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These are the kinds of posts that I come to the subreddit for. I love reading about the weird, niche irrational fears/hatreds of OPs that nobody else has. It’s so interesting reading people explain why they have them.
Big Condiment is a conspiracy to systematically ruin food across the country in order to make sales through condiments. They are coming for your kids, and they have mayo.
Haha I don't believe condiments are a government coverup but I do think it's a long-established farce that doesn't make any sense and disrespects otherwise good food. I do not use a single condiment myself.
If you feel the need to take a moral stance against condiments, you *might* have too much time on your hands (and the most adorable set of first-world problems *ever*). 😆
It's a joke lol. I just grew up hating condiments for sensory reasons and so it's completely foreign to me to like them. I have plenty of *real* problems, I just thought it was funny and played upon the current conspiratory aspect of American politics.
Oh, I wasn’t saying it’s not funny…
It reminds me of a movie from the 90’s, *Kalifornia*.
Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt play a couple of white-trash morons who end up traveling across country with some snooty NY artsy-fartsy types.
At one point, Juliette explains that Brad doesn’t eat breakfast because he knows that “Breakfast is just a scam perpetrated by the cereal companies.”
(not a direct quote)
🤣 i've never heard of it. Thank you. I thought you were seriously implying I was immensely privileged because I made a joke about condiments lol 🙄
*"Carefully, she's a Rothschild"*
He looks like an average Norwegian to me, a little bit of Donkey Kong in there as well.
Have you ever had a picture taken of you where you're fully and seriously concentrating? You wouldn't look very nice either.
No, of course not. But even in interviews he just acts cold, distant (yes very norwegian but c'mon) but also very uncaring. Something very empty about his eyes. Some people do look stupid while concentrating but he doesn't really in my opinion? I just find it weird that he walks around with his mouth open even when not playing. As my southern family would say, you're gonna catch flies!
No sorry, this is a bad take. He could be seen as rude, arrogant, unkind and cold, but he's also socially clumsy - he's genuine. He's not putting on an act, he is himself and when he smiles he smiles with his eyes as well. In the nordics, especially in colder areas like Norway, northern Sweden and Finland it's a virtue to be genuine.
From a nordic perspective an always smiling intense open person signifies overcompensation. Real serial killers are charming, Carlsen is definitely not by choice.
He's not a celebrity who's trained to be perfect socially. He has a no-fucks-given attitude and is slightly socially awkward but that's really all there is to it. Also he's Norwegian.
Regarding the tantrums - EVERY SINGLE sport or game at the highest level competitively will have players 'throwing tantrums' - they get there by actually caring about the game and caring about winning, so losing is tough for them. Some take it well, some don't.
Probably has an issue with his nose. Some people just don't get the oxygen they need from nose breathing, the association that mouth breathers are stupid is quite unfair in my opinion.
It’s hard to be the absolute best at something and be well rounded in everything else. The man breathes the game of chess, arguably better in chess then Michael Jordan or lebron are at basketball. Hard to think about social norms or reflect on social encounters when you’re constantly thinking about how 25th move of Sicilian najdorf variation knight move can be improved. He can literally see a the piece positions of any notable game from any point in the game and tell you the game, players, and year it took place. These are inhuman levels of memorization and inuition, even if it’s just a game at the end of the day you can’t reach that level without overly obsessive to an exponential degree.
I don't disagree with you and I tried to represent that in my opinion. But, he is not a chess piece. He is not made out of wood or glass, he does not move diagonally. He is a human being, playing another human being, and having a basic level of respect for that is absolutely necessary. I am not saying you have to come in all smiles and talk to your opponent. No, many of the greats were very standoffish and yes rude. But his actions are genuinely absurd to watch. Standing up and literally making physically aggressive motions for two or three minutes while cursing is ridiculous. He also talks down about his opponents, and not just in high-stress tournaments, but in more everyday online games. When you're the greatest in the world, you lose the right to talk shit about the character of another person. You may think something they did is dumb. But saying, "yeah that sucked. You're very bad" is crazy. I can't imagine any other competitive sport or game you could play where his actions would be silently tolerated. He is a super-genius, but I don't get the impression he doesn't understand people. From time to time he will speak cordially and it's clear he has some 'normal people' interests, too.
I agree - even if he is a douche and can't do anything about it for one or another reason, basic sportsmanship is something one can learn and do as part of elementary courtesy. It's not that hard.
Thank you!! People are speculating about him being autistic like that changes anything—if you can understand and clearly love rules and strategy (which many autistic people do) enough to become the No.1 chess player in the world, you can also become a guy who doesn't storm away from the table punching the air wildly and cursing every single time. Sportsmanship is literally part of the game.
It isn't at all unusual for people to find autistic people unsettling to look at. It's also not unusual for autistic people to socialize incorrectly or have seemingly disproportionate emotional reactions.
I've never seen Carlson and have no idea whether he is autistic, but I couldn't help but notice in your original post that your complaint all sounded like an uncharitable description of an autistic person.
This seems to be the general belief of people on this thread. I don't really understand it because as far as I and the people on this know, he is not diagnosed, and has never mentioned it himself. Also, people can have inappropriate reactions and poor social skills outside of having autism. I don't understand why they jump to that conclusion. Nonetheless, I don't think he has poor social skills, he just seems rude and has said some things I consider cruel, and very holier-than-thou, which is why his ego gets so bruised when he does something imperfect or gets one-upped.
Like I said, I don't know anything about this particular guy, so I'm speaking generally.
The "serial killer" vibe you mentioned was specifically caught my attention. It's really common for autistic people's facial expressions to have kind of an uncanny-valley effect on people. I know I've made people nervous in the past because my face was blank at a time they expected to see emotion.
I completely agree that someone can have poor social skills without autism, including the specific kind you described, but a common way autistic people mess up social skills is being honest when they aren't expected to be. This could very much look like poor sportsmanship if he believed himself to be a better chess player than someone and said so.
I'm not trying to defend the idea that this guy is autistic, I don't know him. You just seemed a bit confused why so many people are mentioning it, and I hoped I could provide some insight. A lot of us autistic people have run into the problems you described here.
This is my problem. I AM autistic. And female. And frankly some very arrogant men will weaponize their autism, especially their 'intelligence' against autistic women. They are assholes and don't deserve to be a part of the community. That goes without saying. And while it may very well be true he didn't know it was mean to say something like that, but the problem is that he is a better chess player. Than everyone. And he knows that. He is ranked #1 in the world. He took the ranking from Kasparov, who held the title for almost twenty years. And I just do not believe for a second that after ten years with the title, he still doesn't know not to say, "You're bad". I'm assuming he has parents who taught him not to do that as a kid? Sure autistic people don't always agree with social norms. But i've never met someone (who wasn't an angsty child) who thought "I know this hurts people's feelings, I don't care". It's one little comment for him, but for other people it would be devastating to hear the greatest player in the world tell you you suck, especially when they themselves would dominate most people in chess. I also have heard him tell people NOT to be mean to (he literally said, "Guys don't be mean to Hikaru") another chess giant, so I know that he understands the concept of meanness. He is Norwegian but speaks great English. I really don't think he has an excuse. But also, it's not like i'm calling for him to be dethroned or something. I just think he's an ass.
I'm not saying he isn't an ass, but you also said some things that are pretty cruel to say about an autistic person if you know better. I still remember being told I looked like a serial killer by someone I thought was a friend over 20 years ago because I was caught without my mask up (she stopped talking to be after that). I'm not very comportable with someone treating failure to mask facial expressions/responses as the same kind of flaw as saying mean things about people.
Autistic women (and victims of abuse, like myself) tend to be higher masking than autistic men on average. I also think it's weird that he could potentially be that old without correcting those habits, but he's an extremely skilled white man. He's exactly the kind of person more likely to have been in a position to not need to learn masking or social cues.
