He’s been playing more and more poker, from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event to cash games on live streams. Over the past few years, Carlsen has decided to join them. It’s evident here at EPT Monte Carlo, where we have PokerStars Team Pro Jennifer Shahade (an acclaimed author and Woman Grandmaster in chess) and popular content creator and accomplished chess player Alexandra Botez in the Main Event field. “I was playing a chess tournament here and I came over to watch the EPT because Alexander Grischuk - who back then was a top 10 player and is still a very, very good chess player - was playing the EPT Main Event.”Ĭarlsen popped in to watch his friend and rival as he swapped chess pieces for chips, and it was there that the prodigy was first introduced to the game.Īccording to Carlsen, there are lots of chess players who have taken a stab at poker, and not just recreationally. This might be Carlsen’s first time playing an EPT Main Event, but he actually came to this very same venue (the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo, home of the iconic Salle des Etoiles) back in 2007, when he was just 18. He made it through the first day of play before surging up the chip counts on Day 2 as the tournament moved closer towards the money (159 players will make the money, winning at least €8,700).īut what are his plans in poker? How similar is poker to chess really, in terms of his stress levels and study? And which top chess player does he think would make the best poker player? The poker tournament began on the same day that China’s Ding Liren defeated Russia’s Ian Nepomniatchi in Kazakhstan to become his country’s first chess World Champion. Those two were only able to face off against one another because Carlsen, a four-time World Champion and the highest-rated player of all time, shocked the chess world by announcing he had no intention of defending it for a fifth time.Īs the two chess Grand Masters completed their two-week series, the 32-year-old from Tønsberg, Norway - the former World Champion - hopped on a plane to Monaco and entered the EPT Main Event.Īnd Carlsen is no poker rookie. It’s a €5,300 buy-in tournament with 1,098 entries and €890,000 for first place.
He decided to spend the day playing poker.Ĭarlsen, by common agreement the best chess player of all time, chose the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Main Event to start this new chapter. And how did he begin the rest of his life? What did he do on the first day after his 10-year reign came to an end? The morning of Monday, May 1, 2023, was the first morning for 3,445 days that Magnus Carlsen woke up and was not the chess World Champion.
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