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In a recent edition of The Joe Rogan Experience, Magnus Carlsen, former world chess champion, spoke about one important moment of his life: when he trained with the Indian chess genius Viswanathan Anand. He has often expressed his sentiments regarding Anand, and above all said how that training camp in 2008 with the five-time world champion made him understand the game but more through a reality check than anything else.
Carlsen's Training Camp with Anand: A Turning Point
Carlsen remembered how he was invited for a training camp at Anand's place in Madrid in 2008. At that time, Anand was preparing himself for the World Championship match against Vladimir Kramnik, and Carlsen, still a rising star, had recently acquired his world ranking of third and accidentally became number one for a very short while. Carlsen observed that, as much as he rose quickly, this training camp with Anand was one eye-opener.
"As soon as that training camp started, it’s like something just switched on with him, and he was just so focused," Carlsen said. "We played a bunch of training games, and from being this guy who seemed completely disinterested in this other tournament, all of a sudden, like he was crushing me. He had a massive plus score in our games, and it felt like everything we analyzed, he just had a much deeper understanding of the game, seeing that he was fast tactically and everything. It made me appreciate how good he actually was."
A Reality Check for Carlsen
It was just a wake-up call to reality for Carlsen in all ways but in essence shattered the confidence he had in himself. He was then quite self-assured in the belief that he was one of the very top two or three players on earth, and reality dawned when Anand showed his might with their training games in that session.
"It was just a reality check for me because I thought, at that point, I was ranked third in the world. I was very briefly ranked number one already at that point, for like a week. I thought before that training camp I was maybe one of the best two, three players in the world. It made me realize that I wasn't, and that maybe I was able to have better results than my actual level because of youth energy and optimism. That made me realize that I have a lot to learn and that I should be patient and not expect everything to come that fast."
Overconfidence in oneself had a lot to do with his very swift rise in the chess world, Carlsen admitted. "I had a year of basically constant rise. I won tournament after tournament. Every time I lost a game, I just assumed I'd win the next one without a doubt. Now I see that's not true; I was just deluding myself because I thought I was much better than I actually was."
Carlsen's Respect for Anand's Legacy
A reflection of Magnus on the brilliance of Anand came just recent after he had criticized the Indian legend over the "jeans controversy." Nonetheless, Carlsen glowed about his great respect for Anand's contributions to chess during such a podcast. He cited how such learning with legends like Anand and Garry Kasparov made him feel what they knew and could do at the core level of their experience.
"I have been really lucky about being able to study with Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, who was a world champion before me. It's only then when you study, like you talk to them, that you understand how good they really are and how much they understand."
Lessons from a Chess Legend
Neither does Magnus Carlsen disappoint nor does he stand tall with regard to his candid account on his training camp with Viswanathan Anand. The training totally humbled Carlsen, thus stirring him on to challenge himself to uplift his understanding of the game even more. Thus, like many other legends of chess, Carlsen has been left impressed about Anand warming up to "switch on" and dominate in their training games.
As Carlsen continues to rule chess, these memories about Anand's genius remind the future of great players of what humility, patience, and life-long learning will mean in the path of performing greatness.
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