That's really reasonable. I'll be more careful about what i say. I honestly didn't think much of it as it is obviously true that a lot of bad and malicious people have a cold look in their eyes as they don't care at all about people, and I also do not think this is true of any autistic people (in general, I have known one fucking supervillain-in-training irl), to me there's a difference between "the look"—especially when autistics are in supportive environments they are genuinely happy in. I didn't consider how he might have proceeded with his assholery unencumbered by rules the rest of us were subjected to. At the end of the day, I still think he's an ass but not one who needs to be accused of being a creep. If I could do it again, I'd change it to focus on his lack of respect for other players and the game, and leave out anything else. But I'm not gonna change it and leave it up for my own personal reference and historical value 😅. Thank you for your time and reasonableness.
You're joking right?
Athletes shittalk all the time in a lot of major sports. Since I got the impression you're from the states I suggest that you look up NFL trashtalkers. They're some really aggressive and condescending examples out there.
>When you're the greatest in the world, you lose the right to talk shit about the character of another person. You may think something they did is dumb. But saying, "yeah that sucked. You're very bad" is crazy. I can't imagine any other competitive sport or game you could play where his actions would be silently tolerated.
Shit talking is a key component in most professional sports. You'd probably faint if you knew what most NHL or NFL players are saying to each other during any given game.
Someone can't change their demeanor. So his inability to deal with frustration is what probably pushes him to be so obsessed about it. Chess is extremely high stress at the high levels. You see this demeanor in other sports as well. So I wouldn't expect him to ever change.
To go against the overwhelming opinion here, I get the same vibe. I've also met Norwegian people, it's not that, there is that sharky dead eye look that is quite unnerving.
My 2 cents
He has that look that screams "I'm a fake hippie in a satirical 90s movie" but obviously due to the nature of his job he's in a suit. You can't put your finger on it, but you've seen this dude before and he's weird. When he showed up in those pink-lens sunglasses it was like prophetic.
>Honestly, I just think he has undiagnosed autism - I imagine a lot of pro Chess players do, but his mannerisms really highlight it compared to others.
I would be incredibly surprised if there's a single chess player in the top 100 who isn't neurodivergent
Let's be real, it's probably all GMs. I have no idea how someone who isn't neurodivergent can turn basically turn their brains into a computer
That would imply that all software developers are neurodivergent (as well as anyone who has an analytical mind), since their job is to quite literally think in terms of instructions to a computer.
Yes, and? Chess GM's aren't computers either. The reason why a chess app on my phone can consistently beat a GM is because human GM brains aren't even close to computers.
Almost every software developer I've ever met seems to either have an asd diagnosis, or suspect that they have asd. Not saying that there aren't any neurotypical software developers out there, but that field is kind of known for having a lot of neurodivergent people.
Thinking like a computer isn't the same.
That would be like saying any zoologist who studies an animal extensively is actually that animal because they think and act
Someone doesn't become a chess GM just from reading theory, studying games, and playing in tournaments. There has to be something else that pushes them over the threshold
It's possible, but I'm rather tired of hearing people justify anything about a smart person with "possible autism". Sometimes people are bad, even if they also have autism. Which we don't even know for sure.
If your point was "I think he's a bad person because he's killed six people" then sure. But your point is "he gives off a weird vibe, therefore he must be a bad person", when autism is a perfectly reasonable explanation for someone giving off a weird vibe.
Other people have already made the arguments as to him being Norwegian and likely autistic, but there's one thing I'll touch on.
"He has weird, cold eyes. I feel like I'm watching the next serial killer that's gonna be pop culture in 20 years. He's strange and crude"
"He has a really weird smugness about him that translates to the whole of his persona"
This is a highly subjective perspective of his behaviour. After watching a few clips I don't get that impression from him at all. Like it's less of an objective observation and more what some highschool mean girl would say about the new kid in class.
Kinda seems like you just don't like him/his vibe and instead of just being content with that you're trying to justify it by his behavioural quirks. It's okay to just dislike someone lol, it doesn't have to be that deep.
Okay. I didn't claim it was objective. It's what I see and honestly it's so obvious to me that I'm shocked no one else had said it. And I knew a lot of people love him (for obvious reasons), so I thought this would be an tenth dentist moment. Pretty sure I used the sub right. It's not supposed to be a fact, just an opinion. And yeah, I don't like him for the reasons listed above. That's my "why", not a justification. Not like I seen him for the first time and thought "wow this guy is really unlikeable. Do away with him". He does inspire awe when you're younger, or at least when I was.
Oh yeah I'm not arguing your post was bad or anything, it definitely fits the sub. I was just saying that the reason people disagree is probably because they got a different impression of him. A lot can factor into how you interpret someone.
I don’t get this at all. He strikes me as surprisingly normal. Very very dry sense of humor, but not overly smug by any means. I’ve never seen him to be unkind. I wonder if his humor is just lost on some.
Definitely. And remarks like ‘he has dead eyes’ are just.. well, not so very insightful or an actual matter to discuss. What are we supposed to say to that?
What I can say is that some time ago for some reason I fell down a chess rabbithole on YouTube and I watched a lot of him. He actually seems like a very funny, down to earth guy.
The best chess player in the world is going to be a bit socially stunted. Remember that you only see him during interviews and competition as well, you don't know what he is like off camera
I've heard he gets there late because he goes as late as possible to avoid paparrazi and sometimes misses by a few minutes. I do see him being disrespectful to like...everyone, all the time, but I think telling people off who are distracting him at that moment is fine, even if he does get a bit snippy.
In the specific video I saw he got there like 3 minutes into the match, took off his jacket, combed his hair, and then centered all of the pieces on the board before playing. I didn’t know who he was before watching the video but I still think it’s rude to make a habit of being late no matter the reason
Oh my god the centering of the pieces.....people would swear I was dragging him for having sensory needs or something if I said anything and it's not a big deal, but I feel it's really unfairly distracting to the other person. If he needs a stim toy, I would have no problem with that. But constantly touching the board while a person thinks is irritating.
He centered the pieces only at the very start of the game during his turn, wasting his own time on the clock. The only rude part about it was that he was basically saying "I don't need a full clock to beat you"
After reading all the comments here - can I just say - as someone who's followed chess and Magnus.
He's not that weird... People trying to defend him saying he might be autistic or whatever - again, he really isn't that weird or unusual.
What I get from his personality is a lack of shits given, probably a lot of arrogance as well given he's the absolute best in something. But personality-wise he's pretty normal. There are a lot of Chess GMs that don't socialise at all and encompass the stereotypical chess genius, but Magnus isn't one of that. You frequently see him at social events, he's big into loads of other sports so he shows up sometimes in football or NBA. He also parties a lot, which doesn't match up with what most people here are saying.
Sure he might be a little bit of an asshole at times and I'm not excusing his behaviour, but he is no where near as weird as you and the people you're arguing with are saying. I say this as a socially awkward person, famous people like him are very refreshing. He isn't perfect or trying to act perfect at all.
Thank you for sharing a genuinely fresh argument. I am sick to death of the words "Norwegian" and "Autism". I didn't see this side of him at all and I always conceded I didn't know a TON about him. I think people took this as a treatise when it was mostly me just making a reddit post for fun based on something I noticed lol
don't know what you find creepy about him but honestly my openion of Carlsen dipped after the whole Niemann cheating controversy. Same with Hikaru Nakamura.
Niemann's cheated in cash prize tournaments before though - and openly admits to it. No idea why Carlsen gets the flak when plenty of other professional players also called out his cheating and refuse to even play against him.
Carlsen had no proof that he cheated against him when he beat him. It wasn't like Carlsen was playing his best game when he lost. He just suddenly remembered that Niemann used to cheat before in online games after he lost.
