There are things Magnus Carlsen does on the chess board that can leave even his fans dumbstruck. One such fan is former Barcelona and Spain footballer Gerard Pique, who is an investor in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, and a self-confessed Carlsen fan. As the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour moved its caravan to Las Vegas, Pique was at hand to observe the sport from close quarters.
What he saw made him delighted. But also a little confused.
Asked who was his favourite chess player, Pique admitted that he was a Carlsen fan.
“For me, Magnus — I think that for everyone — is a legend. It was fun (watching him play) because obviously I follow a little bit, but I don’t understand much of the movements. And I saw that he lost the queen at some point during the game and I was surprised because I was saying he’s not in the best position, but I think that he did it on purpose a little bit to to gain some good position. So, it’s fun. It’s fun to really learn a little bit how they think and and how they move the pieces,” Pique said on the official stream on day of the Las Vegas event on Wednesday.
Pique was talking about Carlsen’s second game against Levon Aronian where Carlsen, playing with black pieces, allowed his queen to be captured by Aronian’s rook on move 27 (27. Rxf8+) which started Carlsen’s counter-attack on Aronian’s own king. Eight moves later, Aronian had resigned.
Pique said that he was taught chess as a kid by one of his coaches but in his team, FC Barcelona, they played poker with each other.
When asked what position Carlsen would do well on a football pitch, Pique said: “I assume in the midfield because he will move the team all around!”
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Pique, who is the face of the seven-a-side football tournament called the Kings League, spoke about how events like the Freestyle Chess Tour were disruptors in the sport. He gave the example of Wimbledon as sports events that were still deeply rooted in tradition.
“I love that people think about how to modernize or to improve the game and to make it more adapted to our time. Making it much more quick and dynamic. It’s true that traditional sports are very against that (change). Like tennis — when you go to Wimbledon for example — the crowd is very quiet because the the players need to concentrate and I assume that here (in chess) it’s more or less the same. But I would try to find a way where it’s a show, it’s entertainment. People can shout and athletes have to concentrate even with the shouts of the people. We do in football and they do in basketball. So when I see in tennis that I know it’s respect to the players etc, but it’s part of entertainment there has to be a lot of loud atmosphere and and for for people to have fun. So I know that here you have to be respectful and you have to be quiet, but if we can find a way where people can express what they are feeling and shout, I think that I’m going against the traditional people and but I’m trying to put my point of view from the outside and just if you can think about it would be great.”
