Magnus Carlsen Thinking Quotations

Right now I'm really happy with how things are going with my chess career, so I'm not thinking of doing anything else.

Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head.

Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's OK to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.

Of course, analysis can sometimes give more accurate results than intuition but usually it’s just a lot of work. I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time spent thinking is just to double-check.

All I expect are wins and to get pleasure from the game. And if someone thinks something about me, if someone's dissatisfied with something... that's not my headache. I hope someday I'll become World Champion - and I'll make all these people happy. But even if for some reason that doesn't happen it won't stop me getting pleasure from chess. I'm sure of that.

I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant.

For me right now I think being the world number one is a bigger deal than being the world champion because I think it shows better who plays the best chess. That sounds self-serving but I think it's also right.

I can’t count the times I have lagged seemingly hopelessly far behind, and nobody except myself thinks I can win. But I have pulled myself in from desperate [situations]. When you are behind there are two strategies - counter-attack or all men to the defences. I’m good at finding the right balance between those.