His father, an enthusiastic amateur chess player, taught him to play chess at the age of 5 although he initially showed little interest in the game. He has three sisters and in 2010 he stated that one of the things that first motivated him to take up chess seriously was the desire to beat his elder sister at the game.
Carlsen has an exceptional memory...he was able to recall the areas, population numbers, flags and capitals of all the countries in the world by the age of five. Later, Carlsen had memorized the areas, population numbers, coat-of-arms and administrative centers of virtually all Norwegian municipalities.
The first chess book Carlsen read was a booklet named Find the Plan by Bent Larsen and his first book on openings was Eduard Gufeld's The Complete Dragon. According to Edward Winter, the Find the Plan pamphlet was one of four republished in English as Larsen's Good Move Guide which is now out of print.
Carlsen developed his early chess skills by playing by himself for hours on end—moving the pieces around, searching for combinations and replaying games and positions shown to him by his father.
Carlsen participated in his first tournament, the youngest division of the 1999 Norwegian Championship, at the age of 8 years and 7 months, and scored 6.5-4.5.
All that’s interesting, but what does he eat? Walk, swim and skip breakfast, eat chocolate, sip mineral water etc. are just some of the things Grandmasters do both before and during their games.
In 2008 an Argentine nutritionist, Roberto Baglione of the National Sport Higher Performance Center in Buenos Aires did an extensive survey on the dietary and exercise regimens of the world’s top players. He found that about one third of the players skipped breakfast which they shouldn’t be doing because breakfast has a direct effect on the glucose concentration in the brain and liver.
The Science Behind Breakfast-Why breakfast is the most important meal of the day
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Almost 96 percent said they ate or drank something during games and for snacks chocolate beat out fruit nearly four to one while about one in ten snacked on cereal bars.
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| How not to be a Grandmaster |
According to a report by the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) chess requires intense concentration and hours of sitting and training their bodies for peak performance is key to staying on top of the rigorous mental demands of the game.
In his report Robert Sapolsky, Stanford professor of neurology and neurosurgery, discovered that during a major tournament chess players can burn up to 6,000 calories per day just from the physiological effects of stress and thinking and GMs sustain elevated blood pressure for hours in the range found in competitive marathon runners! Blood Pressure for Runners at UK Sports Chat
Fabiano Caruana cuts out sugar and drinking, sometimes for months, before a competition in order to detox. He says he went off sugar because he heard Magnus Carlsen did it to keep his energy levels stable during their 2018 match. And, alcohol messes up your sleep. To increase his stamina Caruana runs, plays basketball and swims, often all in one day. It also helps relieve stress.
Magnus Carlsen drinks chocolate milk and chews gum. He used to drink orange juice and water during games, but noticed that the sugar made him crash. As a result, at the suggestion of an Olympic performance specialist, he switched to a mixture of chocolate milk and regular milk, which provides nutrients like protein and calcium that help him sustain his energy levels longer.
Carlsen also travels with a personal chef. Just for informational purposes, in the U.S. a personal chef, what they do and what they cost can be found HERE.
Carlsen’s chef helps design his meals and before tournaments and he has been tying to get Carlsen to eat pasta for reserve energy. It’s a trick runners use the night before a race to increase their stores of glycogen, which is energy stored in muscles.
During games, Carlsen chews gum to stay alert and energized. Actually, studies suggest that chewing on gum can improve memory, concentration and reaction times, especially when completing a long task.
How does Carlsen’s diet compare to a pro football player? Professional football player Tom Brady says his strict health and wellness regime has been key to his longevity and success.
The average NFL career for a quarterback is about three years and 12 years for a Pro-Bowl nominated player. At 42 years old with a 20 year career, Brady is one of the oldest players in the league.
Brady typically starts game day at 6 am and the first thing he does is load up on electrolytes and nutrients. He drinks 20 ounces of water with electrolytes, then drinks his first shake, a high-fat, high-protein smoothie that has bananas, blueberries, nuts, seeds and plant-based protein.
He then lets his food digest for about two hours before he starts his daily 40-minute workout using only resistance bands. Mid-way through his workout, Brady will stop to drink more water with electrolytes...he aims to drink at least one-half of his body weight in ounces of water daily.
At around 11:00 a.m, Brady wraps up his workout and immediately has his next shake, a recovery drink made from a scoop of plant-based protein powder and almond milk. Then around noon he has lunch, which consists of 80 percent vegetables, because vegetables are high in nutrients, fiber and enzymes. The other 20 percent of the meal consists of animal-based protein, like fish. Brady doesn’t eat that much meat, especially before a game.
For the rest of the day, Brady will snack on things like almonds, cashews and energy squares from his company TB12 Sports, which are made with super-foods like cacao and goji berries. He’ll also have two to three more protein shakes.
On game-day, dinner is packed with plant-based foods. Sometimes he will also have a steaming cup of bone broth. Following the game, Brady always has a recovery shake. As for supplements, Brady says he always takes a multivitamin because no one’s diet is “perfect” and you never know what you may have missed.
Here’s one of Carlsen’s games from the youngest kid’s section of the 1999 Norwegian Championship.
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