Magnus not retiring anytime soon; Indians pose growing challenge: Henrik Carlsen

Henrik Carlsen does not believe his son Magnus the world No 1 will retire anytime soon though he is a bit concerned about how long the fivetime world champion will be able to keep checkmating a rising group of mature young Indian playersAt 34 Magnus is not getting any younger with young players especially from India excelling on the international stage The prime example is D Gukesh who became the youngest world champion at just 18 last yearWith R Praggnanandhaa Arjun Erigaisi and others rising from India the world No 1 is feeling the heat and his father conceded it was time to be realisticYou have to be realistic You now have a generation of Indian players which let me say that one thing is the strength of the Indian players Thats a bit boring for the rest of us but the real worry is that they are so matureTheir mental state is more mature than their playing level Thats really worrying because they are young so they should still be lacking that maturity but they seem to have that They seem to be psychologically prepared for becoming the top guysAs the father of a competitor that worries me because that used to be an advantage that Magnus had against this upandcoming player Magnus maybe still has a little bit of that intimidation factor but its not enough to keep that supremacy for a very long time added Henrik a former chess player who reached a peak rating of around 2100 in 2007Henrik said with Gukesh competing in this edition of Norway Chess Magnus was thinking more about facing the world champion but in terms of preparation he was following his regular regimenI think he Magnus thought more about it because Gukesh is here But in terms of preparations well I shouldnt be revealing too much but Magnus way of preparing for tournaments are quite different from what you guys might expect You have he has a regimen in a certain wayFor Magnus its more about hes thinking about upcoming tournaments Hes trying to adjust his tournament schedule so that it kind of fits into a pattern He talks to his trainer a little bit he has some ideas He knows all the toplevel games going on in the world Always more or less because hes following chess hes a fanSo its more about structuring that information in a way that he feels is adequate and relevant for this tournament Generally I think his thoughts are reflecting his way of looking at preparation for the tournament irrespective of who is playing I think Magnus is still with all respect to Gukesh the world champion Magnus is still looking a lot at world ranking And also the recent resultsHenrik often present at Magnus events said his son playing Round 1 of Norway Chess was specialIm just trying to give my perception of what his thoughts are And of course playing him Gukesh in Round 1 was quite special said Henrik of the thrilling match which Magnus won to earn three pointsNo plans for Magnus to retire anytime soonHenrik categorically said Magnus is not retiring anytime soon despite some concerns that he might move away from Classical chess Hes not planning to retire yet I shouldnt be making promises on his behalf But I think coming here this year was not a question said HenrikHe loves chess playing the history of chess and the environment He has his legacy in chess He makes his money from chess even though its still kind of a hobby which turned out to be lucrative and something he could live from So chess is basically everythingTo him its an identity He likes golf he stays a lot on the course He follows football and NBA very closely But chess is his life I think hes quite grateful also to chess as a sport Thats his passion and hobbyMagnus not arrogant hes confidentHenrik doesnt believe his son is arrogant On the contrary he says Magnus is confident and that trait has come because he has deliveredHes the same cocky young man Thats what I wanted him to be He looks arrogant but hes the sweetest person when you talk to him Thats why I can say a cocky young man well I used to joke that in our family arrogant is not a negative wordIf you have earned it its okay Hes not trying to put on a show He has a certain level of confidence that can come across as arrogance Hes fairly confident because he has deliveredhes earned itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever