“Carlsen's priority is his family at the moment” — Jan Gustafsson

Jan Gustafsson

German GM, commentator

“Magnus is relatively open that at the moment he says his priorities are his family. He still enjoys playing chess, still plays chess, and still plays it well.

I think you can always read too much into one or two bad tournaments. I’d need to see a bit more to say Magnus is no longer the best player in the world. I still believe that’s not the case. After all, he became Rapid and Blitz World Champion not that long ago.

On the other hand, of course, it’s true that over the last two or three years he’s played relatively little Classical chess, and I suspect, though I don’t know for sure, that he also hasn’t trained that much. He hasn’t worked on his openings as actively. And the goddess of chess, Caissa, doesn’t forgive easily when your attention goes elsewhere.

Of course, getting older doesn’t help either. I know that, and many others do too. But I don’t think that’s really the issue. I think if Magnus, now 35, gets upset about something and says, ‘Okay, I’ll fully focus again’, I wouldn’t bet against him.”