He's the young prodigy that has the chess world bowing at his feet. But Magnus Carlsen is not just the best player on the planet - he's also been voted one of the sexiest men alive.
And as if that's not enough, the 22-year-old Norwegian is spending this week ensconced in an Indian hotel, locked in a fierce contest with fellow chess player Viswanathan Anand to take out the World Championship.
he image of world class chess players is middle-aged gents who have been at it for many years. But he's just come like a rocket out of the blue and suddenly he's better than everyone else
But Carlsen has moves away from the board too. Alongside actress Liv Tyler he's the face of an international fashion label. This month, he was voted one of Cosmopolitan's Sexiest Men of 2013.
Making chess fashionable: Magnus Carlsen with actress Liv Tyler. Photo: Getty Images
And he reportedly earns $1 million a year from playing chess.
Dubbed the 'Mozart of chess', Carlsen sprung into the history books early when he became the youngest grandmaster ever at the age of 13. By age 19, he was rated the world's No. 1 player.
'I'm just really, really good at what I do,' Carlsen told the Guardian. 'I'm fortunate to do something I love, but I'm not a genius.'
Clash of the heavyweights: Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in action. Photo: AP
His followers beg to differ.
Part of Carlsen's allure is his dynamic technique - almost a reactive player, he uses tactical and risky choices rather than fast winning moves. He prolongs the tension and complicates the position of his pieces so that any one move could unravel his opponent.
Many are hoping Carlsen will take the coveted title and are already treating him like royalty. It's r eported the World Chess Federation flew in two Norwegian chefs to cater Carlsen's meals while he is competing in the 12 games.
Chess heavyweights: Magnus Carlsen, right, and Indian world champion Viswanathan Anand. Photo: AFP
According to fans, this is the most high profile match in 40 years.
The atmosphere in the tournament room is electric. Crowds of locals, competitors and international media have filed into the Hyatt Regency in Chennai for the games, all eager to catch a glimpse of the pair.
On one side of the table sits 43-year-old Anand, the poster boy for the 'old school 'chess era, hair neatly trimmed and glasses resting on his nose - a home-town favourite and five-time winner. Across from him sits Carlsen, 20 years Anand's junior and a fresh face for the masses, his tussled blond hair tumbling over his forehead. Both men are hunched over the board, their eyes on their pieces, caught in a battle of the generations. Daring moves are rewarded with gasps and rousing applause.
Magnus Carlsen: a model for G-Star Raw.
Online, interest has exploded - spectators have crashed websites plotting the chess games live, so eager are they to follow every move of the two men.
Players at all levels are intently studying game reports, filled with technical jargon, in an effort to pick up tips, like Carlsen's double fiancetto in Game 1, an offbeat position where one player shifts their bishops to diagonal corners in an effort to wield influence over the board.
The opening of Game 2 saw world champion Anand open with his King's pawn moving E1-E4 - a move often made by amateurs, experts say, but one that had spectators pitched on the edge of their seats.
The first four games ended in draws. There are eight more to play.
The world hasn't been so caught up in a chess game since 1972, when American Bobby Fischer took on Russian Boris Spassky in a chess game that typified Cold War tensions between the West and the Soviet Union.
'Carlsen's given the match a new look,' Australian Chess Federation president Gary Wastell said.
'The image of world class chess players is middle-aged gents who have been at it for many years. But he's just come like a rocket out of the blue and suddenly he's better than everyone else. He's the biggest thing since Bobby Fischer.'
According to Watsell, Fischer's defeat of Spassky was the match of the century.
While the World Championships doesn't have the political under tones this time around, Anand versus Carlsen could be the turning point that shifts chess into the hands of a new generation.
'He's changing the way people are playing chess,' says Australia's No. 2 player, Max Illingworth, 21.
'Carlsen doesn't try to just knock out the player. He keeps his players guessing ... plays in a non-forcing way with more strategic ideas.'
It's game play backed by international chess masters like Colin Crunch, whose book Magnus Force, released earlier this month, is dedicated to analysing all of Carlsen's matches to date.
'Carlsen seems to know almost no opening theory, and just seems to play chess on the hoof,' Crunch writes. 'Carlsen, as his play matures, will become even more frightening to his opponent.'
Illingworth says Carlsen is helping to make chess 'a young person's game', but struggles to describe how the Norwegian has inspired a passion which saw him drop an economics degree to concentrate on making chess a career.
'It looks beautiful,' says Illingworth, who trains on the board over eight hours a day prior to a tournament.
'It makes me extremely happy. The act of just doing something with chess is just really pleasurable.'
While Illingworth has only competed in Australian tournaments, he hopes to one day reach the status that Carlsen now enjoys.
World chess tournaments attract prizes worth tens of thousands of dollars, along with appearance fees and generous advertising endorsements.
If Carlsen does win in Chennai, it will be one of the first times a world champion is also the world's highest ranked player.
And with his face adorning life-sized posters for fashion label G-Star, he's also leading the way in breaking down age-old stereotypes.
Chess might very well soon be the new black.
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