Before the candidates’ tournament began in March, Carlsen had told Norway’s TV2 with a grin that he was a “big fan” of the highly controversial US presidential candidate Donald Trump. “He just shoots from the hip and it’s so fun to hear him,” Carlsen said, before his manager Espen Agdestein interrupted with a worried look and anxiously asked the TV2 reporter that “I hope you see the sarcasm here?”
“What sarcasm?” Carlsen shot back. “Trump is incredibly good at finding opponents’ weaknesses. He only talks about the candidates being stupid or smelling bad. There should be more of that in chess, too.” Then he offered some examples: “(Fabiano) Caruana looks like a nerd with his glasses, that’s not good. Karjakin is so boring! And I think (Levon) Aronian is a bit audacious.” Carlsen also offered a new slogan for his game:
“Make chess great again!”
“What sarcasm?” Carlsen shot back. “Trump is incredibly good at finding opponents’ weaknesses. He only talks about the candidates being stupid or smelling bad. There should be more of that in chess, too.” Then he offered some examples: “(Fabiano) Caruana looks like a nerd with his glasses, that’s not good. Karjakin is so boring! And I think (Levon) Aronian is a bit audacious.” Carlsen also offered a new slogan for his game:
“Make chess great again!”
