The King and his kingdom

The Norwegian has been the biggest force in the chess world for over a decade; though Gukesh could run him close in the future, he remains the player to beat

Magnus Carlsen is a name that chess players and fans swear by because there's nothing in the game the 33-year-old from Norway has not achieved. He is a five-time World Chess Champion, the reigning five-time World Rapid Chess Champion, the reigning seven-time World Blitz Chess Champion, and the reigning Chess World Cup Champion.

He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since July 1, 2011 and his peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He has been so good for so long that eventually things got a little boring. He decided he didn't want to defend the classical crown. It opened up an opportunity for others, one that India's D Gukesh looks primed to cash in on.

Carlsen, however, believes that there is a lot more to chess than ratings and crowns. The Blitz and Rapid formats keep him entertained but at the same time, the World Championship Match between Ding Liren and Gukesh later this month is the one that he is looking forward to. In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, the world's best chess player, who is in Kolkata for the Tata Steel Chess tournament, weighed in on India's young chess stars, the state of the game and his own future.

Excerpts:

On how he looks at his No.1 spot in classical chess...

One or more of the kids are probably going to surpass me in the next couple years in the classical format. And that's okay since I don't play a lot of classical chess. I think, like the few times that I do compete, I still want to do well. But it's not my area of focus. I still enjoy faster chess a lot. But I think whenever I compete in classical chess, I'm still a force to reckon with.

On Arjun's recent brief live rating jump to world No 2...

He certainly has an ability to create imbalances and difficulties for his opponents that not a lot of other people have.