Plenty others called him out *after* Carlsen did. It doesn't take a genius to see why that could have happened
Niemann couldn't even explain the motivation behind his own moves in a casual post game interview, you really think he pulled off an upset defeat of the then world champion GM without having at least some ideas memorized - and suddenly forgot them right after play?
>He just suddenly remembered that Niemann used to cheat before in online games after he lost.
Sounds like a reasonable conclusion when you're left wondering how someone with a lower elo than you and past incidences of cheating took the win. Iirc it was Nakamura who leveled the accusation before Carlsen (who just withdrawed and insinuated he was cheating), but Niemann sued them both anyway.
> It doesn't take a genius to see why that could have happened
It doesn't even matter for Niemann to have cheated or not. Carlsen was off his game just from the idea that Niemann could be cheating, hence the reaction.
I think it (usually) takes a certain mentality to be the best of the best at something. Perfectionist, obsessive, determined, hyperfocused... While these help you get to that level, you're also probably going to be tense, smug, stressed, etc.
There's a reason why a lot of sports stars and the like get caught doing bad stuff all the time. Or fail to pivot their career when they get out of their prime. Or just completely hide away from the public eye by the end.
I didn't know who this guy was, but I just looked him up and I gotta say, I agree. He reminds me of that other chessmaster from decades ago who turned out to be batshit crazy. I can't exactly remember his name though.
Have you watched other top level chess players? A lot of them do have tantrums when they lose important games. One of the former world champions right now is on a crusade involving accusing half of his opponents of cheating against him.
Champions like Anand, who are able to be stoic in the face of defeat and rarely show any negative emotions are the rarity, not the rule.
Vishy!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Perhaps you're right about the extent of the problem. It wouldn't change my argument totally, but i've been englightened as to his general agreeableness and accessibility to fellow players. So I have mostly changed my mind about this whole post haha
He’s just some guy who’s a machine at chess. It’s not like that makes him super pristine and perfect in every other aspect. I get mad when I game sometimes and so does he apparently. I’ve never really thought he looked or acted creepy either personally.
I understand. I don't get angry and find the montages of gamers screaming and throwing things so juvenile and archetypal for male violence. It was misdirected.
He's just euro, and probably not just a little neuro-divergent. Like I'm sorry that quite possibly The Greatest Player In History of a game with some of the most complex emergent properties of all time, with a 40,000 year old history, doesn't vibe with you because you think he looks and sounds kinda funny.
Looks and sounds kind of funny? I didn't make fun of his voice or native tongue at all, and like I said he looks normal/handsome, I just thought he was cold. But that does put things into perspective well about historical scale. I already added an edit that I had changed my mind.
I didn't mean funny as in "able to be made fun of" I meant "not animating and saying things in the ways I would expect them to be said". You originally came to the conclusion "therefore he is a creepy aloof serial killer" rather than "he's Norwegian and possibly a bit autistic".
Gw on being open to changing, feels ugh that that in itself is such a rare trait these days lol.
In a non-derogatory way he has the most ancient face ever. He was there during the Bronze Age. He served in the court of Henry the 8th as a squire. He died of the black plague. He was a merchant in Mesopotamia. This mf made cave paintings.
I agree with you OP, and I suspect the other commenters saying “he’s just Norwegian” are joking or playing off stereotypes. I’ve been to Norway and have known many Norwegians - Magnus is not typical. There is an immaturity and rudeness to him. I also agree that there seems to be something lurking beneath his eyes… but I can’t really judge him for his appearance. His conduct, on the other hand…
I think most of the people saying "he's just Norwegian" are mostly Swedes who have a frenemy relationship with Norwegians and are playing off that. Even if Norwegians are 'standoffish' i've never known one to not have a lot of respect for following the rules and having good conduct. So aren't the stereotypes against him anyway? I dunno. But I definitely do not like his conduct
I don’t think it’s true that Magnus doesn’t respect the rules. Recently, he has actually fought for the rules to be tightened. And his actual conduct is good. He waits for opponents if they are late, he speaks very fondly of opponents who play well against him like Pragg (very unusual for a chess world champion).
Your issue is basically that he jokes around in interviews. He does have a very dry sense of humour but so do I so to me it’s just funny.
This isn't something that can really be argued against. You just personally find him creepy, which is fair enough. There are celebrities that rub me the wrong way while my friends and family vehemently disagree. It's probably based on our own prejudices though, maybe you knew someone who looked or acted like him growing up and it's affecting your perception.
imma tell you something someone told me: in order to be great at something, you need to let it affect every aspect of your life. im talking the walk you walk, your personality, everything. you have to literally breathe what you want to be great at. so if you find his eyes as cold and creepy, they could easily just be calculating and sharp
imma tell you something someone told me: in order to be great at something, you need to let it affect every aspect of your life. im talking the walk you walk, your personality, everything. you have to literally breathe what you want to be great at. so if you find his eyes as cold and creepy, they could easily just be calculating and sharp
Why do you think he is unkind? I don’t really follow chess so I don’t know much about him, but I haven’t really heard any stories about him being mean?
Several matches where he does this. It's not going his way, they drew, he lost, etc etc and he'll barely touch the opponents hand before he's running off flailing, cursing, and punching the air like he's at war with it. But I've changed my mind a good deal and realized he doesn't do this all the time or even a lot.
I’d imagine being the best at something in the entire world would be pretty daunting and frustrating when you don’t perform as well as you know you can and everyone is watching. Glad you’re changing your mind! The dude has been under a microscope since he was like 7 years old I would absolutely hate that and do weird shit just to give people something to talk about if they’re going to anyways.
Bobby Fisher got a lot of the same sort of criticism. Being really good at chess requires a mind that other people aren't necessarily comfortable with, it seems.
I played him once by accident while spectating a tournament for his chess club. I was playing against someone bad like me, and he sat down as soon as the other guy got up. I got up to leave, and he asked me to sit down again in a very kindly way, and said that we're just playing for fun, so don't worry about it. I only lasted like 13 moves (I'm like 1200 elo) but he still complimented my opening
Haha, I had to te-read your comment before understanding that you didn't mean to suggest that he doesn't actually exist!
Yeah, he has a chess club that used to do weekly tournaments. He showed up to both I went to, but have no idea if he always was there, or if they still do them. The club is called Offerspill, meaning "Sacrificial Play".
I get it. But as a Norwegian, I can tell you that he comes across slightly more stilted and strange when he does English interviews than when he speaks Norwegian.
Not that he turns into another person when speaking English or anything, and his English isn't bad, but he's clearly a lot more comfortable when speaking with fellow Norwegians. In those scenarios he usually comes across as a very normal and chill dude, to be honest.
Yeah, maybe he's a little neurodivergent like others here have said, but not very IMO. He's pretty normal, considering what he does for a living.
Thank you for sharing. No one else has offered his personality in his native tongue before. He speaks english quite well but with an obvious preference to chess related language where it isn't strictly necessary which might not help his case
Yeah, it's often hard to judge people's personalities when they're speaking a second language, I find. I consider myself close to fluent in English, but it's not at a native level - I still have to think a bit more about how I phrase things when I speak English, so the conversation doesn't flow as naturally. The same probably goes for Magnus (and not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm slightly more fluent in English than he is), and in addition, his English interviews are usually about chess, as you say. In Norway he's become a mainstream celebrity, so he's been on podcasts and in interviews speaking about all kinds of things besides chess, and in his native language to boot - and there he comes across as a very normal, funny, intelligent person. (Like I said I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he's slightly neurodivergent, but he comes across normal enough that I also wouldn't be surprised if he's not - and if he is he's clearly (to me) on the "very high-functioning" side of the spectrum.)
Just my two Norwegian øre
Being a GOAT level player in any game or discipline comes with arrogance. If you don't believe that you are better than anyone and is God's gift to the game, you likely will never reach that level.
