@bob
>>>you shouldnt post things like that without credible evidence.

You may want to do a bit of rearch. I quick Google of "Magnus Carlsen autism" would put you in the know.

Its a well known fact that Carlsen is autistic. When he was asked "Er du autist?" he answer, "Ja, er ikke det ganske apenbart?"

A quick google search is research now, SEO?

It is totally obvious that Carlsen's ?¢‚Ǩ?ìJa, er ikke det ganske apenbart??¢‚Ǩ? was sarcastic.

@ SEO Company

Are you a doctor? Do you know the different types of autism, the difference between autism, autism-related (milder) syndroms, simple non-autist low capacity of social interaction and normal shyness?
Yes, I also find that Magnus seems to be a bit shy and underdeveloped in his social skills (from what I see in interviews- I don't know him personally and I suppose you don't either). Does that without fail make him an autist?

By the way, the answer of Carslen doesn't prove a lot- there were quite a few people speculating that he was being ironic. So I would be interested based on which informations except that interview you can say that it is a "well-known fact".

I am not a Carlsen Fan by the way, I root for Shirov, Chucky and Hou Yifan.
;)

The tournament is not finished but it is true that Magnus Carlsen is well on the way to win the tournament Aerosvit, unless a surprise.

Poll on my blog.

http://zenman-zenman.blogspot.com/

Thank you Peter. To think that SEO Company actually didn't understand Carlsen's reply to that question was sarcastic is actually a bit scary. How can we convince him if he perceives reality so differently from us? I try to understand how there possibly can be people like SEO Company, and I try not to get upset by his preposterous statements. But still, what an idiot. Sorry.

Yet another grinding performance by Carlsen. A 3100 performance is simply amazing!

@Billy.
"?鬧here is no win in chess with perfect play from your opponent."

That hasn't been proven! You are most likely right (I think you are), but there's no proof of it yet.

Against top GMs Carlsen wins one objectively probably drawn position after another, just having the advantage suffices for him. He therefore must be in a class of his own.

Peter, Carlsen is clearly *not* a normal 17-year old: he may be very friendly if you know him, but he's genius by all standards and therefore by definition anything but normal!
Perhaps it's a bit awkward-sounding, but definitely not wrong by definition to suggest the possibility, especially on a topic about the guy.
There are many forms of autism, some severe, some rather light, like Asperger's syndrome. An interesting aspect of some forms of autism is a restricted prosody and intonation. Anyone who's heard Carlsen speak will recognize this immediately in his speech. Of course, that's not *proof*, but why ignore it? Another frequent characteristic is intense preoccupation with a narrow subject. Surely Carlsen is also interested in other things, but I think we can safely say he's rather preoccupied with chess. Another aspect can be extremely high intelligence. Another is impaired nonverbal behavior like not looking you in the eye, as Carlsen often does. You can call it ordinary shyness, but surely it's not forbidden to also look at broader patterns.
I agree that perhaps this is too public a place to discuss it, especially since many people here don't realise it's not a 'disease' or whatever. Just like homosexuality isn't a disease.
Also, I don't think it would in any way 'explain' Carlsen's phenomenal results, since most people with such a syndrome are not #2 in the world in any discipline ;-)

@Tim 12:46
Is dat niet een uitspraak van Lodewijk Prins?
:-)

'SEO Company',
I do not want to alarm you but; and I quote: "What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Rankin's study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, "Nice weather we're having."

The science of sarcasm (not that you care)

Every time a human achieves something extraordinary there are people who run out of explanations fitting into their limited horizon and start to develop strange conspiracy theories.

People who believe that Magnus suffers from autism because of his little shyness, do also believe that Kurt Cobain was murdered because he was just too damn cool to commit suicide.

@Jeans 15:22
Klopt als een zwerende vinger.

Well Autism isnt a black or white syndrome its more on a spectrum, just as sexuality is. Perhaps all chessplayers would be higher than average on this scale?!
I also once came across the neaanderthal/autism hypothesis which seems at first ridiculous but is none the less interesting when you read the 'evidence'.

Incidentally i don't think Magnus has poor social skills. How many 17 year olds can court an audience & the press with cameras rolling without a little nervousness. And in his second language!!

If Carlsen's above-average results in chess and reserved behavour spells autism, then the same could be said about many other talented young players.

Magnus is certainly not autistic. I have known him since he was 9, and he does not lack social skills in any way at all. Everyone who knows him just a bit can see that.

I think I said slight autism and I noted it as just one of the things that give me an advantage.

Whilst on the topic of autism, I suspect that Sergey Karjakin might possibly have mild autism. I don't know him personally and haven't seen him much in interviews/press conferences and the like, but I think there is evidence to suggest that this could be a possibility (but that's all!).

I agree he looks quite allright on that video, Ashish. Still, I also remember some truly ackward moments where the guy just seemed to be like a wax doll in a museum. Maybe he has multiple personalities? ;-) (just kidding)

"Also I think that Carlsens minor autistic provides"

do you have anything to back this up? just because he can concentrate very deeply doesnt mean he is autistic and you shouldnt post things like that without credible evidence. thats how romurs get started.

Not knowing Carlsen personally, I don't know whether Carlsen has autism or not. About a year ago I thought he was a very high-functioning autistic, but now I am not so sure.

