Chess legend Magnus Carlsen hopes Norway’s return to World Cup ‘will be new normal’ for team

The man widely regarded as the greatest to ever master the chessboard said he hoped Norway’s return to the World Cup “will be the new normal” for the international team.
Magnus Carlsen – an avid Real Madrid fan – also shared his excitement at Jose Mourinho’s return to the Bernabeu for a second stint.
Currently in Hong Kong for the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, which finish on Sunday, Carlsen revealed he had grown up envisaging Norway as an international football force.
“We went to the World Cup in 1994. I was a little bit too young to follow them, but then in 1998 and the 2000 European Championship, I followed a lot and thought we’re going to be here every time,” the 35-year-old from Tonsberg said. “I thought this was normal, but it turned out it wasn’t.
“This time, everybody is incredibly excited for us. Maybe this will be the new normal. It certainly isn’t just yet, but we’re all just super excited.”
With his native country playing in their first World Cup in 28 years, the Norwegian world No 1 told the South China Morning Post why the global football showpiece in France in 1998 and Hong Kong are so special to him.

“My wife [Ella Malone] was born here in Hong Kong when Norway beat Brazil 2-1 [in the final group match in 1998],” the five-time world champion said. “She’s half Norwegian, half American, but born here, over at the Peak. So for her and me, of course, it’s special.
“I hope we can do better this time, but I think getting to the round of 16 would be at least a moderate success. I think this team is good enough to give any opponent at least a scare.”
A well-known Real Madrid fan and at one point a very active Fantasy Premier League player, Carlsen talked about both subjects at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in between his Rapid matches, which his team, WR Chess, finished 17th out of 22.
“It seems like there are probably some disciplinary problems at the club at the moment, and Florentino [Perez] felt that he needed a very strong personality as a trainer to keep them in check,” said Carlsen, who has topped the chess ranking table since July 2011.
“It didn’t work with Xabi Alonso, but who knows if it’s going to work now.
“Regardless, Jose [Mourinho] is very, very exciting to follow because there is always so much going on around him. So as a fan, I am very excited to see that.”

Bio needed an update pic.twitter.com/Wc7z0FUVuj
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 14, 2019

The chess player was briefly ranked No 1 in the fantasy football world for two days in the 2019-20 season before finishing 10th globally among more than seven million players. He said he now plays “anonymously and more for myself than anything”.
Despite claiming that he was not qualified to give advice, the chess grandmaster offered four names to pick for a fantasy football team.
“[Jordan] Pickford always seems to overperform in defence. You’ve got to have Gabriel [Magalhaes], probably,” the experienced fantasy football player said. “Midfield, I wouldn’t advise against picking Bruno [Fernandes] again, up top, of course, the Norwegian Viking [Erling Haaland].”
The arrival of his son Marcus last September made Carlsen a first-time father, an experience he described as fantastic.
“He’s incredible, and family makes me happy every day. I’m sad to be away from them now, but sometimes I have to work,” said Carlsen, who is keen to have more children.
“If my son is going to be a grandmaster, it’s certainly not by design. I think chess is a great tool for kids, and I certainly want to teach him the rules at some point. But I’m not going to encourage him to do anything specific as a career at any point. I think that should be his choice.
“As for myself, I think I’ll be fairly good for the next four or five years like that, and then after that we’ll see. But I also have a family, I have to provide for them, which is one of the reasons why I’m still travelling a lot.”
While artificial intelligence (AI) is considered important for daily training, it is not great at selecting careers for Carlsen if he had not become a chess player, suggesting a skier, a football player, an Earth scientist or a poker player.
“Perhaps it lists something that’s specific for Norway, or some other interests that I’ve shown, but most people have normal jobs,” he said. “I think I would have had a normal job, too.
“A lot of my family are engineers, so probably I would have gone into that area, and you would never have heard of me, but I’m very lucky to do my hobby as my job.”