Many people who never competed in any competitive game or sport and also performed at a competent/high level won't understand the mental aspect of competing and beat more opponents than losing. It does require at minimum supreme confidence and self belief no matter how long the odds are or how absurd the thought is. Without that likely irrational belief of being better than everyone you can't make it come true.
I'd argue most people that are as intelligent as Magnus are always weird or quirky. I've yet to meet someone that's truly gifted mentally that doesn't have some sort of handicap elsewhere.
I think he looks very friendly and nice, I have no idea how you got this impression. Yeah he has a bit of an ego but he’s literally the best of course he has an ego.
Bro that is just literally just a normal norweigan dude, ig his deadpan nature doesnt fit wherever your froms' sensibilities, doesnt mean hes a bad dude. Personally I find hikaru a lot more 'creepy' if you know who he is.
Ever see his cringey modeling photos? If you haven’t, don’t look it up unless you want to feel even more strongly about his creepiness than you already do.
No I did say some fucked up shit lol. Assuming some random man is a serial killer is weird as hell and shows some weird biases. It's still a funny post though
Yeah, there was some weird reaction to this. But I 100% agree that accusing a random man of having 'serial killer energy' just because he is smart and calculating and cold....you know, like a chess player....is fucked up and probably not from an innocent observation but some inner cruelty towards those who don't act like the people in my home. This is still the funniest post I will ever make though
*I think pretty much*
*The same thing except about*
*Hikaru, not Magnus*
\- Puzzleheaded\_Till245
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He's a friend of a friend. Offered him an unfathomable, life changing amount of money to keep him afloat (which my friend declined).
Don't know much more about him but seems just like a regular person I gueas
I know he's No.2 but for some reason he feels really irrelevant. I know more about No. 80s-90s than I do him. Can't really explain it, he just is very uninteresting. It's like being back in middle school and the long-winded "genius" is over-explaining the water cycle in science and boring everyone to death. Don't get me wrong, his story is impressive and his impact is huge. Just not for me at all. I don't know anything about the allegations.
I think the reason Fabi seems less like a star is because he’s relatively quiet outside of the chess board and hasn’t been a very serious contender for the world championship since 2018, which was 6 years ago. Arguably the last candidates was his best chance yet he squandered it. His playing style isn’t particularly unique and is like a lesser Magnus; he’s basically the next eternal second. His 2015 Sinquefield Cup was impressive though, I’ll give him that.
As for the allegations, they’re pretty wild and have existed since a few months back. Basically, Fabi apparently confessed to somebody that he’d been dating a 17 year old girl, and whoever it was leaked it on r/chess or wherever. Such allegations have been shut down quickly, in both the C^2 discord (Fabi’s podcast server) and the main chess reddit.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/chess using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/chess/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Ding Liren is the next World Chess Champion.](https://i.redd.it/b5zkcqi7u0xa1.jpg) | [855 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/133prci/ding_liren_is_the_next_world_chess_champion/)
\#2: [Magnus Carlsen cheating.](https://v.redd.it/fi8s0h9m26ya1) | [248 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/139g7vv/magnus_carlsen_cheating/)
\#3: [have you ever forked a knight with a knight?](https://i.redd.it/ccdleqqnx9fb1.png) | [286 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/15ebu8p/have_you_ever_forked_a_knight_with_a_knight/)
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Thanks for sharing. That's awful, isn't he like 35?
And you're right. I don't see him doing anything special, he's basically like a semi-intelligent AI without the situational middle game brilliance and early consistency of Carlsen. Even the way he talks about chess is uninspiring.
I mean, I wouldn't understate his importance. He occupies the same niche as the greats you maybe (hopefully) recognize: Bobby Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Topalov, Vishy, Kramnik: which is being ranked #1 in the world. Now me personally I think there is value in being the ranked number one player in the world of a game that has pre-historical roots. People have played for literal thousands of years. And this guy knows more about the game than any of them ever have. And one day another teen will come up and know even more than him. It's brutal, yet gorgeous cycle. It's not just a "board game", either.
But yeah, I think Cosby was hard to tell because he had a nice smile and seemed sweet, there's nothing inherently creepy about his face when he was younger. He was a nice looking man and very intelligent + well spoken. But Kevin Spacey definitely looks like a creep by way of mannerisms
Fischer was a Jewish antisemite who became a conspiracy theorist, 7th day adventist, and was described by his own mother and by Anthony Saidy as selfish and unempathetic (among other things). It's a bit different.
Also as a woman I find it impossible to idolize any chess players who believed women should not be allowed to play chess and were inherently stupid. At least Carlsen is normal and plays women without a problem
Oh definitely. And I think most grandmasters have no problem with it, but there are definitely a few who do. Its just that the higher up you go in the ranks, the more of an asshole you are about people 'deserving' to play you, and you could definitely use this to shoehorn your way into not playing women just because conveniently, there aren't any women in the finals of major chess championships! And there are only 42 female grandmasters—total—and the idea of a woman being a grandmaster is so new on the scale of things that every single one of them is still alive.
BAHAHA no. Empathy is a normal attribute every human being should have, and being empathetic IS a trait some people have more than others—we shouldn't discount that—but it's not a title and definitely not one I would apply to myself. It's just my opinion that he is a creep, and these are not new-age-senses, these are remnants of ancient survival instincts that sometimes misfire but are sometimes correct, too. Nice try!
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He looks very Norwegian
I'm also Swedish like the commenter above (can tell by the username) and this is the correct answer.
That’s right. OP Could have just said “he looks very Norwegian” and we all would have immediately understood what they were trying to convey.
Square Head
Someone hæs been sæying that... I løøk like a minecræft dirt block... that I... løøk like å minecræft dirtblock...
These are the kinds of posts that I come to the subreddit for. I love reading about the weird, niche irrational fears/hatreds of OPs that nobody else has. It’s so interesting reading people explain why they have them.
You should hear me speak about Big Condiment. I like these kinds of posts too. I hate basic moral/political arguments or pineapple on pizza arguments.
Okay. What your issue with big condiment?
too big
too condiment
Plot twist, too small!
Big Condiment is a conspiracy to systematically ruin food across the country in order to make sales through condiments. They are coming for your kids, and they have mayo. Haha I don't believe condiments are a government coverup but I do think it's a long-established farce that doesn't make any sense and disrespects otherwise good food. I do not use a single condiment myself.
If you feel the need to take a moral stance against condiments, you *might* have too much time on your hands (and the most adorable set of first-world problems *ever*). 😆
It's a joke lol. I just grew up hating condiments for sensory reasons and so it's completely foreign to me to like them. I have plenty of *real* problems, I just thought it was funny and played upon the current conspiratory aspect of American politics.
Oh, I wasn’t saying it’s not funny… It reminds me of a movie from the 90’s, *Kalifornia*. Juliette Lewis and Brad Pitt play a couple of white-trash morons who end up traveling across country with some snooty NY artsy-fartsy types. At one point, Juliette explains that Brad doesn’t eat breakfast because he knows that “Breakfast is just a scam perpetrated by the cereal companies.” (not a direct quote)
🤣 i've never heard of it. Thank you. I thought you were seriously implying I was immensely privileged because I made a joke about condiments lol 🙄 *"Carefully, she's a Rothschild"*
He looks like an average Norwegian to me, a little bit of Donkey Kong in there as well. Have you ever had a picture taken of you where you're fully and seriously concentrating? You wouldn't look very nice either.
This is why OP posted his opinion on this subreddit. Y’all gotta stop downvoting weird opinions. It’s the whole point.
Yes and I express my opinion why she is wrong, I haven't downvoted anything.
Just think of this as a PSA for everyone else. Every comment they made is downvoted to oblivion.
