Norwegian chess prodigy turns to fashion catwalk
(AFP) – 3 hours ago
OSLO — Chess star Magnus Carlsen, the youngest player to ever top the International Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings, has ventured into modelling.
Norway’s public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday posted snapshots and a video on its website of the brown haired teen at a fashion shoot for Dutch fashion brand G-Star Raw alongside US actress Liv Tyler.
Black-and-white ads featuring the 19-year-old prodigy and stamped with the brand’s name and logo were also posted on the broadcaster’s website.
Carlsen burst onto the chess scene in 2004 when, at the age of 13, he beat former world champion Anatoli Karpov, pushed legendary chess champion Garry Kasparov to a draw and became a chess grandmaster.
He told NRK he was not a fashion connoisseur, in any case not before starting to model for the jeans company.
“I think people will be surprised to see me like this. Surely just as surprise as I was when I was picked for this,” he said.
…Pictures of the fashion shoot can be seen at http://www.nrksport.no/sjakk/1.7200856
Source: http://www.google.com
How come no one else in the chess community is reporting about this? Isn’t this a big story?
Wow. This is cool. Thanks for posting it.
Magnus the King!
O, no!!! It is so tacky when the
kings (Magnus Carlsen) and queens
(Alexandra Kosteniuk)of chess become fashion models. Not that I don’t like handsome and beautiful chess stars: Tatiana Kosintseva and Lilit Mkrtchian come to mind quickly, and there are others. But it is sad to see it when great chess players become “personalities”.
Lucymarie
Pfft!!!!Poor kid…he’l be soooo embarrased by doing this in 10 years….hahaha…but hey..whatever…but it IS funny!!! haha..I can’t stop laughing. I love Magnus..but this is ridiculous..haha..nice to see he can be an idiot like everyone else…haha..choke choke..haha..choke choke…
I can’t stop thinking (Zoolander!hahahahaha)
Mike magnan
CARLSEN & G-STAR:
-More information has just been released this afternoon. The chess focus is the essence of the deal. G-Star hired Carlsen because he is “the world #1 chess player”. They will use chess as a theme in the marketing campaign. They made a cool video featuring a chess game.
If you look at G-Stars homepage, upper right, you find the “The RAW World Chess Challenge”. They are setting up a chess show in NYC, which will attract a large crowd.
On September 10th at Cooper Square Hotel in New York, Magnus Carlsen will play a game against “the world”.
Hikaru Nakamura, Judit Polgár and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave have been hired to suggest a move each. Which move to be played, will be chosen by Internet votes from spectators worldwide.
This cooperation between Carlsen and G-Star will probably generate more chess PR than FIDE does in a year. Or what?
Source & Video: http://www.vg.no/sport/artikkel.php?artid=10003021
PS: Susan, you might provide some more details after talking with your sister?
ZOOLANDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my opinion, this is highly pathetic of someone of Magnus’ caliber.
A sad turn for the chess world.
My god….this is just stupid…I wonder what possesed him to do this…haha…well at least he can blame it on youthful indescretions…but still……its an obvious “Faux Pas” Poor kid….this one will stick for a long time.
They managed to misspell the name of the photographer, Anton Corbijn. That man is famous like Carlsen within his own profession. I can’t blame anyone for having his pictures taken by that man, whatever the reason 🙂
“In my opinion, this is highly pathetic of someone of Magnus’ caliber.”
Pathetic? What’s pathetic about this? The choice might seem a bit surprising, but that doesn’t make it pathetic. Why should Magnus just stick to chess and nothing else? (and don’t worry, I hardly think he’s planning to stop playing chess and become a fashion model).
“A sad turn for the chess world.”
On the contrary, I think it’ll help to reduce the “geek/nerd”-stigma that chess has among people in general. I also think it’ll help to draw a bit more attention towards chess, especially when you consider a high-profile player of Magnus’s caliber.
I’d say that Magnus looks better than most (all?) chess players in the world elite, and he looks good in those ads. His looks and facial expression also suits the urban, tough look of the clothes company he’s been hired for.
