Carlsen: I cannot say that I've already started my preparation. I've started thinking about it.

But my main focus now is on the next tournaments that I have.

When do you plan to begin? 

Probably some concrete preparations will begin in May. A lot of the preparation will be in Norway,

maybe some other places as well. But the base will be in Norway.

 How important are computer programs for your preparation? 

Computers are very important for sure. All the analysis I've done has been with the help of the

computers. You constantly need them.

When you practice chess, do you sit in front of the computer most of the time or do you play on a

traditional chess board? 

My practice at home is with the computer. When I study chess with other people, we always have achess board. But on my own, it's always at the computer.

Were you surprised that Sergey Karjakin won the Candidates Tournament in March in Moscow? 

I was not very surprised that Karjakin won.

 While he had the most tournament wins, I

Date 14.04.2016

Author  Interview: Klaudia

Prevezanos

Keywords Magnus Carlsen, Chess,

FIDE, Sergey Karjakin, Digital Culture

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S P E C I A L

Pop hits that conquered the

globe

This analysis of the German pop

scene's success abroad is

unprecedented in scope.

V I D E O

RADAR 

Each week our Arts.21 reporters

scour Germany's cultural scene and

present you with a selection of their

 best finds.

F I L M

Charlie Chaplin museum

opens in Switzerland

He shook up the silent film world

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Sergey Karjakin won the Candidates Tournament for theupcoming World Chess Championship in November in

New York 

always considered him one of the favorites in

this tournament. He has very strong, very good

nerves and he defended extremely well. So I

thought he would be perfect for this kind of 

tournament, and also at home in Russia he had

an extra advantage.

 Sergey Karjakin just pulled out of the Norway

chess super tournament - at very short notice.

The tournament begins on April 18. Were you

surprised or do you understand why he decided 

to do this? 

I can understand that he didn't want to play the tournament after all. But I think contracts should be

honored. From my own experience, I know that I don't want to agree to tournaments very shortly after

such a tournament. Sometimes after such a trial you will have some positive feelings from having done

 well and might still have some energy left. But most of the time you will be just drained - mentally and

physically - and so it's not a good idea to sign up for tournaments so quickly after such an event.

Or do you think maybe he is a bit afraid to play against you before the World Championship? 

No, I mean I have played against Sergey in tournaments since we were both 13 years old. So we know each other well, and I don't think anything would happen in our games. If we played one game now, I

don't think that would heavily influence how we evaluate each other as chess players.

 For the Candidates Tournament, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE),

 Agon, decided for the first time to allow the online live transmission of the games from the Agon

 platform only. It didn't work well and of course excluded other platforms. Do you think it was the

right decision? 

I think in principle it's a good idea that the organizers have rights that they can sell. But yes,

unfortunately this time it didn't work very well. And then it obviously doesn't look very good.

 Do you expect the same exclusive online live transmission for the World Chess Championship in New

York City as well? 

I don't really know, but I expect them to evaluate what was happening now in Moscow and to do a

much better job next time.

 Both chess - and more recently the Asian game of Go - are now played better by computers than by

humans, even by the very best like you. Does that take away the magic of brain games like chess? 

 Yes, to some extent it takes a bit of the mysticism away. But as for chess, we've known for a long time

that computers are better, so the computer never has been an opponent. It's a tool to help me analyze

and to help me improve at chess.

Would you participate in a public game against a computer in the near future - or is that not an

option for you? The last one I remember was Vladimir Kramnik against Deep Fritz in 2006.

I personally never wanted that. I find it much more interesting to play humans. And also, of course,

now that they have become so strong in a game like that, I wouldn't stand a chance.

You're quite popular among young people in Germany and elsewhere. You already do some activities

to make chess more popular among children, like visiting chess classes in schools, and releasing your

 Play Magnus app. You also have marketing experience. Wouldn't you like to be the one who makes

chess a really cool sport with a proper marketing campaign? 

 Yes, I try to bring chess to more people around the world, and I have very good people working with

me. I guess also the most important thing for me is to continue to play well. If I cannot be the best

chess player that I can be, I cannot make chess more accessible.

You do advertisements for clothes, cars and other things. You also registered your name as a

trademark. When will the first products with your name and label enter the market? 

 We already have the Play Magnus app, and there will be more of Play Magnus coming. But if you are

 by playing the tramp and was

 banned from the US for two

decades. Now a museum is opening

at Charlie Chaplin's former villa in

rural Switzerland - complete with a

cinema.

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That Shakespeare Rhythm

Is it possible to translate

Shakespeare’s incomparable

English into incomparable

German? Frank Günther manages

it better than any other. He gets it

all right: the feel, rhythm and

sound of the Bard's powerful words.

