Former world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has spoken about the challenges he faced while competing in the World Rapid Chess Championship in Kazakhstan.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the Norwegian grandmaster revealed that Almaty’s poor air quality forced him to seek refuge in the mountains to recover and breathe fresh air.
Carlsen described the tournament venue as a “strange place,” noting that Almaty suffers from severe air pollution in winter, creating an uncomfortable environment. To cope, he traveled to a mountainous area about an hour from the city, where he said the landscape resembled the Swiss Alps, with peaks reaching 3,500 meters.
This trip caused Carlsen to be late for his match against Belarusian grandmaster Vladislav Kovalev. He started the game 2.5 minutes behind schedule, a significant disadvantage in a format where players have just three minutes for the entire game, plus two seconds per move. Despite the setback, Carlsen won both the match and the championship.
“I was so miserable in the city that I realized if I wanted to keep playing, I needed to get out and get some fresh air. I decided to take the risk, and it worked,” he said in an interview.
The tournament began on December 25, 2022, in Almaty, with a total prize fund of $1 million, fully sponsored by general partner Freedom Broker.
Carlsen, widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players in history, held the world championship title from 2013 to 2023. He has won the World Rapid Chess Championship five times, claimed eight Blitz Chess titles, and secured victory in the 2023 FIDE World Cup.