“How come no one else in the chess community is reporting about this? Isn’t this a big story?”
No one else? Here in Norway the news broke a long time before this blog did. In fact, the biggest newspapers in Norway have had articles about this story on the frontpages of their online sites (this only shows how high-profile Magnus is in Norway, even though he’s not a football player or typical sports star). Several other chess sites later posted news about the story, using the Norwegian newspapers as references. This blog posted the news a bit later.
Chessbase, which posted a teaser yesterday, just recently posted a full article about the story, along with a press release by G-Star RAW.
There have also been articles about this on a few fashion sites, and there’s a news release from AFP available via Google News.
Um…lets get serious here.
BLUE STEEL
ZOOLANDER
It’s ridiculous…..anyone who has never seen Zoolander..I’d suggest you have a couple of beers and check it out.
I don’t know what dimwit convinced this poor kid to do this but lol..its pretty sad.
WOW! I’d ove to know who his PR manager is. (Its obvously a woman)) So Make sure never to hire such a stupid person. In one stroke she crushed his image and alinated him from his core group of fans…what a wonderfull job..haha..she’s an idiot. If I were Magnus I’d get out of it in a minute abd fire that stupid woman…if its a man..well..thats even worse..this is a stupid stunt.
I take back any criticism, implied or actual, in my previous comment about Alexandra Kosteniuk. I think that anyone as beautiful as she is must be under a lot of pressure, and my comment probably just betrays my jealousy. Also, after making my previous response, I looked her up on the internet, and when I came across the charming picture of her in native costume in Kalchik at the closing ceremony in 2008 where she won the women’s chess championship of the world, my heart melted.
Lucymarie
“pathetic”, “Watch Zoolander, this is pathetic”. “nice to see he can be an idiot like everyone else”.
Yes. How can he stoop so low as to model for a clothing company when he is a chess player?
Money (just like Kasparov for Pepsi)? It could also be that he thought it was a fun thing to do. The jealousy of the geeks on here claiming it is “stupid” and “pathetic” just need to gtfo. Why does one need to watch Zoolander? How does Zoolander being a complete moron have anything to do with the next person (who happens to be the worlds #1 chess player)having pictures taken for a clothing line?
Keep thinking you are “smart” because you play chess and do not model. Playing chess does not make you smart any more than having pictures taken makes you dumb. It could just be that you are chess players suffering from inadequate intelligence to make it at the top level and looks that make you repulsive to the camera lense. Too bad, now go vent your frustrations somewhere else.
The majority of the above comments make me realize why chess lives a life in the obscure, dark corners of public life. It’s a space mainly crowded with narrow sighted, introvert and purposeless people, who cannot handle that others acheive the success they themselves have dreamt of but never struggled for and reached.
I’m sorry for you.
Sorry that you cannot see how Carlsen’s fashion model activities will give chess some much needed attention. Sorry that you cannot see how it can help modernize the image of chess. Sorry that the first thing you think of when seeing this picture is Zoolander.
Then again, everyone has their own opinions and ‘isms.
Magnus – you are great. Keep up the good work.
Peace
whats next in this pathetic spectacle??? If I see him in boxers and briefs I think I’ll never look at chess again!!! haha.
ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLander..
This is a funny story! It’s up to Carlsen, if he’s happy about it, good for him. I can’t imagine Fischer ever doing this, hehe! There were no gimmicks with Fischer, just the best chess ever!
The same, pathetic “anonymous” wrote about 5 or 6 comments here and is doing nothing except exposing himself as a jealous, petty person. Carlsen is 100 times stronger than you in chess, is getting paid big bucks for this modeling gig, gets to work with one of the world’s top photographers, hanging out with Liv Tylor in the process, and getting publicity you will never experience, probably leading to even more well-paying gigs. Yeah I’m sure Carlsen REALLY regrets that. Hahaha… stop being so obviously jealous “anonymous”, it’s just sad.
Superb with great attitude,nice article, Thanks.