M U S I C

 Aerodrums – Drumming

 without drumsFirst came the air-guitar, now there

are Aerodrums. A British start-up

has mated a high-speed camera

 with a computer program to turn

out licks without ever even

touching a drum.

 A R T S

 Avantgarde Shakespeare

Two very exciting German-

language Shakespeare productions

can currently be seen at Berlin’s

Schaubühne theatre. We interview 

the man behind them, director

Thomas Ostermeier.

D I G I T A L C U L T U

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The first and only German World Chess Champion

Emanuel Lasker

Date 14.04.2016

Author  Interview: Klaudia Prevezanos

thinking of clothes or something - I don't think that is going to happen very soon.

 Emanuel Lasker was the first and only German world chess champion so far - from 1894 to 1921.

That is more than 100 years ago. Is there anything the German chess scene can learn from Norway

and your career? 

I think there are definitely enough chess players in

Germany. There is a lot of interest. It seems to me

that there is decent interest among young people.

In Norway, we have a policy of letting the kids do

 what they want. And it's always supposed to be fun.

I don't know how it is in Germany, but I think that

is very important.

Germany has a long tradition of taking chess

seriously as a sport. Why do you think countries

like Russia, and now China and India, seem to be

doing a lot better than Germany? 

I don't really know. Russia always had great chess traditions. And in China there are millions of kids

playing chess. In Germany, it seems to me that there are a lot of chess players, but the emphasis has

always been on chess as an amateur sort of activity.

Your opponent in November, Sergey Karjakin, was born in Ukraine and moved to Russia. Do you

think that the World Championship match will be seen a little bit like a Cold War match between the

West vs. Russia - like Bobby Fischer against Boris Spassky in 1972? 

There are certainly some political differences, but personally I've always had a good relationship with

Karjakin. We have always been rivals, but we've never had any problems with each other. So for me,

the political part is not really part of it.

You're a great football fan. The European Championships are coming up and Norway has not 

qualified. Will you be supporting Germany, the other World Champion? 

Germany has a good team, but they haven't been very good recently. We'll see what happens, but I likethe German team a lot. They play wonderful football.

The Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, born in 1990, became world chess champion in

2013 at the age of 22 and has managed to defend his title since. The next Chess World Championship

takes place from November 11-30, 2016, in New York City. Carlsen will be competing against 26-

year-old Russian Sergey Karjakin, who won the opportunity to challenge the world champion in

 March 2016. Carlsen was considered a child prodigy. In 2010 at age 19, he became the youngest 

 player to reach number one on the FIDE world chess ranking, which he maintained since July 2011.

D W R E C O M M E N D S

Humans vs. computers: The ancient pastime of strategy games

 A computer called AlphaGo is competing against human South Korean Go champion Lee Sedol this week. Here's

how strategy games came about thousands of years ago - and where humans are weakest. (09.03.2016)

Game Over! AlphaGo defeats S. Korean grandmaster at Go

 A computer program has claimed victory over another pre-eminent Go champion after winning its third

consecutive game. DeepMind's executive hailed Lee Sedol's "incredible genius" despite the Go champion's loss.

(12.03.2016)

Garry Kasparov: "Putin runs Russia like the mafia"

Since retiring from professional chess in 2005, Garry Kasparov has become one of the most prominent voices in

Russia’s pro-democracy movement. On DW's "Interview", the youngest chess world champion in history speaks

out. (23.10.2015)

 World chess champion

Magnus Carlsen: 'The

computer never has been

an opponent' World chess champion Magnus

Carlsen will be defending his title

this fall against his Russian

challenger, Sergey Karjakin. The

25-year-old Norwegian tells DW 

how he wants to make chess more

accessible to everyone.

L I F E S T Y L E

 Your favorite subjects on

Euromaxx!

This week you revealed to us what

 you like to watch most on

Euromaxx. To find out which lucky 

participants will receive a small

"thank you", click here:

M O R E C U L T U R E

Film

Books

Music

 Arts

Digital Culture

Lifestyle

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Keywords Magnus Carlsen, Chess, FIDE, Sergey Karjakin, Digital Culture

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The success of streaming

services 12.04.2016

10 years after the founding of music

streaming service Spotify,

streaming has gone mainstream.

The video and music platforms try to set themselves apart from their

competitors by offering the best

playlists.

Social robots become part

of the family 12.04.2016

Social robots are being marketed as

cute household helpers or

playmates for children. Several

models are coming onto the marketin 2016 and demand is high. But

these social robots have some

downsides, too.

Face-swapping app

MSQRD 12.04.2016

 With the MSQRD app, users can

project a funny mask onto a face by 

placing a live filter over videos or

photos. The app lets you transform yourself into a monkey, a zombie, a

superhero or even your best friend!

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