Without a doubt, many of us wonder how current World Champion Magnus Carlsen got to be so good. For (roughly) the past 10 years he has been the best player in the world, by far. He became World Champion in 2013 and since then has clearly outpaced his closest rivals the majority of the time. He has had his slips, particularly the entire year of 2015 and the 2018 World Championship match, but he has not slipped below number one in the world since July 2011.
With all of that said, this week’s question becomes all the more interesting to ponder:
Chess Doctor,
Having observed some of Magnus Carlsen’s incredible performances in recent tournaments (2019 Croatia GCT, 2019 Shamkir Chess, etc.), a question pops into my mind. Apart from tournaments, how does he challenge himself (e.g. when studying) when he is so much better than the rest of his peers?
While I am in no position to say for sure exactly what the World Champion’s study habits are, or indeed how he could aspire to challenge himself so relentlessly, from my few interactions with top GMs and a careful study of a number of his interviews, I can draw some basic conclusions.
First of all, any decent player has to spend a massive amount of time on their openings. Daniil Dubov casually mentioned that he spends about eight hours on chess a day. For starters, maybe an hour solving tactical exercises. At the end of each day maybe half an hour on endgames. In between? It’s all looking at various openings. Clearly that’s the mindset and work ethic of a pro.
Considering that Dubov is technically not even 2700 at the moment (though very close), Carlsen’s workload must be even more intensive. Surely this is one way Carlsen could challenge himself: indeed, he plays most everything, so at all times he must be analyzing every plausible opening.
Apart from that, it seems that he tests himself with various calculation exercises, perhaps from both studies and practical play. Indeed, he recommends this for the rest of us, and so do I. In particular, I think that a daily routine involving chess exercises (tactical or strategic, both are useful) will go a long way towards helping improve any chess player’s ability.
Outside of the chessboard, Carlsen (as is very well known) trains primarily with sports mixed in between chess. For him this is clearly just the right fit, as any Super Grandmaster needs to be very fit to play six hour games. But for the rest of us, the most important thing is chess! Only follow his example if you enjoy the sports or are having real problems related to stamina.
Aside from the opening, I would note that Carlsen has generally studied with a real chessboard rather than focusing on computer studies, DVD courses, videos, etc. Indeed, early in his career he absorbed many books including his former trainer Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors series. I am of a similar mind: using a real board and books is a great way to improve.
My hope is that in analyzing the World Champion’s methods to provide a challenge for himself, you can continue to find better ways to challenge yourself as well. The road to improvement is long and arduous, and was for Carlsen as well. The World Champion is indeed human. Continual hard work and a dedication to study should yield good results for us all.
Hope that helped answer the initial question. As always, feel free to submit your questions through the button below and thanks for reading!
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