Because they're unknowingly being rude about a different culture that they just don't understand.
No, of course not. But even in interviews he just acts cold, distant (yes very norwegian but c'mon) but also very uncaring. Something very empty about his eyes. Some people do look stupid while concentrating but he doesn't really in my opinion? I just find it weird that he walks around with his mouth open even when not playing. As my southern family would say, you're gonna catch flies!
No sorry, this is a bad take. He could be seen as rude, arrogant, unkind and cold, but he's also socially clumsy - he's genuine. He's not putting on an act, he is himself and when he smiles he smiles with his eyes as well. In the nordics, especially in colder areas like Norway, northern Sweden and Finland it's a virtue to be genuine. From a nordic perspective an always smiling intense open person signifies overcompensation. Real serial killers are charming, Carlsen is definitely not by choice.
He's not a celebrity who's trained to be perfect socially. He has a no-fucks-given attitude and is slightly socially awkward but that's really all there is to it. Also he's Norwegian. Regarding the tantrums - EVERY SINGLE sport or game at the highest level competitively will have players 'throwing tantrums' - they get there by actually caring about the game and caring about winning, so losing is tough for them. Some take it well, some don't.
Probably has an issue with his nose. Some people just don't get the oxygen they need from nose breathing, the association that mouth breathers are stupid is quite unfair in my opinion.
I feel called out lmao.
I mean he's one of the greatest chess players of all time, he's gonna be somewhat neurodivergent
He seems like an alright guy to me
It’s hard to be the absolute best at something and be well rounded in everything else. The man breathes the game of chess, arguably better in chess then Michael Jordan or lebron are at basketball. Hard to think about social norms or reflect on social encounters when you’re constantly thinking about how 25th move of Sicilian najdorf variation knight move can be improved. He can literally see a the piece positions of any notable game from any point in the game and tell you the game, players, and year it took place. These are inhuman levels of memorization and inuition, even if it’s just a game at the end of the day you can’t reach that level without overly obsessive to an exponential degree.
I don't disagree with you and I tried to represent that in my opinion. But, he is not a chess piece. He is not made out of wood or glass, he does not move diagonally. He is a human being, playing another human being, and having a basic level of respect for that is absolutely necessary. I am not saying you have to come in all smiles and talk to your opponent. No, many of the greats were very standoffish and yes rude. But his actions are genuinely absurd to watch. Standing up and literally making physically aggressive motions for two or three minutes while cursing is ridiculous. He also talks down about his opponents, and not just in high-stress tournaments, but in more everyday online games. When you're the greatest in the world, you lose the right to talk shit about the character of another person. You may think something they did is dumb. But saying, "yeah that sucked. You're very bad" is crazy. I can't imagine any other competitive sport or game you could play where his actions would be silently tolerated. He is a super-genius, but I don't get the impression he doesn't understand people. From time to time he will speak cordially and it's clear he has some 'normal people' interests, too.
I agree - even if he is a douche and can't do anything about it for one or another reason, basic sportsmanship is something one can learn and do as part of elementary courtesy. It's not that hard.
Thank you!! People are speculating about him being autistic like that changes anything—if you can understand and clearly love rules and strategy (which many autistic people do) enough to become the No.1 chess player in the world, you can also become a guy who doesn't storm away from the table punching the air wildly and cursing every single time. Sportsmanship is literally part of the game.
It isn't at all unusual for people to find autistic people unsettling to look at. It's also not unusual for autistic people to socialize incorrectly or have seemingly disproportionate emotional reactions. I've never seen Carlson and have no idea whether he is autistic, but I couldn't help but notice in your original post that your complaint all sounded like an uncharitable description of an autistic person.
This seems to be the general belief of people on this thread. I don't really understand it because as far as I and the people on this know, he is not diagnosed, and has never mentioned it himself. Also, people can have inappropriate reactions and poor social skills outside of having autism. I don't understand why they jump to that conclusion. Nonetheless, I don't think he has poor social skills, he just seems rude and has said some things I consider cruel, and very holier-than-thou, which is why his ego gets so bruised when he does something imperfect or gets one-upped.
Like I said, I don't know anything about this particular guy, so I'm speaking generally. The "serial killer" vibe you mentioned was specifically caught my attention. It's really common for autistic people's facial expressions to have kind of an uncanny-valley effect on people. I know I've made people nervous in the past because my face was blank at a time they expected to see emotion. I completely agree that someone can have poor social skills without autism, including the specific kind you described, but a common way autistic people mess up social skills is being honest when they aren't expected to be. This could very much look like poor sportsmanship if he believed himself to be a better chess player than someone and said so. I'm not trying to defend the idea that this guy is autistic, I don't know him. You just seemed a bit confused why so many people are mentioning it, and I hoped I could provide some insight. A lot of us autistic people have run into the problems you described here.
This is my problem. I AM autistic. And female. And frankly some very arrogant men will weaponize their autism, especially their 'intelligence' against autistic women. They are assholes and don't deserve to be a part of the community. That goes without saying. And while it may very well be true he didn't know it was mean to say something like that, but the problem is that he is a better chess player. Than everyone. And he knows that. He is ranked #1 in the world. He took the ranking from Kasparov, who held the title for almost twenty years. And I just do not believe for a second that after ten years with the title, he still doesn't know not to say, "You're bad". I'm assuming he has parents who taught him not to do that as a kid? Sure autistic people don't always agree with social norms. But i've never met someone (who wasn't an angsty child) who thought "I know this hurts people's feelings, I don't care". It's one little comment for him, but for other people it would be devastating to hear the greatest player in the world tell you you suck, especially when they themselves would dominate most people in chess. I also have heard him tell people NOT to be mean to (he literally said, "Guys don't be mean to Hikaru") another chess giant, so I know that he understands the concept of meanness. He is Norwegian but speaks great English. I really don't think he has an excuse. But also, it's not like i'm calling for him to be dethroned or something. I just think he's an ass.
I'm not saying he isn't an ass, but you also said some things that are pretty cruel to say about an autistic person if you know better. I still remember being told I looked like a serial killer by someone I thought was a friend over 20 years ago because I was caught without my mask up (she stopped talking to be after that). I'm not very comportable with someone treating failure to mask facial expressions/responses as the same kind of flaw as saying mean things about people. Autistic women (and victims of abuse, like myself) tend to be higher masking than autistic men on average. I also think it's weird that he could potentially be that old without correcting those habits, but he's an extremely skilled white man. He's exactly the kind of person more likely to have been in a position to not need to learn masking or social cues.
That's really reasonable. I'll be more careful about what i say. I honestly didn't think much of it as it is obviously true that a lot of bad and malicious people have a cold look in their eyes as they don't care at all about people, and I also do not think this is true of any autistic people (in general, I have known one fucking supervillain-in-training irl), to me there's a difference between "the look"—especially when autistics are in supportive environments they are genuinely happy in. I didn't consider how he might have proceeded with his assholery unencumbered by rules the rest of us were subjected to. At the end of the day, I still think he's an ass but not one who needs to be accused of being a creep. If I could do it again, I'd change it to focus on his lack of respect for other players and the game, and leave out anything else. But I'm not gonna change it and leave it up for my own personal reference and historical value 😅. Thank you for your time and reasonableness.
You're joking right? Athletes shittalk all the time in a lot of major sports. Since I got the impression you're from the states I suggest that you look up NFL trashtalkers. They're some really aggressive and condescending examples out there.
>When you're the greatest in the world, you lose the right to talk shit about the character of another person. You may think something they did is dumb. But saying, "yeah that sucked. You're very bad" is crazy. I can't imagine any other competitive sport or game you could play where his actions would be silently tolerated. Shit talking is a key component in most professional sports. You'd probably faint if you knew what most NHL or NFL players are saying to each other during any given game.
