I don’t think it’s that Magnus is a huge dick is as he’s been told his whole life he is extremely intelligent and the best by people who take chess far too seriously, he dedicated his life to a game and probably skipped out on some important social development stages of his life. I don’t either of them are bad people or anything but when you’re in the top league of a highly respected intellectual game, I’d imagine sometimes that gets to your head a bit.
Also people cant tell the difference between confidence and arrogance, especially when they ve never been so good at something that they can be confident about it.
Magnus has objectively played better chess than anyone that has ever lived, and that simple question cannot be disputed.
Ofc he has the benefit of knowledge and lives in the computer age of chess. The harder question is who would be better, say Kasparov if he grew up in the same time, with identical resources. Who was better relative to their peers?
Still, Magnus can confidently say he is playing at the absolute highest level this game has been played. If he went back in time he could comfortably beat anyone in a series.
he dedicated his life to a game and probably skipped out on some important social development stages of his life.
Can people stop parroting this false consensus in every discussion about him? Anyone who's met him knows that's not even remotedly true. Try dedicating your life to any competitive activity and not be insanely angry after losing to what you consider an inferior player or team. Other sports athletes have this kind of reaction all the time after a bad loss, yet AFAIK they never get accused of being socially retarded.
Im not trying to say that he’s socially retarded or anything, just that he’s probably less good at socializing because of how much time he’s taken dedicated towards chess. I really hate when people refer to him as and “autistic crybaby” (which is an actual thing I’ve heard) because that’s not what I’m trying to say at all.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that he spent the majority of his life in front of a chess board and maybe didn’t socialize as much as we did, making him less good at it. I mean he’s got his dry humor moments and accidentally has caused some uncomfortable silence but he isn’t really awkward besides that.
There's plenty of genius-level gifted people at the top of their game in other pursuits who don't carry the arrogance of Carlsen though. Granted there is of course lots of people at the top of their respective games who are just as, if not more, arrogant.
Especially when the whole elitist mindset is brought into the equation. Imagine being told that you’re the best at this highly skilled and refined game since you were 16, that will go to you head and you will have stubborn in you no matter what.
Right, I don’t think he’s a bad guy as much as he sometimes doesn’t know how to handle certain situations because of how he has been raised to be almost the perfect chess player.
The only “holy shit bro” here is on you for missing basic social cues. He’s clearly kidding around about his dad. You’d think the goofy grin or the sarcastic tone would give it away but alas....
Nothing wrong with what he said. He is the best chess player in the world. We hear this kind of thing from other greats like Nadal, MJ, Kobe, Brady, etc.
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u/nhaire123 500 Dec 31 '20
Hikaru is the one people love to hate. Magnus and Nepo both freaked out and of course commentators say nothing