Weight of winning the title finally off his shoulders

Champ Magnus Carlsen celebrates world chess title victory in style
Susan Ninan
TNN | Nov 24, 2013, 02.17 AM IST

CHENNAI: Magnus Carlsen stood waist-deep in water with his blazer on, eyes squinted and index fingers pointing skywards. The new king of chess world rung in the celebrations on Friday in a manner rather unconventional for his sport. But then, he is no conventional champion.

"That was his sponsors' doing," informed his manager Espen Agdestein with a laugh before adding, "They organised a spontaneous party for him immediately after the post-match media interaction and flung him into the pool! He didn't seem to mind it at all."

It took a long night to soak in the win. "Carlsen spoke to the Norwegian prime minister on Skype before all of us headed for dinner to the Indian restaurant in the hotel. Even after the match, he was talking to me about the game. He went to bed early in the morning, around 5am," Agdestein said.

On the other hand, Anand, it is learnt, chose to have a quiet dinner with his team before retiring to bed. He checked out of the hotel with wife Aruna and headed home on Monday.

Success at an early age also brings with it the danger of feeling satiated well before time. Agreeing that it was a secret fear he harboured all along as a parent, father Henrik said his 22 year-old son is motivated to play with renewed ambition.

"It helps that he has an inherent love and interest in the sport. Also, it is important to focus on the process rather than the result. When it comes to chess, as a parent I've stopped myself many a time from being intrusive about his decisions. Only to realise in hindsight, that often he was right."

With the weight of winning the title finally off his shoulders, Carlsen woke up well after noon, before heading for a few rounds of bowling to the adjacent shopping mall. So what does it feel like a day after it's finally over? "Ah...well...It's OK," he said, shrugging, in his usual nonchalant style.

The itinerary ahead of the Zurich chess challenge, the only tournament so far that he has confirmed his participation in and where he is likely to face Anand, has been broadly chalked out.

"He will be going to London next month, followed by Las Vegas in the second week of January to fulfill some sponsor commitments. He is also keen on expressing his support for the Chess in Schools programme in US," informed his manager.

This is the first time in a decade that the Norwegian will not be a part of the playing field at Wijk aan Zee in January.

The prize distribution ceremony of the World Championship will be held on Monday and Carlsen is expected to leave for Oslo on Wednesday.

"When he turned GM at the age of 13, I told myself that it's an incredible accomplishment and anything that he goes on to achieve hereafter is going to be a bonus. But it seems the bonuses have just kept coming!" says the proud father.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com