Carlsen a good chess ambassador?

I keep reading that Magnus would make an excellent chess ambassador were he to win the World Championship.

Is this true? He kinda seems like an immature and whinny character to me. Did you watch the opening press conference today for the championship? I'm not sure he held himself like a leading ambassador there.

Or maybe he his youth and "swagger" are just what the chess world needs.

Any thoughts?

(Of course, I know he has already brought a huge attention to the sport, so good on him for that!)

He'd be the first WC who is also a model. Don't tell me that doesn't count, apparently he's pretty good-looking.

Well it's good to see a young face I think. Looking at the average chessclub in the Netherlands you can see a lot more grey hair than milk-tooth. Let alone young grown-ups. When I was a kid, our chessclub was so crowded they didn't take any new members. On the television every week there was a chess-program and the battle for the world-title was aired.

Those days are gone now and it's a shame, because chess teaches so many good things. It's not the insight or strategic views that count, but shaking the hand of your oppenent before and after the game.

Learning that you can't always win, and dealing with those feelings.

But, the next game, you came more prepared and maybe won!

Important skills, not just in chess.

Compared to Fischer and Kasparov he doesn't seem too bad.

I just watched yday's press conference. Body language of Carlsen was amazing. It was that of a king...looks like he was bored of being there. sitting uptight with a smirk . .. this kid is still have much to prove and yet he already behaves like a legend. I am not exactly a die hard Anand fan but I would certainly like to see Carlsen being taught few lessons.

"Carlsen a good chess ambassador?"

If his play continues to produce a legacy of exciting and amazing games he will remain a good chess ambassador, whatever his shortcomings in front of the interview camera may be.

I felt the same after watching the press conference. Especially when he spoken in Norwegian in protest to a question asked in Hindi. As Blundering-Drunkard pointed out, it seemed petulent to me. I know he is young, but... I am 25 and I can't rember behaving like that when I was his age. Maybe when I was 17. haha

BUT, it could also just be a part of his strategy to get underneath Anand's skin. Luckily Anand is a champion and not easily swayed by such behavior :)

So he's young and probably finds all the hype and press stuff quite a pain.

He tolerates it very well.

He's a very good ambassador IMO, hard to think who is a better one. People will find petty criticisms of anyone.

@manfredmann, that's an interesting point about Anand's emotions- it would definitely be exciting to see him get fired up!

@Ruby-Fischer, he probably is the best candidate to be chess's main ambassador. But I think he would still maintain his appeal even if he acted a little more mature. That being said, its more fun to watch a match when you dislike someone, so I hope he keeps the sour attitude! haha

Carlsen is certainly a good ambassador for G-Star Raw. Just kidding.

In truth, the answer depends on the question. Fischer was a good ambassador for chess in that he caused a huge surge in the popularity of chess. I'm sure Carlsen will have the same effect.

What he wrote was that he considered Carlsen immature and whiny but that some others allegedly call him an excellent chess ambassador. I don't know who the best chess ambassador would be, but it's not as if the top players of the last decades have been all that ambassador-like. Topalov called Kramnik a cheater, Mamedyarov called Kurnosov a cheater, Kramnik said that he just lent Anand the crown, Karjakin and Nakamura have called each other various things, and Gelfand always seems quite grumpy and Aronian said that women can't play chess, Kasparov wasn't exactly a nice guy all the time and neither was Karpov, not to speak of Fischer. I have no idea if Carlsen would be better or worse than those mentioned.

Oh, and Radjabov said that he didn't think women should be allowed to play in the same events as men since it was degrading for a man to lose against a woman, and Grischuk said he had a positive view of Stalin. Maybe Svidler is the only guy one can't come up with any questionable quote from, so maybe he would be the best chess ambassador. Now if he only could play just a little better...

He was asked a question in Norwegian so he answered it in Norwegian.

Anastasia asked him to translate the question and the answer, and he declined, saying "I'm not sure it should be translated into English". This makes it sound like it's a big deal, but in reality, it's possible that he would have felt silly translating what was a somewhat silly question.

Interestingly, I notice that even the Norwegian press completely ignored this, focussing instead on the "Anand shows his cards; Carlsen doesn't" matter, which was perhaps more newsworthy than the Norwegian-language question of whether Carlsen prefers being compared to Harry Potter or Petter Northug (answer; Northug, as he has the benefit of being real).

Anand then was asked a question in Tamil, and responded in Tamil. I can't comment on that question, because I don't understand any Tamil or have easy resources to find out.

Regards Carlsen not showing his cards, he's probably just doing what he's been told to do, that's all.

In fairness, I think this seems to be a rather innocuous comment, born of sporting rivalry. It's friendly "fighting talk", that's all. From anything I have seen, both Kramnik and Anand are very pleasant people (quite a rarity at the top of chess, it seems, though certainly not confined only to those two).

It was hardly the worst of comments, even if I do think Kramnik frequently has been rather arrogant in his comments about other players. Lately it has mainly been about Carlsen, and why he is first on the rating list for "non-chess related reasons" as Kramnik puts it, but after the 2007 World Championship he sounded quite bitter when talking about Anand as well. I wouldn't rank him up with Svidler and Anand when it comes to being nice, but he's far from the only top player to be arrogant on occasion either.

@DavidStyles, I watched the segment again... before I assumed it was Hindi, but I guess it was actually Norwegian. Not familiar with either language unfortunately. The exchange doesn't seem near as innapropriate as it came across to me before now that I know it was Norwegian.

 I think this little tidbit from PeterDoggers report today summarizes the press conference well:

GM Jonathan Rowson is among the minority of people who think that Anand will win the match. In his column he reflected on the press conference:

Magnus looked uncomfortable to me. I know it’s his first World Championship match, and only his second time in India, but he seemed slightly distracted, periodically defensive, and generally lacking in self-possession. I felt there were insufficient butterflies in his stomach, as if he saw this as just another press conference, before just another tournament.

In contrast, Vishy looked great. He was relaxed and charming, but also seemed concentrated, like he was fully prepared, and was already enjoying the prospect of the tension ahead. Unlike Carlsen, he seemed to have plenty of butterflies, and they were flying in formation.

http://www.chess.com/news/carlsen-to-start-with-white-in-chennai-5330

Anand certainly went up my estimation for doing this; I can't imagine many chess players of his level doing so:

Link, while I figure out how to insert a video these days:

http://www.chess.com/blog/DavidStyles/how-to-draw-against-a-world-champion

(ok, I give up, but you can see for yourself on my blog page linked-to above; a video, in which Anand agrees on the spot to play a quick game of chess with a complete patzer who has phoned in to his TV interview, exceedingly patiently helps the guy to play, and after winning his Queen, agrees to a draw :p )

I thought 'the kid' was Wei Yi?

I guess that leaves Anand.

Anand and Svidler. But if performances on the chess board is included in the equation it wouldn't harm if they won some more games than they do.