Why is Magnus Carlsen so much better?

Why is Magnus Carlsen so much better than the rest of the chess players?

Even though many players can give him a tough fight.........Magnus Carlsen generally comes out on top, winning so many trophies......... Why is that?

Why cant the rest compete?

well, he does have his bad days, like all other humans, but i think that his autism has something to do with it. it barely seems to affect him, but autistic people (from the ones i have met) often times seem to be really good at one thing or another, much better than normal people. carlsen not only had amazing memory when he was a kid, he also seemed to have an obvious knack for chess as well. he supposedly played on instinct as a kid, so he prolly didnt even have to think that far ahead. then u add 20 years of experience against some of the best players in history, and enough memory to think of them whenever he is in trouble, and u get carlsen. his brain is really just made for playing chess at this point, but to a more extreme point than other players for some reason. he is just perfectly all rounded as well.

He is an AI ... he just plays dumb so that humans think they still have a chance ,,,

Strange.  Just some time ago everyone and their dog were complaining about how close the last two world chess champ matches were. 

His endgame play is great and he is relentless!!

beside many other abilities he is  also a stamina powerhouse and does get into fatigue much till the end of the game.

Lol. Still people claiming Carlsen has autism, just because he once made a joke. Have you ever seen him? There is not the slightest reason to believe Carlsen is an autist.

His magnificent beard is the source of his power.

Carlsen is so pumped on revenge that he doesn’t spend much time crying over a loss, when he loses he never logs in to chesscom to start a thread about his opponent not offering a rematch.

instead he immediately figures out what he did wrong so next time he is matched with that opponent, he fills him full of lead.

only fischer and kasparov also played with such a strong smell of blood in their nostrils.

other chess players are too busy trying to be paragons of virtue. they don’t siphon their energy into the killer instinct like Carlsen and Co.

that too.

now this is a good joke!

he does show many of the traits that would make on think so.

Of course he probably has autism! What is your expertise with autism and how is that a bad thing?

”i think that his autism has something to do with it. it barely seems to affect him, but autistic people (from the ones i have met) often times seem to be really good at one thing or another, much better than normal people”

I don’t think it is as much about him being ”autistic” and not ”normal”, in spite of the certainty with which it often is proclaimed that he is autistic :-) Navara is autistic but that doesn’t make him better than Carlsen. I think the explanation simply is that Carlsen is more talented at chess than others, while others are more talented at other things. Coincidence combined with interest and hard work.

I like to read Kramnik’s interviews, because they have much said between the lines, not least when Carlsen is brought up. For a long time he said that Carlsen was no better than himself, but just before retiring he instead started saying that Carlsen of course was better and came with a long list of reasons:

Unlike Kramnik Carlsen didn’t have any other interests than chess, unlike Kramnik he didn’t have a wife and could care only about himself, unlike Kramnik he worked very hard, unlike Kramnik he really cares about results, etc etc

It was interesting, because it all boiled down to (between the lines) that Carlsen was nowhere near as talented as Kramnik, he just had all these advantages. But is it all that simple?

I think Kramnik worked harder than Carlsen, and he basically grew up in the Soviet Chess School. It is also a bit of wishful thinking to just claim that Carlsen has no other interests than chess. On the contrary it is well known that Carlsen spends much time on football and other sports, and had some publicised relationships etc. And as for Kramnik not caring about the results, anyone seeing him after a loss knows that this is far from true :-) 

But on the whole, I think the clear #1 explanation behind Carlsen’s success is that he was born with a talent for the game in the same way Morphy, Capablanca etc were, but also combined it with a huge interest and wanting to work very hard to improve.

Are you sure Kramnik was more talented than Carlsen?

”Are you sure Kramnik was more talented than Carlsen?”

Certainly not, Kramnik was somewhere between Anand and Topalov in greatness but had much more professional coaching than them from early years. Carlsen is on a different level as I see it, already with more than ten years as #1, and mainly thanks to talent (even if talent is difficult to measure).

Magnus exhibits no autistic traits and is almost certainly not on the spectrum.  Genius usually aligns with some unusual personality traits, especially when it comes to personal interaction, but that does not simply imply autism or any other medical condition. Magnus seems entirely normal and well adjusted.

As for why he is the best... He is naturally gifted at the game, has a powerful memory, has the will to win, has good health, and immense confidence. 

Absolutely.  People with HFA, especially Asperger, tend to take obsessive interest in one subject, though sometimes they switch subjects.  For Carlsen, it's chess, and hasn't changed.

Some of Carlsen's other traits, such as his geeky sense of humor, also scream Asperger's.

The question is, which world chess champions were neurotypical, and how did they manage to get to the top anyway?

Many weak minded people lack the ability to concentrate and work hard. Carlsen has great powers of concentration and terrific fighting spirit. Jealous patzers try to feel better about themselves by saying Carlsen is autistic. They are fools