In respose to Peter's comment: I should add that it is possible to be both autistic and "completely normal" - these people are classified as "recovered autistics".

In conclusion: Whether he is autistic or not makes no major difference, since if he is, he is fully recovered and has been for years.

anyone who has ever met magnus and conversed with him in norwegian knows that he is definetly not autistic in any way. he just has a dry sense of humour.

Magnus Carlsen still won the poll .... on my blog gives the winner ....

http://zenman-zenman.blogspot.com/

Yes Zenman, we know you would like to have us surfing to your website, but now it's enough thank you.

Come on CEO!
Listen to Magnus friends. Of course he has no form of autism. He's a normal 17 years old chess genius.

Claiming Magnus has autism. I find as absurd as claiming Kasparov has autism.
Stop making a total fool of yourself.

Yeah, these days it's very common to try to put a label on everyone and everything. But come on! The guy is a bit reserved, but how strange is that if you are 17 and everyone seems to want something from you? If you read some of his interviews, you will see that he is more socially savvy and generally more mature than lots of other kids of his age. And he certainly has more sense of humor than some of the people who react to this news item ;-)

Magnus Carlsen for Obama's Vice President!!

Just wait till he has the opening prep of a 23 year old!!!

Amazing !!! He grows in the elo list faster than chess softwares !!!
The real question is if the Anand-Kramnik match for the world title has any value now.Many people dispraise the way he wins many games(tricky moves in ''draw'' positions).My view is that its not his problem but his opponents problem.BESIDES
?鬧here is no win in chess with perfect play from your opponent.

"Ze komen op het licht af"

Some of my thoughts about Carlsen.

Time Advantage:
Carlsen excells in the openings and is well prepared and therefore can play quickly. He picks up time in the opening. In the middle game he seems to be able to create complications one after another that again take time for his opponents to find the best moves. With time pressure he tries to force he opponents to make small consessions in position in the 10 moves running up to the first time period. He then grinds them down in the end game and converts his small advantages.

Psychological Advantage:
Carlsen is getting to the point now where player they know they are in for a long hard battle when they play him. They know that he tries to push them into time trouble and that he has the ability to convert on small advantages he picks up in the middle game.

Atistic Advantage:
Also I think that Carlsens minor autistic provides him with the ability of intense concentration, preference of routine, ability to follow interests for extreme lengths. I feel these atistic attributes help Carlsen to study chess with greater easy and consistenecy and to be very focused while playing and be less effected by the extreem stress that is experience in top play.

I think we all expect as Carlsen gets more experience that he will continue to improve. It hard to believe that we have a 17 year old #2 in the ratings.

The other wonderful thing about Carlsen is his humiliy. He is not cocky, a braggard, or overly excentric like may of the past great players have been. He is modest about his abilities and very mature in the way he handles himself for a 17 year old. This perhaps for me is as attractive as his playing ability.

I am sure we will all be watching today to see how he does.

And actually I don't want to discuss that matter so much- I'd rather talk about the exciting Shirov-Karjakin game (that might get overlooked because everbody looks at Carlsen)!

Before more weirdness will pop up here: come on, guys. He's a modest, perhaps somewhat quiet but otherwise totally normal 17-year-old. So cut the crap please.

While you are discussing curious stuff about autism, Magnus won another game and is now virtually the No. 2 in the World: http://chess.liverating.org/

The kid has excellent social skills - I don't know what you guys are babbling about. How many adults (let alone 16 year olds) could have handled an interview on national TV as well as he did? http://youtube.com/watch?v=N003wIDsiCc

Hi! I am norwegian and I don't know anything about chess, sorry... But I happened to see Magnus Carlsen in a norwegian talkshow tonight. I myself have a daugther, very intelligent by the way, who might have Aspergers syndrom. When I saw Carlsen, I said, that boy has Asbergers. I did'nt know anything about him, exept that he is very good at chess. I saw his blank expression, the way he moved his arms in a typical learned fashion and the way he speaks, in the same tone all the way and he always expresses himself in full sentenses, like its written. So I googled him and ended up in this discussion. Why? Because its important for young people with Aspergers to see what you can achieve. ITS NOT A SHAME! You can function very good in the society with this syndrom. Your brain just seem to function in an other way. This means that you are better than most in some skills, less good at other. Look at the famous thinkers and artists in our history. A lot of them are thougt to have had AS. The world would be a much more boring place without AS.

Of course we probably all agree with you that there's nothing wrong with AS but still I experience it as somewhat uncomfortable to talk about Magnus like this, having no facts/evidence at all to base the assumptions on, except for "he behaves similarly". Therefore I tried to close this "discussion" at an earlier stage. Anyway, thanks for your contribution!

Einstein had a lot of problems at school, one teacher even said that he was like a retarded person.
The only thing that is really shocking about Magnus (besides his play of course) is his kindness towards everyone , in that way he reminds me of Anand.

To all those of you trying really hard to criticize SEO Company, and ostensibly defend Magnus from possibly having autistic traits: you all have the trait of bigotry in your comments. Go forth now and defend yourselves against being bigots.

Alternatively, go out and understand what autistic traits are and what the autistic spectrum really encompasses. You just may realize that there is no need at all to be embarrassed or shocked and attempt to deny the existence of a trait. You just may learn that we all are a bundle of traits.