I mean he did have Kasparov as a coach at one point. The apprentice becomes the master.
wow ! good job :)
"Kindred Group is offering a five-year deal to secure the chess federation's help in lobbying for a change of the current law, in which government-owned Norsk Tipping is the only licensed gambling company"
wait what?? how in a 1000 chickens National Chess Federation can do lobbying of new law in the country, especially not directly related to chess :D
Norvegian Government: Hey Chess federation, what's up?
Chess federation: Hey, listen, we got 6 mil $ from Kindred, could you instead just change law a bit, so that besides Norsk Tipping, Kindred could do gambling here, in Norway?
Norwegian government: yyyy... and why does this affect you? What benefits does that bring to Norway? or Norway chess I guess if u are chess federation... Can't we just exist as we are with Norsk Tipping?
Chess federation: well you know, 6 mil...
Norwegian Government: ... [facepalm]
This seems to be a pretty sensible move to me. Chess is a game whose rules are known nearly universally, but is only actually played by a very niche group of people. It seems to me that for Carlsen to increase his status beyond where he's at now, he needs to elevate the status of chess as a whole. Looking over at physical sports like football and (also) football, how do people get connected to a sport even though they don't or can't play a sport? By betting on it. So it actually makes a lot of sense for Carlsen to try to pull a company specializing in sports betting into his own home country, where he can push chess effectively, with the hope that it will spread worldwide and give the average Joe a reason to actually care about chess.
Has Carlsen got what he wants or he just paid money and got nothing in return? It gives lots of power to be the owner of largest chess club in the country and represent majority of the players. The owner decides all the rules. Rex Sinquefield has successfully done this in USA. Garry Kasparov has tried and failed to do this in Russia. Does Carsen have enough money to buy majority of chess federation memberships in Norway? He should pay for like 1,000,000 memberships to have a real countrywide influence. 1,000 is just like a small local club. Even some anonymous and shady lichess masters have about 5,000 supporters.
1000 is by far the largest club in Norway.
How many chess players does Norway have? Carlsen needs a majority.
about 3000
Magnus Carlsen for FIDE president! He clearly understands chess political tactics and says fewer silly things than Makropoulos and Short. He will win the race against Dvorkovich. Magnus Carlsen is Donald Trump of chess!