Someone can't change their demeanor. So his inability to deal with frustration is what probably pushes him to be so obsessed about it. Chess is extremely high stress at the high levels. You see this demeanor in other sports as well. So I wouldn't expect him to ever change.
You really think someone who can't handle stress climbed the ranks of the entire world to become #1 in chess out of 8 billion people, with a 2882 ELO?
I mean, literally lashes put because if it, so yes.
Yeah bud you have to care a lot to do that
He reads as ASD to me.
Happy independence day, Norwegians.
Would you believe me if I said that I genuinely did not do that on purpose? Because I wouldn't, and I'm me and know that's the truth.
To be honest, I genuinely do not care either way lol. I just thought it was a funny comment to make
It's a hilarious coincidence
No, he's just Norwegian.
Even more reasons to fear him.
To go against the overwhelming opinion here, I get the same vibe. I've also met Norwegian people, it's not that, there is that sharky dead eye look that is quite unnerving. My 2 cents
I'm grateful for you saying this. They act as if Norwegians have to put in a court order to have an emotion.
Nah I get that other cultures express things in different ways, but it's not just that
I will forever associate that man with anal beads.
We had a good run. Lots of arguing, agreeing, strawmans, unsubstantiated claims....but then someone brought up the fucking ANAL BEADS 😩😩😩😩
Speaking of anal beads, if anyone seemed like a dead eyed, potential next serial killer, it’s Hans fucking Niemann
He has that look that screams "I'm a fake hippie in a satirical 90s movie" but obviously due to the nature of his job he's in a suit. You can't put your finger on it, but you've seen this dude before and he's weird. When he showed up in those pink-lens sunglasses it was like prophetic.
Lmao that is quite the interpretation of him. I can’t say I’ve ever had any of those thoughts but I can see it kinda work when you put it out there
what. the. hell. did I miss????
Honestly, I just think he has undiagnosed autism - I imagine a lot of pro Chess players do, but his mannerisms really highlight it compared to others.
>Honestly, I just think he has undiagnosed autism - I imagine a lot of pro Chess players do, but his mannerisms really highlight it compared to others. I would be incredibly surprised if there's a single chess player in the top 100 who isn't neurodivergent Let's be real, it's probably all GMs. I have no idea how someone who isn't neurodivergent can turn basically turn their brains into a computer
That would imply that all software developers are neurodivergent (as well as anyone who has an analytical mind), since their job is to quite literally think in terms of instructions to a computer.
There's a big difference between knowing how to make a computer do what you want, and being the computer.
Yes, and? Chess GM's aren't computers either. The reason why a chess app on my phone can consistently beat a GM is because human GM brains aren't even close to computers.
Almost every software developer I've ever met seems to either have an asd diagnosis, or suspect that they have asd. Not saying that there aren't any neurotypical software developers out there, but that field is kind of known for having a lot of neurodivergent people.
Thinking like a computer isn't the same. That would be like saying any zoologist who studies an animal extensively is actually that animal because they think and act Someone doesn't become a chess GM just from reading theory, studying games, and playing in tournaments. There has to be something else that pushes them over the threshold
It's possible, but I'm rather tired of hearing people justify anything about a smart person with "possible autism". Sometimes people are bad, even if they also have autism. Which we don't even know for sure.
If your point was "I think he's a bad person because he's killed six people" then sure. But your point is "he gives off a weird vibe, therefore he must be a bad person", when autism is a perfectly reasonable explanation for someone giving off a weird vibe.
Other people have already made the arguments as to him being Norwegian and likely autistic, but there's one thing I'll touch on. "He has weird, cold eyes. I feel like I'm watching the next serial killer that's gonna be pop culture in 20 years. He's strange and crude" "He has a really weird smugness about him that translates to the whole of his persona" This is a highly subjective perspective of his behaviour. After watching a few clips I don't get that impression from him at all. Like it's less of an objective observation and more what some highschool mean girl would say about the new kid in class. Kinda seems like you just don't like him/his vibe and instead of just being content with that you're trying to justify it by his behavioural quirks. It's okay to just dislike someone lol, it doesn't have to be that deep.
Okay. I didn't claim it was objective. It's what I see and honestly it's so obvious to me that I'm shocked no one else had said it. And I knew a lot of people love him (for obvious reasons), so I thought this would be an tenth dentist moment. Pretty sure I used the sub right. It's not supposed to be a fact, just an opinion. And yeah, I don't like him for the reasons listed above. That's my "why", not a justification. Not like I seen him for the first time and thought "wow this guy is really unlikeable. Do away with him". He does inspire awe when you're younger, or at least when I was.
Oh yeah I'm not arguing your post was bad or anything, it definitely fits the sub. I was just saying that the reason people disagree is probably because they got a different impression of him. A lot can factor into how you interpret someone.
I don’t get this at all. He strikes me as surprisingly normal. Very very dry sense of humor, but not overly smug by any means. I’ve never seen him to be unkind. I wonder if his humor is just lost on some.
Definitely. And remarks like ‘he has dead eyes’ are just.. well, not so very insightful or an actual matter to discuss. What are we supposed to say to that? What I can say is that some time ago for some reason I fell down a chess rabbithole on YouTube and I watched a lot of him. He actually seems like a very funny, down to earth guy.
The best chess player in the world is going to be a bit socially stunted. Remember that you only see him during interviews and competition as well, you don't know what he is like off camera
So you’ve not been to Norway
I seen one video of him where he got there late and was acting really disrespectful and his fans were in the comments praising him
I've heard he gets there late because he goes as late as possible to avoid paparrazi and sometimes misses by a few minutes. I do see him being disrespectful to like...everyone, all the time, but I think telling people off who are distracting him at that moment is fine, even if he does get a bit snippy.
In the specific video I saw he got there like 3 minutes into the match, took off his jacket, combed his hair, and then centered all of the pieces on the board before playing. I didn’t know who he was before watching the video but I still think it’s rude to make a habit of being late no matter the reason
Oh my god the centering of the pieces.....people would swear I was dragging him for having sensory needs or something if I said anything and it's not a big deal, but I feel it's really unfairly distracting to the other person. If he needs a stim toy, I would have no problem with that. But constantly touching the board while a person thinks is irritating.
He centered the pieces only at the very start of the game during his turn, wasting his own time on the clock. The only rude part about it was that he was basically saying "I don't need a full clock to beat you"
After reading all the comments here - can I just say - as someone who's followed chess and Magnus. He's not that weird... People trying to defend him saying he might be autistic or whatever - again, he really isn't that weird or unusual. What I get from his personality is a lack of shits given, probably a lot of arrogance as well given he's the absolute best in something. But personality-wise he's pretty normal. There are a lot of Chess GMs that don't socialise at all and encompass the stereotypical chess genius, but Magnus isn't one of that. You frequently see him at social events, he's big into loads of other sports so he shows up sometimes in football or NBA. He also parties a lot, which doesn't match up with what most people here are saying. Sure he might be a little bit of an asshole at times and I'm not excusing his behaviour, but he is no where near as weird as you and the people you're arguing with are saying. I say this as a socially awkward person, famous people like him are very refreshing. He isn't perfect or trying to act perfect at all.
Thank you for sharing a genuinely fresh argument. I am sick to death of the words "Norwegian" and "Autism". I didn't see this side of him at all and I always conceded I didn't know a TON about him. I think people took this as a treatise when it was mostly me just making a reddit post for fun based on something I noticed lol
don't know what you find creepy about him but honestly my openion of Carlsen dipped after the whole Niemann cheating controversy. Same with Hikaru Nakamura.
Niemann's cheated in cash prize tournaments before though - and openly admits to it. No idea why Carlsen gets the flak when plenty of other professional players also called out his cheating and refuse to even play against him.
