'Unbelievable': Chess world champ becomes No.1 Fantasy EPL player
Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is not only considered one of the greatest ever chess players but he is now flexing his tactical supremacy in a virtual world.
The world chess champion from Norway is showing he has a flair for another game by moving to the top of the standings in Fantasy Premier League, an online football competition played by more than 7 million people.
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The 29-year-old Carlsen even changed the bio on his Twitter page to reflect his new-found status. It now reads: “The highest ranked chess player in the world. Current (live) #1 Fantasy Premier League player.”
But following the latest match on Tuesday morning, Carlsen dropped down the ladder and has since updated his bio to ‘former’ #1.
The fantasy game involves picking a squad of 15 players from Premier League clubs who score points through goals, assists, defensive shutouts and a few other elements during each round of games in England's top division.
Carlsen's team, which he has called “Kjell Ankedal," rose to No. 1 in the world on Saturday after Mohamed Salah scored twice for Liverpool in its 2-0 win over Watford. Carlsen picked Salah as his captain, which means he earned double points from the Liverpool forward.
This qoute may have been included in the @guardian story, but since a lot of people are asking about my #FPL strategy, mine is the not so groundbreaking one of part stats and part gut feeling. Part @Opta-mist and part optimist. Patent pending
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) December 9, 2019
The top-ranked player on Fantasy Premier League, in the world, is Magnus Carlsen who also happen to be the World Chess Champion pic.twitter.com/KsIKre0gmH
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) December 15, 2019
Magnus Carlsen, the greatest chess player of all time, is currently the number one fantasy football player in the world out of about 6 million players. Unbelievable.
— Drew Weir (@Droooo) December 14, 2019
“Since a lot of people are asking about my FPL strategy,” Carlsen told his more than 247,000 followers on Twitter, “mine is the not so groundbreaking one of part stats and part gut feeling.”
It was working well in a game played by 7,190,421 players from around the world this season. Carlsen also did well in FPL two seasons ago, finishing in 2,397th place.
Carlsen became chess grandmaster for the first time in 2013 when he beat Viswanathan Anand of India.
With AP
