Former world chess champion Magnus Carlsen revealed that during a chess tournament in Almaty, he had to escape to the mountains for fresh air to perform well.
While staying in the mountains outside the city, Carlsen was late for his match against Belarusian grandmaster Vladislav Kovalev. He started the game with a 2.5-minute delay in a format where each match lasted only three minutes, plus a two-second increment per move. Despite the delay, the Norwegian grandmaster defeated Kovalev and went on to win the tournament.
During a conversation with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Carlsen said, «…the world championships in chess, like, they’re being held in the weirdest places. So this was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which is, like, really — during winter at least — pretty polluted, not a very nice city.»
However, Carlsen noted that the city is near a mountain range similar to the Alps, with peaks reaching 3,500 meters.
“It’s like an hour, and you’re at the top of the mountain having a beautiful ski vacation. And I was just so miserable being down in the city that I thought, ‘If I’m going to perform at all today, I need some fresh air,’” he explained.
The World Chess Championship in Almaty was held on Dec. 25, 2022. Its general sponsor, Freedom Broker, allocated $1 million as the tournament’s prize fund.
Carlsen, the 16th world chess champion (2013–2023), is considered one of the greatest chess players in history. He won the 2023 world championship, five world rapid championships and eight world blitz tournaments.