Carlsen had no proof that he cheated against him when he beat him. It wasn't like Carlsen was playing his best game when he lost. He just suddenly remembered that Niemann used to cheat before in online games after he lost. Plenty others called him out *after* Carlsen did. It doesn't take a genius to see why that could have happened
Niemann couldn't even explain the motivation behind his own moves in a casual post game interview, you really think he pulled off an upset defeat of the then world champion GM without having at least some ideas memorized - and suddenly forgot them right after play? >He just suddenly remembered that Niemann used to cheat before in online games after he lost. Sounds like a reasonable conclusion when you're left wondering how someone with a lower elo than you and past incidences of cheating took the win. Iirc it was Nakamura who leveled the accusation before Carlsen (who just withdrawed and insinuated he was cheating), but Niemann sued them both anyway.
> It doesn't take a genius to see why that could have happened It doesn't even matter for Niemann to have cheated or not. Carlsen was off his game just from the idea that Niemann could be cheating, hence the reaction.
Those Neanderthal genes are strong in him.
I think it (usually) takes a certain mentality to be the best of the best at something. Perfectionist, obsessive, determined, hyperfocused... While these help you get to that level, you're also probably going to be tense, smug, stressed, etc. There's a reason why a lot of sports stars and the like get caught doing bad stuff all the time. Or fail to pivot their career when they get out of their prime. Or just completely hide away from the public eye by the end.
I didn't know who this guy was, but I just looked him up and I gotta say, I agree. He reminds me of that other chessmaster from decades ago who turned out to be batshit crazy. I can't exactly remember his name though.
Bobby Fischer?
Bobby Fischer?
Right that's the one!
[удалено]
Have you watched other top level chess players? A lot of them do have tantrums when they lose important games. One of the former world champions right now is on a crusade involving accusing half of his opponents of cheating against him. Champions like Anand, who are able to be stoic in the face of defeat and rarely show any negative emotions are the rarity, not the rule.
Vishy!!! ❤️❤️❤️ Perhaps you're right about the extent of the problem. It wouldn't change my argument totally, but i've been englightened as to his general agreeableness and accessibility to fellow players. So I have mostly changed my mind about this whole post haha
He’s just some guy who’s a machine at chess. It’s not like that makes him super pristine and perfect in every other aspect. I get mad when I game sometimes and so does he apparently. I’ve never really thought he looked or acted creepy either personally.
I understand. I don't get angry and find the montages of gamers screaming and throwing things so juvenile and archetypal for male violence. It was misdirected.
He's just euro, and probably not just a little neuro-divergent. Like I'm sorry that quite possibly The Greatest Player In History of a game with some of the most complex emergent properties of all time, with a 40,000 year old history, doesn't vibe with you because you think he looks and sounds kinda funny.
Looks and sounds kind of funny? I didn't make fun of his voice or native tongue at all, and like I said he looks normal/handsome, I just thought he was cold. But that does put things into perspective well about historical scale. I already added an edit that I had changed my mind.
I didn't mean funny as in "able to be made fun of" I meant "not animating and saying things in the ways I would expect them to be said". You originally came to the conclusion "therefore he is a creepy aloof serial killer" rather than "he's Norwegian and possibly a bit autistic". Gw on being open to changing, feels ugh that that in itself is such a rare trait these days lol.
I've never heard of Magnusphobia but just because I discovered it I have to upvote
Should I add "first recorded case of magnusphobia" to my bio? Lol
In a non-derogatory way he has the most ancient face ever. He was there during the Bronze Age. He served in the court of Henry the 8th as a squire. He died of the black plague. He was a merchant in Mesopotamia. This mf made cave paintings.
Ea Nasir to Magnus Carlsen pipeline
I agree with you OP, and I suspect the other commenters saying “he’s just Norwegian” are joking or playing off stereotypes. I’ve been to Norway and have known many Norwegians - Magnus is not typical. There is an immaturity and rudeness to him. I also agree that there seems to be something lurking beneath his eyes… but I can’t really judge him for his appearance. His conduct, on the other hand…
I think most of the people saying "he's just Norwegian" are mostly Swedes who have a frenemy relationship with Norwegians and are playing off that. Even if Norwegians are 'standoffish' i've never known one to not have a lot of respect for following the rules and having good conduct. So aren't the stereotypes against him anyway? I dunno. But I definitely do not like his conduct
I don’t think it’s true that Magnus doesn’t respect the rules. Recently, he has actually fought for the rules to be tightened. And his actual conduct is good. He waits for opponents if they are late, he speaks very fondly of opponents who play well against him like Pragg (very unusual for a chess world champion). Your issue is basically that he jokes around in interviews. He does have a very dry sense of humour but so do I so to me it’s just funny.
This isn't something that can really be argued against. You just personally find him creepy, which is fair enough. There are celebrities that rub me the wrong way while my friends and family vehemently disagree. It's probably based on our own prejudices though, maybe you knew someone who looked or acted like him growing up and it's affecting your perception.
it's the autism, hope this helps
thank god someone said this I thought I was the only one who didn't swoon over his sheer prodigal magnificence. I was going crazy.
imma tell you something someone told me: in order to be great at something, you need to let it affect every aspect of your life. im talking the walk you walk, your personality, everything. you have to literally breathe what you want to be great at. so if you find his eyes as cold and creepy, they could easily just be calculating and sharp
I agree. Been a while since I downvoted soemthing. Cheers.
Calm down, Hans.
Halo effect.
Who is Magnus Carlsen?
Dr Drunkenstein's secret alter ego, he wears a human mask to conceal his gnomish ancestry.
imma tell you something someone told me: in order to be great at something, you need to let it affect every aspect of your life. im talking the walk you walk, your personality, everything. you have to literally breathe what you want to be great at. so if you find his eyes as cold and creepy, they could easily just be calculating and sharp
I liked him in titanic.
New comment just dropped
Why do you think he is unkind? I don’t really follow chess so I don’t know much about him, but I haven’t really heard any stories about him being mean?
I’ve never seen him throw a “literal tantrum”. Sure he shows up late a lot but that is his time and he is allowed to do that all he wants.
Several matches where he does this. It's not going his way, they drew, he lost, etc etc and he'll barely touch the opponents hand before he's running off flailing, cursing, and punching the air like he's at war with it. But I've changed my mind a good deal and realized he doesn't do this all the time or even a lot.
I’d imagine being the best at something in the entire world would be pretty daunting and frustrating when you don’t perform as well as you know you can and everyone is watching. Glad you’re changing your mind! The dude has been under a microscope since he was like 7 years old I would absolutely hate that and do weird shit just to give people something to talk about if they’re going to anyways.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you.
I had to google who that was.
Gee thanks for sharing
You're welcome.
Bobby Fisher got a lot of the same sort of criticism. Being really good at chess requires a mind that other people aren't necessarily comfortable with, it seems.
Who?
I played him once by accident while spectating a tournament for his chess club. I was playing against someone bad like me, and he sat down as soon as the other guy got up. I got up to leave, and he asked me to sit down again in a very kindly way, and said that we're just playing for fun, so don't worry about it. I only lasted like 13 moves (I'm like 1200 elo) but he still complimented my opening
You're the first person to actually claim to have met or played him! Cool.
Haha, I had to te-read your comment before understanding that you didn't mean to suggest that he doesn't actually exist! Yeah, he has a chess club that used to do weekly tournaments. He showed up to both I went to, but have no idea if he always was there, or if they still do them. The club is called Offerspill, meaning "Sacrificial Play".
I get it. But as a Norwegian, I can tell you that he comes across slightly more stilted and strange when he does English interviews than when he speaks Norwegian. Not that he turns into another person when speaking English or anything, and his English isn't bad, but he's clearly a lot more comfortable when speaking with fellow Norwegians. In those scenarios he usually comes across as a very normal and chill dude, to be honest. Yeah, maybe he's a little neurodivergent like others here have said, but not very IMO. He's pretty normal, considering what he does for a living.
