Lebron James, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady, Magnus Carlsen. All of the athletes I just listed are the best at what they do. Every name there is very recognizable for the sport the athlete takes part in. Lebron James is the best in the world at basketball, Michael Phelps is swimming, and many consider Tom Brady the best at football. The only name that you may not know is Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player in the world. A major difference between Magnus Carlsen and the rest of the athletes I listed is that there is no argument can be made that Magnus is not the best in the world. He has been a celebrity in the chess world since the age of 10 and became the world number one at the age of 19. He is often called “the Mozart of chess” and he is a perfect example of a savant. At the age of 5 he could name every country, the country’s capital city, and its population. He started with chess due to sibling rivalry, seeing his sister play motivated him to beat her, and he soon did. His chess skill continued to increase and began competing at the age of eight in tournaments. Becoming an International Master in 2003 when he was 13, Carlsen was given a year off from elementary school to participate in international chess tournaments. The sacrifice of a year off turned out to be a great investment, he is now world number one in every category of chess, which would be like Michael Phelps getting a gold in every swimming event possible. The life of a chess savant is stressful and surprisingly lucrative, he has his own personal app, which you can pay to upgrade, which I did (only app I’ve ever purchased), he has many endorsements, gets paid to enter tournaments because of the crowd that he brings, and he even does modeling. This Norwegian super star he even dated Liv Tyler, the drop-dead gorgeous daughter of international rock star Stephen Tyler. On live TV he beat bill gates, an avid chess player, in 15 seconds. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of face book has sought out him for chess tips to improve his game. He is an international chess sensation and on an amazing piece done on him by 60 minutes (link below, if you have a free 15 minutes I really recommend it) when asked, “how do you do it” he has no idea what to say, he explains it just comes natural to him. He loves chess and something about it just clicks in his brain, just like Mozart. He has no average brain though, he can play 10 chess games at the same time turned away from the board, That is 320 pieces he has locked in his brain for an extended period of time with no falter. He has old games played by other masters from the past locked in his head that he can draw from while playing, If you show him a piece set up he can tell you who played it, were it was played, who won, and roughly when it was played. The things he does “defy Chess” as Bob Simon put it in his 60 minutes interview. Magnus Carlsen is not only amazing to a chess fan. The things he does, the publicity he brings to the chess would, and his amazing talent continue to amaze the chess community and many believe he still has not tapped his full potential.

60 minutes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc_v9mTfhC8