Thank you for sharing. No one else has offered his personality in his native tongue before. He speaks english quite well but with an obvious preference to chess related language where it isn't strictly necessary which might not help his case
Yeah, it's often hard to judge people's personalities when they're speaking a second language, I find. I consider myself close to fluent in English, but it's not at a native level - I still have to think a bit more about how I phrase things when I speak English, so the conversation doesn't flow as naturally. The same probably goes for Magnus (and not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm slightly more fluent in English than he is), and in addition, his English interviews are usually about chess, as you say. In Norway he's become a mainstream celebrity, so he's been on podcasts and in interviews speaking about all kinds of things besides chess, and in his native language to boot - and there he comes across as a very normal, funny, intelligent person. (Like I said I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he's slightly neurodivergent, but he comes across normal enough that I also wouldn't be surprised if he's not - and if he is he's clearly (to me) on the "very high-functioning" side of the spectrum.) Just my two Norwegian øre
Being a GOAT level player in any game or discipline comes with arrogance. If you don't believe that you are better than anyone and is God's gift to the game, you likely will never reach that level. Many people who never competed in any competitive game or sport and also performed at a competent/high level won't understand the mental aspect of competing and beat more opponents than losing. It does require at minimum supreme confidence and self belief no matter how long the odds are or how absurd the thought is. Without that likely irrational belief of being better than everyone you can't make it come true. I'd argue most people that are as intelligent as Magnus are always weird or quirky. I've yet to meet someone that's truly gifted mentally that doesn't have some sort of handicap elsewhere.
Why are you supposed to line someone just because they're good at chess? Or anything for that matter. This society prioritises respect for too much
He looks like Jesse Plemons plus Matt Smith, and that explains every bit of it to me.
who
Why bother to ask this? You could just google it. He's not exactly niche.
why bother to post this?
Respect for your edit.
I think he looks very friendly and nice, I have no idea how you got this impression. Yeah he has a bit of an ego but he’s literally the best of course he has an ego.
man go get a job instead of making up imaginary scenarios on the internet.
What if my job was national Magnus Carlsen humbler? Haha
Dude if you think that’s bad just look at other people who flip out in chess Magnus is a class act by comparison and earned his spot at least
Bro that is just literally just a normal norweigan dude, ig his deadpan nature doesnt fit wherever your froms' sensibilities, doesnt mean hes a bad dude. Personally I find hikaru a lot more 'creepy' if you know who he is.
Really? You mean his attitude? He seems much warmer and more everyday, but I don't know a lot about him.
Who?
He’s just Scandinavian
average Norwegian
Ever see his cringey modeling photos? If you haven’t, don’t look it up unless you want to feel even more strongly about his creepiness than you already do.
Did my man get cancelled and drop a youtuber apology at the end of his reddit post
No I did say some fucked up shit lol. Assuming some random man is a serial killer is weird as hell and shows some weird biases. It's still a funny post though
True but it's funny how it's worded
You have no idea how beautiful this post is. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
I don’t care about looks, but he’s absolutely had some ahole behavior.
Fuck anyone who feels persecuted by your opinions.
Yeah, there was some weird reaction to this. But I 100% agree that accusing a random man of having 'serial killer energy' just because he is smart and calculating and cold....you know, like a chess player....is fucked up and probably not from an innocent observation but some inner cruelty towards those who don't act like the people in my home. This is still the funniest post I will ever make though
I always attributed his lack of charisma to the fact that I don’t think English is his first language. He has a thick accent.
⁶
I think pretty much the same thing except about Hikaru, not Magnus
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He's a friend of a friend. Offered him an unfathomable, life changing amount of money to keep him afloat (which my friend declined). Don't know much more about him but seems just like a regular person I gueas
Interesting. Thanks for sharing
100% I agree, I feel the same way
As per my edit I changed my mind maybe 80%. That avatar is awesome though!!
I like yours too! Mine used to be almost the same
Chess fan here. I must say that Fabi is probably creepier considering the 29 and 17 year old allegations that he’s facing.
I know he's No.2 but for some reason he feels really irrelevant. I know more about No. 80s-90s than I do him. Can't really explain it, he just is very uninteresting. It's like being back in middle school and the long-winded "genius" is over-explaining the water cycle in science and boring everyone to death. Don't get me wrong, his story is impressive and his impact is huge. Just not for me at all. I don't know anything about the allegations.
I think the reason Fabi seems less like a star is because he’s relatively quiet outside of the chess board and hasn’t been a very serious contender for the world championship since 2018, which was 6 years ago. Arguably the last candidates was his best chance yet he squandered it. His playing style isn’t particularly unique and is like a lesser Magnus; he’s basically the next eternal second. His 2015 Sinquefield Cup was impressive though, I’ll give him that. As for the allegations, they’re pretty wild and have existed since a few months back. Basically, Fabi apparently confessed to somebody that he’d been dating a 17 year old girl, and whoever it was leaked it on r/chess or wherever. Such allegations have been shut down quickly, in both the C^2 discord (Fabi’s podcast server) and the main chess reddit.
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Thanks for sharing. That's awful, isn't he like 35? And you're right. I don't see him doing anything special, he's basically like a semi-intelligent AI without the situational middle game brilliance and early consistency of Carlsen. Even the way he talks about chess is uninspiring.
I swear man I feel the same, he always finds a way, it scares me
I've never even heard of this person until this post. Can't imagine what it's like being cocky because you're good at a board game lol.
I mean, I wouldn't understate his importance. He occupies the same niche as the greats you maybe (hopefully) recognize: Bobby Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Topalov, Vishy, Kramnik: which is being ranked #1 in the world. Now me personally I think there is value in being the ranked number one player in the world of a game that has pre-historical roots. People have played for literal thousands of years. And this guy knows more about the game than any of them ever have. And one day another teen will come up and know even more than him. It's brutal, yet gorgeous cycle. It's not just a "board game", either.
I know what you’re saying. I saw it in Cosby and Spacey. I thought Spacey was a bit more obvious to others.
It took me several seconds to realize you meant like film industry and not that there were creepy but high-level chess players by that name
But yeah, I think Cosby was hard to tell because he had a nice smile and seemed sweet, there's nothing inherently creepy about his face when he was younger. He was a nice looking man and very intelligent + well spoken. But Kevin Spacey definitely looks like a creep by way of mannerisms
go back a few decades and i guaruntee you someone said the same thing about Fischer
Fischer was a Jewish antisemite who became a conspiracy theorist, 7th day adventist, and was described by his own mother and by Anthony Saidy as selfish and unempathetic (among other things). It's a bit different.
Also as a woman I find it impossible to idolize any chess players who believed women should not be allowed to play chess and were inherently stupid. At least Carlsen is normal and plays women without a problem
agreed. that definitely is a plus for carlsen, altho a bit of a low bar
Oh definitely. And I think most grandmasters have no problem with it, but there are definitely a few who do. Its just that the higher up you go in the ranks, the more of an asshole you are about people 'deserving' to play you, and you could definitely use this to shoehorn your way into not playing women just because conveniently, there aren't any women in the finals of major chess championships! And there are only 42 female grandmasters—total—and the idea of a woman being a grandmaster is so new on the scale of things that every single one of them is still alive.
I feel the same way. He comes across a a smug, antisocial, asshole.
[удалено]
BAHAHA no. Empathy is a normal attribute every human being should have, and being empathetic IS a trait some people have more than others—we shouldn't discount that—but it's not a title and definitely not one I would apply to myself. It's just my opinion that he is a creep, and these are not new-age-senses, these are remnants of ancient survival instincts that sometimes misfire but are sometimes correct, too. Nice try!